Why do you hunt?

[Uncle Ben]

Before I begin, let me just say that I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING against hunting whatsoever. I'm just a gun enthusiest in general, currently only target though.

Basically, I am curious as to what avid hunters get out of the sport. Personally, I don't think I could comfortably take out large game, such as deer or bear, but again, I have nothing against those who do.

As far as small game, again "personally", I would have no problem taking out bird, turkey, or similar small game, but am not sure what the point would be or what I would do with it after (other than the turkey, which I would gladly eat), but perhaps sport alone is plenty reason enough.

Anyway, these are just questions I've been pondering with no hidden motives, and not trying to get a rise out of anyone. Just want to gain some insight and understanding of the subject.

Thanks.

[Kreyzhorse]

I hunt because I enjoy it. I love being outdoors and love getting a chance to see game and the other wild critters. I enjoy being part of nature and the process of nature.

As far as killing a big game animal, I find it very difficult to explain the thought process. While not coping out, I'll cope out and say that unless you've done it, you would have a very hard time understanding it or why people do it.

[deanadell]

Because I choose to be a predator instead of a scavenger

[Sportdog]

It's all about being out in the woods and fields. It's about watching the wildlife interacting with each other and their environment. It's about taking the time to really take in the splendor that God has provided us. It's about the bonding of fellow hunters and sharing the stories and experiences. It's about testing your skills as a hunter and matching them against the game that you are hunting. It's a way of developing a personal understanding what it really takes to get food on the table. It's about developing a personal understanding for the true nature of mankind's deep rooted instints of the hunter in all of us. It's about understanding what is just too difficult to put into words but achieving that feeling. It's about me being who I am.

[buck-hunter]

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What he said. I hunt deer & turkey. Both for the trophy and food. I eat anything i shoot. I wont kill an animal just to be killing.

[taylorce1]

I hunt because of the challenge of testing my abilities. 99% of my hunting is done by spot and stalk so conditions are never perfect for me to shoot in. So if it is chasing deer for two days in a constant rain with a ML, or crawling for 400+ yards on my hands and knees on the prairie to get within 100 yards on a pronghorn. Chasing elk through black timber or sneaking up on a bear on a beach. Just shooting paper never gives a challenge like that, a controlled environment never test anything other than my ability as a marksman.

I just want the full deal I want to try and beat the wind, make well placed snap shots on animals at close range. Find time to set up for that long shot before the animal gets away and because I can't get any closer. I want to do all this in as quick and humane as possible for the animal as well. So I get to test not only what I learned at the range but what I learned from countless hours in the field. Plus I found after punching paper and getting an accurate load, I wanted other ways to test my rifles.

[ELMOUSMC]

I enjoy my time hunting it gives me a chance to enjoy the greatness of Gods earth the never ending scenes that unfold when I am alone in the outdoors.Because of the wrong headed thinking of previous generation it is up to the hunter to maintain the balance of nature.Being the ultimate predator it is up to the hunter to cull the deer herds to limit their population to prevent desease( a plus is they are great eating).Also it is up to the hunter to limit the lesser predators(coyotes,Feral dogs and cats).The large carnivors the Bears,Cougars,Wolf must be limited in range due to population requirement of the human race.The requirements of agriculture necessitate the limiting of Buffalo and Elk here again the hunter is the most viable answer besides the fees paid by hunters keep the habitat for all game species hospitable and guarantee that following generations can also enjoy our birth right,Thats why I hunt ELMOUSMC

[ZeroJunk]

It's the way the Creator made things. It will quickly return to a basic instinct if you are ever REALLY hungry.

Farmers can raise 30,000 pigs in a large operation or 80,000 chickens and the human can be sanitized from the harsh reality of it as he drinks his dinner wine and makes derogatory comments about the hunter.

Is there some high ground that I am missing over a hunter taking an animal that at least has some chance to outmaneuver him? Does that wild animal's life mean more than the domestic?

Would God have made predators if they were not necessary, or would evolution have insured their existence if they were not necessary?

It's not a pretty thing to dwell on, but it is the way of things.

[Uncle Ben]

Thanks for all the really great responses so far. This is just the kind of insight I was hoping for. Keep 'em coming!

I don't want to get away from the original question too much, but a quick add-on question:
Do most of you have the animal "processed" (don't know the proper term) for meat by a professional, or do some of you undertake this task yourself?

[buck-hunter]

Somtimes i have a butcher who does it and sometimes i do it myself.

[jimbob86]

I don't want to get away from the original question too much, but a quick add-on question:
Do most of you have the animal "processed" (don't know the proper term) for meat by a professional, or do some of you undertake this task yourself?

