Well dear reader, I’ll skip to the end for you and tell you that in all honesty, I still haven’t found a solid purchase on this wonderful question of why we hunt (or don’t).  With that said, you’re free to move on to the next article, photo, blog entry or social media post if you’d like.  But…in the event that you are willing to dig deep, and I mean way down inside that mysterious cavern that is our heart and soul, to ask yourself this question, and try and come up with an honest answer, then I’d invite you along on my own journey.  Let us look into the mirror that is who we truly are and see if we can’t possibly get a little closer to the answer.

There’s quite a difference in being asked a question like this in person and on the spot than to have time to chew on, digest, and regurgitate an answer that reflects our actual reasoning.  If pinned on the street, some of the well-worn responses I might give would be:

“Hunting is good and cost-efficient way to source organically grown and free-range meat” 

The reason being I hunt for food.

“Hunting is an integral part of wildlife conservation, and I’m doing my part as a conservationist to help control a population.”

The reason being I support wildlife management and conservation.

“Hunting is an important aspect of my life that I’ve always done, whether with family and friends, and I want to continue the tradition.”

The reason being I want to preserve the hunting heritage.

“Hunting is an exciting sport that pits man against nature and provides a challenge that can’t be found in other sports or activities.”

The reason being I enjoy the sporting aspect of it.

“Hunting is in my DNA, my ancestors were hunters going back from my father to pre-history when man relied on subsistence hunting.”

The reason being that I am pre-disposed to hunting and being a hunter.

Now, I have either used or heard all these reasons before, from both young and older hunters.  I have believed that these were reasons that I hunted at one time or another along my journey.  Each reason listed above is well and good and may be exactly the reason you hunt. 

If you would allow me, however, to play the small red devil on your shoulder, let’s examine a few of these.  I hunt for food.  There’s no doubt that in todays world of processed foods, with unknown origin, growth inducing chemicals, preservatives, and cancer at an all time high, eating wild game is probably the far and away best alternative for a healthy protein choice.  It’s just a very expensive venture and not cost-efficient no matter what you tell your better half.  Think through this with me.  How much time is spent in training, scouting, the actual act of hunting, and then meat processing, and that’s only if you’re successful.  How much money is involved in training, licensing, weapons, supplementary equipment, transportation, hours afield (what is your time worth), and processing, which ranges from knives and paper or freezer bags up to the cost of a professional processor.  In this day and age, it is much easier and less expensive to purchase protein, even organically grown options.  I personally have a hard time with this being the core reason to hunt – although, I do know several people who give this as their reason.

I support wildlife management and conservation.  Wildlife management in this country follows what is called the North American Model, which, when boiled down, means that wildlife, whether existing on public or private properties, belongs to the collective “people” and its care is entrusted to the state or federal government.  Funding for this model comes almost entirely on the backs of hunters, trappers, fishermen, and in a growing subset, target shooters or non-hunting gun owners.  Through taxes placed on outdoors sporting equipment, firearms, and ammunition, agencies are equipped to properly manage the species within their purview of responsibility.  Hunting, trapping, and fishing licenses also support these agencies.  Hunting is also used by these managers to help stabilize populations of game animals that may have too many or not enough.  When you go hunting, is this why?  Do you say, “I’m buying a hunting license, or equipment, to go out and hunt with the express purpose to support conservation?”  You could easily do this through a donation to your local agency, which some do.  Do you set out to shoot that buck, or take that limit of rabbits because you’re trying to help manage the population?  It’s improbable (but not impossible).

I want to preserve the hunting heritage.  Heritage, or what can be considered inheritance, is a word often thrown around with respect to hunting and trapping.  Something I think worth mentioning is that hunting is a privilege and not a right.  Privileges can be taken away and greatly restricted, as we’ve seen over time in many other states.  Often, as with trapping in California, when the hunting population becomes irrelevant, we see added restrictions or, in the aforementioned case, outright bans.  So, the idea of protecting our hunting heritage makes a lot of sense.  Some take this to heart - striving to introduce many non-hunters to the sport, whether young or old.  Many state agencies have opened special opportunities for new hunters through mentorship programs.  Unfortunately, we’re continuing to see the overall hunting population decrease.  By simply participating in ‘hunting’ are we helping to preserve this heritage.  To some extent, yes, as every license represents a constituent to an elected representative.  Are there folks actively working to preserve policy and recruit new hunters?  Sure, there’s a select few.  But you don’t have to actually hunt to do this.  You can still support hunting and the heritage or tradition through the support of NGO’s and local wildlife agencies.  Although I hope my children, and children’s children have the opportunity to hunt, it’s certainly not the core reason I get up before sunrise and head afield.

