Hunting for Deer — and Souls

When an Adventist teacher took his 11th-grade First Nations student on hunting trip in Canada.

By Andrew McChesney, adventistmission.org

One of the most important things for a First Nations boy is to kill his first deer. But Ethan Bird was 18 years old, and he had never shot a deer.

Part of the challenge was that Ethan didn’t have a father who could take him on hunting trips in the Rocky Mountains, the traditional hunting grounds for the Cree people in Alberta, Canada. Ethan lived with his aunt and uncle on a Cree reserve and about a two-hour drive away from the Rocky Mountains.

So, Ethan asked his 11^th-grade teacher, Michael Willing, to take him hunting.

“First Nations have a long tradition of sustenance hunting for survival,” Michael said in an interview at the Mamawi Atosketan Native School near Ponoka in the Canadian province of Alberta. “But many students don’t have an opportunity to go hunting.”

With the consent of Ethan’s uncle, the teenager and his teacher went on several short trips to hunt for grouse, ducks, and geese. Ethan, however, wanted a deer.

On a snowy November day last year, Ethan and Michael set out on an all-day hunting trip to the Rocky Mountains. They loaded supplies onto the pickup truck and headed out at 6 a.m.

The day passed without success. No deer could be found.

A First Deer

Shortly before sunset, Ethan spotted a deer in the forest, and the two hunters stalked the animal for more than a mile (2 kilometers) through snow and mud. Finally, they managed to sneak up within 50 yards (50 meters). Ethan aimed his rifle and — bang! — felled the deer with a single shot.

A minute of silence filled the air. Ethan, shocked, couldn’t believe that he had made his first kill.

“In this culture, for a youth to make his first kill is a monumental step toward becoming an adult,” Michael said.

Moments later, Ethan was standing over the deer and performing a traditional Cree ritual of thanking the Creator.

“Thank you, Creator, for providing for my family,” he said.

After the prayer, Ethan broke a cigarette and sprinkled the tobacco over the animal — another Cree ritual.

Then the hunters’ thoughts turned toward taking the deer back home. It was getting dark, and they were far from the pickup truck. The deer weighed about 150 pounds (70 kilograms).

“The whole point of hunting is to feed friends and family. It’s a community thing,” Michael said. “The first deer is given away to the elders or your family. This deer was to be given to family.”

For an hour and a half, Ethan and Michael tried to pull the deer through snow and mud. They found it significantly more difficult than carrying a grouse, which is about the size of chicken. 

Stranded!

Michael returned to the pickup truck to see if he could drive closer to the deer. He got stuck in the mud just as he reached the deer.

“We were in the middle of nowhere at night,” he said.

For three hours, the two hunters struggled to pull the vehicle out of the mud. There was no cell phone reception, so they couldn’t call for help. But they weren’t worried because of they had packed supplies in case of an emergency.

Michael lit a roaring fire, and Ethan helped prepare a supper of venison and granola bars. Then the two men fell asleep.

“The safest thing was to stay in one spot at night and not get lost by wandering around in the dark,” Michael said.

At dawn, Ethan and Michael walked 45 minutes until their found cell phone reception and could alert their families that they were fine. They managed to get out of the mud and take the deer home.

Michael later asked Ethan how he had felt about being stuck in the Rocky Mountains at night.

“I was scared,” Ethan replied. “But I trust you as a teacher and a guide, and I knew that you would take care of me.”

He added: “Still, it was one of the best stories that has ever happened to me, and I will be able to tell it for the rest of my life!”

Michael is the 31-year-old vice principal of the high school at the Mamawi Atosketan Native School, which will receive part of the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering in second quarter 2018 to expand its program to reach more First Nations students like Ethan.

Michael said he constantly looks for ways to connect with students — and then to share his love for Jesus.

“Hunting is one of the ways that we can connect,” he said. “We can’t connect on things like the Sabbath or Wednesday night prayer meetings. But hunting is a way to connect.”