[Stumblebum]

Why do we still hunt? What's the big thrill about shooting a wild animal? I'm not against it, I know plenty of people who do hunt, its just that I never quite understood it. If I was ever in an extreme condition where I had to hunt to survive I'm sure I could. But when I really don't have to, why would I?

Is fishing any different? I like fishing. I am a catch and release guy. Why do I like it? I find it relaxing but I also find reading a book has the same effect. Maybe it has to do with outwitting wild creatures and getting some kind of pleasurable rush from it. If you watch those guys shoot a deer on TV you'd swear they're having an orgasm. Its almost primeval. Go out hunting for days, away from the little woman and substitute sex with a kill. Whatever the reason for hunting, it must be good.

Even the dinosaurs wouldn't have stood a chance, a challenge maybe, but I'm sure if someone ever invents a time machine to take us back, hunters would be lining up.

[-Demosthenes-]

Man used to have to hunt for food, therefore it was useful for man to enjoy hunting.

[reverse]

Well we live in a strange world,
animal muscle comes all nicely packed in plastic at the supermarket,
so we never think of the fully assembled creature.

We are quite removed from the killing that is done on our behalf.

As for hunters, I would like to see it a bit more even, send the heroes out with just a knife - to face a stag one on one.
that would be ok I think.

people that collect things fascinate me, it's almost like there is some need to hunt and hunt with some small possibility to find a rare item.
I also theorise that gambling is an offshoot of this instinct.

[YT2095]

I can only speak from my own experience here, I also enjoy hunting.

it also extends to collecting (elements, chemicals, electronic components, coins)
I class fishing as hunting too, as well as (and here`s the weird part) going through all the foliage on the vegitables I grow to find the biggests and nicest, my greenhouse in mid summer is like a tropical jungle and you need to cut your way in sometimes!
I "Hunt" for Chillis and Lemon grass etc..
I`ts important to me to "ask permission" from the plant or fish or bird (or whatever)that I want to take, while I have the Gun/Knife or Scissors in my hands though.
and also to give thanks to it when eating and enjoying it.
I never seem to do that when I buy a pack of bacon or a can of beans from the shop though?

by that evidence, I`de suggest the "Hunt" is also partly ritualistic.

just MY thoughts :)

[coquina]

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Is fishing any different? I like fishing. I am a catch and release guy. Why do I like it? I find it relaxing but I also find reading a book has the same effect.

Relaxing? Have you ever been offshore and had a 100# tuna hit your line at 50mph while the boat is going 15mph in the opposite direction? Especially when you run into a school and get 4 hits on 4 different rigs.

Tuna fishing has been defined as hours of boredom interspersed with minutes of pure panic.

[Stumblebum]

Not many tuna in the lakes of Ontario, Canada.
I'm more of a 'you catch it, put it in a can, and I'll eat it" type of guy.

[atinymonkey]

I presume modern hunting is base around a need to control. Control over the hunt, and to an extent nature itself, is provided to the individual. The achievement of set goals, like the challenge of a hunt, will help to constitute a general feeling of fulfillment in life.

[Hellbender]

I love to fish, and I love looking for things and collecting things as well. I don't really hunt anymore, but it is really fun and exhilarating. It is a great evolutionary advantage to "like" doing these things. The same activities are involved in finding food. The most "primitive" societies of humans like African Bushmen still hunt and gather for their food. Just becasue we are domesticated doesn't mean we lose all our instincts. Look at dogs and cats. We feed them every day, and they don't have to, yet they still like to chase and hunt small animals and eat them.

[coquina]

Hellbender said:

I love to fish, and I love looking for things and collecting things as well. I don't really hunt anymore, but it is really fun and exhilarating. It is a great evolutionary advantage to "like" doing these things. The same activities are involved in finding food. The most "primitive" societies of humans like African Bushmen still hunt and gather for their food. Just becasue we are domesticated doesn't mean we lose all our instincts. Look at dogs and cats. We feed them every day, and they don't have to, yet they still like to chase and hunt small animals and eat them.

