# Why do you hunt?



## beorning (Apr 14, 2006)

The "bear attack" thread got me to thinking that it would be interesting to hear about everyone's personal reasons for hunting. I'm hoping that this won't turn into a "your philosophy is wrong and mine is right" sort of thread, but at the same time would like to leave it open for civil debate. 

I'll start, mine will be a list, rather than a single reason:

- I like being out in the woods so much that I'm generally pretty satisfied even if I don't get anything that day. Sitting on stand or posting gives me the chance to see things that I would miss if I was just hiking around. Walking isn't bad either.

- I enjoy the challenge of hunting. Scouting, learning about the animal I'm after, finding sign, and finally getting the opportunity to take an animal is one of the last ways the average person can have an actual adventure without travelling thousands of miles or spending thousands of dollars. 

- I like the reminder that the animals I eat are deserving of my respect and admiration. 

- I like having a skill that will keep me alive in the event of a SHTF, major catastrophe scenario.

- I like a full freezer. My game meat tends to end up costing a good amount of money per pound, but it is healthier, and tastes better than ground beef in a tube from the store.

- I like that I'm able to share the knowledge I've learned by hunting with my daughter and pass my skills along to her so that she can have the same good experiences I've had.

- I like having a hobby that I can justify, economically, to my wife.  ( even if the return isn't quite as rosy as I'd like it to be)


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## poorboy (Apr 15, 2006)

1. It's in my Genes.
2. I enjoy hunting.
3. Granma always taught me to be as self sufficient as possible.( She sent me to the wood shed with an ole hen to chop her head off when I was eight yrs. old.Looking back I can see she just had me do it enough so that I wouldn't mind killing for food, as she usually just grabbed em by the neck,gave em a whirl an ajerk an off came thier head.  grandad let me shoot the fathogs at butchering time which I was eager to do as it seemed to me a very important grownup act.)


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I hunt because:
1. part of wildlife management on my homestead. If game is plentiful, I'll hunt to eat the game that is nutritionally beneficial, such as deer, grouse, hare. If game is less plentiful, I'll hunt less in the name of conservation.

2. I only hunt a predator or varmint if it's a homestead problem. 

3. I hunt because I learned the skill, safety, and elements of conservation and management about wildlife in my zone to hunt and abide by the principals to keep our wild game 'wild' and as abundant as the habitat that can sustain it.


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## RoyalOaksRanch (Nov 14, 2003)

1. We prefer game meat over feedlot meat. Leaner, no hormones, antibiotics etc. Way healthier for you. And it tatses ALOT better.
2. We enjoy the outdoors. We hunt in very remote country where humans are the minority. Sometimes we dont see another person all week.
3. I am a taxidermist. 
4. Its the best way to teach your kids about life. 
5. If you and your kids are into hunting, camping or fishing trips, they learn respect for nature, respect for LIFE, respect for guns, and respect for their health. They get out and DO more physical activity than some kid sitting in front of the playstation or computer all the time...
6. You contribute to the management of the herds. Your tag fees and money spent while hunting, fishing, camping provides revenue for land management, herd managment, and population control. 
7. Its fun


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## Steve L. (Feb 23, 2004)

beorning said:


> The "bear attack" thread got me to thinking that it would be interesting to hear about everyone's personal reasons for hunting. I'm hoping that this won't turn into a "your philosophy is wrong and mine is right" sort of thread, but at the same time would like to leave it open for civil debate.
> 
> I'll start, mine will be a list, rather than a single reason:
> 
> ...


These are my reasons, too, but I'd like to add one more -

- Since I _am_ a meat eater, and I'm gonna continue to be one, I'd prefer 'my' meat animals to have the best (or, if you prefer, most natural) life possible. What's better than being free? I could clear cut part of my land and raise sheep/goats/cattle, but, by utilizing a natural resource, the land that might have been pasture can remain 'wild' and function as habitat for all kinds of other wildlife. 

This is also why I promote the use of wild fur as an alternative to more environmentally destructive materials.


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## PyroDon (Jul 30, 2006)

I hunt for food 
I plant food plots , put out mineral licks ect. 
some people raise goats for meat . Myself I prefer to freerange same "stock" 
while the "goats" I raise are often called whitetails they areeasy to take care of, theres no fencing ,no barns, and no vet bills . I also "raise " freerange turkeys,rabbits , squirrels, some fish, a few ducks and various othe critters.
No they dont come when called , no they dont have nice pens fences or barns but I do tend to provide then with suitable housing and habitat and supliment their natural feed . 
Many hunters are simular to livestock farmers , we harvest or cull herds to provide for our tables . By providing supliments and habitat I insure a reliable source of food as well as plentiful "stock" for harvesting.