I enjoy the sporting aspect of hunting. Now, here’s one where I lingered for quite a long time.  Of all these potential reasons, this one trailed me from a youngster until now.  In fact, I’m not sure this isn’t some part of why I hunt, but I would say I don’t believe it’s really at the core.  There is something to be said about matching wits with a wary old buck, brushing in a blind to fool a late season gander, or even trying to get a coyote to place its paw on a small metal circle in the midst of its 500-acre range.  I also have tended to be one of those sports who after becoming somewhat proficient, will move on to the next challenge.  But I haven’t found that to be the case with everything.  There are some forms of hunting that I return to each year.  Every autumn, I don my canvas chaps and crawl into the woodcock covers to search for what I regard as my favorite of all species to hunt.  I always chase rabbits and squirrels with friends and family around Thanksgiving.  I always set a trap line for mink over the Christmas season.  I also find myself coming back to things I enjoyed as a 12-year-old just heading afield for the first time.  And although I enjoy the thrill of attempting a fleeting shot on a whirring grouse, I continue to find that the more miles that pass behind me and the fewer I have ahead as the sun starts its downward fall towards the horizon of this life, I recognize that there’s something more than the sporting opportunity alone.  Why don’t we play golf, join a rec volleyball league, or sit in front a big screen with a video game controller in our hands.  What is it that draws us out into the field, the forest, the marsh?

I am predisposed to hunting and being a hunter.  As I began to delve into this question of why, one reason that I heard occasionally was this notion of hunting, or being a hunter, as a part of our DNA.  Now historically speaking, we know our early ancestors, pre-history, relied on hunting as a way of life.  Sure, no doubt there was some scavenging and certainly gathering edibles was the other half of the coin when it came to sustenance, but killing for protein was critical to survival.  I have to imagine that some of those early humans weren’t particularly good at hunting while you had others who seemed to possess a gift, always being in the right place at the right time, never missing a shot, having an eye for reading sign.  In our culture this is sometimes referred to as being lucky, but more often than not it’s years of hard work, practice, and continual learning.  As meat has become much easier to obtain (think 5 minutes in the line at a drive-thru) the large majority of peoples have slowly drifted away from the idea of where their food comes from, let alone actually hunting and killing it.  It’s neatly packaged on a cellophane plate with shrink-wrap and drained of all the blood, free of ligaments, fat, skin and hair.  Someone else far away has done the killing.  All this aside, for those of us that choose to go afield with the intention of taking a life, are we following some hidden path that runs through the helix of our genetics, laid down by our long-ago decedents.  Scratching an invisible itch that we can’t describe but only follow into the forest.  This seems like a very hard thing to prove.  It also seems like a very easy excuse to offer, knowing that it can’t be proven or unproven.  But there is something to it that I can identify with.

So, we come to the part where I’ve attempted to describe why I don’t think the 5 common answers above are correct, and I lay out the true glorious reasoning behind why I hunt.  But alas, I can’t.  The best I can do is attempt to describe something that I still cannot pinpoint, place a finger on, or see clearly in the murky shadows of my inner self.  About a month ago, I spent a wonderfully long weekend with a group of dear friends in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania.  We were targeting rabbits up in the mountains, hiking terrain, pushing through impenetrable brush, and laughing till it hurt, all day long.  As most hunts do, this one seemed to flash by and as Sunday morning came and we packed up the trucks at the Airbnb we had rented.  Four of us took a group photo on the deck overlooking a babbling mountain stream running against an impossibly steep mountain pushing into the sky.  After the pose and smiles, we turned and silently looked on at the water, the ridge, and the wild.  At that moment I realized two things.  One, there was a yearning at my deepest center to stay in this place.  To be in and a part of it.  To know it and be known by whatever ‘it’ is.  The second realization was that there were 3 other guys beside me that were feeling the exact same thing. 

What is that?  Why is it when I’m still hunting in the woods or in a tree stand, I find myself at a point where I don’t want to move.  I don’t want to break the magic spell that is nature happening all around me.  I believe part of it is the fact that, much to popular and contrary belief that it’s man vs. nature (insert popular reality show here), it is actually that man is nature.  Man is an essential part of nature.  Humans are not intended to subdue nature, but rather to find our place in it and to simply ‘be’.  I believe I hunt because it is the closest way I can connect with who I am as a part of the natural world.  It is this connection that draws me back.  The longer I’m disconnected from the wilderness, the tighter my chest becomes and the stronger the pull becomes to return to it.  This is why I hunt.

If I may, I’d like to leave you with a few questions that I’m still in the process of attempting to answer myself.

Why do we have to take a life in order to feel this close connection?  (Why can’t we achieve the same fulfillment from just watching wildlife, nature photography, etc.?)

A certain percentage of hunters at a certain age stop hunting.  They often give reasons like, “I’ve killed enough”, or “I’ve lost the passion or drive”.  Why is that?

Is it really ethical to continue to hunt and take life, when it’s not necessary?

These may be some pretty easy questions for you to answer.  For me, where I’m currently at on my journey as a hunter, they’re actually pretty tough.  Do I think I could give up hunting?  I don’t think so at this point.  But maybe someday.  Maybe I’ll have ‘killed enough’ or maybe the hunting experience itself will be the prize at the end of the day.  As I head for that horizon, I get the sense that even though my game bag is empty, legs are tired, with a sweaty brow, and a mind full of memories of past hunts - it’s enough.  That continual re-connection and recharge that comes from being in that place you were always meant to be is enough.  I don’t know where you may be at on your path my friend, but I encourage you to keep on it.  Whether it’s morning, noon, or twilight for you, keep learning, keep looking ahead, and keep looking within.  There’s something within us that seeks to climb that next ridge and see what’s on the other side.  Keep heading for the next ridge, the one in your heart, in your mind, and on the skyline.