Remembering why we hunt.
 

We get so caught up in antlers size so much any more as well as who makes the best bow and perhaps we don't give enough attention to why we hunt in the first place. So what I want to read from you is why do you hunt? Is it all about that one buck that will put in the magazines or is it all about getting back to nature and enjoying all it's bounty.

For me, it's all about the enjoyment of it all. Sure I dream about taking that buck that might make a magazine cover but if I hunt the rest of my life never taking that buck I'll be one happy hunter because after all, I hunted the rest of my life. If ya'll didn't get a chance to read my running journals from my archery season, if you find time, here's the link...I think it's a good read and reenforces what hunting is about for me.
http://www.huntingnet.com/fieldjournal/fieldjournal.aspx?id=58

I enjoy the song birds, especially at day break when the woods comes alive. I enjoy the crunch of the leaves and the anticipation of what is coming my way. I enjoy sitting in a tree and hearing the geese fly over head going about their business. Arrowing a buck comes second to most of what hunting brings to me. I am a very successful hunter, not because I have record book animals, not because I am known throughout the hunting industry, not that I make money off of what I do ...none of which may or may not ever come my way however I am a very successful hunter because I get out, I enjoy hunting and fullfill personal goals each and every year...

How's your hunting career?

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

Rob, You pretty muched summed it up for alot of us, I'm guessing. I always enjoyed the woods from as far back as I can remember and really not anyone else in my family did or seemed to. I'd always sneak off to various ponds and trek for miles through the woods, probably trespassing but nobody ever said anything. I suppose they didn't mind a kid too much. I actually didn't hunt that much when I was a kid. I still feel an odd remorsefulness every time I take an animal but when I was younger I just felt like I could do without it. A few times but mainly I liked to fish, hike around, rappel and rock climb. It wasn't until my late 20's that I rediscovered hunting and it just fit. I could enjoy the outdoors, see some sun rises, watch the woods wake up, learn about animals and their ways, test and challenge myself in different ways, plus maybe get some tasty meat.

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

Rob,

First off, this is an excellent thread, thanks for starting it up, I too look forward to hearing what everyone has to say.

Remembering why I hunt. For me its about the mountains and all that inhabits them, Dad introducing it to me as a young child! What a tremendous teaching tool the outdoors can serve as. It's sharing them with the folks that I so care about andmore importantly seeing the smiles on others faces. I can't wait till my boys can hunt with me. Keeping in touch with my mentor, sharing in his successes...The practicing, the mistakes and lessons learned. The preperation and honing of skills. Hanging stands, building blinds, finding a shed antlers, an art? a science? a little of both in my book......climbing through the bluffs, coming out of the woods 2 hours after dark from a long hike, getting home at daylight after getting a big ole bear or bullelkout...all night long...praying on my hands and knees under the light of a lantern following a poor blood trail while its snowing to beat heck, knowing itsresponsibility to do everythingI can to recover a critter...finding him and realizing how much you learned just from one blood trail or lack there of it......conversely....losing a critter and vowing to be better the next time...and then working to not make the same mistake again...

It's about experiencing everything from the smell of a fresh rain in the timber to the slight glimpes of an old whitetail buck sneaking out behind me, to eyeing a doe and her famly of youngin's working through a creek bottom on their way to their eveningfeeding area, the sound of a screaming bull elk that stands the hair up on my neck, then the thunder of the ground shaking as he moves in two get a closer look at my soft cow calls...the gobble and then strutof a boss tom, the stealth quiet of a big ole bruin moving in...the foolishness of a couple tree squirrels jockying over a pine cone. The unmistakable feeling of chill...as a pack of wolves howls... a moose that won't get out of the road! the coyote that almost steps on me after a rattling session...my "war room" of maps and sattelite photos...tracking them all...

Somewhere along my life of hunting I fell in love with bow-hunting the old bucks of my area. It's not like they grow on trees here but they are out there, its the scouting and searching for them that keeps me revved up year around. Now that passion has spread to finding the old bulls and bears in the area too. I can't imagine not being able to do something that involves hunting on a daily basis. My family fills the freezer every year with deer, elk, bear and turkey. We don't buy meat at the grocery store, we like butchering our own critters,it's a family tradition that's been passed down for generations. I appreciate afull freezerheading into winter. Every time we sit for a meal and give thanks the hunt replays in my mind.

