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Why do you hunt? Be honest…

A ton of very valid important reasons to many to list really. But the main ones are is a I'm obsessed with it and have been from a very young age so I guess it is in my blood. I love the time alone to reflect and unwind. I love the animals that I hunt and really most of all the animals. At the end of the day and for many past years I truly just have to hunt and when that passion or drive stops then I will walk away from it and be ok about it. Until then not a day goes by without thinking about whitetail deer or turkeys.
 
TNTreeman said:
I love being outside . The smell of diesel and dirt planting things. I love the solitude, I hunt alone almost 100% of the time. I love the cold weather and being in a tree high enough almost nothing knows I'm there. I love watching the squirrels eat and play and the smallest sparrows gather food . It's part of who I am and I think I'll always have the desire to do it. The actual kill is way down the list for me.
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👆 this
 
I think it's just naturally in me to hunt. I can remember going with my dad as early as around 5 years old. I remember the times before cell phones that he'd be hunting and I couldn't go and anticipating hearing his truck pull in. I almost always had him timed that if I heard his truck at a certain time then he didn't get anything then other times him being later that he more than likely is bringing one home.

When I said I think it's naturally in me then that don't make me naturally good at it. It just means that I never have to think if I'm going turkey, deer, or squirrel hunting. I know I'm going for whatever's in season.

I enjoy the peace and quiet and early wake ups with the anticipation. I hunt alone a lot and my dad still goes too but has slowed down a lot.
 
I believe it's in my DNA. (Cherokee)
To provide food for our family.
Memories.
Solitude.
Getting out in God's creation.
To save money by processing our own food.
The challenge of outsmarting them. (Playing the game)
Some of my best prayer times have been in the woods, just me and Him.
A chance to fellowship with other hunters.
A change to teach the next generation.
Because I have to.
Because I can.
 
Apostolic Outdoors said:
I believe it's in my DNA. (Cherokee)
To provide food for our family.
Memories.
Solitude.
Getting out in God's creation.
To save money by processing our own food.
The challenge of outsmarting them. (Playing the game)
Some of my best prayer times have been in the woods, just me and Him.
A chance to fellowship with other hunters.
A change to teach the next generation.
Because I have to.
Because I can.
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Well said sir
 
2024 will be year 51 for me, once I get a deer or two in the freezer, I just like to watch the sun come up, roosters crowing, a owl in the distance, when I was younger I hunted hard, I felt like I was missing something if I wasn't in the woods, now I hunt when I want to and it's much more enjoyable.
 
My friend, Bobby Worthington, said it best IMO…Below is an excerpt of Bobby's final book that will be available to the public around the beginning of deer season this Sept 2024.
 

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I think it's just in my makeup ,DNA if you will.
I have been hunting or fishing or gathering or watching or helping animals since i was knee high to a grass hopper that i reckon that's how God made me . Never thought about the reason why . Thought all men should do it in one form or another . I've never been one that wanted to be great at just wanted to do it .
Thank you to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for makeing me the way i am
 
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Be honest? Because I suck at every other sport. I was born with a congenital heart defect, as a result...I was never allowed to play competitive/contact sports.
My grandfather (1/2 Cherokee) started taking me fishing as a toddler. Later, he took me small game hunting. Around here in the late 70s, early 80s, you were wasting your time hunting deer....they just weren't here.
My grandparents lived through the depression...they were very frugal. A free meal of fish or small game was always welcome.... cherished.
Basically, being raised by them...it's just what we did.
Now....I don't know why. My daughter loves venison. If I never had another bite of it, it wouldn't hurt my feelings. I just didn't grow up eating it like she did...never acquired the taste for it.
I do however love squirrel hunting...and plan to devote more time to it starting this year. I'll still deer hunt, but it's not what it used to be for me. Now it's more important to me to help my daughter hone her skills and become a better hunter. She's already good at it, but I think she can be even better...it's something in our blood.
 
Because nothing makes me feel more alive than while I'm hunting.

Because it triggers something deep within my nature. Exactly what that is is hard to put a finger on, but it must be a deep-seated instinct. When hunting I feel more "human" than at any other time.

