Hunting for me has always been about food and self reliance. To me the ‘sport’ of it is the preparation and being out in nature. I started learning about firearms and hunting at a young age. My father would target shoot from time to time, and I can recall sitting off the side and watching him shoot downrange at the age of five or six.
When I was seven or eight I got my first BB-gun. I think a year or two later I given a youth re-curve bow as well. Firearm safety was something I grew up with. It was taught on a routine basis.
I enjoy target shooting, as it is a skill that must be honed in order to be a hunter, a skill that perishes if not practiced. While I learned about firearms I also learned about were meat came from.
I was six when I went on my first hunt outing. My father took me into the woods near our home to squirrel hunt.
Hunting 101 – No, This Is Not A Lesson
Hunting can be a touchy subject. You either hunt or you don’t. You either support it, you don’t support it, or you could careless about it.
In the day and age we live in here in the United States I can go to the market or local butcher shop and buy a t-bone steak if I want one. Most of the population lives in cities or towns, not on homesteads or farms. Getting meat for the table is typically purchased.
Livestock is raised in this country for slaughter and the market. Wild game hunting is still around, but is usually considered a means for recreation as well as population control, and crop damage control.
As the population expanded and farmland sprang up, food for many wild animals was more readily available than ever. Population of deer in particular has sky rocketed in many states, and hunting is a means to control the population.
A maintained deer population means less auto accidents fatalities, lower insurance premiums, less crop damage, lower food prices in stores…etc… etc…
Hunting is here to stay, at least for a while. But today it is not so much a necessity for survival as it is a means of personal recreation, a large source of income for states, and in some instances animal population control.
What Is Hunting To Me?
I grew up hunting, but don’t do it very often.
For me what I enjoy most about hunting is just getting outdoors and into the woods and the fields. I don’t trophy hunt any animals. When I do hunt and harvest an animal it is to put food on my family’s table. I eat what I end up shooting.
I have hunted around North America on a few occasions with my father when younger; Free ranging buffalo in Utah’s Henry Mountains, mule deer and antelope in Wyoming, black bear in Canada.
Most of my hunting takes place in Wisconsin, the state I live in. I will sometimes grouse and pheasant hunt but that is rare if I do. I will squirrel and rabbit hunt once or twice in the fall – maybe cook one over an open campfire and make hot pot-pies. Then there is white-tail deer hunting with bow and firearm.
I really enjoy my family’s deer camp.
Like I said, most of my reason for wanting to go hunting is to just be outdoors. Often times I see deer and don’t harvest. I just enjoy the tracking and scouting. Being in the woods and observing nature; seeing, listening, smelling… and then seeing potential prey is exciting.
Shooting is not always the outcome for me. Just being outdoors and among nature is the most important thing.
Taking a shot and killing an animal for food fills me with remorse and gratitude. You don’t feel that when buying a rib-eye at the store.
Future Blog Posts On Hunting
I know that hunting is not for everybody. This website will share many different aspects of the outdoors that I enjoy. Some of the things will not always pertain to all people.
So if you enjoy hunting, you may get something from posts on the subject. If you don’t like hunting, then by all means avoid such posts.
TD