When I hunt, I'm in a survival situation in my head. This helps me to hunt and eventually kill my prey. For me, hunting is not a sport and never will. My only reason to hunt is to feed me and my family.
I have no pleasure in killing and when I shoot my arrow, I do it respectfully.
Some years ago I was alone on a lake in a canoe and saw a coyote swim across the bay where I was. I approached him and saw fear in his eyes. Then I spoke slowly and suddenly it became relaxed.
It was a beautiful experience.
What I mean here is this: I am not God in the forest and does not decide who should live or die. I never kills for glory or to kill anything that moves.
Hunting for me is survival issue and each time I kill, I apologize to the beast.
It comes from the original instinct to gather and provide.
Today I don't need to kill my own meat,I could just rock on down to the loacl suuermarket an buy better eating than is ever going to come off the hill.
I don't hunt for meat,I hunt to satisfy that old instinct,,nothing more an nothing less.
How other people explain their reasons,there all so much hot air to me,your either hunting due to instinct,or your making excuses for your actions.
I don't need excuses,I know what I am and I have no problems with that.
It's who I am, it's what I do.
It's to stir up that predatory instinct and live: "the wild within!" In fewer words it's fun!
You're paying WAY too much per pound if you are hunting to feed your family if you factor in the time; how much your time is worth if you were putting in that time working instead of hunting etc.
QuoteOriginally posted by Biggie Hoffman:
It's who I am, it's what I do.
Ditto to what Biggie said.
I'm never more alive than when I'm hunting.
I hunt for the enjoyment and experience of being in the woods and becoming as close to nature as I can. As was said above I could just go to the market and buy my food, no problem. But the market doesn't have the sights and sounds and smells that stimulate that long lost predatory instinct that is within each of us at some level or another. I hunt because I love the experience, kill or no kill. And when the opportunity arises and I am able to make a kill, I give thanks but no apologies for this is what I was put here for and what the animal was put here for. Hunting is an all encompassing thing to me.
Well I do it for fun.I find enjoyment in being outside away from work.I like to eat the things I hunt so that is a bonus when I do things right.I guess I would call it a passtime more than a sport since I don't keep score. :D
I think I'm with James on this one. In all honesty, I think I would have also shot the coyote.
Im 42yrs old and when i was younger it was all about how many deer i could kill and how many i could put on the wall.
This past fall i had one of my best days while hunting down at my camp.
It was pouring down rain when i got up that morning so i set my target under the back porch and put Jerimiah Johnson in the dvd player.
I spent ALL day doing nothing but shooting my bow and watching Jerimiah Johnson and about 7-8 different stick bow dvd's.
The smell of the rain and the sound of it hitting the tin roof as i shot arrow after arrow
was a really good day.
I do it for me. It clears my head, and is the way that I enjoy being out doors. The hunt is the most important thing, the kill takes a back seat. I like to put a good set of antlers on the wall just as much as the next guy, but if it doesn't happen, it's not the end of the world. It's just the icing on the cake.
I agree with Biggie also it is who/what I am, a father ,a hunter who also happens to be a machinist by trade.
Bill
These guys are doing a pretty good job of explaining the unexplainable.