WHY HUNT ??

[Mayor Al]

OK, I am a meat hunter. I shoot Hogs and Deer for use in our home kitchen. If I ever want too I will go after Turkey and maybe even Squirrel for the same reasons.

I shoot Crows and Groundhogs because they mess up my property and damage my fruit trees. I haven't shot a raccoon in years or a Possum or a skunk, but might if they were doing damage to my property. We are starting to see Coyotes now and then, so add them to my "Maybe someday" hunting list.

Now my question. Why go out to shoot a Bear or a large Deer/Elk, or a Cougar ?

I see these Hunters on TV trotting over miles of woodlands to finally shoot one of those big critters 30 miles from anywhere, then Heading for the 'road' with just the antlers, or worse just the photos of the dead critter to use after the hunt. What do you Big Game Hunters do with the carcass of your kills after the wilderness hunt? Please, this question is not meant as a criticism, I just wonder if the meat is used or just left while the Trophy is retained. I have never seen a hunter say he was looking forward to his 500 lbs of Bear meat this winter.

[Hansam]

I've hunted and taken 1 bear and 1 elk. I ate both animals I took. The bear was about 10 miles from the nearest road but only about 1 mile from my friend's cabin. We used 4-wheelers to get the carcass out of the woods after we field dressed it, skinned and quartered it. The elk... I admit was a high fence canned hunt. I won the hunt in a raffle that I'd actually entered for the guns they were raffling off but got the hunt instead. That was in a 500+ acre fenced in area that they released one female elk into. I found the animal at the far southern corner of the compound after tracking it for half the day (the danged things don't walk in a straight line and I'm not that good of a tracker!) I shot her dead where she stood and placed a radio call to the people who owned the place. I hiked out while they came and got her with 4-wheelers and I took her home in the back of my truck afterwards - in pieces.

I'd like to hunt elk in the wild but at this point its outside of my budget and frankly not a necessity so I won't be hunting wild elk any time soon. I have no desire to pay into and wait on the lottery here for bear tags so I won't be hunting bear anymore either unless they eliminate the lottery but that won't happen any time soon. If I get the chance to hunt large game I'll take it but I will also NOT just hunt for a trophy. I'll eat the wild game I take too.

Oh and I never came close to seeing a 500lb bear when I bear hunted. The largest I saw topped 300 maybe... and the one I shot was closer to 200. I got about 100lbs of meat off it after it was gutted, skinned and boned. I bet in order to get 500lbs of meat off a bear that thing'd have to weigh more like 650 - 700lbs - that's HUGE for black bear around here. Personally while I'll eat bear I'm not so much a fan of that as I am of elk meat. Having eaten it I can say I like it more than deer and definitely more than bear.

I've heard of other hunters taking the trophy but giving the meat to local charities so it doesn't get wasted.

[shortwave]

Don't much care for the taste of bear so I don't hunt them.

I eaten mule deer,elk, moose, big horn sheep and would hunt them again if they were local.

Whitetail deer are the big local thing here in Ohio. I tag my share every year and love the meat. Yes, I also hunt(usually bow hunt) for the largest buck I can get. Been hunting a real trophy for the last five years. If I'm lucky enough to stick him this year, he'll undoubtedly be stronger/tougher then a nice young doe but he will be ground up, mixed with sausage for burger and some will be made into some tasty eating jerky.
He'll eat just fine.

Too, I don't do many head mounts anymore but his rack will be cut off, mounted on a nice piece of wood and hung with the rest of them.

Bottom line ....
... I couldn't shoot a trophy(or non-trophy) deer, elk or any other game animal and let the carcass go to waste. Goes against everything I think a hunter should be.

YMMV.

[Woody55]

I'm pretty much like Mayor Al. I'll kill it if I am going to eat it, or if it is destroying property (raccoons became targets of opportunity after they ate all of my wife's melons out of her garden in one week).

If i was going to hunt bear - and I assume I wouldn't want to eat it, and I know I don't want a rug or a stuffed trophy - it would be for two reasons. One, it's part of regulating the population and if I had a tag, I'm part of the process. Two, it would be for the cameraderie (hope I spelled that right ) of the hunt.

