What is hunting to you ?

[Short Track]

I'm watching the pursuit channel. FIOS 818. All hunting. They literally hunt over feeders, over corn piles. High fenced. Right on TV, 24x7. Gotta be Texas.

 

[peterk123]

Hunting had become a way of life for us. I hunt with my wife and son in law. In about five years my grandson will be tagging along (actually probably next year but we will be carrying him). The hunt starts with scouting, which happens all year long. And it ends at the dinner table. We enjoy every process in between. The suffering of hauling out the animal. Processing the meat, making jerky, sausage, etc. Cooking different meals. It's led to more time outside together, foraging and learning about medicinal plants. It's made us healthier and more aware of our surroundings. It's our favorite passtime and I'm thankful for the privilege.

 

[Poser]

Life experience and self expression.

 

[Short Track]

Last night, same thing. Channel 818 Pursuit channel. 2 guys hunting over corn, with bows in a blind. Deer comes in to the corn, and they guy sends an arrow. Then celebrates like it's an amazing feat.

I admit the tracking part is amazing through the nasty TX brush, but the hunt, not so much..

 

[bucksnbirds]

Just taking a rifle or bow and hunting. Not throwing out corn, feeders, protein in the growing months, naming animals, etc.

To me, hunting is simply just going hunting. Never knowing what's going to pop up, the moon, wind, or pictures doesn't dictate if I hunt or not, etc.

Just hunt to be a part of the natural world without expectations from anybody.

 

[Danny Hoey]

I make sure an animal sees me before I kill it.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

IMHO, a lot of what gets bandied about in 'fair chase' discussions is by and for people who view hunting as a sport. I am militant about following whatever laws are on the books wherever I live, but a 'sport' is something I do for fun with the boys to pass the time (skiing, golf, tennis, etc). That is not at all what hunting is to me.

Hunting is what I do to feed me and mine, both because I believe venison is healthier/better than commercially produced meat, but also (and more importantly) to keep myself grounded and reminded of what it is to be an animal that eats other animals, so that I can never take for granted that another living thing died to make the continuation of my life and the lives of my loved ones possible. It is not a 'sport' in any way, shape, or form to me.

As I said at the start, I am happy to follow whatever laws are in place wherever I happen to hunt, as that protects my (and other people's) privilege to continue to hunt and feed themselves and their loved ones in the way God and nature intended it, and that's a beautiful thing I am happy to support. But damn, I can assure you, that I have strained my eye muscles many (many) times while rolling my eyes at the heated emotional debates about how it's 'baiting' if you dropped the apple, but it's not if you have an apple tree and hunt by it, or whether or not hunting over the water hole or just on the travel route to/from the water is more or less 'fair' to the animal, or if lighted nocks are an 'unfair advantage' during bow season, when I can literally use a sniper rifle with 1,000+ yard reach if I hunt on a different day.

I am going to kill the animal, using a gun or an arrow with razors on it. Unless it's a CNS shot with a rifle, it's going to hurt that animal, A LOT, when I do it. It's brutal, and cruel, and grotesquely violent from the animals point of view. I cannot imagine anything less 'fair' I could do to the animal. However, if that's what I'm going do, and I am going to do it (and celebrate like a boss when I get it done successfully!), then I have no qualms whatsoever in using any and every legal 'advantage' available to me to ensure I can make quick and clean work of it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled religious debate.

 

[roosiebull]

Murder therapy. Nothing else makes the voices go quiet as effectively.

I was going to say, in short, my sanity