Why I'm not a hunter

[hossfly]

Times have definitely changed. When I was a kid about everybody hunted. It's become much more expensive for most people and you can buy a lot of hamburger for what a lease costs. Personally I've pretty much stopped hunting myself, but I'm not ruling out ever going again. Just got older and have some ailments....back problems...overweight..etc....that sort-of put the skids on it. Still love shooting though.

 

[AK Hunter]

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.

I would like to thank you for your decision not to hunt. Many would & do half heartedly try to hunt without doing any research on how to do it properly. It ends up with people poaching or shooting anything in sight that gives true hunters a bad name.
I enjoy the study of the animals I hunt & their activities. Hunting is much more than pulling a trigger.
As I tell many of the new hunters if you are not going to hunt properly you don't belong in the woods. If your heart is not into it get out of it.

 

[Howland937]

I haven't been deer hunting in 3 years. Turkey in 8, small game closer to 12.
Turkey hunting became my favorite, but since my boss closes for a few days to deer hunt, it's easier to find time for that. If I'm honest with myself, I don't have the time to put in that I feel is necessary to be a responsible, ethical hunter. I could easily enough buy a license, grab a gun, go sit and hope...but that's never been my thing.

I miss the sound of a good beagle on a hot track and I miss the rush of a turkey fanned out and strutting, so close you can feel it gobble as much as hear it. I still consider myself a hunter, though. Even if my forays into wilderness don't include a gun on my shoulder these days.

 

[Mullo98]

I always wanted to go deer hunting, I think it will be a fun thing to do. But I just don't have much time for it. Collage and work take a lot of energy out of you. So by the time I can go hunting, I'm recovering from school/work, I'm to tired to do it or just want some time to relax for once. Maybe later this year I can get some hunting ammo for my enfield and go hunting for once.

 

[9x56MS]

I can’t speak for anyone else but for me hunting is a calling, a part of my DNA. If they outlawed hunting I would hunt mice and rats. I have fed my family with wild game for over 50 years. I never enjoyed the killing though. I try to honor the game by thanking them for providing for me. I kill less often now but enjoy just sitting and observing animals in their natural habitat. My firearms choices all have the same aim. To make death as quick with minimal suffering to the game as possible. That is the main reason I like using larger caliber rifles. I couldn’t stop hunting, I don’t know or want any other way.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

While I consider hunting a valuable skill I would like to learn, the clock is ticking and I just don't see it happening.
.

Hunting does require in many places, a passion to give one the drive to become successful.
A lot of pastimes require such.

I really appreciate Golf, for example, and yes I can watch it on TV and be entertained. I've never played more than a couple holes (I was a teenager ), and as I'm just about 60 yoa now, my dropping the coin to get started and the practice involved..., NAH, I'm never going to become a "golfer", even though at a "corporate level" or networking for business, playing golf would come in handy. Further, the only person that I grew up with that became a professional athlete, was a guy who became a Golf pro, and golf coach. So I could've taken up Golf and had access to a pretty good coach..., but there wasn't a passion for me there.

I had a college professor...fly fishing was his religion. I mean day one of trout season in Wisconsin and he was in waders, balls-deep in some trout stream. We never had a "final" exam, and submitted papers instead because "finals week" always hit the same week that trout opened up.

So if hunting isn't your "thing", that's cool.

LD

 

[toxophilus]

It may have been stated before, if so then apologies in advance...

Nearly all states have programs for beginners regardless of age, most will have a hunters education course that folks can enroll in. These are great opportunities to network with other people as well.

My tool(s) of choice since I started hunting big game in the early 1980's have always been archery gear for me (except for the year I had my first rotator cuff surgery... those butchers!!!) hence my forum handle.

There are so many things you'll see/experience in the outdoors that people that you know won't ever understand unless they've been there, others have posted about these already within this thread.

The pinnacle of my hunting experiences is when my Best Friend of 40 years requested in December of 2011 as a Christmas present to go with me on an archery hunt for Mule Deer in 2012. She was able to experience the highs & lows that are part of hunting all in one glorious week of being together out in the sage terrain of NW Colorado.