For the challenge. Beating an animal that is a specialist in survival - especially an older, experienced animal - turns out be much harder than a non-hunter would ever understand. To be successful consistently is a worthy challenge.

Because I have an obsessive personality. Studying, learning about, thinking about, pursuing, and managing for deer is my obsession.
 
I wasn't raised in a hunting family. Not at all. When I was probably 18, some guys I worked with deer hunted. I became interested for some reason. I started hunting and discovered - I am a hunter. In particular a deer hunter. I really don't have a lot of interest in hunting other things. I would like to elk hunt and bear hunt one day, but I don't have a huge drive like I do deer hunting. I have no desire to turkey hunt, never have. There is something about seeing a big bodied, old, large racked warrior buck that stirs something inside me. There is something about seeing a rubbed tree or a big scrape that flips a switch inside me. There is something about the sound of a grunt, especially accompanied by running hooves that makes me feel alive inside. In all honesty, it's not the pursuit of food that excites me (though I have eaten more than my fair share of venison) - there's something else. Something about whitetails that connect with something so deep inside me, that I can't explain. I've outlasted most everyone I hunted with in my young life. I've found it more and more difficult to find places to hunt. I've had to switch from my love affair with vertical bows to hunting with a horizontal bow. And yet, I can't quit. To quit would be to lose some part of myself. My hunting partner of 30+ years quit a few years ago. Age had just made it too difficult for him. He's 25 years older than me. We stomped hundreds of miles in the woods, and drove all over the country to hunt. That knocked the legs out from under me - but, still, when the high pressure of Fall starts pushing it's way in, and the leaves start their seasonal transition from green to flaming orange, and I see the first green acorn on the ground - something inside me that I can't explain comes alive. Everything about the woods is so much more vivid. And the smells of the woods take me back to a hundred experiences of days gone by. I deer hunt because I am a deer hunter. I have no other explanation.
 
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I didn't start deer hunting until I was about 20 so 50 years hunting deer but hunted small game since I was around 10 .
Once I went it was instilled in me , first went with my uncle. He didn't know much about it so I learned all by my lonesome .
I was the type of person that if I liked it I'd do my best to be my best . My uncle quit hunting so I hunted mainly by myself but did put in for some quota hunts with my coworkers .
Like I mentioned I try to do whatever I'm doing the best of my abilities. So I was like a sponge. Listening to others hunters , buying books and scouting trying to pay attention to my mistakes .
Think this is why I became so obsessed with deer hunting . Didn't like being late , being noisy and had a few discussions with fellow hunters about it . I was serious about hunting , had fun yes but serious about being successful.
I know some of have killed alot bigger bucks and more deer than I have but the Lord had blessed me as I've killed hundreds of deer and some decent bucks .
Although my desire has fallen off some I still like seeing the sun come up , the birds starts chirping and the small game scurry about . The sound of leaves crunching step by step coming your way, a twig snap, with your heart pounding more with every second. You catch a glimpse of an ear twitch or a tail switch back and forth and your heart can't stand much more as your knees begin to jump up and down...... there is no other feeling that you can compare with this.
Why do you hunt ??? No other serious hunter should ask another hunter this question ! Not to bash the original poster because it's just a question needing an answer which to everyone has an opinion . The OP knows the answer it's just some hunt for a little different reasons .
A non hunter will never understand why hunters hunt and most times your wasting your time trying to explain to them why you hunt. Our ancestors hunted way before they came to this country because they had to in order to get meat . God instructed man to slay and eat !! I said that to say this ...it's in men's DNA to provide for his family and those that don't something IMO is missing . To be truthful there are not many of us that have to hunt to provide meat for our family .
I'll apologize to those that don't hunt because my son has no desire to hunt any more but he was taught by me . I'll admit there have been times I've looked at the animal I've killed and realized I took that life feeling a little bad . But I always thanked God for the animal and for the time He watched over me enjoying His creation knowing that I've did everything legal so that bad feeling leaves me as fast as it come upon me .
And not to take for granted we still live in a country were " we can " !!
 

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