Why I'm not a hunter

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DrDeFab

DrDeFab

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Prologue: I was reading some other threads in the Hunting section, which I don't often do, and it started me thinking about the topic. So I thought I would post here, and see if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions.

First, it's not that I have anything against hunting, and it's not that I am uninterested.

...but...

It's never been a priority. I won't claim "I never had the time", or give you a bunch of sad stories, but like a lot of folks, I have had to make choices on where to spend my time and money.

I haven't had any friends or family that hunt. Well, my father did as a youth, in depression-era Appalachia. This was for subsistence - mostly squirrel and rabbit with a .22. He quit before I was born, because he associated it with being poor.

I don't run into a lot of hunters at work, that I know of anyway, because discussing it could get me reported for "creating a hostile workspace." (It's not a bad place to work, but times being what they are...) Those I do know, I don't know well enough to invite myself along.

The barrier to entry - at least the perceived barrier to entry - is too high. I don't want to have to figure out the laws, (where and when, with which gear, what paperwork is required, etc.) I have a couple of appropriate rifles for deer, but I don't know the difference between what other gear I really need vs. what Cabela's is marketing to clueless noobs. No idea about the logistics of field dressing or finding a butcher. See the previous points, where if I had someone to show me the ropes it probably wouldn't be an issue.

I'm not a complete couch-potato, but I am not as young as I used to be, I have a desk job, and I don't spend much time in the woods. (FWIW, I work in the city, and live in the outer suburbs.)

I have no interest in a luxury hunting trip, where I pay to sit in comfort and shoot nearly tame animals over bait at short range. Sorry, I guess that sounds judgmental, I just don't see the point.

...so...

While I consider hunting a valuable skill I would like to learn, the clock is ticking and I just don't see it happening. I get the feeling there are a lot of folks in this same boat, but that could easily be selection bias.

If you've read this far, thanks for letting me ramble! Feedback welcome.
 
Hunting can be a lot of hard and seemingly impossible work.

Understanding laws, no access to decent land, monetary investment of gear and tags, etc.

Part of me knows that hunting is going towards being an exclusive privilege of the elite. I literally had to buy my own land to get access to passable hunting land with out a bunch of BS. I prioritized that one thing to the sacrifice of many others to attain it.

I don’t have kids so I have more money. I live far away from my family to get a job that allowed me to make more money. I have always had two or three jobs to make more money. You see the pattern.

Money is what makes me able to hunt with pleasure. It’s not like that for everyone. Some folks have family land they live near. Some inherited it. Some have a ton of land and don’t hunt at all.

I prioritized hunting and have set myself up to keep being able to prioritize it. It was not easy and there was sacrifice.

Barriers to entry is a good way of putting it. I tried for years to access to private land for less than hunt club prices. Came close a few times but could never make it happen. I had a decent chunk of public land around during thatntime so it wasn’t to bad. Public land tends to really stink though. Some can be good but once again, you have to spend a lot of time and work finding it m

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
 
Well, most folks don't hunt. So you're in good company.

I agree that the laws and rules can be difficult to navigate. Certain places, like my home state of California, seem to make the rules almost intentionally convoluted. Add to that the even more convoluted rules governing the possession of firearms and it's easy to see why so many people forget the whole mess. And on top of that, the logistics of actually dealing with a downed big game animal can be significant.

I went through a long period when I hunted almost not at all, at least in part for the above reasons. Two things have recently revived my interest and participation: small game and archery.

Small game is much cheaper, easier, and accessible than big game around here. I can take off for a few hours on a Sunday after jackrabbit or dove without worrying about open seasons, bag limits, legal size, or whatever. It costs nothing except for gas (and of course the hunting license and upland game stamp, which is good for the whole year) and it does not really matter if I am successful or not, because I can always go back next week. And if I am successful, it takes only a few minutes to fully "process" the critter and pop him into the bag - and at home, I can just eat him, rather than sealing pounds of meat into freezer bags and then finding room in the freezer.

And archery has been wonderful in the field. My longbow ensures that I experience hunting in a very intimate sort of way, and also that I hardly ever "ruin" the hunt by actually killing something! And I have not ever had a negative interaction when coming across other people in the field. Here in California, stories of people calling 911 because they saw a hunter with a gun are not uncommon, and "hiding" your gun - even when legally hunting - is a topic that comes up in the SoCal hunting forums regularly. The worst thing that ever happens now is somebody wanting to know why I am not wearing green tights.
 
