Someone had a thread going a couple of weeks ago on this topic. This is a link to a very well written editorial regarding just that topic:

http://www.africanindaba.co.za/Newsletter/1.htm

The insight in this piece, and I think it's an interesting one, is that describing the benefits of hunting is not the same as or a substitute for explaining why we hunt.

That is true. The author goes on to say that it's difficult to explain why we hunt. I agree. I have never read a good and thorough explanation of the motives of a hunter. All that I have read and heard expressed have been partial or sometimes just wrong-headed explanations, at least for and with respect to yours truly.

I am still looking for a good explanation after reading this editorial. When it comes time for the author to do his explaining, all he does is spout a lot of abstract mumbo jumbo. Four paragraphs worth at the end. Here are some of the worst:

"Hunting is a cataclysm of inward progress."

"Hunting is an immersion; a drowning in connectedness that squanders pride and privilege."

"All is ready; nothing is restive; all is rhythm; nothing is in friction."

"Hunting is a search for all." (Not for me. I couldn't pay all the trophy fees. )

I did not make any of these up.

I'm going to have to think about how to explain why I hunt, without reference to the many benefits of hunting, such as conservation, economic benefit, provision of food, etc. I think the author is right when he says that "why do we hunt?" is really the question.

But one thing is sure: He didn't give me any answers with wacky statements like those listed above.

MR,

I agree. For me the first part of the editorial was the most thought provoking, i.e., that the benefits of hunting are not synonymous with the reasons for hunting. I also agree that when it came time to articulate the reasons for hunting, it started to sound a lot like mumbo jumbo. I wonder if that is because the reasons folks hunt are so individual and subjective that they defy simple explanation or categorization.

I concur completely that the insight for me was that we offer up the benefits of hunting in response to questions about why we hunt, when the benefits and reasons are separable.

WTF
If you can't dazzle em with brilliance, you baffle em with BS?
Thought provoking is right Mike, and it does point out that we tend to justify hunting with its overall benefits, but boy does he get metaphysical!
Maybe it's better to take a page from Ted Nugent. Don't be apologetic, we hunt because we are predators. It connects us with our forefathers. And if the antis don't agree, well too bad. And also I like backstraps!

To be honest, I didn't read the article. In fact, I get kinda bored with people who try to "justify" why they do or don't do anything based on facts or their "beliefs". And, I really don't care about being politically correct. I like to hunt because I like to hunt! It's a legal pursuit and I enjoy it. I like to carry a gun and walk in the woods by myself after a November snow in Montana. I like the smell of guts and gunpowder. I like the smell of mopane wood as it burns while the African sun is setting and holding a cold Castle in my hand. I don't feel I have to "justify" anything that's legal as long as I comply with the laws in effect for that activity.

Bull1

Because it is primal.

Like sex, you can never really have too much of it. Sure, parts of you may get sore but damn it to hell, you keep coming back for more. (Or wishing/planning/draming of more.)

Well said Blacktailer, I couldn't agree more!

I'm lining up along side Blacktailer.

The metaphysical parts "sound nice" but that may be akin to selling "good tasting" water to thirsty folks!

The debunking factor might come in a discussion of why then do all the other predators hunt?

quote:

Hunting is a cataclysm of inward progress. We hunt for spiritual reasons; we hunt to find inner peace; we hunt to understand the world.

that's way too much credit to give to my wife's cat!



I also like "Primal" or more specificly "Primordial"

Primal[prim’l]
1. Original
first or earliest, and often basic

2. basic most significant and primary

Primordial [pri•mor•di•al]
1.existing first
existing at the beginning of time or of the development of something

2.basic
essential or basic to something

3.of earliest stage of development
biology relating to cells, tissues, organs, or organisms at the earliest stage of development

4.elemental
within the essence

However I too particularly like backstraps!!!!!!!

Best Regards

Mike O

Why do women like to have babies?

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
Why do women like to have babies?

Never thought of it like that, but you may have a point. Blacktailer does.

Blacktailer and bull1
You have both nailed it for me.
I just plain like the experience.
It gives me the reason to climb the mountain.
Killing an animal is the most distastful part of hunting but I like everything leading up to it and everything after it (especially eating the meat). I understand the importance of us hunting for the well being of the species and I've never once hesitated pulling the trigger, yet I have so much respect for that creature that it saddens me at its death, right up to the point I pull my knife out.

I am; “a hunter†it is not just that “I like to hunt“…….hunting is who and what I am. When I am not actively on a hunt I am still a hunter. I feel it!

Not a day goes by that some part of my hunting self is not factored in. Scent stimulus, awareness of the weather, my eye pacing and intersecting a moving object, it is even more apparent as go about my day when out of doors and instinctivly look to natural haunts and spot animals or other natural anomalies, such as tracks,trails, browsed plants etc.

My hunting nature has melded with my hunting experiences and it effects my actions or in-actions in many non-wild daily situations. Thus even if I quit hunting or became unable to hunt, I would not be a non-hunter. I am glad that is so. I am proud it is so. And I am resigned to it being so and thus it no longer occurs to me to ask myself “why I hunt?â€.

Your Friend Afield

Mike O