猎

Left dog radical (side-form of 犬) — anchors 猎 as an activity done with hunting dogs. The radical pictures a crouching dog poised to give chase. From dog-hunting came the broader senses to hunt and to seek (猎人 hunter, 猎奇 to seek the strange). Same radical family: 狗 (dog), 狼 (wolf), 猫 (cat), 狮 (lion).

Right 昔 supplies a residual phonetic (xī → liè through historical drift in this old phonetic series). The traditional form was 獵 with a fuller phonetic 巤; the simplified 猎 substitutes 昔 as a graphic shortcut. The former-times meaning of 昔 plays no role here. Same simplified phonetic in 借 (borrow), 错 (wrong), 措 (arrange).