The art of taxidermy and the hunt recaptured....every now and then I get the chance tosneak off into my basement were my sheds and critters reside...

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

For me hunting is life....It's what I do....It's the only reason I was born. Hunting for me is a form of release....it gets out all my frustrations....going to the woods is just relaxing for me. I love it more than doing anything else in the world. I can't express how I feal about it in words.

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

God told us to.

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

I like to see the sun come up or go down, to hear the woods wake up, to see the critters going about their daily business. SUre I could have shot many times, but I don't go to the woods to just kill. I think it is the way with most, I hear things some will never hear, see things that others never will see! [8D]

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

I hunt for the thrill and the excitement that comes from being outdoors and experiencing nature. I like all hunting wether it is for rabbits or for a trophy whitetail. I especially like the things I see that I'm not expecting, such as an owl trying to take a squirrel away from a hawk that just killed it in front of my stand. I have different kinds of hunts and they are all enjoyable for me. It could be a leisurly rabbit hunt with my son or it could be a serious trophy whitetail hunt. I compete against no one. I hunt big bucks to test my knowledge and skills. I like big, mature bucks, I'm not going to lie. Is it about the antlers? Not really, I like the challenge of seeing bucks like that, getting one is just a bounus. Big antlers is a side effect of a deer getting old. Old deer are hard to see let alone hunt. Now through in the act of hunting an individual old, matutre buck. Wether I get him or not, the stories will be the same... excited admiration for such a majestic animal. Every time I step into the field, its like x-mas morning for me, I never know what I'm going to find.

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

A big AMEN to what everyone stated. I couldn't put it better if I tried so thank you all.

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

Rob, Great thread. I'd like to see more of these type threads. I think alot of the threads tend toskip the heart of the matter. These are all great posts, and Ifind part of myselfall of them.

But for me, its carrying on a long family tradition. And starting a new one at the same time. I like to boast that I was born in July and sat on a deerstand with my Mom that following November. I dont know if it really was like that per se, but alot of my earliest memories were in the deer stand and on the lake with my parents. I've learned alot about life in these experiences, and I feel it's my responsibility to pass these things on to my children, when we have them. Just being out there makes me feel alive. It's real. It's not "entertainment". It's LIFE, and DEATH.

I'm only 23. For the last 5 years I've been really into the "suburban" lifestyle. Video games, cars and big screen tvs... working 80 hrs a week anddevolping a heart condition at the age of 22 to get them. Shameful.

In the last 8 months however, I've rediscovered my calling. Rekindled the love I have for reality, rather than falicy. The woods are alive, and calling my name. The beauty that comes from the perfection of life in the wild is 2nd only to the beauty and perfection of God. The killing of game will always be much lower on my chain of loves, as I've always felt sad for the loss of life. But the ballet and orchestral masterpieceof the hunt, and continuation of life in the form of sustinance and nutritionfor my wife and family will always be paramount and a partof the beauty.

My wife's family is very much anti-..... anti- guns, anti- hunting. You can imagine their shock,even horror on their faces when My wife told them she's going tolearn to shoot and hunt. That decision meant alot to me. It meant when a person sees first hand the beauty and elegance of our pasttime, theyrecognize the deception coming from the anti's. To see this realization and acceptance in a person raised to hold hunters to at very best, very low esteem. It also meant I'd discovered life time hunting partner. I now have someone other than my father to share the outdoors with, and that means alot. Since I only get to him once or twice a year.(hunting, and fishing)

These are why I hunt. Not because of death. Because of LIFE, Reality, beauty, peace, and pursuit of perfection. Not my perfection, but God's perfection. The frost on the grass. The sun glistening off the frost on the prickly pear or pine boughs. Seeing a young buck or old doe's breath in the chilled November air as sun hits it through the trees first thing in the morning.Just thinking about it has relaxed my blood pressure.

Someone here said because God told us to. Could you please send me scripture for that? Not because I need proof, but so I can show my In-laws.

Thanks and God Bless!

RE: Remembering why we hunt.
 

For the chicks....

...chicks dig hunters.

:)

I am joking ofcourse. I think most of the others pretty much summed up my feelings on the subject as well. I hunt because of the opportunity to be in woods. Others can state it more elonquently but I enjoy the time spent out of doors with the animals, the trees, the quiet time....

..and yet also the time spent with good friends and family doing something that we all enjoy.