Hunters: Why do you hunt?

reply to post by SaturnFX


To keep our skills sharp for when we have to defend your non hunting butt and your rights, plain and simple , oh and to feed you after we protect you and your rights ,man your becoming a real burden to our survivle. go pick some berries!

I've never hunted, and I think it's wrong to kill animals for sport, BUT...
When people hunt legally to provide themselves with food, that's perfectly fine. Also, legal hunting usually helps the environment as far as I understand. For example, if everyone stopped hunting deer, the land would become overrun with them and it would cause all kinds of disorder with nature.

I too am a very big animal lover. I would probably save the lives of my dogs over those of worthless, oxygen thieving idiots who populate this world.


I hunt for one reason and for one reason only: To keep my skills sharp and honed just in case I need to rely on my hunting skills for survival one day. Like others have already mentioned, I have never killed an animal for sport. All of the meat is eaten and I even give the hides to a leather worker friend of mine. Killing an animal for fun is just yet another prime example of ignorance.

I hunt cause its fun. And because I dont want to instinctively feel like the only pace i can get food is at the grocery store. Killing an animal should be natural.

I wouldnt hunt a cat or a dog but if my family was hungry Id sure as heck kill one, for food though only. Killing a dog is wrong though if its a pet.

I don't hunt -- I don't like killing things (I even catch spiders "alive" in my house and throw them out the window);
HOWEVER, I eat meat and enjoy eating meat.

So, I suppose I am being hypocritical with myself -- i.e., I don't like the idea of killing something myself, but I'll gladly let someone else kill the animals that I eat (that way I don't "get my hands [mostly figuratively] dirty").

I'll gladly eat the meat, but I choose to ignore the fact that while that animal was living, I personally would not be emotionally able to kill it.

If I have to explain, you won't understand. I will say this: Everything and literally everything we eat has to die before we eat it. It can die in a slaughterhouse, it can die in a field, or it can die on a mountainside with a bit of dignity. Personally, if given a choice, I'd take a bullet or a surgically sharp 125gr, 4 bladed broadhead at 280fps, out in the woods without chains, ropes or fences around me. I see donation jars in almost every damn store I go in begging for money for one animal shelter or another. Oddly enough, I have not seen one jar seeking donations for any programs that provide underpriviledged kids with basic winter clothing. Ever. That's a damn shame. Whatcha gonna do when SHTF? Me, I'm gonna go get more ammo. My second stop might be the local animal shelter to get meat for my family. "Meat is meat"

I dont hunt, I do the cooking. My husband hunts, and so do all my kids. I wanted them to learn to hunt. We do not hunt for sport. I do not agree with hunting for sport.

You mentioned being able to buy meat in the grocery store. Well, I think it is important to remember that a life was lost so that you could eat that. When you sit in the woods and become aware of all the life around you, you understand when you pull the triger what was lost so that you can eat.

I also think it is important to know how to obtain your own food. Our comfort and freedoms are not a sure thing. Who knows what this world will be like when my kids become adults.

A friend of ours hunts deer but does not care for venison, so he donates it. This year, there was a family nearby who really appreciated it. They had not had meat in a long time.

Another reason, which many do not understand is for the health and well being of the animals. When they get over populated - which they do easily - they run the risk of being wiped out completely from illnesses such as the cronic waste disease which is a real worry here in Missouri. Herd management is a necessity.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

I think I'm pretty much in the same boat as you.

I've lived my entire life in a very heavy hunting/farming area, but I've never killed anything (except roadkill), but I will eat just about anything you can roast.

I can't imagine walking up to a cow and shooting it's brains out, but then again, I've never been starving. I don't just mean hungry...I mean starving.

One last note on this dying thread (pun intended). I have considered going out and shooting pictures. That's like the thrill of the hunt without the blood.

reply to post by SaturnFX


personally i do not hunt anymore myself, did when i was a kid. but i still have lots of friends that do. there are many reasons y people still hunt. 1 my buddy when he gets a nice kill i pay him some money and he sends me good meat it helps keep both our food bills down. i should also state with my family i normally pay 600-700 monthly food bill. it really helps me cut that back. 2nd guess would be independent. economy crashes all the stores close down where would you get your food? 3rd would be safety. i rem reading a thing a long time ago about how china started putting stuff in food for women to not have to have kids. do you trust our gov? i dont. just look at our cattle. today farmers put im not sure what the name of it is but anyway stuff in the cows feed to get it bigger so they can earn more money in turn your kids eat this meat. so that chemical going to go into your kids body? wonder y Americans are so fat? our gov did not care about that they only seen they could make more money with it. maybe also you get that feeling of self accomplishment also. i could go on i could give you more reasons to hunt then to buy food at the store.

