James L. Cummins
William Faulkner by James L. Cummins
William Faulkner is easily identified as one of the world’s most famous writers, but those not intimately familiar with his writings may not know that he was an avid hunter and outdoorsman. William Cuthbert Faulkner (1897-1962) was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate. He was born in New Albany, Mississippi, on September 25, 1897. Faulkner became well-known for his accurate dictation of Southern speech.
He was also unafraid to write of the social ills of his time. Stories of this nature are among his most famed world-wide; however, it is his writings of hunting in the southern part of the Mississippi Delta that many Mississippians hold most dearly. It was in November 1909 that 12-year-old William Faulkner became a true deer hunter. Having killed a white-tailed deer buck on the last day of a hunt, he recalled not the shot, nor the “kick” of the double-barrel shotgun, but rather the realization that he had joined the ranks of deer hunters.
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That was probably the same feeling that I and many others felt when we shot our first deer, part of a unique fraternity. Sam Fathers, a Chickasaw Indian chief, served as Faulkner’s mentor and guide. Extremely knowledgeable in the rituals of hunting, Fathers “dipped his hands in the hot smoking blood and wiped them back and forth across the boy’s face.” Fathers chose to fully initiate Faulkner into the rites of passage of becoming a deer hunter.
These were part of the deer hunter’s code, first developed by hunter-conservationists and members of the Boone and Crockett Club–Theodore Roosevelt, George Shiras III, and Aldo Leopold. One of the tenets of the code–fair chase–had its birth not too far from Faulkner’s hunting camp near Onward, Mississippi. Oftentimes, Faulkner and Fathers would pursue the buck without weapons in hand. This effort seemed to render the animal tolerant of their presence and allowed them to learn more about the deer’s behavior.
It also taught Faulkner how to live the simple life–more about what we don’t need versus what we do need. This also taught Faulkner to hunt with certainty and respect for the game he was pursuing. When Faulkner killed his first buck that gray November day in 1909, almost 114 years ago, he not only joined the ranks of hunters, but he also better understood the internal struggle of the hunter: How can man kill the object he so loves? The quest to understand this became the underlying theme in Faulkner’s hunting stories.
Like me, Faulkner’s father taught him how to hunt deer and other game. Faulkner received his first air rifle at age 6, a .22 rifle at age 8, a .410 shotgun at age 10, and a 12-gauge at age 12. This progression of gun ownership mirrors most Mississippians, including myself. Faulkner, most importantly, was taught how to use these guns for hunting. In his era, hunting and having an interest in the outdoors was a major part of Mississippi society–and many of us still think it is a way of life.
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