Friday the 13th means different things to different people. Some laugh it off, others would rather not test their luck. And in parts of Greece, Spain, and the wider Mediterranean, it is not Friday the 13th people worry about, but Tuesday the 13th.
Hunters, perhaps more than most, understand why superstition survives. In the field, success does not always follow effort in any neat or predictable way. One hunter does everything right and comes home empty-handed; another stumbles into luck and tags a trophy. When the outcome feels larger than skill alone, rituals, omens, and old beliefs find fertile ground.
Across the world, hunting their own ways of explaining luck, failure, respect for animals, and the unseen rules of the chase. Some of these customs are strange, some are practical, and some blur the line between folklore and field wisdom. Here are a few of the most intriguing examples.
Found a stone in the stomach? Keep it (and shut up)
Many bird hunters keep the shot pellets they extract from the birds they kill as good-luck charms. Many hunters in Yucatán and Amazonia would agree. In fact, they believe that any strange object found in the body of an animal you’ve killed—like a stone in the stomach—is a powerful amulet that will ensure success on future hunts. Just don’t tell anyone, or the magic will be lost.
Cleanse your gun
A well-cared-for gun is essential for hunting success, but we’re not talking about regular cleaning here. Many nations, including the Maya of Yucatán in Mexico, believe that an “evil eye,” the touch of a person with bad intentions, or even storing the gun in a “bad” place such as a chicken coop, can make the gun miss all the time or only wound animals. Good news: there is a ritual that can make the weapon fully functional again. It’s called Loojil Ts’oon and involves the use of the sip ché plant. This is not only a cleansing ritual, but also a kind of divine contract to kill.
See a deer with something in its antlers? Think again!
One of our blogs told you about the St. Hubertus tradition in Europe. Curiously enough, many nations of Central and South America attach significance to the fact that things get caught in deer antlers too. They see hunting as a divine contract between the hunter and nature, and believe there is a creature called Sip who oversees the contract from nature’s side. Sip looks like a deer with a wasp’s nest between its antlers. If the hunter has taken too many animals, he appears as a warning—and if the hunter continues, you can imagine what follows. So if you see a deer with something in its antlers, double-check how many tags you’ve punched this season.
Hang your deer
Or at least a few bones. The main thing is, the bones should hang vertically. This way, or so the Eastern Cree and Innu believe, the spirit of the animal can return to the sky and come back again to the earth. Otherwise, it would be trapped in the bones and wouldn’t reincarnate.
Don’t whistle as you walk to the stand
Lots of us won’t admit it, but lots of us feel something stirring in the soul as we walk through the dark woods alone. Scaring off bad feelings by whistling a merry tune is an understandable desire in this context. But the Muscogee and Anishinaabe nations would rather you kept quiet. The whistling may attract a malevolent monster called “the Whistler,” whom you don’t really want to meet. Or it may spook the deer, as the case might be.
Smoke your clothes
Modern cover scents have a mystical, shamanic background. The Menominee and Ojibwe used scented root smoke as spiritual camouflage, and Bedouin in Morocco and other trans-Saharan countries burn wild rue seeds to smoke their clothes if they suspect someone has put the evil eye on them. Well, here’s one more superstition that sort of works, even if perhaps for different reasons.
Don’t pray for more time out hunting
Everyone has heard about the Wild Hunt, but have you heard the legend of Count Eberhardt? He loved hunting so much that he prayed to be allowed to do nothing but hunt until Judgment Day. The wish was granted—as a curse. If you don’t want to spend eternity riding after a deer you can’t catch and spooking unsuspecting travelers, be careful what you wish for!
Want to know where the deer are? The scapula will help!
The Mistassini Cree and Naskapi Innu believe that the scapula, or shoulder blade, of a harvested caribou can show you the future migration routes of the caribou herds. A cleansed bone is held over coals, and the cracks and dots that appear on it are interpreted as a map. Try that with the whitetail from last season, and tell us how it worked!