I'm from Texas so hunting is pretty much in my DNA lol. I love hunting and have done it since i was 5. waking up at 4am in the freezing cold, puttin on your gear, your scents, loading your gun, walking through the brush as quietly as possible. You sit in your stand eyes constantly on the move. Everytime you hear a stick break your heart pounds faster until you finally see that rack hovering above the bushes. Slowly walking out into your sight. You pull your gun up looking through the scope waiting for that perfect shot. Your hearts beatin a thousand miles an hour, till finally your buck stops and looks up at you and then bam he falls to the ground. its such a rush, and thats not even the best part. Best part is when you take that back strap and make some chicken fried venison and deer gravy. Is what i'm doing cruel? no not at all. I'd much rather eat fresh meat then that processed crap you get at the store. What would you rather me go to mcd's or bk? I don't think so.

reply to post by SaturnFX


Seems to be a long thread so I expect no response OP. No problem.

I cannot speak for anyone else but, if I could not hunt or fish or otherwise be outside and part of the plan, I would not make it. Be it sitting in woods waiting for a deer to come along, taking my kids fishing for bluegills, working in my garden, or just walking through the woods or prairies or mountains, there is nothing more central to my being.

It is where I find a resonance for my soul. The further I get away from other people and man made nonsense, the better. I find it hard to argue against thousands of years of evolution calling out to me. The rest of the "arguments" I have read above, pro or con, fall on my deaf ears.

...of course venison and salmon and fresh tomatoes are delicious too

I'm also from Texas and grew up hunting. It seems to me that when you kill the animal yourself, the meat tastes so much better. I'm not sure if it's the satisfaction of killing it and being able to feed yourself, that you know it's natural and not injected with hormones or whatever, it just tastes better. I personally don't believe in killing for sport. I don't have any racks from deer (maybe because i haven't killed that trophy yet :lol but I have eaten every ounce of meat and it was great...some of the best hunts I went on i didn't kill a dang thing but sitting around the campfire with my grandfather, uncles, and dad and learning "life" lessons and feeling much older than I was is something you can't get anywhere else IMHO...good times!

I love animals and personally have an issue pulling the trigger to kill one for consumptions and or trophy. But I love a good backstrap now and then, and drool when someone give's me one to cook. In some cases such as Florida a population of an animal get's to the point it gives a strain on the system, and in that case it has to be thinned out for the benefit of other animals. I come from a long line of hunters reaching back to the early day's of my people and my family, and I do not look down on people who hunt, for the right reasons not for the wrong. Meaning you are hunting to fill your freezer with meat not for the horns on the animal and you respect other's while you are out there, etc... That is my not so humble opinion on the matter.

I think there are several aspects to hunting. Being out in nature is certainly one of the best reasons. Testing your skill is another. Getting a bunch of meat is a great thing as well. Killing for the sake of killing is wrong. Killing more than you can consume is no different.(IMHO) Understanding the way the Native Americans felt about hunting and nature should be on the mind of hunters in order to understand everyone's place in nature. But if you think it's easy to just go out and kill a deer, go out and take a picture of one in the wild. See how easy that is. They are crafty creatures. The big ones don't get to be big by being stupid. I am glad I learned how to hunt. I don't hunt every year, and certainly don't get a kill every hunt. I just really enjoy nature.

Hunting to put food on the table is one thing. Its the trophy hunters that kill to put a new mount on the wall are the ones that bother me. Who am I to judge though. I shot 1 Deer in my whole life and I will never do it again.. I come from a long line of hunters. I broke the cycle because it is not in me to kill animals.


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Originally posted by trollz
I've never hunted, and I think it's wrong to kill animals for sport, BUT...
When people hunt legally to provide themselves with food, that's perfectly fine. Also, legal hunting usually helps the environment as far as I understand. For example, if everyone stopped hunting deer, the land would become overrun with them and it would cause all kinds of disorder with nature.

This happens here in this area in many of the Federally protected areas. NASA Langley Research Center has problems with the local deer overrunning the available land and open up certain sections to bow hunting. Same thing with the Colonial Parkway as well as the Naval Weapons Station.
The deer become stunted by inbreeding et al in closed in sections. Even their antlers become uneven and crooked. The overall quality of the herds begins to suffer.

There was another area of this city which was heavily wooded. The deer multiplied sufficient to come out into the neighborhoods and begin eating the foliage around peoples houses. People became irate about this but so many people in this town balked at the idea of hunting them till the numbers became manageable once again. But thehy had no other economically viable solutions.
They eventually opened it up to controlled bow hunting for a short time window.
No other economically viable solution outside of hunting has been found to manage numbers of game to the land area available.

