What does shooting/hunting/reloading do for your mental health?

I've wondered about this issue for a long time and want to get your thoughts. We all read accounts of the "hunt of a life-time" in professional journals by talented writers. But, I want to hear from you guys. We are mostly not writers. What experiences stick with you? What positive rewards bring the most profound impact on your psyche?
At the moment I'm staying in a warmer climate to escape the cold; will be away from home for about 6 weeks and away from my hobbies of hunting/shooting/reloading. I miss it. I'll jot down a few observations and ask you to do the same. I could write a book, but will share my most important thoughts. Later I'll add other thoughts.
These comments in no particular order. Time alone in the woods is of immeasurable value. When I wander the woods or simply sit on a log to wait for squirrel/deer/turkey, a palpable peace settles over me. Hunting brings both ends of the emotional spectrum.....soul restoring calm on the one hand and trembling excitement on the other. I sleep better after a hunt. I can tell dozens of stories in great detail about memorable hunts and eagerly welcome stories from fellow hunters. Most things in life don't stick with me like good hunting experiences. This is just a start. I'll enjoy hearing from you guys out there.

 

I like competitive shooting.
It's fun to go and be challenged and perform.

Training is good for my piece of mind being the one responsible for my family.

Hosting training and seeing my students/participants learn and develop their own skills is super rewarding. Some of my guys are out shooting me now and it's the greatest. That healthy rivalry keeps us pushing forward.

I lost a calf (and 6 chickens) to coyotes here recently so now I'm on the hunt. I'm not real known for my distance shooting so now I have another meaningful goal and skillset to strive for.

Lastly casually shooting with friends is a hoot.

 

A couple of years ago we moved out to the country so I could have my own "range" for some low key trigger time. I use my range time to practice the PTSD recovery skills like breathing and meditation. Using some of the goofy feeling "self-awareness" techniques feels less goofy with a rifle in my hands. I've got a favorite rifle that I rebuilt from a junked out Mauser, and no one else waiting for my lane.

For me, shooting from a comfortable prone position in the shade of the oak tree is where I find peace.

 

Going out before dawn and finding a comfortable spot with my back to a tree for some squirrel hunting is one of the things I love.
I usually go into a light doze in the darkness but, as the light increases, I get alert and watch the colors of the sunrise and listen to the birds and other critters starting to move for the day. I listen for the "rattle" of leaves as the squirrels jumped between the trees and carefully followed them with my eyes.
Watching around me as the daylight increased and the animals started to move was like watching the world coming back to life from the darkness of the night.

 

I like target shooting from a bench and getting to know my equipment.

I enjoy hunting from being able to bring my food from “farm to table” so to speak. I’m not the worlds greatest hunter. I do crossword puzzles and read books while hunting and still I managed to shoot 4 deer last season which will feed me until next season.

Reading books and doing crossword puzzles, among many other activities which are counterproductive to “real” hunting, I don’t do at home in my leisure time but I do enjoy them otherwise.

I’m too darn busy at home with 3 jobs, classes, home ownership (never run out of things to do) plus a bunch of hobbies like working out, woodworking, metalworking, and leather working.

Those are enough to be stress relievers themselves.

 

Reloading is a chore. I don't particularly enjoy it but do it to get better performance and accuracy than I can from factory loads.

I'm not into formal target shooting but enjoy challenging myself at the range. I don't shoot shotguns as much as rifles and handguns but enjoy a round of sporting clays a couple of times each year. I get to the rifle range at least once/month and usually more often.

I'll soon turn 65 and still enjoy hunting. But it is much different than when I was younger. Some guys are bad about taking hunting so seriously that it turns into a job. I have been that way in the past. Today I go for long walks in the woods with a rifle, bow, or shotgun. If I see something legal, I may shoot it. I may not.

Even after hunting season I spend a lot of time in the outdoors hiking, and camping. But there is a difference between that and hunting. It's all mental, but when I'm hiking, I feel as though I'm visiting nature. But with a gun in my hands my mental state is different. I'm now part of nature. That is why I still enjoy hunting instead of just hiking.

Either way anytime I'm outdoors in nature I find it calming.

