who here doesn't hunt?

[shortwave]

357 Python, your absolutely correct, your uncles friend is not considered a hunter. More like the scum of the earth category with a few screws loose and should not be allowed to own a gun. Trash like that is what ruins oppinions of non-hunting folks towards hunting folks. I still hunt but as I get older (and freezer is full find myself enjoying taking camera to stand more every year.

 

[Art Eatman]

My dad-gummed legs went and got old on me, so I'm not much for serious hunting any more. My metabolism has slowed down, so it's sorta hard to eat a whole deer, anyway. (God forbid I should hunt elephants.)

Trouble is, after sixty-some years, some habits are hard to break. So, the occasional prairie dog shoot or coyote calling session is the main game these days.

Hunting as in looking for, though, that never ends. Even when driving along a highway I scan for critters as well as traffic.

The instincts are still there, though. I see a deer or antelope, I think, "Supper!"

 

[mountainclmbr]

The instincts are still there, though. I see a deer or antelope, I think, "Supper!"

That was funny!

 

[bikerbill]

I'm with PBP ... if it's not trying to kill me, I won't try and kill it either...

I have no problems with hunters; to each his own. when I was a kid I killed a frog with a wooden spear I'd made. I bet I threw that spear at 1,000 frogs ... but killing that one had a really profound effect on me ... I'd certainly consider hunting if it was the only way I could keep my family alive ... but otherwise, I keep guns for SD, and that's it ...

 

[Sidetracked]

Man, all you guys complaining about getting up early just need to hunt your own way.

Once I turned 16, I refused to get up before sunrise for big game hunts. I roll out of the tent when I feel like it, take my time getting things together, call my brothers on the radio to tell them I came out of my coma, and mosey on out into the woods. (Or I might just stay at home, and drive up once I wake.)

As long as you know where the animals are likely to move when pushed by other hunters.... your odds are just as good. I have had quite a bit of luck running into very nice herds while 80% of the people on the mountains are back in camp, eating lunch.


Birds, varmints, and predators are a different story, but I often still choose the late wake-up and hunt from mid-day until dusk.

 

[schnarrgj]

In reading all the responses to this poll, I become very concerned for our right to own and use firearms. I do hunt, I process my own deer and anything else that I harvest. For me hunting is part of my nature. Being an active part of the natural plan (which we are), and developing the skills needed to be successful is very fulfilling. When someone says that it takes no skill, I know that they misinformed at the best and that they have never hunted. The wild game I take is good wholesome food for my family that I know will not contain any additives or be spoiled. When I take game, I thank God and the animal for giving me the food and the satisfaction that the hunt has done for my mental health. The kill is just a very small portion of the hunt.

My father did not hunt. Luckily he loved the county and allowed me to shoot and learn to hunt. It took many game less seasons before I realized that to be a hunter I had to understand my what I was hunting. My father was always there when I was hunting. He never went out with us but he was there to be with his sons. I had to leave the unnatural world we live in and enter the life or ancestors and our genes had developed for us. My brother picked it up and now many years later, the two of us and our grown sons and son in laws, meet every fall for deer season. There is a lot of hunting and just being family and friends.

There are pigs and abusers in any area of human endeavor. Those who just kill if it moves, are not hunters period. They know what they are. Do not call them hunters. I do support trophy hunters. In many states, it is their money which helps the conservation department do many good things. Also, it is illegal not to use the meat. If they do not, they are no better than the person who kills anything that moves. Those who go around shooting signs, mailboxes my view themselves as shooters enjoying the shooting sports but are obviously not. We all know there are a number of those types who are here on this forum. Lets get real. The “progressives” always use the phrase that it can’t be used for hunting therefore ------ fill in the space. If we do not actively support each other, we are doomed. We also need to clean up our image. Report those slobs that you see. They are not only useless but harmful

I love shooting, hunting and accumulating surplus firearms. I cannot afford to truly collect them. This spring I let my 03 lapse because of what may happen in the fall. If we do not support each other, we will all lose. Whenever I hear “I have nothing against (hunting, shooting, selfdefence )” I am always waiting for the “but” which makes us all vulnerable.

 

[45Marlin carbine]

I don't hunt when my arthritis has flared up so bad I can't walk.

 

[Hawg]

I hunt but I take no pleasure from killing. I do it for the meat and I enjoy the outdoors and being in the woods. I despise paper punching with a passion and won't do it unless I'm sighting in or working up a load. A buddy of mine got me into long range rifle shooting but it bored me to tears. If all I could do was punch paper I'd have a bunch of expensive paper weights.