I can't speak for "most" but we (Me and My House) DIY it, with help from a kind friend of the family that worked more than a decade in a country store's butcher shop. That woman is amazing with a butcher knife and a steel...... and she's 70 years old!

[Full-choke]

I hunt for three main reasons:

1. For the food the game brings. I always try to eat as much as possible providing the game is good. Every deer I take goes to the freezer and always will. I have even tried groundhog and muskrat but I do not keep for eating. Varmints (in general) are the only game that I will not keep for food.

2. For the love of the outdoors. I was raised on the land, outside all the time. Growing up on a farm taught me to love the outdoors and being around nature. I am happiest when I am laying out in a bean field with a rifle on my shoulder, the sun on my back and a groundhog in sights. It was the way I was raised and it will be the way I raise my children. The outdoors is more then just being outside it is a way of life and something that I truly enjoy.

3. (Varmints only) To keep population under control. Around me we get a lot of racoons, groundhogs and coyotes. All of which are a problem, especially for the farmer. I take all of these mainly for the purpose of keeping them from causing problems around the farm ground and areas. Coyotes are especially bad taking everything from the barn cats to sheep. Groundhogs and coons eat the crops and dig up fence rows and foundations. So, I play crowd control and take care of them. Most of those critters get fed to the eagles that live on my ground. Take the bullet out and throw 'em in the field for some free food.

F-C

[GSoD]

I hunt moose once a year. Why (in no particular order):

a) The food.
I love the taste of it and you can't/wouldn't be able to get it anywhere else. To eat something that hasn't been part of the mechanized farm production system is awesome. And when me and my party bag one, my freezer gets 200lbs of it.

b) The satisfaction.
I find it very rewarding to prepare and eat something that I have planned for a year, stalked for a week, brought a lifetime (even as brief as it is so far) of wilderness and weapons skills to a single make or break opportunity, gutted, cleaned and quartered. This is double when I make it for my wife and new daughter. For a city kid, its a unique experience to provide on such a basic level.

c) The challenge.
In the wilderness for a week with nothing more than you can carry in. Taking what you've done at the range for a year and resting it all on one shot. Everything is for all the marbles.

d) The boys.
The comradrie around the campfire. Gearing up for the morning scout. Upto your armpits in blood and guts. Its a blast!

e) The rush.
I won't lie about it. It is a rush. Not like sex, but not too far behind in its physiological affects. I don't think it is an inherient joy in killing. I think it is a hardwired response that was either instilled in caveman days or developed since then because now you know you'll be eating. Your family or even whole tribe will be eating. I think nature has hardwired this internal reward system into us. It's impossible to describe and I'm sure different for every person. And maybe even non-existent in many. But if it was the all or nothing days I believe those without this mechanism would perish or not sustain their reproduction.

f) The wilderness.
I once heard golf described as an excuse to walk through a park. I consider hunting and fishing to be an excuse to enjoy the wilderness. A reason to just sit there perfectly silent, perfectly motionless, with all your senses set to drink it all in.

[Doyle]

In addition to the love of the woods, there is a certain feeling you get from the "feel of the chase" that just can't be duplicated any other way. I'm not much of an anthropologist, but I can't help but think it is hard-wired into our genetic makeup.

When I moved down to SW Florida (where good hunting is very scarce), I really missed this feeling. So, I took up spearfishing. It was almost as good. Now, I'm getting a little old for chasing fish and I've put more effort into finding places to hunt on land.

[Art Eatman]

Pretty much "all of the above".

Some of it is the sporting challenge: Bambi practices being a deer for 365 days a year. So, I gotta figure out what he does, when he does it, and where all that's likely to happen. If I do my homework, hey, the food's great!

Dove and quail are just really tasty! So, since they taste better than skeet, they're of interest in their own sporting-sense way. If food was the only issue, I'd just build a cage trap in my front yard and eat all I wanted.

I've always done my own gutting/skinning/butchering and then the cooking. Blood washes off a lot easier than engine oil or axle grease.

There's the social aspect of being with good people around a campfire, swapping lies and stories. There is also the sense of connection with thousands of generations of forebears who also relied on their own wits, talents and skills to have meat.

Art

[ELMOUSMC]

Skinning gutting and butchering are all part of the deal .After the Deer have hung for a couple of days and are ready to be butchered all the fellows I hunt with meet at someones farm(we switch every year) hang the the deer and go to work Our wives bring food of every description,the first thing out is the backstraps and they go on the grill.After pigging out the deer are reduced to steaks,chops and roasts,the trimmings are put in buckets and sent home with the widow of one of our deceased hunting buddys to be made into the best sausage in this part of the country.Everything is wrapped equal shares for all.Thats how we do it here in N.E Iowa.Just before we head home we all join hands and thank God for the great gifts he has given us to share.So you see it is all part of the deal! elmousmc

[Uncle Ben]

Wow, you guys are literally putting smiles on my face as I read these. This is great stuff!

