what is hunting to you?

[Flinter987]

I don't mean to copy others, but I feel the same way in some areas. To me, hunting is spending time with my friends and brother. I absolutely love just being in the woods, enjoying God's creation,or spending time thinking.I think it's neat to observe a mouse,squirrel or whatever else happens by. I,personally,think that the whitetail deer is one of the most beautiful creatures on earth. Obtaining some venison for the freezer is really nice,and recently I enjoyed making some use out of some hides by tanning them. One more thought, I wouldn't have started hunting except for my friends. Our coach is a middle-aged to older guy who loves to hunt and shoot. He has really taken us under his wing and helped us. My brother and I usually go hunting with him and his children. While it isn't possible for everyone to share their hunting experience,tomorrow's hunters are around us if we'll only take them hunting.
Fred

 

[Greenmtnboy]

holy cow there sure is a lot of hunters out there.
I hunt because our forfathers created a country where we all!!! own the land to hunt on, not some damn king.
also for very very deep spritual reasons.

 

[Hoyt]

Hunting is a very big part of my life..like as..I'm either hunting or getting ready to go. My style of hunting now days is deep woods or deep swamps. Since I only hunt open public land I have to get to places others won't, if I want to be successful. It's about as hard to outsmart the other hunters as the game. I've hunted farmland and the back 40 and enjoy it too..would prefer it, but in fl. public land is all I got.
Just got back in from the swamp to day and am already wondering why I came back.

 

[bob1961]

just to be out there in the woods walking around....if i get an animal it's a bonus....i pay thanks to the animal fer giving me it's life....i want the fresh air in my face since i started M/L.................bob

 

[Blackpowder Injun]

Hunting from a blind overlooking a feed plot or bait is like going to the walmart and shopping in the meat department, to me anyway. Hunting to me is stalking and taking the animal as close as possible, one on one with the animal...If I was starving and needed the meat to survive or feed my family, I'de sit in a stand if that is what it takes to kill the animal, but I hunt for fun, not survival, and I always eat what I kill. Feed plots and baits, not to mention tree stands take all the challenge out of it for me... Just my humble opinion....

 

[sidelock]

NO THAT AIN'T HUNTIN. THATS JUST KILLIN.( IMHO) :shake: :shake:

 

[sidelock]

Sorry Roundball, I agree with your insights most of the time, but you are just being politicaly correct this time. :shake: :shake:

 

[sidelock]

Ha Meathead where are you in MT? You said it just right. :hatsoff:

 

[marwat06]

Well there is how I would like to hunt and there is how I have to hunt because of using public lands. It is pretty much Tree Stands or Ground Blinds. Too many fingers on the triggers for me to be stalking game on public lands.

 

[bigbore442001]

To me, hunting is a way to escape the stresses of the modern world which in many ways kill the spirit of a man. My gun or bow is a time machine that takes me back to a time when life was harder and simpler. I feel the cold of the winter air looking over a deer run, like my ancestors did when they needed food. I feel the heat of the spring on my face when I await a majestic gobbler to come within range. It is when I can shed the artificial constructs of our society.

Hunting is different things to all of us. Some it is communion with nature. Others it is a reunion of friends and family. For some, an opportunity to fill the larder. But we all share that passion and pursue it differently. Hunting has evolved due to the encroachment of civilization. I hunt mostly out of treestands due to the fact that here in southern New England we don't have the room to stalk or still hunt like we did as a kid. Also you may very well push something into someone else. But we all have to adapt.

 

[Bob J]

What Hunting means to me....Cold Mornings,Frost on the ground and trees,The smell of fresh coffee and Breakfast on the camp stove,Crackle of the fire in the woodstove,Pouring out a new fresh charge for a new days hunt,The heft of my muzzleloader in my hand as I walk to my stand,The cold wind on my face,The other game I see in the woods,Sometimes the kill of a whitetail buck,The "Gang" waiting back at the warm camp after the day is done,Sharing the "tales" of the days hunt,Getting up the next morning and doing it all over again...........

I couldn't have said it better. Really,that almost brings a tear to my eye. :hatsoff:

 

[sniper68]

I am most sincerely closer to my God with game and gun than I have ever been in the stone and mortared buildings erected in his honor. In just a few steps from the fence, I revert and become very close to the timber, ground and smells. The woods are a beautiful place in time. I don't say that I don't go to hunt, but first I go to be there........