On her 3rd day of baking besides me in the sun she killed her first Deer ever, she made the perfect double lung shot at 20 yards and I was the one running around inside our blind attempting to find my way out of our blind to get a visual line on which direction it was headed.

I was sitting besides her and pantomiming what I would do if I was taking the shot so she copied my movements and when it came time to shoot I made the motion to pull the trigger (active her release)... she didn't; I kept making the motion and she finally activated her release.
I asked her later why she didn't shoot when I motioned for her to do so and she told me that she had the wrong sight pin on the deer's vitals (I was blown away by her ability to retain her composure).

We (my hunting friend and I) showed her how to blood trail the deer the next morning; I had searched ahead and found the deer but let her complete her blood trailing to the end without saying anything thus letting her come to the end of the blood trail & recovering her deer, she was ecstatic!

Anyways... what's a story without PICs, here she is when she recovered her deer & here is a pic of one of those things you see that the folks back at work wouldn't believe; this Pronghorn was only 15 yards away from me as I was in an open pit blind snapping pictures of him with an older Sony digital camera... I didn't have a tag that year.

 

[wombat13]

My tool(s) of choice since I started hunting big game in the early 1980's have always been archery gear for me (except for the year I had my first rotator cuff surgery... those butchers!!!) hence my forum handle.

Thanks for teaching me something today. I read your post and I just had to know what toxophilus had to do with archery hunting. Thanks to Duckduckgo, now I know. Have you read it?

 

[wombat13]

I'm into hunting for a variety of reasons. I love the outdoors, shooting, spending time with my close relatives and friends, and eating great food. I get a great deal of satisfaction in successfully bringing meat home to my family, but I've never enjoyed the killing itself. I know I could buy quality meat cheaper (especially if I consider the opportunity cost of my time), but getting it myself is different. My perspective changed a great deal when I got my own land, rather than hunting on property of friends and relatives. It was up to me to figure out the best places to hunt. Now I get as much or more satisfaction out of the scouting process and I get almost as much satisfaction in seeing the deer in the location that I chose as I do in actually harvesting one (almost, but not quite). This is also the primary reason that I load my own ammo. Bringing home venison using a load that I developed myself, from a spot I scouted and prepped on my own land is fantastic. Maybe someday I'll build my own rifle. That will take it to another level, but time and lack of the appropriate tools are holding me back for now.

 

[toxophilus]

Thanks to Duckduckgo, now I know. Have you read it?

Yessir I've read it; once the Wife got into bowhunting she's been grabbing books from my library

 

[Highland Lofts]

My father died back in 69, i was 11 and he was 49.

So hunting put meat on the table. That Christmas i got a Mossberg 22lr. That rifle put a lot of meat on our table. It didn't take long to become one with squirrels, cottontail rabbits & grouse.
I shot my first whitetail buck with that gun. A little four point back in 1970 when I was twelve years old.
Since then hunting took many twist & turns.
Now I buy a non-resident New York hunting licence, and hunt with my brother & sons. Stay a month and enjoy the visit. Never been an antler hunter.
Since being on THR I meet Troy & Bert and have become friends with them and hunted with them and enjoyed every minute we spent together.

We will be hunting together again next November and to the OP you are invited to come hunt with up. I can put you up at my son's place and show you how we hunt. We always get deer and process it so you will take venison home.
The hunting license will cost you $100 and up to two doe tags at $10 a piece.
My airline ticket from Seattle WA. to an airport close to Binghamton NY runs about $350.
New York deer season opens up generally around November 15, a week later Pennsylvania's deer season opens up. Again $100 for the license and $10 for a doe tag. Next deer season we will.be hunting both states if you want to hunt two weeks free of charge beside getting there and buying a license. Both licenses include SMALL GAME & BIG GAME.
To just hunt ducks here in this POS ship.state of Washington it is just under $100 for a resident.
When I move back East to Upstate New York or North Central Pennsylvania I will have hound dogs for coon & rabbits again plus a couple of cabins for out of state hunters for small & big game hunting to stay in.

