who do you hunt for--why do you hunt

[gouch]

There isn’t enough fluff, wish there were a lot more women on hunting forums and the threads you start are always among the best on the forum.

I hunt because I enjoy hunting pretty much the same way that I eat pizza and drink beer because I like to eat pizza and drink beer. I love being in the woods and I use hunting as an excuse to get out in the woods even though I don’t need an excuse. I love solitude so I hunt solo but I like the camaraderie of being with other hunters so I always like having one or more hunter back in camp where I seem to spend more and more of my time as I get older. I love hunting birds with a dog but not so much without a dog so it must be all about the dog. Not a trophy hunter, I’ve never been one to be concerned much about the size of the critter. Now days I prefer a cow elk to a bull just because they taste better. It always bothers me a little when people refer to an animal by how it “scores” or talk about letting it reach it’s full potential as if antler size has something to do with an animal’s potential. Seems a little disrespectful to the animal. I enjoy the meat and enjoy creating new ways to cook it. I’ve even created a few that are pretty good, if I do say so myself.

What I like most and it has to do with being in nature not just hunting, is what I just call memorable moments. Those little bits of time that for whatever reason become permanently ingrained in my mind. They usually involve some sort of wildlife but may be just a moment in time in nature or with a friend.

 

[NEWHunter]

The unrivaled sense of accomplishment and exhilaration that hunting provides from a successful hunt due the vast amount of luck, preparation, skill, knowledge, hard work, and perseverance it takes to be successful in such a complex and immersive activity.

 

[Panda Bear]

I had to check, because I didn’t recall Hunt Talk for Men being the title of this forum. Unless Big Fin rebrands this place as such, screw ‘em. Keep doin’ what you’re doin’. I always enjoy your posts.

I personally like the practice in self sufficiency hunting provides. I can find, kill, bring home, process, and cook my own food. From hoof to plate. That’s a satisfying thing.

I like the challenge of having to figure things out, make a plan, adjust the plan, fail, and repeat until I can make it work. Training in perseverance that has been handy in many aspects of life, not just hunting.

Plus being out in the natural world is the most replenishing, renewing thing I know of. No matter how much time you spend out there, you can always find something you haven’t seen before. And places with no roads or cell service are just good for the soul.

I’m not big on social media, because I value my privacy and because the internet is full of weirdos. I post a few things here and there, but mostly I do what I do just for me.

I enjoyed each persons post, excellent responses

Hunting wife. Your post really hit home. Hoof to plate is a perfect statement and much shorter than the way I said it. " Being out in the natural world is the most replenishing, renewing thing I know of"======exactly.

 

[gouch]

The unrivaled sense of accomplishment and exhilaration that hunting provides from a successful hunt due the vast amount of luck, preparation, skill, knowledge, hard work, and perseverance it takes to be successful in such a complex and immersive activity.

Didn't really think of that but there isn't anything more rewarding in life than learning, developing and mastering new skills. That is pretty much what hunting provides. Except maybe the mastering part, not sure I've ever don that.

 

[mdhunter]

The reasons I have hunted for so long certainly vary as I have aged. I enjoyed my grandfather showing me how to hunt and fish as I have enjoyed teaching my kids the same skills. I guess the bottom line is I enjoy spending any day outside in God's glory. Who doesn't like a sunrise, sunset, long hike, etc?

Do I hunt for the meat? I certainly would not starve otherwise. I plan to spend as much time outside as all other life constraints allow. If filling my freezer is part of that experience, all the better.

 

[hank4elk]

Something I have done since I was very young is hang out in the wild with critters whenever possible. My nature. The hunting just fell in place & has always been about the bounty,meat. I have mostly hunted alone. I provide meat for myself & some for my neighbors when I am real lucky.
My ex was born near London & until I feed her venison she was unfamiliar with hunting for food. She is a food person & developed a fondness for the bounty. The being alone in the woods & the hunt was still odd...lol.
I will be making an elk shepards pie in her honor when she comes by to visit on her way to a weavers thing soon. She planned her trip before hunt season......