I used to hunt as well... with a bow and arrow as well as with guns. I didn't enjoy it much, I don't really like killing animals, but I have no objection to those who do as long as they only kill enough to eat and don't waste the animal.

Anyway - I think you're right. It is probably an evolutionary survival skill, it would certainly be a case of "survival of the fittist" some some great natural catastrophe occurred. It's not limited to hunting and fishing, but being able to survive with limited resources - find your way through a forest, find shelter, make a fire, etc.

[atinymonkey]

Slightly off topic, but I've got a question. Why is it that every other week there is a story about an American that had to chew off his hand/foot/arm/torso after getting it stuck under a rock?

Whats with that?

[coquina]

Maybe we've just got more rocks per capita than most. It's an obvious evolutionary link between humans, minks, and other valuable fur bearing mammals. :D

[Sayonara³]

Personally, I'd much rather see deer, stags, bears etc being deer, stags and bears, and doing deer, stag and bear things, rather than seeing them falling down dead, struggling in traps, or bouncing around on the back of some guy's 4x4.

[Hellbender]

Me too. I love animals a lot, but I realize that where I live, in the Adirondack park, that settlers a long time ago killed of almost all the wolves and mountain lions. There would be a serious problem with deer overpopulation if all those rednecks dressed in orange didn't kill some of them every year.

I used to turkey hunt when I was younger. To tell the truth, I never got one, but I did enjoy the fact that I was hunting to kill and eat one, not to stuff it as a trophy.

[atinymonkey]

Er, deer don't breed like rabbits. They breed in the wild in the UK and control the population themselves.

Just incase you fear the onset of a deer rebellion if hunting declines. :D

[blike]

It seems to me to be a sort of a primal characteristic to find pleasure in exerting dominance over something; be it animals or humans.

As a side note, deer population in the states is out of control in some areas. This, of course, is due to humans eliminating or removing their natural predators in one way or another.

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in the Adirondack park, that settlers a long time ago killed of almost all the wolves and mountain lions.

[Sayonara³]

What you need is a wolf reintroduction program.

Then at least you may have a proper reason for hunting at some point ;)

[Hellbender]

We have tried, but they are always localized. I believe that we should restore things to a natural order. But they would still come into conflict with people, and perhaps the same thing would happen again.

[Mokele]

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What you need is a wolf reintroduction program.

There's serious debate about whether re-introduction programs truly work. I'm not really up to date on it, something to do with low success rate (especially with mammals) when simply introduced, as opposed to when simply naturally expanding from their remaining habitat.

Of course, in some cases, re-introduction is the only option, like when there is no native population left, but I just thought I'd point out that it's effectiveness in the long term is questioned by some.

Mokele

[Kelton]

It's hard to say why we hunt (actually, only a very small minority of people hunt). In reality, most of us watch TV and do other stuff, so why not ask questions about that? That's MY question! : )

People probably hunt because they were taught to do it and to enjoy it...no different than other people have been taught to play basketball or ping pong.

For those of us that don't care for hunting, we tend to judge it and ask pointed questions about it. For some, it's an easy way to grab the moral high ground by making comments about the hobby. Others tend to "read into it" like there is some deeper meaning about man's need to dominate or control things. That might be a bit much.

Given that so many of us don't have any interest in hunting (most of us, anyway), there is good reason to believe that there isn't much to this hunting instinct....it's just sport. Why do we engage in sport? hmmmm

[coquina]

We have a huge problem with it in Yorktown. The Colonial National Park is here, as well as the Yorktown Battlefields. All that area is protected from hunting. At night the deer leave the park and eat everyone's gardens and shrubs right down to the nub. Another problem is that they carry the deer tick, which in turn carries Lyme disease, so when they come into the yards, they drop the ticks.

Fortunately, I live far enough away that I am out of range. I see a deer occasionally - they come for the apples that grow in my dad's old orchard. I don't try to do anything with the apples because of all the spraying you have to do throughout the season to make them edible, so I'm happy for the deer to have them.