Hunting was ingrained in me when I was born. I never doubted the urge to hunt, clean, and eat my kill even though I lived in Chicago and no one else in my family had ever hunted. It seemed to be a genetic thing inherited from my ancient ancestors. I have enjoyed hunting from the age of 9 with my beagle. Rabbits and squirrels were the game and a recurve bow was the game-getter. Seldom did I score but the drive has lasted for 68 years.
I regret that my prehistoric ancestors are not a part of your blood line.
 
OneFreeTexan said:
Feral hog hunting in Texas, a whole different camp,,, no need for a butcher.
Click to expand...

Feral hog hunting is not really hunting. It's more like dealing with a rat infestation. Just really big rats.

As far as hunting goes, I don't, but could and would if the time came where I had to in order to survive.
Hogs, coyotes, coons, etc, are all fair game anytime they become a problem or a threat.
 
There's no time like the present to start. I grew up around firearms, target shooting not hunting. My wife's family hunts. I was usually busy when they went, but one year they invited me. I borrowed my father in laws 30.06, and proceeded to go on many deer walks :D. I didn't mind if we didn't see, or shoot, anything because I enjoyed the company, and even more just being out in the mountains.
Unfortunately after the first two years of deer walking I moved, and I thought my hunting days were over before they really got started.
After a year or two in my new home, I met an older guy who hunted, and I expressed my interest, and he was more than happy to show me the ropes. That was about 2-3 years ago, and we've gone deer and antelope hunting each year. I've learned a lot, but also realize I have a lot to learn. Just last year my oldest came with us and bagged his first deer and antelope. My youngest son, 8, can't wait until I take him on his first trip.
As far as gear, others can chime in, but my experience has been you can make it as simple or extravagant as you want.
If you have the desire, it's never to late!
 
If you have access to woods with some hardwood, any comfortable outside apparel and decent boots....go squirrel hunting. It is very difficult to beat a relaxing morning, in the woods, soon after sunrise squirrel hunting. Along with the aforementioned clothing, an accurate 22 rifle ......and your hunting. Also, hunting doesn’t necessarily mean bringing home game.....it’s the time spent outdoors enjoying Mother Nature! You may just find out that it’s therapy you’ve been needing!

I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to hunt most game in North America....but, I still miss those cool, crisp mornings squirrel hunting down south where I grew up! memtb
 
earlthegoat2 said:
Public land tends to really stink though. Some can be good but once again, you have to spend a lot of time and work finding it m
Click to expand...
No man, that depends on where you live. I've said it before - nearly 2/3rds of the state of Idaho is public land. That's 34.5 million acres of public land, and as of April, 2019, only 208,000 acres (less than 1%) of that 34.5 million acres of public land was inaccessible. Idaho hunters who restrict themselves to only hunting private land (if there are any) are handicapping themselves severely.
But as far as the OP, DrDeFab's feelings about hunting goes, that's entirely up to him or her. I was born into, and grew up in a hunting family. But my wife (of 50 years come June) had never even touched a gun, much less gone hunting before she married me. That changed the following year after I got out of the Navy and she followed me home to Idaho.
So naturally our kids (both girls), and now our grandkids (all 4 boys) were born and raised in hunting families too. And as I posted last year, our oldest daughter re-married last June (her first husband passed away 7 years back), and took her new husband deer hunting for the first time in his life last fall. He was already into guns (ARs and semi-auto handguns and such) though before he married our daughter. He just wasn't into hunting. But a couple of months back he brought his brand new Tikka 6.5 Creed out to the house to show us. He's hoping to kill his first deer with it this fall.
BTW, our youngest daughter doesn't hunt, which seeing as how she's a wheel with one of the nation's largest hunting and conservation organizations is kind of an enigma. But she doesn't have anything against hunting, and she likes wild game meat when someone gives her some. It's just that she is too tender-hearted to kill an animal herself. My wife and I don't know where we went wrong with that girl! Just kidding.;)
Hunting isn't for everybody. I know a lot of folks that don't hunt, and I don't ask them why not. As long as they don't mind that me and mine are hunters, we'll get along fine.:)
 
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If you want to get out and try hunting I am sure some on here lives close to you and can show you the ropes. I live in Washington State, 40 miles north of Seattle and fly back to Upstate New York (half way between New York City & Buffalo about 30 miles north of Pennsylvania) to visit family and to go deer hunting for a month.
If you are in that area you are wecome to tag along and see how we go about hunting deer.
I love being out in the open hardwoods in the late fall hunting whitetails.
 