Empty bucket bad, full bucket good
In many parts of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, meeting a woman as you set out to hunt is not automatically a bad sign. The question is what the woman is carrying. If it’s an empty bucket, bag, or supermarket trolley, your hunt isn’t going to be successful. But if the bucket, bag, or trolley is full, then you’re not going to come home empty-handed!
Keep yourself free of sin
The Khasi people of northeastern India believe that only people of high integrity, clean in deeds and thoughts, can partake in a hunt. To ensure everyone in a hunting party has the necessary purity, they perform a special eggshell ritual before going. Each hunter holds an egg while the leader asks questions about different misdeeds. If a hunter is guilty, the hand will involuntarily twitch, crushing the egg.
Those flint arrowheads may not be what you think!
It’s not only American hunters who find old flint arrowheads; hunters in England, Wales, and Scotland do too. Scientists claim they were left by old Neolithic hunter-gatherers, but some Brits know better: it is the elves who are shooting their magical projectiles at hunters and their dogs. This explained the sudden, unexplained pains they and their dogs feel. Why do elves do it? Out of sheer malevolence. Only in J. R. R. Tolkien’s books are elves good; in British folklore, the “pixies” are pure evil.
Think you could use some luck?
Here are some things you can do to improve your relationship with the fates.
- Have someone from your household spray water behind you as you leave. This is an ancient Arab tradition that brings good luck to all departing travelers, especially hunters.
- Avoid sex before the hunt. Many hunters in Cameroon and elsewhere in Western Africa are convinced that this is essential for success.
- Share some of the game you’ve harvested. Aboriginal Australians maintain that if you don’t, the ancestral spirits will take offense and ruin your hunt.
- Don’t say “I am full!” when eating game meat. According to the Evenki of Central Siberia, the species’ Master Spirit will then instruct the animals not to give their lives to you—why should they, if you have no more need for their meat?
Is superstition conservation?
A lot of superstitions, if you look at them carefully, may be there to protect animals. For example, Australian Aboriginal peoples have “sacred sites” where the ancestors are supposed to have descended from heaven. You can’t hunt on these sites, and so they effectively work as natural reserves, where animals can find peace and shelter for reproduction. Even the ban on hunting the totem animal creates a surplus of this species, which you may fall back on when everything else fails.
Respect the animals
For nearly every hunting culture in the world, paying respect to the fallen animal is essential for future success. One of the best-known of these customs is the “Last Bite” ritual in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other European countries, where a green branch is offered to the animal. But similar traditions exist in many other cultures, although sometimes in strange forms. For example, the Evenki of Central Siberia think it’s disrespectful to break the animal’s pelvic bones. In their view, that would hinder the species’ reproduction.
Respect tradition
You do not need to believe every omen, ritual, or hunting taboo to appreciate what it means. Across cultures, these traditions often reflect something deeper: respect for animals, respect for place, and respect for the people who hunt there.
For traveling hunters, that matters. You are not expected to know every custom in advance, but you should be ready to notice them, ask about them, and treat them seriously. Even when a belief sounds unusual, it often carries a long memory of local experience, identity, and ethics. Sometimes the best trophy a hunt gives you is not only game, but a better understanding of the people and traditions that shaped the land you hunted.
Image source: ChatGPT
More on hunting culture
The Legend of St Hubert: From opponent of hunting to symbol of European hunting tradition
“The Balmoral Test”, Episode 2, Season 4 of “The Crown” TV series, finds the British royal family in a state of agitation, if not to say excitement. A “14-pointer”, that is, a red deer stag with 14 points on its antlers – an enviable hunting trophy – has crossed over from a neighboring property into the royal Balmoral estate in Scotland. That neighboring property made money on offering trophy hunting trips to paying clients, and one of those clients only wounded that magnificent stag. The guides pursued the wounded beast to the borders of Balmoral, but couldn’t cross over, and it was now up to the royal family to find the stag and put it out of its misery. And the royal family rejoiced – not at the fact that a deer had been wounded, but that they finally had a chance to bag a real trophy! CONTINUE READING
