Why Do YOU Hunt?

[Hunterdad]

It would be the first 4 reasons for me. You could also add the therapeutic part of hunting.

 

[2ndAmFan]

I like venison and the occasional feral hog. I'm planning to try some bird hunting this next season. I also like to get out in the woods and use my guns. I've never hunted a lot but I'm getting into it more, both using feeders and by stalking animals. My area of Texas is a bit overcrowded with deer and I don't mind a bit doing my part to control the population by hunting. The alternative is to control them with your car or truck on the highway and I much prefer hunting them with a gun to getting them that way.

 

[CoRoMo]

The top five choices apply to me.

 

[RoostRider]

if you don't want to kill anything...don't.

Couldn't agree more....

A critter will thank you.

Ummmmm..... No... no they won't... what a load of BS!.... they will instead be hunted by something else (probably a much less merciful 'something else').... or die slowly from old age, disease or a disability of some sort (such as being hit by a car or an injury from an accident in nature)... A well placed bullet is about the nicest way for a wild animal to go (name a cleaner kill?)....

Putting human characteristics on an animal is the job of Disney (and a wretched job at that).... and it's intended for pre-pubescent kids to relate and buy into, not mature adults.... it's way too bad that adults fall into the same trap (assuming you're not a pre-pubescent kid)

 

[swiftak]

The woods, the solitude, the tradition, the meat.

 

[Armored farmer]

Putting human characteristics on an animal is the job of Disney (and a wretched job at that).... and it's intended for pre-pubescent kids to relate and buy into, not mature adults.... it's way too bad that adults fall into the same trap (assuming you're not a pre-pubescent kid)

Hey...take it easy on me RoostRider
I added that to be funny, nothing more.

I have hunted all my life and enjoy the outdoors and appreciate the ways of nature as much or more than anyone. I think if someone lacks the desire to tend to his kill, then
he should stay on the concrete and leave the wild to those that live there.

One of my pet peave's is to watch a hunting show on TV where the "hunter" spots an animal from his truck, walks a couple hundred yards off the road, sets up a ton of gear, makes some ballistic and wind calculations with his slide rule and laser rangefinder and then proceeds to snipe a deer or elk 600-700-900 yards across the valley. Then high fives for the whole gang gathered to watch the shot. THAT ISN'T HUNTING!!! That is target shooting imho. I think that sort of thing does our sport more harm than Disney.

BTW....Someone had to gut that beef so you can enjoy your Big Mac. It had innards once too!!

 

[Art Eatman]

It's just part of outdoors, and outdoors is a bunch better than indoors. Been huntin' for almost seventy years. Y'know, some habits are hard to break. "I've got more time around a campfire with friends than some folks have in being upright and breathing."

I'm even hunting when I'm driving along a highway. Saw two javelina this morning; eleven Oryx this afternoon. Made my day.

 

[1moa@500]

The main reason to hunt for me is to have regular adventures with those closest to me. I love to hunt dove and I have done a fair amount of it but my best memory was passing on a double just to watch my old man pick it up. I still remember that burn and how good the hunt was and that smile on his face. I cant think of anything that I dont like about hunting. I even love the over stuffed hotel rooms that have earth shattering snoring and farting contests. The meat is almost secondary to the friends and family that I feel that much closer to holding a gun and sharing a fire with.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I hunt to get into the woods, away from work and people, to maintain basic skills and traditions (I use a flintlock for deer), and I pull the trigger for the meat.

Also, to prove I'm only only %99 dependent on the grocery store, not %100. I garden for the same reason. It doesn't sound like a big difference, but it means I know what food is and where it comes from.

Me too, but I think we who hunt are much less dependent on the market for meat than 1%. In truth, I go to the market for convenience. I too garden, square-foot gardening, for the quality of the food. Same thing with the game. Quality of the food.

LD

 

[CoRoMo]

My wife recently bought some ground beef at the grocery store because she was cooking a meal for a sick friend. That's the first store-bought meat that I can recall being in the house is several years. All the meat in my freezers is either hunted or farm raised/butchered. Don't ask me why she didn't just use some of the ground meat that is already in those freezers.

 

[ArmedBear]

I hunt for revenge. A pheasant killed my sister.

 

[HOWARD J]

After" hunting" for 36 years (off & on ) Old age told me to quit..............
It was great to get away from work & home......................
My 7 days of vacation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[qajaq59]

I'd be more curious why someone didn't hunt? To me that's rather odd behavior!

 

[SheepNutz]

Since my father ran Kentucky's deer program for 25 years (and also started their elk program), deer hunting is in my blood. I love to hunt mostly for the meat, since I'd consider myself a foodie, and venison is one of the most delicious of the red meats (if cooked properly). I'd love to bag an elk, but I just found out yesterday that I didn't get drawn for an elk tag this year (of the 45000 people who entered, only 800 were drawn).