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The OP has a pretty good, logical argument.

One measure of true happiness is how you feel about yourself when you are alone. And I measure my happiness often when I’m alone, hunting.

And I’m truly happy, by the hunting test. Vacation with family doesn’t provide good measure - too many distractions. Work doesn’t do it - to much focused concentration. Praying doesn’t do it - too much thinking and self talk.

Only hunting and fishing. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m too much chimp, as compared to the OP.
 
I did some hunting after my discharge from the Corps. It was mostly small game like rabbits, squirrels, pheasant. I believed that if your not going to eat it, do not kill it but with pests like vermin, varmints, and wild pigs being exceptions. Well I just could not ever cook the game to point where I enjoyed eating it. So I stopped hunting it. When it came to deer I still hunted. My hunting companion and I were trailing a deer. It was about 200 yards away but there was no clear and safe shot. So we continued to move in. Then a shot rang out. Some idiot about 50 yards behind us took a shot at the deer with us in between the deer and him. All I thought before the rage set in was — damn I do not want to get shot. Once in Nam was enough for me. So I double timed back to the shooter, took the bolt from his rifle and told him to pick it up at the state game lands warden’s office. I filed a complaint. The man never picked it up. I never hunted again.
 
It's not for everyone. We all like to spend our limited time in different ways.

I love it, but not only because of the hunt.
I enjoy the time in nature, even when I don't return with game. My favorite times are those cold mornings when I sit in a deer stand and watch the sun rise over the horizon and I'm the only human within 2 or 3 miles in any direction (we don't go too far out there). Just watching and listening to the woods come alive is a near religious experience to me.
Then there's the camaraderie with those I've hunted with for years. The nights around the campfire drinking copious amounts of beer and telling stories of past hunts with the stories getting less and less believable the more you tell them.
That's what does it for me.
 
Before man was anything else....he was a hunter, by necessity. Along comes civilization and bar coded meat showed up in the freezer case. While it's convenient to farm out the sometimes distasteful task of meat preparation, the skill set is something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime....if only to have an appreciation or knowledge of how it's done. Whether you are successful filling a tag or not the real enjoyment comes from testing your wits and skill against that of game that has better eye sight, smell, and hearing ability. The freshness of the air in your lungs, the physical exertion required to compete with an animal that can travel six times faster than you. The beauty of a sunrise, a sunset, leaves in fall, freshly fallen snow, and changing wind conditions. The exhilaration of seeing a youngster get their first game animal.

Selecting the right attire, correct equipment, knowledge of a species is merely homework that can be Googled....but the real treasure lies in the experience one gets when they take a chance whether it's successful or not.
 
Love hunting. Dad didn't, much, but I gather he probably did a little when he was younger. I always wanted to, but he had no interest.

Got into it in my teens, with friends and by best friend's Dad. Quit for a bit as I was someplace where it was mostly farmland.
But now, just couldn't live where I can't get out to enjoy the bush.

It's not all about killing. I don't hunt to kill, but I kill to have hunted. Line stolen from and unremembered source... And I do enjoy the bit of self sufficiency by being able to take game and process it myself.
 
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Not everyone wants to hunt, or fish, or
read books, or take walks, or eat
mexican food, or mow grass, or sew,
etc. etc. etc.
Like someone ^ ^ already said, if we
all wanted to do the same thing at
the same time, the lines would be
too dang long.
As long as nobody steps on my toes,
I try my best to stay off theirs
 
I bagged my first squirrel with a single shot, bolt action, 22 rifle (J C Higgens $6.95) using 22 short. I think I was 7 yrs old. We hunted for fun and purpose. Unless it was a rat, a raccoon in the garden, etc, we ate what we killed. But after Vietnam, I just don't find it enjoyable, and it's too dangerous, I know some of the trigger-happy idiots out there running around in the woods. I punch holes in paper. Hemmingway's said it well: "There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter." Actually, I didn't like it, but shooting a deer from a blind at a feeder doesn't seem "sporting" to me. But I support everyone's right to hunt and own firearms.
 
Ranger99 said:
Not everyone wants to hunt, or fish, or
read books, or take walks, or eat
mexican food, or mow grass, or sew,
etc. etc. etc.
Like someone ^ ^ already said, if we
all wanted to do the same thing at
the same time, the lines would be
too dang long.
As long as nobody steps on my toes,
I try my best to stay off theirs
Click to expand...

Well said. (Anyone who doesn't like Mexican food, though, must be some kind of psychopath.)
 
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