 

[onpoint]

"There isn’t enough fluff, wish there were a lot more women on hunting forums and the threads you start are always among the best on the forum"

My wife is an accomplished and flat out successful hunter, a lifelong angler (dad taught her to fish as a toddler) who has caught the biggest fish I have seen caught on the Madison in the last 30 years (even amongst the myriad of flat billed professionals no less), a hell of a fly tier, and a meticulous meat cutter to boot. She doesn't wear makeup while she hunts.
Be good to hear her and other outdoorswomen's take on a lot of the topics - including this one..
She and many other women could add a lot, but I'm guessing the idiot testerone on here and other places would drive her and a lotta' other prospective female candidates away, anyways.
Us oudoorsMEN can be be bunch of meatheads.
Guilty as charged................

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Live to Hunt,Hunt to Live.Make It Your own.not the killing,The Living!

 

[SFC B]

I am an adult onset hunter. I started hunting at 33 (now 49) with a 5 year break while I was stationed in Europe (poor enlisted guy who couldn't afford to hunt there). My journey to hunting has been kind of lengthy, winding and ever evolving.

When I was small my parents divorced and I was moved with my mother from the suburbs of Indianapolis to a gawd awful latrine of a city in CT (rough I know but the "pretty"-Norman Rockwell parts of CT are reserved for the VERY wealthy), then to Atlanta where I got a taste of the outdoors. We lived in apartments around ATL and all had lakes I fished voraciously. Additionally, I was lucky enough to become involved with Scouting and get my first exposure to the outdoors proper. We took monthly camping trips to the Appalachian Trial, all of the large impoundments and destinations throughout the southeast. I saw my first deer, bear and coyote there.

At 14 my mom divorced again and then found out she had stage 4 cancer. I spent a semester with an uncle outside Detroit while she received treatment and then went to my father back in Indianapolis.....this time into the ghettoist part of the inner city. The rest of high school was all city things and trying not to get arrested.

Through college, young work life and grad school it was all the city with just a splash of suburbs.
THEN I entered the Army. Basic training brought me back to the woods....even if in a forced and uncomfortable manner

My first duty assignment was Fort Lewis, WA and I got to see big woods and western creatures for the first time. Elk and mountain goats on the Olympic, blacktail and bear on post. In the summer of 2003 one of my buddies, a Texan, came to me with a request. He know I had a Cherokee while he drove a civic. He was going to hunt on post in the fall and wanted me to drive him around through the training areas on the fire breaks. An excuse to 4x4 was all I needed.

Throughout the summer he showed me game trails and paths, told me which scat was which and showed me how the deer would come out to the edges of clear cuts and fields as the light faded. I was entranced by the reason and beauty of it all.

I was determined to hunt so I went out and bought the rifle my budget could afford....a Remington 710 in '06. He took me to the range (I had never shot a bolt gun before) and easily zero'd that cheap lil bugger I was ready to go.

The season came and on opening night, without a stand, he sat me on a log at the edge of a clear cut drenched in scent killer and told me simply to be as still as possible and watch. As the gloaming set in I heard a rustle to my right. Slowly a doe and her fawn showed themselves and walked directly in front of me at +-10 yds. They stopped right there and fed until the light faded. I sat until they eased off. That was a truly spiritual experience for me. At the time Lewis was buck only 3pts or better so without any thoughts of firing clouding my mind I took it all in. That season had me sit everyday, mostly in rain. I saw does every day but never a buck.

Soon after that I was transferred to Italy and then England. 5 years of no opportunities for me.

My return to the states began with a 1 year stop at Bragg. I got out a couple of time but nothing of note.
Having worked all of the favors I had I got orders to Fort Carson, CO, where I now live.

My first year sent me to Iraq. All that was entailed there brought me home with an even stronger draw to the wild. That Veterans day my son and I was invited to hunt in eastern WA and harvested my first animal, a small 2 year old Whitetail. This was my first time in a camp setting and I felt a bit of ease although those I was with had been strangers prior to that hunt. We ate and told stories of all kinds.

Another year past without the chance to hunt in CO and then another deployment. This time to the AFG................

