What Does Hunting mean to You

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I wrote this 2 years ago, So I just wanted to share it with everyone...

Live to Hunt ... Hunt to Live
  It seems like only yesterday I started hunting, but it's been over 20 years. When I started I didn't have anyone to teach me what to do or how to do it. I just learned on my own. I had started hunting during the "Bad years" of my life; Drinking, drugs and  not really caring what I did or who I hurt.

    Hunting started to mean something to me slowly. More and more the spirt of nature got to me. The drugs eventully stopped and hunting became a larger part of my life.I never felt the peace that I get when I'm in the woods, mountains, or plains. Hunting has become a way of life. I learned to be a part of something more then shooting a gun or a bow, more than  just going out and killing a beautiful animal. I gained more respect of the game I hunted and in return I was giving the game the respect it deserves. Most non-hunters don't understand this and some just don't want to. Ask someone why he/she hunts and you will get many different answers. The only answer I can giveis that hunting gives me peace, and nowadays it gives me life.
    You may ask Why is that? Well, hunting saved me...It saved me from going to jail and from death. BY hunting and stopping the drinking and drugs it added more life to me. I was born with a defective heart valve. The thrill of the hunt is a thrill that no drug or booze can give me. I have  been saying Live to hunt...Hunt to Live  for the past 10 years. Five years before I had found out about my heart. Hunting keeps me alive and being alive is what makes me hunt. Hunters give back more than they take out of  hunting. We as hunters give back to nature what others can only think of giving. Why is it so hard for the so-called animal rights people to see how we as hunters are the ones that help to take care of nature. They feel that hunting is not humane? Well take them to a cattle ranch and then  a slaughter house and then see humanity.

    Not that I'm downing the cattle ranchers or the people that work in the slaughter houses. But look at it this way, a calf is bron a male, 99 percent of which is fixed, and become food for us and we'll also look to see how they are killed. Hunters have the power to bring back what  we have taken, like the buffalo, turkey, elk, and rocky mountain sheep to name a few. I can see that these days everyone hunts in one way or another. We hunt for work, a mate, a car, a house, a way of life. A way of life to live free, happy and at peace with God and ourselves.
            FOR THIS IS THE LIFE I HUNT FOR AND
            I LIVE TO HUNT AND HUNT TO LIVE.
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[Gene Roberts]

That is great.I love being in the outdooors.Just the initial feeling I get when in tune with nature.I hunt for food and because of the reasons listed above.Your story is truly extraordinary and I enjoyed reading it.

[elkkrazy8]

Great story Mystic,To me hunting is much more than putting meat on the table.There is nothing more relaxing mentally for me than to be in the woods or the Mnts. of Colo.. Again great story

[adkmountainken]

hunting and the great outdoors have allways been there for. we are much alike as drinking, drugs and a wild childhood nearly destroyed me yet the outdoors never wavered, it excepted me every time. as i got older and slowed down i could see more clearly how much it all means to me. hunting and the outdoors is the blood that flows through my veins, without it i would be no more.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I know there is allot of ppl that can relate to it. When hunting becomes more then just a sport to someone that's when their lives change.This is the part that the Anti's can't relate to.

[LEOPARD]

Great story!      

Nigel

[Cherokee Scout]

Hunting has a different meaning for me now than it did when I was younger. Then it meant killing something. Now it means being in the woods, sitting and watching. I love to be there, do not enjoy the killing anymore. Sitting on the ground with my back against a tree, sun shining thru the leaves, falling asleep for a while, is a great day.

[joe skipp]

   

[Legolas]

"We take life in order to learn how to live life"   Charlie Lamb
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Paul

[Shawn Leonard]

Other than my family, it means everything to me. It is what keeps me sane when life throws me those terrible curves, which it has done a lot lately. It is my saviour! Shawn

[JoeM]

Always nice to have somthing in life that you can totally bury yourself in when you need a little escape.  Joe

[mcgroundstalker]

What does hunting mean to me? Hard to explain. I just couldn't imagine my life without hunting. So much an inner part of me and a motivation to keep myself fit enough to stalk and stillhunt in all conditions.

When you talk about being "saved" from the bad life I understand completely. My kid brother still carries the monkey and, well, although I've never been down that road, I sure know where it leads.

Thank You Sal

... mike ...        ...

[Bone lake]

I wish I could just put it in words and tell you what it means to me.

[J-dog]

Being around friends, good times, laughs at friends misses, being laughed at for my misses, just being around friends.

Then there is the side of me that usually hunts alone. when with the bow, woods have always been a place of refuge for me.

J

[Bonebuster]

Instinctively, naturally, we are all hunters and gatherers. Even if some of us try to deny it.

For me, it puts my life on the natural cycle of
winter, spring, summer, and fall. I know who I am, and what I am because of it.  

The farther we as humans get from our instincts, the less human we become. Acting on instinct, provides the greatest sense of tranquility, and peace that life has to offer. I believe this is why so many of us look to hunting as an escape, and rejuvination. We naturally NEED to act on instinct, to be truely happy. This is why so many people are so unhappy. They use none of their instinct.

Babies chase butterflies and grasshoppers, when they play in the yard. Take them to the beach, and they will chase minnows. Instinct.

To me, hunting is indeed, chasing butterflies and grasshoppers.

[joe c.]

Besides my wonderful wife and kids & dog's It is what keeps me saine. Dreaming about the next hunt or outdoor experience is almost as good as the hunt itself. I dident grow up in A family of hunters but we were campers,my dad was in A scuba club that took us to diffrent parts of the state every weekend.
Now not A minute goes by without thinking of deerhunting in some sense,or my next adventure.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Aw it's just something to do between golf outings......

[Gene Roberts]

"Babies chase butterflies and grasshoppers, when they play in the yard. Take them to the beach, and they will chase minnows. Instinct.

To me, hunting is indeed, chasing butterflies and grasshoppers."

Bonebuster is exactly right.

[adkmountainken]

Gene,
      i am reading Mary Summer Rain right now, great book!!! her writting style and are very own Killdeers are very similiar and the chose of words is awesome!

[buckeyebowhunter]

The Thrill of doing what our ancestors did to survive. The peace that mystic mentioned, being with my dad, grandpa , uncle. And sharing hunting stories and lessons learned in life with them. Theres nothing better than hunting or fishing in my opinion. While other kids at my school are interested in parties, drinking , drugs, etc. And gettin into trouble I'm usually in the woods or on the bank at my nearby lake doing what I love to do and having the time of my life. And when someone asks me why I hunt or fish they're usually the people who have never experienced the outdoors.