 

[mbritt]

This past year I re-evaluated my life and realized that hunting makes me happier than almost anything else and I regret not hunting much for so many years. I now spend almost every single weekend hunting during the season. Here in Iowa I hunt squirrels, rabbits, pheasant, ducks, geese, turkey, deer, fox. If there's something legal to hunt, I'm probably going after it. Some people look down at me for hunting squirrels as if it's beneath them. I enjoy the hunt just as much no matter what animal or bird I'm after and I eat everything I shoot. I find it a great way to relieve stress. When I'm in the woods or fields with my gun in hand, stalking game or sitting in ambush, I feel very content and at peace with the world. I doesn't matter if I kill anything or not, it's always a great day. Someday I hope to move back to Oregon where I can spend the rest of my weekends enjoying my second favorite thing; trout fishing in mountain streams.

 

[Ron LaClair]

I wrote this about my hunting camp a few years ago. It pretty much sums up my feelings.



"Nestled in a secluded valley, far off the beaten path, on the banks a of a small stream, is a little cabin that I call Shrew Haven.

Origianlly built in 1936, this rustic pine cabin was only recently moved to it's current location. The original intent was just to have a hunting camp, a place to hang your hat, bow,and gun.

But Shrew Haven has become more than that... much more.

It has revealed itself an enchanting environment, where the hunting experience is enhanced ten fold. It is a place of peace and tranquillity; a place where a person can recharge their spirit, feed their soul, and share wonderful times with fellow hunters.

In todays modern world, we have created for ourselves an unnatural environment. God created man to be part of nature, and although we may survive in our big citys and urban neighborhoods, we need the wilderness to help keep us mentally healthy and spiritually alive.

Shrew Haven is an Oasis, where I must return as often as I can, to drink deep of it's healing waters, and thus be sustained until I come to this place again."

 

[sniper68]

:hmm: I would just love to see the responces to this post on an in-line forum !!!!! :shocked2: :shake: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[the skrat]

i agree with roundball it can mean many things to differant peaple. personally i like to still hunt for deer but i am lucky because i own a lot of land. i dont much care for the tv shows but thats the way some peaple huntwho am i to judge.my dad who is 75 told me he dont like this modern hunting but said back in the good ol days when everyone was out walking and making drives that there were a lot of fatalities and injuries during deer season. now that peaple are posting in blinds its a lot safer so when you think about that the antis would have a field day with us. also peaple with disabilities are able to hunt this way.

curly maple

 

[Slake]

When I was young I hunted much, now that I'm getting older I am more of a pure deer hunter. I go to the mountains to a cabin with a family that I've known for thirty years or so and live and hunt for a few weeks a year. Sometimes we are successful, sometimes not. We enjoy great commeraderie, great food and drink.
We hunt the big woods and it's much harder than hunting the farmlands to the south. I hunt there too. I like to harvest a deer, nothing goes to waste. Baked deer heart is my most favorite dish.
Skin, bones, all makes something.
I love fresh turkey, goose and duck. I don't hunt them much but I'll help to teach ways to clean and cook them. Black bear is on that list too, you want to talk about a nice skin! Pheasants, grouse, woodcocks, oh man I'm gonna stir up my hunger!!
I see the woods, the creek and meadow in all of God's splendor and weather. I go up all year and clear trails. I watch, I learn I love the big woods.

 

[RC]

GEES SLAKE that sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like the ADIRONDACK MTS! could that be??? :hatsoff:

 

[tnlonghunter]

Hunting is not confined only to the day you go out with a gun or bow, prepared to kill. It involves knowing the animal, its habits, its instincts, its patterns. It involves reading, scouting, preparing, anticipating. I hunt year round, because I study what deer do year round (that doesn't mean I'm an exert, but that I try to understand what makes them tick, understand why they do what they do). So any day that I'm out scouting, clearing shooting lanes, improving the land, trying to position logs and other debris to funnel movement in one direction, and other things are part of the hunt.

So hunting is a long process that begins much before the season starts and lasts long after it is over.

 

[Slake]

well put it is a long careful study..I have gone as far as to study what they eat compared to how they taste...corn fed deer are the best IMHO...I love the Adirondacks and hunt in them often and the deer from there are not as tasty as the corn fed deer of the farmlands...now having said that a lot depends also on how clean your kill is and how quick and nice your butchering process goes too...but I'm getting ahead of the hunt