Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why do we hunt?--and Thanksgiving

Great, it is gluten free, don't forget to bring Eileen...

She can actually eat gluten now, along with dairy, thanks to a year of treatment. So no problems there anymore.

As a more general comment, I was also one of those who somehow got more of the hunting gene than the rest of my family. The only other person among us who was a life-long hunter was my paternal grandmother. Dunno why!

What a great thread. Thank you JB, for that great essay to start it off. And I am thankful for everyone's contributions that vocalized so many of my own thoughts, and said them better than I could have.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving day, everyone.

The earliest memory I have is being out hunting with my father when I was 3, maybe 4. He let me shoot his rifle. I knew then and there why I was on the earth.

Fishing is just hunting done a little differently.

When I can do neither anymore I will die.

I know why I like guns, most of the it's for strictly utilitarian reasons. I don't know why I need so many. If I have to kill something with every one of them, I will never live long enough. But, I have accurate ammo for virtually all of the rifles and I could pick up any of the shotguns and go bird hunting without missing a beat.

Good post John - I also must have gotten more hunting gene(s) than the rest of my family. As a kid, nobody in the family hunted but my Dad and Grandpa did a lot of shooting. Before I was old enough to go, I remember my Dad going hunting with others but think it was more of a social thing as he never shot anything. I begged him to take me as soon as I was old enough and am still the only one in the family that hunts.

Hope you and Eileen have a great Thanksgiving!

As others have said, I hunt because that is who and what I am. I also hunt as I am a "gadget guy" and there is an endless number of gadgets one can get for hunting. A look in my basement, the bedroom, my wife's home office, the garage, all 4 vehicles, the cabin, the storage shed, and the poultry hut will quickly show this to be true.

I also live for wild game and it makes up a large part of our diet. I was more a bird hunter than big game but that changed when I got married as my wife likes venison and she brought a cabin with 60 acres with as a dowry. Before her, I headed out of state to chase birds during the MN deer season as it was not safe to bring a dog into the fields during that time.

I find a lot of peace and contentment when in the field, I have plenty of time to think about whatever I wish and watching what Nature brings into my view is always a joy. From mice and chickadees visiting me to bears and wolves walking by, one never knows what the day will bring. I also use hunting as an excuse to put off fall chores but that is getting harder and harder as the wife is becoming wise to that and is hiring a younger guy to do these chores at an overly high price. That eats into my hunting funds so I balance out the time to do these tasks and the money I meed. Now, if that young guy would just go away!

I used to be a fisherman but that ended when I got married. It is much easier to sneak in a new firearm, reloader, ammunition, and even a new dog than a new fishing boat. Besides, she insists on having a parking space in the garage which meant either a boat would have to go or the dogs and goose decoys. So, bye, bye boat...

I'd like to say I hunt solely for the meat, but I know that's not the only reason. We utilize the meat to the fullest and fill the freezers every fall. That's just a way of life for us. We count on it every year.

If I'm going to be totally honest about this, I hunt because I like to shoot stuff. That's the bottom line....

And Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a trophy hunter.

A really, really, really schitty trophy hunter.




Travis

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

My Dad, sons, and I hunt simply because that is what we are, hunters. I cannot remember a time when I did not want to hunt.

Just got in from our traditional Thanksgiving morning hunt and getting ready to head over to the feast. It is not Thanksgiving for me if some hunting does not get done. Sometimes it is just a symbolic hunt, but every year for as long as I can remember, starting on my grandparents farm in Iowa the 70's.

We had an especially blessed year and have much to be thankful for, not only in the hunting fields, but life in general.

I spend a lot of time, more than I care for, in this environment:



Hunting is how I escape from it all. Hard to answer an email in a place that you can't get cell phone service.


(Not my photo, BTW, but you get the idea).

Aside from a freezer full of great meat and fish, it gets us out and away from cities and their stench. It fills the drive in us to gather food, and it's a lot of fun!

Hunting can be a tool to teach values. I have a wonderful willing student, my reason now to hunt.










It also makes my best Friends happy!




For all this I am very thankful every day of my life.

I just like to look around the country I guess, always have to see what's over the next hill.

Still love the river bottom though too.


And there has to be a challenge or it becomes boring. Guess that's where taking a mature buck comes into play.


Probably won't shoot a deer this year for the first time in about 10 years but that's okay. Anymore it's more fun to look than kill. That and there is no shortage of beef.....grin

I just finished reading Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset's "Meditations on Hunting" and that is exactly the point he makes: Human beings are hardwired for it.

RM

Only some of us Mike. We all know virtual hordes of men that are repelled by the thought of getting dirty, horrified at the thought of getting bloody, and scared schitless of things that go bang.

Genetically I always wondered what happened to them....


We evolved with canine teeth, binocular vision,trichromatic vision,we are meant to be omnivores......which includes being a carnivore.

It is an interesting conundrum, isn't it. I expect they've only survived for millennia by hitching their wagons to those who haven't been repelled by such things.

Thats my guess as well.

There. Fixed it for you.

Because it's who I am. Also, nothing smells better than burned gunpowder coming out of an action on a frosty, still morning. NOTHING