 

Shooting:
I enjoy 3-gun competitions and the various pistol competitions (IDPA,USPSA, BUG). There just aren't many opportunities to get out and shoot your guns like what are provided in competition. I also enjoy the comraderie of fellow shooters...each time I go to a competition, I realize "these are my people". The pressure of performance in front of others and on the clock adds to the desire to do your best. Afterwards, I assess my performance and either chuckle or laugh really hard, depending on the quality of the performance.

I also look at long range/precision shooting as my "lethal meditation". To be effective, your mind must be relaxed but alert. You have to know your ballistics whether it's a .22 LR or a .50 BMG. You've got to pay attention and read the wind and understand the effects it will have on the bullet during it's flight path to put the bullet exactly where you want. There is peace and satisfaction when you are successful, and learning when you aren't.

Hunting:
Being out in the quiet of nature disconnected from the constant distractions of the world MUST be good for one's mental health. Forcing you to slow down and contemplate things...to be still...brings peace also. The excitement of success is almost unmatched (I guess you can tell my successes have been limited). Recently, we had some deer burgers that came from my son's first kill...there was tremendous satisfaction from eating the meat my son provided for us and pride for him. Patience is learned through hunting and God's creation is beautiful.

Reloading:
I'm with jmr40, the acts necessary to reload are tedious, but the satisfaction from producing ammo tailored to your firearm is fantastic. I remember my first precision reloads for a bolt action .308 and never experiencing such tight groups. It was absolutely thrilling for me. All of the research, learning and tedium turned into little groups I had never shot before was WELL worth it for me. I also remember looking at the large target and the small group and thinking, "there's a lot of wasted space there".

 

What does shooting/hunting/reloading do for your mental health?
Mental health? These days I,d never connect anything mental with anything gun related. It can or will be twisted that activity has a effect on your mental state. Which is bad or wrong in their eyes. Don't give the antis any more ammo. jmo

 

I was asked that by a VA psychologist that I was seeing for pain management years ago. And my answer was as follows.

• I find shooting or being out in the woods hunting to be very relaxing.
• shooting scoped rifles to achieve the smallest groups helps keep my mind off of the constant pain.
• precision shooting helps since I have to control my breathing and shoot in between heart beats for accurate shot.

Of course I has to stress that safety is always the top priority.

Once I explained all of that the doctor was fine with me going to the range. And all of the above still holds true to this day.

 

Nothing.


Hanging out in places like this does wonders for my mental health.



This little butthead does a lot from my mental health


More than anything else this keeps me on an even keel.

 

I like to shoot and reload. I don't hunt as much as i used to. Shooting at the range is great stress relief. Spending time in my man cave. Cleaning guns and loading is my me time. I think im addicted to reloading. I need to shoot what i have loaded. I said im done loading until i shoot some of my ammo down. Didn't happen. I loaded a 100 9mm yesterday!

 

Used to hunt. But I've found that killing is no longer enjoyable. Last summer I spent 2 hours retrieving a 6 foot Bull snake that had fallen in our well. I just couldn't stand to let it drown. All creatures want to see the sun rise.

 

IMHO every hobby should be one that creates a sense of accomplishment, joy and peace when indulging in it. Making my own ammo, shooting it to see how I do with it, cleaning up afterward and starting anew is a great time for me.

If I can bring another shooter along and share my guns, shooting tips for a beginner, etc. then it is just that much better.

Stay safe.

 

My neighbor likes to hunt to much. He had the nerve to ask me if he could use my doe tag this year.

 

Reloading satisfies my need to do something tangible and productive, plus there’s something about the rhythmic process and single-minded focus that helps. I can also test the results of changing variables in a satisfying way shooting.

It’s very different from the rest of my life. Young children means multi-tasking which is not my strength (every task gets 80% done). I know my work matters and makes a difference, but it’s on a longer timeline, so sometimes I need some instant gratification.

It’s also a connection with history, both in keeping odd firearms running and in family history. I still use some of my great grandfathers tools and look for clues into old loads in notebooks from the 1920s.

I also agree that there is something different in hunting and other experiences in nature. The seasonal nature makes it special as well.

 

I no longer enjoy hunting like I once did. I like to shoot, I like sitting out in nature but I seem to have lost my taste for killing (not for eating the harvest, that’s for sure), so I don’t hunt much and it’s basically just a chore to get meat in the freezer any more.

