Paper short abstract:

Mountain hunting in the Alps is undergoing major upheavals. Working on hunts carried out in different mountain territories in France (Savoie/Isère) and in Switzerland (canton of Valais), we wish to question how hunters define a way of living together with this alpine fauna.

Paper long abstract:

Mountain hunting in the Alps is undergoing major upheavals linked to the intensification of the recreational activities in certain mountain areas, cultural changes in the appreciation of hunting at the societal level and transformations of the environment (soil artificialisation, climate change, return of large predators…). Working on hunts carried out in different mountain territories in France (Savoie/Isère) and in Switzerland (canton of Valais) thanks to ethgnographical work and semi-structured interviews, we wish to question the way in which these mountain hunts are evolving today and how hunters define a way of living together with this alpine fauna, between care practices, recreational activities, passion and “rewilding”. Depending on the type of hunting, but also on the history of the territories, the organisation of groups of hunters, and the personal relationship developed by each of them with the practice and certain animals, different ways of thinking about the wild and of constructing its relationship to naturalness emerge. We propose to shed light on these questions by comparing our different mountain hunting experiences.