Why do you hunt?

why hunt

Eyes front of head ...Hunter;Eyes side of head..........Food

why hunt

Although sometimes in the course of life,hunters kill hunters.



Bear,mt lion,yote etc

Food. No respect for trophy hunters whatsoever. Wasting meat should be a hanging offense.

I "hunt" to be in nature. I have seen several deer, all less than 30 ft away. One has presented a shot, and I didn't take it. I could go all day and not see a deer and still enjoy my "hunt". Being away from it all puts me at peace. Now, if I kill, I'll eat it. I agree with Fender on that (unless the hunter donates the meat to something like hunters for the hungry but that isn't wasting the meat).

I only started hunting when I turned 26 and started having children. It really woke me up. Where does food come from? How can we continue to get food in the future? What's the best food for my family?

I can't describe the feeling I get when my kids are eating Dove (which they love) that I hunted, and they are eating a salad grown by me in the garden.

I also won't handicap them as I was, and they will know how to hunt growing up.

This is one of those "all of the above" package deals for me. Whether actually trying to outwit Bambi or Wily, or just sitting around a campfire, I feel a connection to many hundreds of generations of forebears. Camaraderie with fellow hunters is part of it. Tasty food is part of it. Satisfaction in successfully using a skill is part of it.

Just bunches of stuff. Been that way for nearly seventy years, now. Doubt I'll change anytime soon...

Reasons for the "hunt"

Many things could be said but hunting is just who I am; I am able to connect with the past, see things more clearly in the present, and have greater hope for the future; when out in the woods, God is more present than any church I have ever been in; his creation is more appreciated than any other time; amazing how much more the sunrises and the sunsets mean and are enjoyed while hunting; the fresh smell of clean air, the songs of birds more heard,the sounds of running water more relaxing, and the peace that surpasses all understanding that is placed upon oneself is why I trully live for the "hunt";

Plus the meat that is gathered for our table is cherished every time that a meal is prepared; this and many more reasons is why I live to hunt and hunt to live;

Although my father and grandfathers were not hunters, I have always had this urge and passion for the sport. A friend that worked with my mother recognized this when I was about 12 and started about taking my on a variety of hunting and fishing trips. Through this man I learned respect for animals, safety for firearms, and a true love of the hunt. It is more an escape for me now than anything. Time to think about life. I have been whitetail hunting probably 40 times a year for the last 8 years, but haven't shot a deer for horns in over 7 years. Sometimes I dont shoot at all. Bowhunting last year, I had deer in almost every hunt. Particularly a doe with two fawns born that year that were in my food plot daily. The little button buck was the most vocal animal I ever have seen. He walked around grunted and beeping all the time. Then he would leave for a bit and come running back in 10 minutes later full speed and scare the sh*t out of his sister. It was very amusing. I have to believe these animals saw me in my tree stand at least a few times, but I think they realized they were safe. Thats the kind of thing that keeps me hunting.

Hunting and shooting is just a part of my life, always has been. Some of my earliest memories as a child were watching my family all excited, gettin' ready for opening day, or lookin out the kitchen window of the farmhouse, waiting for them to come in from the woods, so we could enjoy Thanksgiving dinner..... spoilin' my appetite for turkey and dressin' by nibblin' on pickled deer heart. In my family, being included on these hunts was a passage into adulthood, and the first time I was asked for advice on what we should do next during a hunt was like a medal of honor. First year I deer hunted was my grandpa's last. He was in his seventies and I was 12. I walked over to his stand to check on him, only to catch him warming himself by a small fire with his Stevens across his lap. I told him he was gonna scare all the deer away with his fire. He told me deer get cold too, and that he was waitin' for a deer to come and warm up. Knowing I was correct, I set the .32 against a tree and sat down beside the fire to warm my hands. I was still drinking the last of the lukewarm coffee he had left in his thermos when he jumped up and emptied both barrels of the 16 ga. SXS into the chest of a forkhorn that had walked up from behind. Every now and then when I alone in the woods, when the cold has my fingers going numb and I ain't seen a deer yet, I'll start a fire and wait......I've yet to have a deer show up, but sometimes I believe I feel grandpa sittin' there beside me.