 

[kalielkslayer]

Hunting is a miserable, miserable sport!!!

laying in 2’ of snow at 0 degrees, hoping the honkers fly, climbing 2-3 hours in the dark to get to the top of the mountain, lungs gasping for oxygen in the thin air to chase elk, sitting in a duck blind during torrential rain, chasing chukar in steep lava hills, figuring out the regulations for Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Oregon, Idaho. Spending money on guns, optics, bows, boots, clothing, decoys, trucks, wall tents, pure misery.

But being there and having my wife jump into my arms, shouting at the top of her lungs when she killed her first bull elk. Or the quality times I’ve had with my son hunting, those moments are priceless and worth the misery.

 

[9x56MS]

Hunting is a miserable, miserable sport!!!

laying in 2’ of snow at 0 degrees, hoping the honkers fly, climbing 2-3 hours in the dark to get to the top of the mountain, lungs gasping for oxygen in the thin air to chase elk, sitting in a duck blind during torrential rain, chasing chukar in steep lava hills, figuring out the regulations for Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, Oregon, Idaho. Spending money on guns, optics, bows, boots, clothing, decoys, trucks, wall tents, pure misery.

But being there and having my wife jump into my arms, shouting at the top of her lungs when she killed her first bull elk. Or the quality times I’ve had with my son hunting, those moments are priceless and worth the misery.

Hunting is sometimes such sweet misery.

 

[rust collector]

Everyone's hunting introduction and experience is different, and the appeal varies widely as well. My dad was a bird hunter, and I learned late in life that he had taken up hunting at an early age because his dad was a hunter and a great grandmother ran a boarding house that needed game to feed boarders. Dad shot thousands of pheasants and ducks in northeast South Dakota, where they were plentiful and nearby. He did get a request from his grandmother not to shoot any more of those ducks with teeth (mergansers) as their fishy diet didn't make for tasty cuisine.

As I grew up, I came along to act as a bird dog retrieving downed birds and learning what to do (and what not to do). It was a much anticipated rite of passage to receive that first 20 gauge single shot and demonstrate that I could be a safe hunter and asset to the crew. Small game received plenty of attention at farms and ranches of friends and family. Hunting in that setting was as natural as breathing. We all learned safety and ethics early in the program, and got to know the local game warden when he taught us hunter safety so we could get a license.

Dad, who had served in the infantry in Belgium during WWII, never was a big game hunter. I read Jack O'Connor and other accounts of gun writers of the era, and bought a 6mm Remington 700 at the store where I worked. Deer hunting was self taught, but little brother soon joined in and we had a lot of fun. Now, as I stare 70 in the face, the killing is less important and the shared experience in the field, at the range and in the reloading shop space, is more important. I guess my point is that there is a deep connection with nature and other lives past and present, an opportunity to examine ourselves and the world in which we live, and to hone ancient skills. No whooping and high fives here. Just gratitude at the chances I was given and the time and place that now seems so fleeting. I suspect that can be enjoyed from other pursuits, but hunting does it for me.

 

[Wolfshead]

Hunting is sometimes such sweet misery.

it is so funny how one mans misery is another mans desire.
Some of your “miserable “ ;-) experiences are my dreams!
I can’t imagine not being able to hunt.
I would be miserable without it!
As has been stated before, I don’t like the killing. But, I do enjoy the rewards of the kill and do everything possible to give the animals the respect they most definitely deserve.
I too think it’s in my blood, in my dna.

 

[Meeks36]

My cousin hunts animals with a camera. Just like we hunters do. Only difference is when he shoots them they just walk away. Still stalks and walks the woods. It’s his escape.

 

[daniel craig]

I can hardly call what I do hunting most of the time.

I sit in a tree for a few hours before and after work staring into the ether hoping something will walk by. No fancy gear other than that which keeps me warm, needed. It’s as much, perhaps more about just getting away from everything and recharging as it is about hunting.

It’s ok to not be into hunting but I’d challenge the idea of barriers. Most of them are perceived more than we know. Sure, licenses are expensive but it just means cutting something else once in a while. Access can be tough but public land probably exists somewhere around you.

