Green’s Dictionary of Slang

hunting n.

also squirrel hunting

(UK Und.) searching for a victim whether for a theft, a confidence trick etc.

[UK]B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Hunting c. decoying or drawing others into Play.
[UK]New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
[UK]Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
[UK]Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
[UK] ‘Modern Dict.’ in Sporting Mag. May XVIII .
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]Lex. Balatronicum.
[UK]Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

hunting license (n.)

(US prison) a commitment to kill an inmate, often ordered by a gang leader.

[US]J. Homer Jargon 41: Don’t mess with the Sanitation Commissioner – he has a hunting license.
[US]Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 94: Occasionally certain gang members are assigned to kill someone. This mission is known as a hunting license.