[Doyle]

Just because you see the hunters on TV only carrying the antlers doesn't mean that the meat is left in the field. Remember, that many of the scenes on these shows are staged or recreated for the camera.

[chewie146]

I've hunted things I don't necessarily love to eat, but I eat them. Deer is one of those. Mulies around here eat some nasty stuff and are usually gamey. The elk are much better. Hunting is hunting in my book, and no matter if you get a trophy bull elk or a mess of squirrels, you need to use or donate the meat. In inordinately successful years, my parents and I will give meat to relatives so it doesn't go to waste. With a grinder, a dehydrator, a grill, and a crock-pot, there's not too much you can't make edible.

[Brian Pfleuger]

It's illegal pretty much everywhere to leave the carcass of a big game animal that you've killed.

The shows you see where they're packing out just the antlers...

Notice how that hunt takes like 30 minutes, sometimes including the flight time and drive to camp?

Yeah, that's because they don't show you the whole thing. No TV show is leaving the meat in the field and packing out the antlers. If they did, they'd get nailed by the law, and have been.

I only hunt deer but I regularly let small and young walk and shoot the biggest I can find, which is generally not very big but still the biggest I can find.

Why?

Because shooting the little ones is too easy. Part of the experience is the challenge. If I went in the woods and shot the first deer I saw every time, it would be boring and over quick. No thrill, no chase, no exertion, no reward.

[Strafer Gott]

A dry cow elk( no calf) is by far the best eating wild game, with whitetail a close second. The rest of it I throw rocks at to chase away. Ate bear once and found it too greasy. Moose is good,too, but you have to go to Canada for those.

[YARDDOG(1)]

Brian, Do you bow hunt ??
Y/D

[JimPage]

Why hunt? Because I like to hunt.

[rickyjames]

i have eaten bear jerky, and it delicious.
i have watched hunting shows for years and there are only a few that look realistic. i would prefer a realistic show that goes home empty handed than some of the "ranch" hunts where you can see the high fences in the distance and you sit near some automatic feeder. these texas ranch show are a joke. one of the biggest offenders is that one brief time rockstar/draft dodger that has been ticketed a number of times for baiting illegally to score footage for his show.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by YARDDOG(1)

Brian, Do you bow hunt ??
Y/D

Yes, it's my favorite way to hunt, by far.

[L_Killkenny]

The question should be "why not hunt?". Every so often threads come up about why do people kill critters they can't possibly or don't eat. Those folk live in their own little world. Lot's of reason to hunt even if you let a carcass rot in the field. Population control and fur being 2. Left unchecked most critters in the U.S. would over populate an area quickly if left unchecked. Ever see what happens when distemper runs thru a coon population or mange thru fox populations? Not pretty and far less humane than shooting em. As for fur that's pretty self explanatory. Now some so-called hunters get all high and mighty and say we don't need fur for clothes, well you don't need venison to eat either so touche.

But possibly the main reason to hunt is because I'm a predator. Top dog in my woods and by god I'm gonna hunt. Not gonna make apologies to anyone for my hobby or my methods and generally don't have to explain myself to anyone with a lick of common sense. Seems I only have to explain myself to folk with the same amount of common sense a six week old puppy. In short? You do what you want to do and stop worrying so dang much about the next guy.

[ZeroJunk]

Elk may be the best tasting wild game meat there is. I actually prefer it over beef because it tastes similar but doesn't have so much fat. And, it is so much better than deer there is really no comparison.

[markj]

Why hunt? cause I can. Cause I always have, coming from a rural background. Cause the 6 deer I run into cost me 250 ea on the deductable. Insurance guy is training them I think....

[Double Naught Spy]

Why hunt? Because I like to hunt.