Shooting, and reloading are still good times for me. I have two young and very loud kids at home and typically time on the bench or at the range is what I get for “me” time. Time to focus on a task and clear my mind in the relative peace and quiet (my range time is usually when my range is empty so it’s almost always just me out there).

 

Shooting is very fun, but it’s too expensive these days. I stress out a bit when I see my ammo reserves dwindling. I don’t reload, but it sounds tedious.

Hunting for me is almost spiritual. As a wildlife biologist, I spend a lot of time outdoors (working), but hunting allows me to reset mentally and truly reconnect with the natural world. Hard to explain and not sound like a hippie.

 

Mental health?
No -- M-e-t-a-l Health. Woops...that might be a Quiet Riot album; “Come On, Feel The Noise”. (prev. written by Slade).

It's fun, and using clones of military rifles is cool.
Not making holes in paper, but knocking plastic jugs a few feet, sometimes over ten feet upwards/sideways on a berm.

.....I've never hunted, but --in a different life-- if we lived in central/south Texas I would like to hunt Feral Schwein..

Watching pig hunts, from "Apork-A-Lips Now" helis, or on the ground is entertaining and helps farmers.

 

Shooting, per se, isn't particularly relaxing for me. For example, going to the local indoor range is actually sort of stressful. Between the noise, the crowds, the rules, and wondering if the jackass on the next lane is going to shoot me, I'm usually a bit jangled for a while afterwards. A good walk in the woods with a gun, of course, is an entirely different thing.

Handloading is something else again. Building on the comments from @tmd16556, I find that making an actual physical thing is calming and rewarding. I remember an article published in the Wall Street Journal indicating that "successful men" often gravitate toward the type of hobby which involves the production of tangible, physical things. Handloading sometimes can be drudgery, but I always find satisfaction in having made a pile of useful implements.

Hunting is complex. At heart I'm a gentle soul, and I always hurt a bit after killing something. But I acknowledge that as a meat eater, something dies for my sustenance whether I'm the one doing the killing or not. I do find that more and more my days afield are a reward unto themselves, and as I have several grocery stores nearby, I really have no "need" for a successful hunt. That may be why I'm enjoying my longbows so much: my hunts are hardly ever spoiled by an actual kill.

 

Well said, I feel much the same. Most days I hunt I’d be just as happy with a camera in my hand instead of a rifle or shotgun.

Case in point this year when I dropped the hammer on a nice doe, I realized I didn’t get the thrill of excitement or adrenaline rush I once did. All I thought about was the work it was going to be now that she’s running down into that ravine, and that id have to dedicate the next Tuesday to skinning her out and packaging the meat, and being faintly annoyed about it all. Oh, and that my handload seemed to work fine.

So I guess what once was fun, kinda has become work I don’t really enjoy anymore, but I love venison and it’s gotta get in the freezer or canned on the shelf somehow.

 

I like it all. It's all very peaceful if I keep my priorities aligned (not rushing, taking my time, being patient etc.). There are times I just like dry firing my rifle off the bench looking through my scope and keeping alignment on target. I get to where I just get so focused with dry firing I feel I do better than with live firing.

Casting bullets with a radio program playing or an album on youtube going is perfect to me.

 

I loved to shoot when I was a kid. I would put a brick through my .22 then shoot BB guns until I had money for more .22’s.

When I got into law enforcement and became a trainer, shooting was no longer shooting. It was training and work. It was paperwork and responsibility and worry about if I had fully prepared my fellow officers to the best of my ability.

After leaving law enforcement it took a few years to get out of that mindset. I rediscovered my Remington 572 and started plinking away at cans and such. Instead of silhouette targets I leveled my shotgun at jugs of water. Shooting became fun again and I have lots more .22’s on up to a SAI M1 in .308 that are just for fun.

I still train regularly with my defensive arms. But I make sure to spend plenty of time just plinking or target shooting, too. Sometimes, like during a snowfall this last Sunday, I just take a rifle back to my range, start a fire, and sit quietly. Life is too short not to enjoy.

 

I think that is one reason that AR's are just not fun for me yet. I loved my M4 for the tool it was, but when shopping for an AR this past year, I bought a lever action instead. Something about the blued steel, wood stocks, and very different feel was just right while the ARs still felt like work.