 

[Boattale]

Hunting sure has made a lot of good memories for me I can honestly say. And a lot of really good meals too.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I always wanted to go deer hunting, I think it will be a fun thing to do. But I just don't have much time for it. Collage and work take a lot of energy out of you. So by the time I can go hunting, I'm recovering from school/work, I'm to tired to do it or just want some time to relax for once. Maybe later this year I can get some hunting ammo for my enfield and go hunting for once.

I have always been a deer hunter to the point of probably taking it too seriously.
In 2017 I started law school and for the 2017 and 2018 seasons, I did not join our deer lease.
For 2 years I didn't go hunting. It was a feeling I had never felt before. Opening day, I was worthless. I couldn't concentrate on my school work because I knew I should be somewhere else.
The last 2 years, I said I didn't care. I was going hunting whether my grades suffered or not. So, I went hunting and in 2019 killed the biggest buck of my life. And my grades actually went up a little. Go figure.

 

[9x56MS]

Just goes to show hunting is good for the body good for the soul and good for the brain! Win! Win! Win!

 

[Meeks36]

Just goes to show hunting is good for the body good for the soul and good for the brain! Win! Win! Win!

Also if the world goes to poop we will still be eating.

 

[J-Bar]

DrDeFab:

I’m glad you are a shooter, and that you are on the high road. You are smart enough to analyze yourself and therefore you do not have to defend your opinion.

I like what Robert Ruark wrote in his memoir about hunting in Africa, “The Horn Of The Hunter”. (It is literature, worth reading even if you don’t hunt.)

“”The hunter’s horn sounds early for some, I thought, later for others. For some unfortunates, poisoned by city sidewalks and sentenced to a cement jungle more horrifying than anything to be found in Tanganyika, the horn of the hunter never winds at all.”

When my heart rate no longer increases at the sight of a deer or the flush of a quail covey or hearing the whistle of a dove’s wings, I will join you.

 

[Offhand McFlan]

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.

Absolutely ditto. I almost could not have said it better. Being that I'm a meat cutter by trade and am not a terrible shot, I don't have any over the top need to prove I can hunt and process an animal. I used to live in a rural mountain setting between the age of 13 - 23. Every morning there were deer all around our yard. It wiuld have been a simple case of rise, aim, shoot. My parents were not gun people but all the guys on my mothers side were into guns and shooting a bit. I also can't count the times I've practically walked up on deer in the woods, and could have had a clean kill if I so chose, or was armed. A few years back I started taking my hunter safety course online. I got sidetracked and didnt finish, and never really got a fire under my hiney to complete it. Maybe someday. It's just not a huge priority for me....which is why I say "ditto".

 

[Wolfshead]

Absolutely ditto. I almost could not have said it better. Being that I'm a meat cutter by trade and am not a terrible shot, I don't have any over the top need to prove I can hunt and process an animal. I used to live in a rural mountain setting between the age of 13 - 23. Every morning there were deer all around our yard. It wiuld have been a simple case of rise, aim, shoot. My parents were not gun people but all the guys on my mothers side were into guns and shooting a bit. I also can't count the times I've practically walked up on deer in the woods, and could have had a clean kill if I so chose, or was armed. A few years back I started taking my hunter safety course online. I got sidetracked and didnt finish, and never really got a fire under my hiney to complete it. Maybe someday. It's just not a huge priority for me....which is why I say "ditto".

some people hunt and some people don’t and there is not a thing wrong with that at all.
I hunt because it is what I enjoy.
I don’t hunt to prove that I can take an animal and process it, and I believe that most hunters I know feel the same.
And, I believe that was not your intention to say that hunters need to prove something.
There are as many reasons to hunt, or not to hunt, as there are responses to this thread, and that is fine.
In some ways hunting defines me. It is a passion of mine, and it makes my life a bit better, whether I take an animal or not, because hunting is so much more than that to me.

 

[9x56MS]

To me hunting is just a part of being out in nature’s world. I love just observing animals going about their business. Maybe sharing a piece of my sandwich with a chickadee, or mimicking a squirrels chatter. Or watching a fox hunting mice. Hunting memories are so much more than just the killing of an animal. It is a part of me that I can’t live without. Doesn’t mean it is for everyone.