Communal Hunting Among the Acholi of Northern Uganda

As a little boy, living in my rural village, I had got so deeply subsumed into the Acholi  culture that treasured the hunter-gatherer way of life that I never ever thought there was any other better alternative to this life.  Existence was simply about growing up, living off the land, and enjoying a mastery over everything God gave for free and hunting was one such free gifts of nature we were passionate about.

Among the Acholi, manhood at the time was determined by such imperatives as the  capacity of a young man to harness a living from the environment. This would decide not only his status, but also the level of respectability from the women folk because, a woman begins to look up to such a man as one who would deliver her to a world of honey, milk and gold.

The most interesting aspect of the Acholi hunting culture was the egalitarian perspective of the rules that govern hunting wild game. Hunting would begin with an announcement from a tracker to the entire village that a wild animal has been tracked and located. A tracker does his job better early morning after a night downpour when the soil is wet and the tracks of wild animals are visible.  He blows his hands to alert the village as a whole about a planned hunt. The sound he makes is usually very familiar to all the villagers.

Men and children gather with spears and hunting nets in preparation for the hunt, which is usually done, late in the afternoon as a leisure activity after the farm work. Armed with nets, spears and clubs, the tracker leads the way chatting and explaining the game plan to the hunters. As the located area gets nearer, the hunters begin to talk in whispers and signs. The children are located all round the area equidistantly with very clear instructions to make the loudest noise once the hunt begins.

The science of wild game movement is already a well-rehearsed body of knowledge to the trackers. For example, they know that every animal tracked would always run tracing its steps backwards to where exactly it came from, so nets and the killer men with spears would be positioned along the track where the wild game came from. The men with tree branches would then be unleashed into the bushes where they suspect the animal to be hiding. Ululations, drums and shouting of all manners then erupt from all directions. The children would be shouting their voices out and the only quiet place would be where the men wielding spears behind the nets would be taking cover.Once the animal is dislodged from its hiding place, it runs to the direction of quiet area and within minutes, it entangles itself in a net. The men then spear it to death.