50% for being in the outdoors with great friends, 50% for the meat. Agree with Fender on trophy hunters...eat those bears and cougars!

Because deer rarely kills itself and serves it to me and my family

For food, for the challenge, for the excitment...I love all of it. Working hard and failing is all part of the experience that makes the success so sweet.

Now, I think you have to be really careful how you interpret the term "trophy hunter" when vilifying somebody. When I hunted Africa, I was absolutely a "trophy hunter" in that I was trying to get the best featured animal I could while also prioritizing the older animals who were done their breeding. However, that does NOT mean that any meat was wasted or that I skinned an animal and left the meat in the field. That was absolutely not the case. We ate the game that we shot: kudu steaks, impala liver, gemsbok filet...there's no way I was turning away those treats. Any meat that I personally could not consume while over there (you are not allowed to import any of it to the US because of the strict USDA laws) was bought up by my professional hunting staff and used to feed their families.

Basically, I'm saying that just because someone chooses to skip on certain animals in favor of what they consider to be superior animals (trophy hunting) doesn't mean they waste the meat. In my experience, killing an animal and caping it for the hides only is more what I've seen in obviously poached animal carcasses.

The best days ever spent with my dad were duck and pheasant hunting the Dakotas, deer hunting northern Wisconsin, and walleye fishing in Canada. I am doing everything I can so that my 9 year old son will have the same memories with me, and am really excited that my 22 year old stepdaughter went turkey hunting with me for the firs time this spring, so there will be some memories for her, too.

The other reason is that I grew up very small town and married a city girl who will not move outside of Louisville, and hunting is about all that keeps me sane living in the middle of 1 million other people.

Pigs gotta die. Friends, coyotes, and buzzards gotta eat.

Hunting can be both a challenge and is fun.

It gets me away from my wife! <<pause>> Oh crap! I have to stop typing what the voices in my head tell me.

I was born and raised in the country, and now live in the "surbs"...hate it here in "Joke"land County!

Hunting gives me an excuse to head north, to the family farm. I seriously don't care if I get a deer or not. I see my brother, pick on him about his nifty Hunting Hoveround (Kawasaki 4X4). Next, I usually assure him that he was correct when, as a child, he felt that Mom and Dad loved me more than him. I even assure him they told me that.

Where else can a fella go, act a fool and fit right in amongst all the rest of the fools?! Ain't nuthin' like deer camp to bring out the gentleman in a fella. As my brother says, "There are no 'friends' at deer camp!" Where else can a liar go, tell tall tales, the taller the better, and not be judged?!

To say "Hunting Culture" or "Gun Culture" truly is among the world's greatest oxymorons.

Geno

Lots of reasons - I probably would rank them in this order:

Food.
Time spent in nature and away from electronic gizmos.
Teaching my kids all about the circle of life.
Getting my wife into hunting, too.
Time spent with friends and family.

Aside from chicken, I haven't bought more than 10 pounds of meat at the store in the last year.

Because nothing gets me farther from the work and gets me closer to the things I love. The enjoyment of passing on my passion of nature to my kids the way it was passed to me. And I'am kind of fond of fresh meat over store bought stuff thats been who knows where before it arrived at my table.

If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand.

It's the circle of life...

All of the above for me too.
I really don't have a problem with trophy hunters as long as the meat is used. When people are wasteful, my patience ends. If it's not going to be eaten, don't kill it. (With the exception of course for nusiance animals)

Because anything can happen. It is an adventure.

FenderTK421 - Food. No respect for trophy hunters whatsoever. Wasting meat should be a hanging offense.

mesinge2 - Because deer rarely kills itself and serves it to me and my family.

rc601962 - Because anything can happen. It is an adventure.


Those are pretty much the best 3 answers ever.