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

I hunt to supplement the meat raised here on the farm. 
I also forage for plants, fruits, etc., that I use year round.


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

If I want pork, I go out to the sty, pick out a pig that suits me, kill it, butcher it, and eat it.

If I want poultry, I go out to the coup, pick out a chicken, duck, goose, or turkey that suits me, kill it, butcher it, and eat it.

If I want beef, I go out to the paddocks, pick out a steer that suits me, kill it, butcher it, and eat it.

If I want wild game, I go out to the woods, hunt down a critter that suits me, kill it, butcher it, and eat it.

I am no sportsman, I never was, and I never will be, I hunt purely for the meat, or for the fur; if the law would allow it I would catch all of my wild game with traps or snares, and I wouldn't "hunt" at all.


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## travlnusa (Dec 12, 2004)

1) Enjoy the time spent with my sons

2) Enjoy the woods

3) Enjoy the taste

4) Enjoy the unknown that each day will bring


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## Haggis (Mar 11, 2004)

I wonder if there isn't just some incorrectly used verbage run amuck among hunters? 

For instance, I think that getting close enough to an animal to shoot it can be a challenge but it is not sport. I think that getting the lid off an old jar of pickles can be a challenge, but it's not a sport.

I am sure that there are "hunters" who hunt and kill simply for sport, much as they would play a game of golf, but the vast majority of hunters are more along the line of challenge/meat hunter.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Do it mostly for the meat.

But I enjoy seeing what my weapons will do.

I enjoy seeing how close I can get.

Use to do it for the money.Paid for my first Farm doing it.

big rockpile


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## tn_junk (Nov 28, 2006)

I hunt because there is something deep within me that still needs the wild. Something that needs the cold crisp air of a December morning. Something that needs the sunrise in the eastern sky. Something that needs the open fire and the smell of meat roasting. Something that must be satisfied.

galump


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## independant1 (Mar 10, 2006)

I hunt for the adrenalin rush or "buck fever". I get it everytime I hunt ANYTHING: squirel, rabbit, deer, turkey, you name it. I figure when I do loose that feeling I will give up the sport. I equate that loosing that feeling means I am loosing respect for the animal, so if I feel nothing for the animal I just harvested then I can have the same feeling going to the grocery store. Next is food. Third is scenery.
-Andy


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

I don't hunt much yet but I'm getting ready to start. Just can't afford to lose $10,000+ in crops to wildlife damage every year because our MNR isn't willing to do what it takes to keep the numbers in check. We're overrun with deer, bears, turkeys, had at least 3 car-deer collisions within 100' of our driveway this year.


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

independant1 said:


> I hunt for the adrenalin rush or "buck fever". I get it everytime I hunt ANYTHING: squirel, rabbit, deer, turkey, you name it. I figure when I do loose that feeling I will give up the sport. I equate that loosing that feeling means I am loosing respect for the animal, so if I feel nothing for the animal I just harvested then I can have the same feeling going to the grocery store. Next is food. Third is scenery.
> -Andy


 That pretty well covers it for me too. I started hunting 50+ yrs ago because the meat was important to my family then & hunting was a tradition that I learned from my grandfather & my father, & my uncles. I enjoy the excitement of a clean kill that will provide my family with meat.I enjoy being outdoors & being a part of the Great Circle of Life. I have to admitt that I also enjoy the proficiency with firearms that successful hunting requires. I've never been a bow hunter, but I admire them.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I hunt because I am a member of a preditory species and it is my nature to do so.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

1.) I think to really see the world you have to do it as a hunter. the difference in the observations about the natural world while hunting as opposed to simply walking in the woods is like night and day. I don't know if it is some primative stirring but every shadow, change in the light, shift in the wind, sound and smell all have significance. While hunting the minutest details of your surroundings come to light. It is like awakening a 6th sense. Hunting connects us to our ancestors at a basic level, seeking and obtaining food, providing for ourselves and our own. Hnting is the root of every activity we have in life. A new house, a good job, any of our desires to accumulate and possess anything all goes back to our desire to hunt.
2.) you get to carry guns (cool).


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