[Desslock]

I've been hunting since I was 10. I'm now 34. I had about a twelve year hiatus in there somewhere because I just wasn't interested in hunting at that time in my life. I haven't bagged a deer yet, but I still go hunting every year. (I also suck at golfing, but I love to go.) I actually enjoy small game hunting more because I get kinda fidgety after sitting for like a half an hour, and when I cruise the woods for grouse and such I can make all the noise I want. And I wonder why I haven't shot a deer yet. I have, however, shot plenty of small game, and I consume all that I shoot.

I enjoy being in the woods, providing food for myself and the wife, and on the rare occasions where I am sitting still, I love the sounds. The wind through the leaves and the grass, songbirds doing their thing, all that. I can't really explain why I lost interest in the first place, it's just that after a while the cool autumn woods were calling to me again. I always go alone, too. I have no hunting buddies. When I was a kid I went out with dad and his friends. Maybe the lack of camaraderie is what made me lose interest way back when. Now I love going out alone.

On a side note, I have never lost interest in target shooting.

[Loaded4yote]

I hunt deer, turkey, squirrel, rabbit, and the occasional bird because I like eatting wild game and also it helps with the grocery bill. Also, it's part of our heritage.

I hunt predators because they're competition. And I don't like competition.

[bclark1]

I never really saw a difference between killing large versus small game. Taking a life is taking a life. Human life is obviously a different situation. I avoid taking life except when I'm hunting, and then it's very carefully calculated. I go so far as to try to leave the bugs in my place alone unless they're getting into something. Worst I felt was when I accidentally hit a bird driving, because I knew it was unintentional and a waste.

Without being repetitive in this thread, hunting is the whole package for me. It's my favorite vacation. I enjoy every aspect of it, from organizing my gear to putting the meat in the freezer.

[oneSoneK]

I hunt deer & turkey. Both for the trophy and food. I eat anything i shoot. I wont kill an animal just to be killing.

Same. I killed a lizard one time.. hit it with a rock my grandpa saw and well lets just say that it needed garlic....TRUE story...

Iv been a deer hunter since i was 6 and never missed a season and i can honestly say its been years since iv bought meat from the store (except the rare t-bone) i was raised to respect every animal and unless my life was in danger never kill what you dont intend to eat. As far as bear and other big game i have no clue.. in my opinion its people with to much money that want a story for the club house at the local country club. but thats just me.

[Kreyzhorse]

Do most of you have the animal "processed" (don't know the proper term) for meat by a professional, or do some of you undertake this task yourself?

I gut mine but have them processed. What can I say, I'm a better hunter than I am a butcher! My wife and I eat what I kill so I figure if I'm going to take the time to hunt and kill game for the table, I'll let a professional do the butchering.

[eviltravis]

To eat.

[MeekAndMild]

When I was a kid and the steel mill was laying off or on strike we could retreat to one of the grandparents' farms and survive. Nowadays if there is ever any big strike or production glitch the only people who will survive will be the hunters, fishermen and "hobby farmers".

We worked on picking cotton, tending to watermelons, picking beans, raising chickens, pigs, catfish and cattle plus hunting and fishing. What used to be the common small farm is now just a "hobby farm" and the average American gets 90% of their calories as one or another product of factory farmed corn. So hunting is a primary source of real food. Most everything else is reprocessed corn.

Mankind stopped depending on the process of gathering bugs and lizards some time a few thousand years ago when we started hunting. We went from chasing down antelopes to spearing game to using bows and rifles but the principle is the same. Modern society is more efficient raising food but that efficiency is an historical anomaly and will pass one day in a year or a century. When it passes if I'm still alive I plan on being a hunter and farmer, not a gatherer of bugs and lizards.

[rem870hunter]

i started when i was 11. shotgun for deer,pheasant,quail. when i was 14 took up bow hunting. by 16 i was hunting with muzzleloader too. my father and grandfather hunted when they were younger. for them it was more for food than fun. for me its food, time with my dad and grandad when he was here. we went out of state 5 times and being outside enjoying peace and quiet. i find that if i sit somewhere long enough the birds and squirrels will come out and play. i do enjoy the sounds of nature even when its distubed by a shot or 2 ringing out.

i don't varmint hunt and i have no problem with it. i would if i had the land too and they were being problems. there is a groundhog or 2 that come around once in awhile here. but it don't chew on anything on my land.

we usually take the deer to a butcher. i thought on doing it myself. would probably be cheaper.