I also like to hunt to get away from it all. We always hunt at my uncle's secluded cabin, where there isn't even cell phone service. It's nice to just spend the weekend away and not worry about all the stress of everyday living. There aren't many things more calming than sitting in a tree stand waiting for the sun to come up.

Another reason I love to hunt is the connection to my family. I hunt with my dad, brother, uncles, cousins, and close friends. We have a great time enjoying good food, good beer, and of course, good stories.

 

[dougwx12]

For the meat
For some time alone in the woods

And I puke every time I open up a deer. I just get it over with and move on to the rest of the task. (Elk smell great, otoh.)

 

[dagger dog]

I voted tradition.

Although my father became a non-hunter, he was an active hunter before WWII, as a young man he hunted to put food on the table during the Great Depression of the 1930's.

After the war he rarely hunted, other than the time he took to show me the skills he had learned in his early days. He always insisted that hunting was a right, along with the ones from the second amendment.

I hunt for the enjoyment. It gives me the sense of how it must have been to live as a part of the natural world. The hunter ,it is an instinct in some people,it may be well supressed, but it is there in everyone.

Eye sight becomes crisp, all movement is perceived, the wing flicks of small birds in the brush, hearing is acute, crickets, the wind through the tree branches ,every thing is heard as if amplified,the sense of smell ,the sweetness of the Russian Olive in bloom, a musty aroma of winters rotting leaves piled on the forest floor, disturbed by your passing feet.

All this , but it can only be obtained in nature, you have to hunt to live!

 

[472x1A/B]

Other reason; for fur. Humpin for 4-10 hrs out in the timber in the dark is fun.

 

[rustcat]

"I hunt for revenge. A pheasant killed my sister."
I hope you are not serious, I got a real kick out of that

 

[Radium]

XxWINxX94



Any tips?

well my tip would be just do it and gut it and hang it. If u then freak out and feel unclean and cant sleep at night and crawl into a fetus position and start mumbling like u just got sexually assaulted by a prison inmate well then i guess hunting aint for u.

1 tip when skinning and gutting the animal there will be this wierd smell that can make sum people feel ill.

i felt pretty sad when i shot my first pigeon then i started thinking what tasty meat this will be and also started thinking about all those farm animals that live in crappy conditions and just fed and raised for meat with no free life and a stressfull ending i kinda got over it and started feeling better about eating ethical and wild meat. now i got a good 100 pounds of various meat in the freezer and hunting season bin over for like 6-8 months depending on the game got a ton load of eating still

 

[desidog]

OP -you're missing a serious option - Critter control / getting rid of pests that mess with your livelihood.

If it's edible, I'll take it to eat, but most of my reasoning, and hunting, deals with overpopulation of nuisance animals.

 

[Pony Express]

Just to be in the woods. I grew up running around the woods with my brother and my friends playing "soldier" and hunting and so on, so I feel quite comfortable. I only got serious about hunting a few years ago, but there is nothing like that feeling when you first hear/see whatever animal you're hunting.

If heaven is real, it's gotta be something like that.

Amen, if I go to heaven I hope its full of guns and critters

 

[Arkansas Paul]

And I puke every time I open up a deer.

Then don't gut it. You can get the backstraps, both hams, and both shoulders without ever dropping the guts. You lose the loins underneath, but if it's a small deer, those aren't really big enough to matter. Ribs on a whitetail aren't generally worth anything either. No meat on em'. Some may disagree, but unless it's a monster that I think will have huge loins, I'm not gutting it.

 

[RoostRider]

kbbailey- Sorry.... not to go off on you, but the idea that people portray that animals think, act, and even TALK like humans just grates on my nerves.....

I think this is the sole true reason behind most peoples anti-hunting emotions, and I try to counter it at any opportunity....

NOW, I am sure you're not a loose screw that really thinks that animals have these types of "feelings"... *whew*.... thanks for clearing that up...

Carry on with all of the good reasons to hunt....

I am a bit surprised that no one has mentioned trophy's yet..... really surprised actually.... not sure if people are just leaving that out because it's not sympathetic to nature or because few people actually hunt for trophy's these days??? This too should have been a poll option.... and it is one with a LOT of tradition behind it.

I have never been a trophy hunter, and I disagree with the ideology somewhat... but "live and let hunt" I always say.... I believe All ethical hunters are helping the animals, not hurting them... trophy hunters alike....

 

[Art Eatman]

The two worst enemies of rational wildlife management were Walt Disney and Felix Salter.

 

[DammitBoy]

I can't see myself shooting a living animal...

Try wild boar hunting, you might get over your sympathy pangs when you see a 250lbs screaming boar rushing at you from the underbrush.