Thanks,
Orangetom

I'll always remember the first time I ever went deer hunting. We got up at 4 a.m. After a good hearty breakfast, we started loading up our gear and making sure we had everything. We were still in the driveway and my heart was already going a mile a minute. Once I got to my spot, I cleard the ground of branches and made my blind of the stuff I found arround my spot. The ground was mossy and I could smell the earth as every foot step hit the ground in perfect silence. I had one of those cooler bags that was also a seat. So I prop the seat up against the dead tree in the middle of my spot. As I sat down. I took of my gloves, I felt warm dispite the cold that morning. I guess working to clear my blind got my heart pumping even more. I laughed to myself thinking I must of scared off everything for a mile around. But just as I started to relax birds started to do their thing as usual. I kept perfectly still for what must of seemed like hours. And with out me really noticing, the forrest came to life. Sounds comming from everywhere. When I first notice it kind of made me uneasy but quickly found myself completely at peace. A little black bird landed on my knee. I chuckled. I never saw a bird fly off so quickly. And then I here this sort of cakling sound. It's hard to explain but it seemed to be dirrected at me. I started to look around in the general direction of that anoying sound and there it was. A squirrel, a squirrel giving away my position!! Of all the things I had seen this was the weirdest. As if it knew why I was there. It wouldn't leave me alone. And then I hear a faint "crack" behind me. I slowly look over my shoulder and there she was. A beautiful doe. She must of been 30 feet way. I had the perfect behind the shoulder shot. I shoulder my weapon, a single shot remington with riffled slug. The nerver oh dear the nerves. I had a little trouble keeping the gun steady. So I take a deep breath and hold it. The gun steadies and as if I had scopes for eyes, my vision focus in the same instance my sence of smell sharpens and my hearing as well. I slowly squeeze the trigger and with the loudest noise I ever heard in me life..."CLICK". The doe looks straight at me and jumps out of sight in a plit second. Oh! no! A miss fire. I was scared... do I wait, do I open up my gun right away??? I decided to wait acouple of minutes and opened the gun. The shell addent miss fired...I forgot to put a shell in.
True Story... . I swear.

reply to post by XLR8R


awesome story. The first time I went out on my own with a shotgun was similar. I was walking down a power line clear cut, perfect day. slight breeze in my face, not too cold, but crisp. Squirrels dancing in the trees all around me. I was expecting to jump one up. I had never even taken a shot at a deer before this. A monster buck jumped up out of a brush pile. He stood on top of the pile with the sun behind him. It was majestic to say the least. He must have been at least 12 points. He snorted and with one leap, disappeared. When I caught my breath, I realized that my winchester pump was still resting against my shoulder. Some hunter.

reply to post by network dude


Thanks. That has to be something to remember for the rest of your life. I would of loved to have seen that. Unfortunatly I havn't been hunting for a couple of years. I guess it saves me the embarassement... But I started fishing last year though. Hunting in Canada with all the laws it makes it pretty expensive to renew your liscence and all that crap. And the way the economy is going....

Originally posted by trollz
I've never hunted, and I think it's wrong to kill animals for sport, BUT...
When people hunt legally to provide themselves with food, that's perfectly fine. Also, legal hunting usually helps the environment as far as I understand. For example, if everyone stopped hunting deer, the land would become overrun with them and it would cause all kinds of disorder with nature.

This is what I was addressing earlier; we created a problem in the eco system in the first place by encroaching on all the apex predators’ areas. Not that we need to change that or whatever like some Agenda 21 BS just a fact of life we need room.

However, now we will necessarily have to assume the role of the apex predator or the herds will suffer in many ways. I leave the predators alone; I lose a chicken to a hawk now and then and every once in a while one to an owl. I tend to leave them alone because without them the mouse population around here would be out of control.

Even heard about a few bobcats and once a black bear in the area – I would never kill one unless absolutely necessary. Hell, even if I lost stock I’d rather that as long as it wasn’t excessive and I could scare them off rather than kill them.

Likewise we created other problems like in the south with feral hogs - just regular hogs got free somehow and mixed with wild boar. Now the agressiveness of the smaller wild boar is mixed with the large frame of the domestic hog - not a good combination.

They breed fast and are very destructive to crops and farmland - almost can't kill them fast enough. Some places the wildlife management just rounds them up at feed sites 15-20 at a time and takes them to the slaughterhouse and donates to the needy.