 

[SFC B]

That one was rough on me. I was not a pleasant person when I returned but had no idea what to do about it. I had joined another hunting forum while downrange (it is gone now) and met CPO. We talked through messages and he told me to call when I got back. I did and after a few calls he invited me to his elk camp in 26. I showed at his house the night before we were to head NW and I knew instantly I had a brother. We stayed up til all hours and then made our way at zero dark thirty. Camp was all that I could have expected. Our tent also included his pops (an another Army retiree). That hunt brought to the wilderness for the first time in many years. CPO and I sat watching creation, stars and the world. On opening day we sat on a meadow a couple hundred yards apart and I watched CPO harvest a bull. I found the work of hauling out the meat cathartic. With every strained step and grunt I was letting go. The next day brought foul wind and nothing of note. On the third day I was blessed beyond measure. First a cow walked out at 150 yards broadside as if presented to me. An easy shot fell her in about 20 yards. As I sat giving her some time for good measure a 5x5 appeared down the meadow toward CPO. With his bull tag filled I knew it was mine if I could get a good shot. A couple minutes of shuffling for a shooting lane and range finding him at 360 yards gave me a chance. He was facing away and slightly uphill. My shot found the base of his neck between his shoulder blades and he instantly dropped. The 2 of us hauled meat all day. Exhausted and freed we sat silently drinking cheap beer and the German schnapps of our forefathers. It was the first real peace I had felt in years. I felt like an actual hunter for the first time that day. Not because of the kill, but because of the totality of the hunt. From the pack, to the trip in, to the hiking and shooting and recovery of game.

Since then my hunts have varied greatly. Being with both of my kids when they harvested their first big game animals was without equal. Sharing various camps with other Vets has shown me the great commonalities of what and who WE are. And the animals of the plains, mountains, woods and waters have each enriched me differently. The experiences and how they vary are second only to the time spent with those we care for. The meats that nourish me are different but always make me humble and thankful for what was given. i hope that I will continue to evolve and learn of the wild until the day I die. Please excuse my self indulgent length but with this being so close to me AND being my 2500 and 2501 posts I couldn't resist. In penance please accept a bunch of pics

 

[SFC B]

more

 

[SFC B]

Still more

 

[SFC B]

More again, hope it wasn't too much

 

[Gerald Martin]

Personally I think Europe is interesting enough to make daily updates of teeth
brushing on social media worth following.

I hunt for a myriad of reasons, reasons I find difficult to rank in order of importance. The social aspect of spending time in the woods with family and friends is huge. So is meat and adventure and exploring and nature and type 2 fun. Occasionally, shooting something myself is important, but honestly my favorite memories usually involve someone else pulling the trigger.

 

[Sytes]

The adventure. Solitude on some occasions, friendship on others.
The strategy, the challenges, the respect for the wild.
The harvest success, the value of conservation, the rough hike out... X's 2 or 3... The relief and the excitement to repeat this entire process next season...

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Us oudoorsMEN can be be bunch of meatheads.
Guilty as charged...............

Meathead my wife's favorite word...lol. not always talking about me.

 

[BrentD]

Meathead my wife's favorite word...lol. not always talking about me.

My wife started labeling my friends Bullethead 2, 3, 4, etc. I was #1
Worse things could happen.

 

[devon deer]

'Who do you hunt for?' myself, my family, my friends, the farmer and the game dealer!

'Why do you hunt?' same as previous posters really, the challenge, pitting your hunting skills against an animal which has amazing senses to avoid being killed (harvested?!) being outside in the country, providing healthy meat for the table.
Only last week my daughter asked me to fill her empty new freezer with venison, job done.
But I also ate some myself, gave some to friends (I have a lot of non hunting, non vegan venison loving friends!) and offered some to the farmer.
Introducing new people to hunting and teaching them good hunting ethics and skills.
Keeping the farmers happy and reducing the damage done to their land.
Lastly, financial gain, we get £2.50 (around $3) per kg for the deer, game dealers rate, guts out, head off, bottom legs off, in the skin, that is (depending on the farmer) shared between me and the farmer, so he gets some recompense for the damage caused by the deer.

Answers based on hunting in England and no public land available.

Cheers

Richard

 

[BearFoot]

it's about taking life as it comes and being able to take memory away that will make you smile reminiscing ten years down the road.

 

[tzone]

It's not something I can answer in words, or even need to answer to anyone but myself.

The best I can describe is when I'm sitting at the bottom of a tree, and a tom turkey rattles off a few gobbles, and the sun is just breaking the skyline...the world is right, God is good, and it doesn't get any better.