I depredation hunt. I don't care about the meat, though I have given hogs to several folks for food. I don't even like the aspect of having to dispatch the animals. However, it has become necessary to do so and the challege to do so in an efficient manner has proven quite interesting. In fact, the whole business has become quite educational from the standpoint of learning about animal physiology and behavior. As such, the task has changed from being rather grim to something positive. It is something I can do, have aspects I have come to enjoy, but would not do if it was not necessary. Of course by law where I am, depredation hunting really isn't "hunting" in terms of a lot of the legal aspects of the game laws and so the due diligence aspects are greatly reduced.

As much as I have found the ancillary aspects of hunting to be so interesting, many people do as well about the whole business of the chase, although few folks seem to go out and do it on their own. I like the aspect that all the decisions are mine to make and not those of the guide.

I only hunt deer but I regularly let small and young walk and shoot the biggest I can find, which is generally not very big but still the biggest I can find.

LOL, I have a couple that have been deer hunting my place for 4 years. They will eat what they kill. However, she is after a decent trophy (which won't be terribly big, but will be for my little area) and so she picks out her options at the beginning of the season and those are the bucks she goes after. He won't shoot a deer until she does...so as not to ruin her hunt. So far, they have killed zero deer on my place...waiting on her to get her prize.

Like me, they really enjoy being out and about, but as much as they enjoy watching the critters and such, they would not be there to watch the critters if they were not hunting. Watching critters from the stand is a side benefit and not a primary goal.

[shortwave]

Elk may be the best tasting wild game meat there is.

Haven't eaten all the wild game there is but of what I have eaten, my tastebuds say that's fairly accurate.

The shows you see where they're packing out just the antlers...

Notice how that hunt takes like 30 minutes, sometimes including the flight time and drive to camp?

Yeah, that's because they don't show you the whole thing. No TV show is leaving the meat in the field and packing out the antlers. If they did, they'd get nailed by the law, and have been.

Correct.

Friend of mine(Tom King) has an excellent hunting show called 'Bighorn Outdoors'....

....Oooops (08-25-2012), think the name of his new show for this season may be Relentless Pursuit. Just saw him on Relentless Pursuit and will have to give him a call to see what's up.

Anyway, a 30 min. hunting show is very costly and can sometimes take several days of footage to make.
Same with fishing shows. Once fished right next to Roland Martin on Lake Okeechobee for four days whilst they were filming for a show. The bass were where we were at but for some reason had lockjaw.

Most of the shows don't include the field dressing process for cost of production reason's...

... and the fact that showing this process would just give the anti-hunting crowd more ammo to promote their agenda.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by DNS

LOL, I have a couple that have been deer hunting my place for 4 years. They will eat what they kill. However, she is after a decent trophy (which won't be terribly big, but will be for my little area) and so she picks out her options at the beginning of the season and those are the bucks she goes after. He won't shoot a deer until she does...so as not to ruin her hunt. So far, they have killed zero deer on my place...waiting on her to get her prize.

Like me, they really enjoy being out and about, but as much as they enjoy watching the critters and such, they would not be there to watch the critters if they were not hunting. Watching critters from the stand is a side benefit and not a primary goal.

I can't lie, I also regularly shoot small and young animals but only because we have so many tags. If I had one tag and I was done, I'd always wait... even if I ended with the same small critter, I'd rather hunt longer.

Being able to watch the animals and generally de-fuse from real life is a big part of why I'm out there too. Some of the coolest things I've ever seen have been from a treestand and if I shot the first bag of meat that walked by, I probably wouldn't have seen most of them.

[math teacher]

I hunt, therefore I am. Or is it, "I am, therefore I hunt?" Gee post 100. Now I am a senior member, therefore now I are a expert.

[Nathan]

Well, in MT, we used to do this thing called dragging them. I drug a deer like 3 miles once so we wouldn't mess up the farmer's road! Fortunately it was downhill and I was in peak condition. I drug it about a mile to the road and the the farmer is like, well, we are so close to the house, you might as well drag it the whole way!

If desperate, one might cut it in half before dragging it out. Elk are BIG!

If you see a REAL hunter carrying only the head out first, it is simply a choice. In wilderness, there are lots of hunters. Most non-human. You have to make a call. FR quarters, RR quarters or cape and head. Most carry the head out as a big one is not replaceable and is a lifetime achievement. You don't want to lose that to a wolf. In some areas, you might be able to get a replacement tag if they eat your meat. . .not sure. You are still going back for 2 more trips. . .or paying a guy with a horse for some help.

