As Ike observed on his first hunting trip as a ten-year-old, "He was witnessing his own birth. It was not even strange to him. He had experienced it all before, and not merely in dreams" (Cowley 201).
Just as Old Bear symbolized the wilderness, the hunt symbolized the rituals that man needed to perpetuate his illusion of the world and of his place in it. This lesson was not lost on young Ike: "To him, they were not going to hunt bear and deer but to keep yearly rendezvous with the bear which they did not even intend to kill" (Cowley 199). As literary scholar Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber noted in her article about Faulkner's collection of short stories, "Nature, for Ike, is the fantasy upon which the consistency of his being depends. Ike preserves the wilderness by giving it a place outside of the symbolic order in the fantasy space that regulates his desire. Ike must preserve his ideal of the morally beneficial wilderness in order to sustain his identity as an individual. Ike receives his recognition as a subject from the wilderness by immersing himself in its rituals and being a "worthy" opponent" (477).
Then, there are the dogs who are important members of the hunting party. One dog in particularly, appropriately named Lion, is as "dogged" in his pursuit of Old Ben as are his masters. Lion is not going to give up "the prize" without giving it every ounce of his strength and determination. Ike never failed to be impressed by Lion's tenacity, and wondered to himself, "Maybe that's what courage is" (Cowley 239). For Faulkner, Lion is a symbol of man himself -- Old Bear might have successfully intimidated the others with his presence, but the little dog would never budge. Lion represents the unshakable spirit of man, who is courageous in battle, and puts his fears aside for the conquest, which is perceived as securing the collective good. Of course, despite his unwavering courage, Lion is no match for his more formidable opponent, and he is killed, but with his dignity intact and his identity forever preserved in myth.