 

[Moe Howard]

I have hunted, I am all for hunting, I just don't do it anymore. I am all for those who do, I just don't care for killing, and I don't like the meat produced by most wild game, and hunting has become so expensive to do unless you have your own land it just isn't worth it. Now if I liked the meat and hunting was a cheap sport, producing cheap meat,,,,,well, I don't dislike killing that much.

 

[B.N.Real]

I don't hunt but I have no problem at all with it.

Hunters are the best friends wildlife has ironically.

It won't be the bleeding hearts funding the wildlife preserves.

It will always be the hunters.

 

[OJ]

B.N.Real I don't hunt but I have no problem at all with it.

Hunters are the best friends wildlife has ironically.

It won't be the bleeding hearts funding the wildlife preserves.

It will always be the hunters.

+1 !!

I hunted when I was younger - this was taken in about 1934 with my .22 single shot rifle I got for my 6th birthday in 1932 and my "trophies" -

I'm getting too old to do much strenuous hunting but, I haven't lost my love of guns and shooting (go to the range every week). My wife gave me this one for our 25th anniversary three years ago and you can see how I managed to make her think it was what I wanted - Winchester 95 Hi Grade 30-06

Well - OK - I did "help" her locate it - it's a husband's duty to help his wife as much as he can in any way he can -

 

[shortwave]

O.J. LOL, that was a very commendable thing you did helping your wife like that. The wisdom and experience of the more senior members here on TFL is priceless.

 

[OJ]

O.J. LOL, that was a very commendable thing you did helping your wife like that. The wisdom and experience of the more senior members here on TFL is priceless.

Thanks - just trying to live up to those vows -"LOVE, HONOR, & ASSIST" if I recall the vows we took - it was some 28 years ago & my memory isn't what it once was. As I tell my wife - when I enlisted as an aviation cadet in 1943 when I turned 17 - my serial number was 17147374 - now, as to what we had for dinner last night - well, I remember it was good.

 

[MauiDoc]

Never been hunting...

....with a gun, anyway. Once went after some pheasants with my cousins winging rocks at them Neanderthal-style--came dang close. Belly-crawled to within arm's-reach of pheasants in a Danish wheat field during hard times: didn't quite get 'em!

That being said, my stepdad, the one who mostly raised me and instilled most of my values, ethics and tastes, hunted sporadically when I was very young, brought home a deer every couple of years or so, but decided against hunting when I was 7 y/o or so, about the time I would have been ready to go out with him. Still remember seeing him cleaning his shotgun for the last time. He kept a pistol and a Ruger 10/22, which we grew up shooting, but we never went hunting.

Now I spear-fish on occasion, and love little better than cooking the freshest fish in the world over a twig fire on a rocky beach on a sunny tropical day.

I'm not a EOTWAWKI guy, but given the current state of the world, I would like to be able to expand my options beyond the corner store and dependence on off-island food shipped in.

I would be interested in learning more about hunting, but as someone said above, you pretty much need a mentor. Several of my patients are hunters, and I belong to my local range and shoot there fairly regularly. I would ask you hunters out there--How willing would you be to take out a relative stranger into the woods and introduce him to the joys of hunting deer, pig and goat? And maybe mongoose. (Mongeese?)

 

[predator86]

wow....lots of responses....


and no i did not try to rig it this poll, think about it, if i had used the words "yes" and "no" then i am still using exact polar oppisites, like "hot" and "cold" or "north" and "south", the options were-

"yes"- i live for it
"no"- kill something with my gun?? no way!!!
"other" other, please explain

i just tried to inject some "humor" into the poll, guess that was lost on most people......

i have been a lifelong hunter and gun-owner, was my dad? or grandpa? nope, i taught myself how to hunt, fish, bowhunt, track, how to size up an animal, how to scout, how to read sign ect. ect....i started when i was 5 reading back issues of outdoor life, it might be a good start for you guys on the fence who are ho-humming about, oh, i never had a father figure or grampa to teach me.....there is something that is very gratifying taking an animal that you have hunting with nothing but your basic insticnts and your weapon of choice....


and yes i do have a shift key, unfortunatly i cannot use it because my fingers on both hands are shoved in splints and wrapped in athletic tape, maybe in six or seven weeks when i am healed i will be able to reach over and finally hit the shift key.but at least i will have 98.7% of my words spelled right so at least you can understand what i am saying.....

