Illegitimate Killers
The Symbolic Ecology and Cultural Politics of Coyote‐Hunting Tournaments in Addison County, Vermont
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18968341 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marc A Boglioli, Marc Boglioli (Drew University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 203-218 |
| Publication date | 2009-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Anthropology & Humanism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1548-1409 • E-ISSN: 1559-9167 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1548-1409.2009.01038.x |
| OpenAlex | W2135499644 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 6 |
Although I have conducted ethnographic research on hunting in central Vermont since 1996, one important issue has remained conspicuously absent from my field notes: organized hunting protest. That all changed one cold February day in 2005 as protesters from a home‐grown animal rights group stood along a country road in Whiting, Vermont, to voice their opposition to the first annual Howlin' Hills Coyote Hunt. This coyote‐hunting tournament was characterized by a broad assortment of local residents—including hunters—as a morally corrupt departure from traditional hunting ethics and from that day forward Addison County has been caught up in a social drama that may forever change the face of hunting in Vermont. As deep philosophical differences were revealed between not only hunters and antihunters, but between hunters themselves, a small window opened for a more general moral critique of hunting. Drawing on testimony from hunters, animal rights activists, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel, and my own experiences at coyote tournaments, I explain the perspectives of the various actors in this drama as they struggle to define the meaning and ethical place of hunting in the 21st century. [Keywords: human–animal relations, symbolic ecology, hunting, rural America, coyotes]
Art · Drama · Environmental ethics · Ethnography · Ethnology · Opposition (politics) · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Wildlife · Anthropology · Ecology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Law · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
| Citations per year | 0.27 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2025 (15) |
| Highly cited | No |