Started at 8 walking behind Grampa, learning how to hunt, read sign, the smells, the feel, the sounds of the forest. he taught me the old ways of his people " Menominee Indian". We hunted to provide. I now hunt to honor the elders and the spirit of the hunt....oh and to eat tasty critters.
I’m not what you’d call a traditionally religious person at all - for me personally, agnostic and atheist are as close as one side of a coin to the other. However, I read the Bible often and try to connect with the wisdom therein.
After John the Baptist was beheaded, Jesus took to a boat to be alone - people later thronged to him, he healed the sick and fed them by multiplying fish and loaves. Then He sent his disciples across the water in the boat.
After this, he went to the mountainside - alone - to pray. The next day (!) he came down, walked on the water to his disciples in the boat and proved he was the son of God.
Both why I hunt and also why I prefer to avoid a crowded church and seek solitude can be found in that story.
Love the comratery of a base camp , the BS around the camp fire, the excitement in the mornings, the celebration when one would tag their game and the pride when its you that filled their tag.
I only wish I had started earlier in my life.
Meat is number one in my book. Healthy lifestyle and it’s what I do for my day to day profession which I love also. I love to kick my own ass and see what I can take and what I need to work on To be better. And honestly.....I’m not going to lie.....I enjoy killing animals to eat. Always have and always will.
We cooked some factory ground beef this week, my wife literally told me she was making me fly to Alaska for moose and caribou hunting. I told her well, if I have to but you are gonna owe me big time. Hahahaha.
I like the meat, I like the history, I like being in touch with where we came from, I like the camaraderie, and I especially like being unplugged from the world for 2 weeks.
It's a deep down urge for me, I can't explain it otherwise. No one in my family hunted but I remember waking up early to watch Tom Miranda Saturday mornings on ESPN2.
I still remember when my dad bought me the lil' banshee bow at sports authority when I was around 6 (30 now). That's probably one of the best memories I have and I remember it like it was yesterday. I still have that bow at my parents house.
The moment. The instant the shot cracks, the arrow lets lose.
It revels a hidden truth about oneself that can not be duplicated.
The finality of that single moment draws me back every time.
I took up hunting 2 years ago because zoning regulations would not allow me to start my pastured egg laying business. I was also going through a rough child custody case. I needed a hobby and something adventurous.
Hunting introduced me to tradituinal archery. I have a REASON to be in the woods 2 hours before sunrise, when I'm awake, anyway. I'm learning about conservation and the connection to nature has multiplied.
This wholesome, historically important endeavor has greatly improved the lives of my family and me
I am a 3rd or 4th gen hunter. I like the solitude when I hunt solo, I love camaraderie when hunting with someone else. It used to be a family thing for me, now I am the only one who hunts. But I relate to WannabeHunter's response, and the pursuit is what drives me every year. Working on teaching my kids same thing.
I fell in love with the romance of fly fishing and archery when I was a kid (courtesy of old outdoor shows). I actually got to learn to fly fish as a kid but had to wait to learn to hunt until my twenty's (nobody in my family hunted) - I taught myself after attending a hunter education class in Mass. Started with a compound to be ethical and transitioned to a recurve as soon as I could and never looked back!
I just feel a part of nature/the wild when I am out there hunting and I love it.