 

[predator86]

oh and for all of those who say that you cant shoot an unarmed animal, animals have weapons of their own!!!

have you ever seen a buck run off that heard you figdeting in heavy wind?

or watched a buck pick up your scent trail after you showered in special, expensive, scent killing soap, laundered your clothes in it and washed your mouth out with peroxide?

can you run as fast as a deer can? or jump as high??


tell you what, the day that i can smell the ingrediants of my neighbors supper from 2 blocks away, run 35 mph and have supernatural hearing.....then i will give up my weapons and chase those deer down with my bare hands.....

 

[MrClean]

I grew up hunting.... some of the best times of my life. PROPERLY taught you learn a great deal more than 'how to hunt'. Even if you don't realize it for years to come. Grew up hunting on friends of the family's land, was a great group with no dues or a ton of 'rules'. It wasn't the most productive land, no game management really, no huge trophies every year or anything like that. But it WAS the best place to go!

Several factors caused me to give it up temporarily over a decade ago:
1. My kids (3 girls) - Me being gone a great deal on the weekends during hunting season kept me away from my family too much in my opinion. I spent as much time with them doing things they were interested in as I could, while they were young and growing up. This was a personal choice that I felt I should make. Spending time with them then has given us a great relationship. Now that they are older, I could easily get back into hunting.

2. The Land - I tried several other places to hunt and there always seemed to be issues one way or another. Landowner violated the lease agreement, other hunters in the group were idiots. And if I found a good group of guys that I felt good around the dues were outrageous!! (Remember, I have 3 girls) lol

There were other factors, but I guess those are the main two. Now, my kids are older but I have no desire to get back into it like I was in my earlier years. I love it, don't get me wrong. I guess I've taken my fair share of game over the years. If I get invited to go with some friends, sure, I'd pack up and go. Especially if it was something I've not done before. But I'm quite happy shooting at the range, IPSC and with the SO.

I guess if you get technical.... I do still hunt. But they are on two legs now, and everyone is happy to see them caught. And usually it's a taser if any 'weapon' has to be used.

 

[Mach II Sailor]

"Other answer-explain"

i once hunted during every legal hunting season, almost always bringing home the "bag limit", when it come to big game i always went for head shots, my last time hunting i shot at a nice (Western count) five pointer, after i fired, the buck ran away, just for curiosity sake i went to where the deer was standing and saw blood on the foliage behind the site, i tracked blood spots the rest of the day, found nothing, the next day i took up where i left off, nothing, the next day i found the buck dead about 7 miles from where i shot him.., his lower jaw was totally shot away...., i fell to my knees and cried and said a prayer over the dead deer....., i never hunted after that incident which was about 30 years ago !!

 

[Derius_T]

i once hunted during every legal hunting season, almost always bringing home the "bag limit", when it come to big game i always went for head shots, my last time hunting i shot at a nice (Western count) five pointer, after i fired, the buck ran away, just for curiosity sake i went to where the deer was standing and saw blood on the foliage behind the site, i tracked blood spots the rest of the day, found nothing, the next day i took up where i left off, nothing, the next day i found the buck dead about 7 miles from where i shot him.., his lower jaw was totally shot away...., i fell to my knees and cried and said a prayer over the dead deer....., i never hunted after that incident which was about 30 years ago !!

Sorry that happened, and sorry you don't hunt anymore. It is always heartbreaking when a shoot is not clean, and you know an animal will suffer. That is why you have to know the game you hunt, know its weak spots, know what is the right caliber and weapon to use, ect, ect. Not to minimize your skill in any way, but head shots are not advisable or accepted as normally taught kill zones on deer. No hunter that I know of has ever taught that a head shot is viable on deer. I can understand not hunting anymore, but if you enjoyed it, educate yourself and try again.

As for me, as I said before, hunting, while not an absolute necessity, has put alot of extra meat on the table over the years. Very, very, inexpensive, and good, non chemical filled, non processed meat.

My kids actually enjoy game meat better than they do store bought meat. They have and will eat anything from possum to moose and anything in between. My eldest daughter absolutely loves pan fried, breaded wild goose breast, my middle daughter loves rabbit and squirrel the most, and my boy is a deer freak. Those are their favorites, but they will eat any of it.

Its nice to see that they favor something daddy brought home over store bought meat, and they will all help in the cleaning, skinning, and processing of any game.

 

[johnbt]

I was taught to hunt when I was knee-high. Now I'm 57 and the older I get the less interested I am in getting up in the dark to stumble around in the woods or the swamp. I still do it, just not as often.

OTOH, a gun shop owner I know is now a booking agent for a South African guide and the photos and stories from their recent trip look really good. Maybe they'd let me sleep late - sunup would do nicely since I'm used to getting up at 6 a.m.

John