I believe in God also, and can see through science how He has used evolution as His tool for Creation. There is no conflict between science and religion, as I see it. But that's a topic for a different thread.

Hunting... It's something I grew up with. Goinghunting with my dad, uncles, cousins, grandfathers andfriends was just a natural part of my life, from my earliest memories onward. I was lucky enough to spend much of myformative yearson grampa's farm, meaning I learned early on that meat and vegetables did notmagically appear,prepackaged and sterile,on the shelves at the grocery store.

Much of my hunting was for multiple purposes. Primary reason was protecting the cattle and crops from predation by wild animals. The tasty dinners that came as a natural result of hunting was a bonus.If we didn't have to slaughter another cow for meat,then that extra cow was extra cash money at the sale yard. Keeping the coyote population under control meant we had more calves mature and the more mature calves, again, the more money we made at the livestock sale. The fewer rabbits and other critters eating the crops meant there was less crop damage, and sowe had more crops to sell.

I know I'm making it sound like the whole thing is driven by money, but there's more to it than that. Hunting with family and friends brought us all closer together. We could talk about the game we saw, the animals we took, and the ones that got away. It gave us a common frame of reference. Where we had many disagreements on a lot of other areas of life, somethat threatened to drive us apart, hunting was the one subject that was always safe ground.

Hunting is responsible for many of my fondest memories. Like grampa's old side hammer shotgun that was so worn out the barrels would come unbreached every time he shot it. We kept telling him how unsafe that old gun was, but he would never buy a new one. I inherited that gun when he died and it's one of my most cherished possessions, because of those memories.

As for hunting with bow and arrow, it's part of my ancestral legacy. When I was very young, like 2-3 years old, my grampa told me of my Indian heritage. When I was born, there was still a very real stigma for anyone with Indian blood and the whole family worked very hard to conceal it. I kinda broke the mold and was extremely proud of it. That's one reason I fell in love with shooting and hunting withbows and arrows, and that has never changed.

Go further back in time though, and weall havethe legacy of hunting. If it weren't for hunting, our species would not have developed. Our brain capacity isthe directresult of our ancestors eating a diet high in meat protien. Our eyes are set to look directly forward, as are the eyes of all mamalian predators. We are predators by design. The instinct to hunt is deeply rooted in the psyche of the species.

Our difference is we have the intellectual power tofeel compassion for our prey, something the wolves, bears, tigers and lions don't have to deal with. They don't particularly care if the animal they are eating is even dead when they begin feeding. We, on the other hand, take care to kill our prey quickly so it won't suffer. That is dueentirelyto our capacity for compassion.

That compassion is also part and parcel of whywe needto hunt.If our wild animals are not controlled through hunting, they will quickly overpopulate their habitat - habitat that is constantly shrinking due to the rapid overpopulation of humankind. When the animals overpopulate, they strip the habitat of food resources and are concentrated around whatever sources remain. So, slow starvation and death by diseaseis exactly what Nature has in store for them if they are not controlled. I'd much ratheran animal die quickly and cleanly by my handso that it won't starve or succumb to diseases, and so the resources it would have consumed will be available for other members of the herd for sustanence. I kill this animal soother animals of it's kindwon't suffer. Does that make sense?

Humans are the primary predator on this continent because the 'natural' predators have been largely eliminated. It is not feasible to reestablish the natural cycle because those predators don't care if they are taking a deer or elk vs a cow or sheep. It is not feasible to introduce birth control drugs, as some animal rights groups have espoused, because there is no way to ensure: 1) That it will work. 2) That there won't be serious environmental damage, like contaminated our ground water.

Would you want to betaking a dose ofan animal birth control hormone every time you drink a glass of water? What would it do to our children?

There are so many reasons I like to hunt. Part of it is testing my woodsmanship skills against the instinctual defenses of the animal, proving to myself I am still the son of my forefathers. Part of it is gathering around this high tech,modernversion of the camp fire, telling and listening to stories of the hunt, picking up hints on how to do better and giving advice to the newcomers. Part of it is getting back in touch with the primitive warrior that lies hidden in my core being.

Even you, jrdn00, are host to a primitive savage lying hidden deep inside you, no matter how hard you try to deny it. Intellectually, you can try to wall off that savage but you cannot escapeit.Better to seek it out, embrace it and become friends with it, because it is part of you. And you'll be able to control it better when, on those rare ocassions, it comes out of hiding.