Why do people go camping? Just so they can get away from the hurly burly of every day life and live a more primative existence, and if that involves toting your own water, or drinking from streams, crapping in the bushes, going without showers, etc then so much the better.

We have been hunter gathers for far longer than we've been chained to desks and trammelled by traffic.

Of course there's pleasure in hunting - just as there is in many human endeavours and activities. But there's lots of things that give me pleasure, and some things that may give me pleasure that I chose not to do (eg., cheat on my wife, hit someone I don't like, eat that extra piece of cake). I choose to hunt not just because it is pleasurable, but because it engages me with nature in a way that hiking and camping do not. And sometimes the adrenaline rush is in sighting the animal, stalking, approaching, lining up the shot and not the actual killing. A hunter may chose not to make the shot, however, in his or her eyes the hunt is still successful and exciting.

What's wrong with primeval?

I think it depends on the depths of the fetishism.

We built the blind because our acreage is a thoroughfare for whitetails and mulies. Don't forget when you apply for tags you have to specify areas as well. And if they happen across our path when we are up there then so be it!

A lot of areas are privately owned and if you can't get permission from the land owner to shoot there then you s**t out of luck - so whilst it would be great to track deer left right and centre, constraints mean it may be impossible.

We have 10 acres and permission from neighbours (who have way more!) to hunt on their land when they are not guiding people out there ad have drawn a tag for this area, so we will use the blind when not trecking across neighbouring land! (or using the Ducks Unlimited land around and about)

Yes there will be a platform constructed about half way up the stand for bow hunting!!!! Not that me or anyone else will use it this year - I'm waaaaaay not good enough and moh hasn't practiced his bow shooting in a couple of years (prefering the rifle) so decided to give it a miss this year.

Cool: I'm dead jealous - it's one of the downsides of living in the city!

Presumably you're more than 250 meters from the house.

What rifle are you using? .3030 or 270 or..?

Errrr...........Bussquit

or maybe with extremely heavy emphasis on "sometimes"





I accept that a part of the thrill of the hunt is the stalking, the lining up of the shot, but if that was the major part of the hunt we'd be discussing wildlife photography and we’re not!

What a fantastic post. Thank you.

I guess what i'm saying is that people should just be happy and confident to say "I love the feeling when i hunt and kill something" instead of feeling they should justify what they do by commenting on sustainability, environmental reasons, or just keeping animal population under control etc etc.

[QUOTE=MikeUK;7930588]Errrr...........Bussquit

or maybe with extremely heavy emphasis on "sometimes"

QUOTE]

A good deer hunter will go to the hunting area weeks before the hunt, to find where the deer sleep, eat, walk, etc. He or she will check out vantage points, lines of site etc. For some strange reason they see this as an important and enjoyable part of the hunt.

Then it may take multiple attempts over days or even weeks to find the animal during hunting season. Hunters seem to enjoy this part too!

Then when they finally get it all right, they make the shot - and may miss! For some reason this becomes part of the experience also.

Then if all goes well, you get a clean shot, you have to cape, skin, or butcher the animal and carry it out.

Then there's the whole meat preparation or trophy mounting thing.

And then you get to see your trophy and/or eat you meat, sausage, steaks or whatever, and share it with friends.

I guess "hunting" is more than just the kill.

If I wanted just to kill I'd get a job at a meat packing plant.

You missed out the part where i wrote, "...hunt..." too.

Your post above talks about the hunt (going out weeks pre hunt before the kill and sharing with friends etc). So that means the hunt and the kill. The experience.

Edited to add: I'm not against hunting by the way. I just find it interesting how people who do hunt often use the reason i wrote previously as a way to justify it to people. Or at least feel the need to.

No-one can justify taking the life of an animal in the name of fun, leisure or 'sport'. In my opinion, you cannot justify taking the life of an animal unless you needed to kill it for food.
For a more detailed summary on the subject, please see:
http://www.helpinganimals.com/Factsh...play.asp?ID=53

No one needs to kill an animal for food, we could live on baked beans and oranges. What though about the unsustainable animal populations, specifically horses, no cull means starvation for the many as opposed to shooting for the few. Is the cull justifiable or not?

Hunting may be distesteful to you. But it is not to me.

It's a matter of Taste (I'm sure there's a pun in there).

As far as I know deer, for example, are not self identified individuals with a sense of self determination. They are herd animals. A Whitetail herd will not leave a 200 acre area ever - even if it is no longer sustainable. Mule deer will wander more freely in smaller herds, even if they are spreading disease. They are hard wired to behave in a certain way as a herd. A deer by itself is a dead deer. The herds are hard wired to behave in certain ways. They will live or die by this. Shooting a deer is not like shooting a pet.

There is a demand to hunt for various reasons, and for reasons of conservation and wildlife management the government manages the hunt.
Since man (and woman) has come uopn the scene we have changed the ecology of North America. We are an integral part of the system. We have three choices.

Let things go as they will, without management. I believe that will lead to the widespread decimation of game populations.

Cull the animals when necessary, and pay proferssionals to do it.

Allow the public to do it and contribute to the local economy.

We are a democracy, and as a democracy we have chosen to maintain the hunt.

Hunters are also more likely than any other group to support the reclamation of wilderness, the protection of wetlands, and the conservation of species than ANY OTHER GROUP. They provide more donations, more land gifts, and more volunteer hours. In fact, much of the "wilderness" Canadians love to walk though is largely maintained by the hunting fraternity.

And as a group they are among the most polite and considerate people I have met, and I'm proud to be a fledgling member of that group.

Neither am I,

I too find it interesting how hunters try to minimize the relevance of the Kill

Paint ball comes in close for the whole adrenaline kick, stalk and hunt bit but then in that particular case the game is fair and evenly matched

I don’t think fair and evenly matched really comes into it for a modern trophy hunter