Also, here was the deal with meat for me. With Elk coming last, I usually had 2 antelope and 2 deer in the fridge, so I had some meat. . . .actually enough for the whole year. I think when we got too much meat, we donated the cut Antelope to the local mission.

Last, on TV, they have people call bearer's. Look up bear and you will know who was carrying the Elk!

[SavageSniper]

I hunt because it has been a way of life and by far my favorite thing to do. I am also a meat hunter. Don't really care about horns, you have to boil them way too long to make them edible. Being from Florida I am blessed with a hunting season that last 5 months since I bow hunt, and can take 2 a day if possible. My wife hunts now too and that has been very rewarding. For those of you who has a spouse, get her in the woods with you. For once you can teach her something and if she like it you end up with more toys and a stronger relationship!

[Art Eatman]

Mayor Al, don't take TV hunting shows as a total package of the hunting thing. As many years of hunting, as many other hunters as I have known? Nope, never heard of any honest hunter taking only a trophy head.

As near as I can tell, for most hunters it's a mix of meat and a decent rack on a buck. Sure, does are also important to those for whom the meat is the main deal.

I've had a couple of opportunities to kill a cougar, but I didn't. A buddy of mine got into money trouble so I bought his cougar skin for the cost of the taxidermist's fee. Saved me some hassle. And, I can just sit back now and be lazy about just observing, not shooting. They're around my home place on a halfway regular basis.

The coyotes compete with me for quail. So, I'll occasionally get ambitious and do some calling and pop a couple. Good enough. I like to hear the yodel dogs sing.

Prairie dogs? Ask an alfalfa farmer what a 20% reduction in his income means. Or, if a tunnel collapses under a cow or a trained cow horse, how much money just went down the tubes?

But hunting a good place with a good group of folks, sitting around a campfire swapping lies? Hey, can't beat that for Good.

[shortwave]

But hunting a good place with a good group of folks, sitting around a campfire swapping lies? Hey, can't beat that for Good.

True'r(sp?) words were never spoken Art.

Especially the older I get.

When I was younger, the group we used to get together with had a few older guys that didn't go out hunting much but showed up at camp every year.

They took care of camp, along with us young bucks. They set most of the camp 'ground' rules...which weren't many... made sure the campfire stayed lit through the day, always had a pot of somethin on the fire(didn't always know what it was , but was always good). Best of all...always had the most enjoyable tales to tell. Mostly 'tall' tales, but never-the-less, camp wouldn't have been the same without them. Sometimes they would get lie'n so much they would make each other mad.. Almost like one was out doing the other.

Today, most of those fella's are passed on and huntin the 'big sky' country.

Many,many years of great memories with a few thrown in I don't care to dwell on.

Too, us younger bucks aren't so young anymore and are finding ourselves, more and more each year, becoming the 'older guys' at camp.

Hope we can bless the younger fella's with the same great memories we carry today.

[rgrundy]

I hunt because I was good at it and enjoyed it from the time I was very young. The older family members always encouraged me to do it and it became my "job" because I was very good at it and they enjoyed the wild meat. It was also much more enjoyable than splitting wood or other chores. I always hunted for meat and learned from a young age how to care for it even if there was no refrigeration. None of them would eat a bear so I never killed one. When we moved west they didn't like antelope or javelinas so I basically hunted deer and elk and small game. I have one mounted deer head and a few European mounts of deer. The elk antlers were all sold with sheds I gathered for cash. Hunting was always for subsisitence so even though I shot some big elk and deer the antlers were never trophies but a cash bonus. I never could understand trophy hunting. The gift of food from God was and is what hunting is all about for me.

[tahunua001]

a single cougar can do as much damage to live stock as a wolf, they never become the nuisance that the wolves have because they don't hunt in packs but they are dangerous to livestock and people.

I eat bear, deer, elk, moose, pronghorn and bison so I hunt all of those animals with meat in mind.