Shocking on-site report】Numerous exchanges of life with beasts…! Close-up of American hunter living in Hyogo Prefecture hunting “Shivering Photos”.

In the first part of the article “Helping the hunter shortage! 　The “tumultuous life” of an American man who became a hunter in Japan,” we covered the story of how Hamor Jeffrey Heath, 41, made the decision to come to Japan to live as an “American hunter. In the second part of the series, we will introduce the hunting activities of Mr. Hamor and his friends.

Hamor said that he accompanies Mr. Fujita, a newcomer who has just obtained his hunting license, on hunting trips and gives him guidance. On this day, they patrolled three traps set in wooded areas near residential areas, farmland, and other locations. He carefully explained how to set the traps in the path of the beasts by concealing the wires with fallen leaves so that the boars would not be able to detect them.

When the Agricultural Affairs Division of the City Hall receives a report of animal damage from a resident, the city and the hunting club jointly survey the damage and decide where to set the traps,” he said.

After completing his rounds, he headed for the Nishinomiya Branch’s office and storage shed, which the hunters call “the shed. On this day, Hamor teaches new hunters how to make a trap using a wire. At the Nishinomiya branch, Hamor and other veterans give lectures on gun hunting, trapping, and dismantling prey.

In the U.S., coyotes are trapped with a pair of tiger scissors (which you put your foot in and it bounces.) and a metal plate! ), but we never used to trap deer or wild boar. Japanese trapping is unique. My mentor catches 100 boars in a year. It’s amazing.

On Sundays, Mr. Hamor conducts a Maki-hunt jointly with a local hunting club in Tamba Sasayama City, located on the border of Hyogo and Kyoto prefectures. When they arrive at the mountain where they will be hunting, Mr. Hamor gives them instructions and assigns the tatema (archers). Mr. Yoneda, who is a “seiko” (a chaser) with a Kai dog, chases after the prey. On the day I accompanied Mr. Yoneda, there were no prey in the morning, so we had lunch and went to another hunting ground.

With Mr. Hamor leading the way, we climbed the mountain and arrived at Tatema. On the way there, we saw a “wet area” where boars or deer bathe in the mud, so we could expect a good catch.

Soon after each of us had taken our positions, Mr. Yoneda told us, “A deer has appeared. It’ s heading toward Hamo. Mr. Hamor readied his Browning A-bolt. A few minutes later, a gunshot sounded nearby.

Another shot was fired. We got it,” came the radio call. Hamor rushed in the direction of the shot and found a doe lying on the ground. It was Keiko Sasamoto, who had been hunting for five years.

The deer jumped out of nowhere, but I was able to handle it more calmly than I expected,” she said.

The members of the hunting party congratulated Ms. Sasamoto on her memorable first kill.

Today is the best day ever!

Mr. Hamor was very satisfied with his hunt.

The next morning, Hamor received a call that a boar had been caught in a trap he had set and headed for the site. The scene was a park in an upscale residential area facing a slope.

A boar weighing about 30 kg, with its left front leg caught in a wire, was struggling desperately. We approached the boar from behind cautiously, because if we were not careful, it would attack back. Mr. Hamor struck the boar in the brain with an iron pipe as a “coup de grace.

If it were a little rivulet, I would put him in a headlock with my bare hands to finish him off.

When I was working as a car exporter, I was so busy every day that I didn’t have much time to spare mentally. I think I was stressed out because I couldn’t adjust to life in the city. After moving to Hyogo Prefecture, I was able to live with my family in an environment where nature was close at hand, and I met senior members and friends of the hunting club. I received meat from the mountains and began to grow rice and vegetables, and I was able to have an ideal life for myself.”

Just as he learned to hunt from his grandfather and father in the United States in the past, Hamor hopes to pass on the joy of hunting to his son, Kaiharu.