I grew up hunting with my father, however, I never had the urge to shoot anything and never did. Luckily, my father understood and still bought me a hunting license, brought me along and taught me how to handle a rifle in the process. I always felt guilty because all the other hunters would brag about what their sons killed and my father never had that discussion.

I think this fall, I will go for a hunt with my old man. I doubt I'll kill anything, but that never bothered him anyway.

Edit: I took these photos.

Attached Images

	White-Tailed Buck.JPG (214.7 KB, 13 views)
	Black Bear.JPG (195.2 KB, 13 views)
	Red-Tailed Hawk.jpg (116.5 KB, 11 views)

I'm glad to hear it, Canis.

Anyone who gets any (sadistic) pleasure shooting any of these wonderful creatures must have at least 10 screws loose in the head.

would you call having to decide how much venison goes to burger, steaks, and jerky sadistic?

Let’s be honest here and admit that a good number of hunters coudn’t care less about the meat.

Anyway, I'm talking about the "entertainment value" of this activity.

I just can’t understand how the act of taking the life of those marvelous creatures can’t be regarded as even remotely entertaining.

um, I dont think thats true at all, dude. Sure, there are trophies involved.. but the vast majority of hunters are out eating or donating their kills.

It doesn't matter. Provided people aren't hunting illegally, maiming animals and leaving them to rot, I have no problems with people who get a thrill out of hunting and shooting animals.

My family were subsistence hunters. We hunted because we needed meat and it didn't matter if it was hunting season (or daylight) or not. We raised animals to eat as well.

Now we're all older, and we no longer need to poach to survive. My brother is an avid fisherman and hunter still. His methods have changed. Now it's purely legal. For a while, when he didn't need to hunt for meat (and when you hunt legally, you aren't saving any money anyway) he started to pick and choose which animals to bag...some would call it trophy hunting, I suppose. When he got good enough at it that it wasn't much of a challenge anymore, he switched to bow hunting for a few years, and now he does black powder.

He doesn't have any screws loose in his head. He enjoys being outdoors, he enjoys photography as well, and he enjoys hunting. He likes learning about the animals he's hunting, and he enjoys learning the capacities of the weapons he uses to bag them.

I find it amusing that people who claim to have so much respect for animals and the wilderness and who object to hunting actually have very little experience with the culture or the environment which harbors it, and thus cannot conceive of anyone actually wanting to spend time in it, learning about the animals who live there, and putting in the time, energy, money and love it takes to be a successful hunter.

P.S. I also don't have a problem with canned hunts. I don't see how it's worse for people to shoot their meat themselves, regardless of whether it's deer, pheasant, whatever, than it is to eat meat that is shipped around the country in tin cans, offloaded in feed lots and run through killing plants. Dead is dead. If you want a guaranteed kill, if you want to enjoy the amenities of a lodge and enjoy the safety that comes with allowing experienced hunters holding your hands, bully for you. Dead is dead to the animals, and I get so sick of inexperienced hunters tromping up into the woods in areas they don't know to spook and injure animals and each other I wish that every city dweller who takes a sudden interest in hunting would be required to spend two seasons attending only canned hunts.

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Poor Spot! He was tired of being thought of as stupid. "I'm gonna join Mensa," he said to myself, "and then I'll be legally permitted to wear the society's insignia--a tattoo of a little map pin pushed into my flesh--and then everyone'll know that I'm not dumb at all!"
Spot Joins Mensa
by James "Kibo" Parry

I guess people who enjoy hunting tend to focus more on the pursuit of the animal, outdoor experience, camaraderie and excitement while people who don't like it tend to focus more on the killing itself, the suffering and death of the animal.

I wasn’t criticizing hunters and had no intention of doing so. As I mentioned above, despite my refusal to actually take game, I still spent every fall and winter in the woods hunting with my old man until I left for college. I just happened to find it more pleasurable to be a passive observer and, luckily, my father exceedingly understood my disposition. Because he knew I enjoyed being out in woods, he took me on hunting trips to foster my interest in nature. It paid off in the end, I suppose. I’m currently a wildlife biologist and will be heading off in the fall to begin my Ph.D. candidacy.

Anyway, the initial reason I never shot anything was because I didn’t want to field dress the animals. I never had an issue eating anything my father bagged... I just hated the smell of gutting stuff.

A lot of these guys are not sadistic. There are a few that just want to shot stuff, but I was never associated with those types growing up because my father hunted for meat and was never concerned about a trophy buck. I believe that took a lot of pressure off me because I didn't have to prove anything. I went out with him for the sole purpose of spending time with him... which is something a lot of these guys do with their kids.

Your father was teaching you survival and sustanence son...................in case you ever need it and you just never know..................

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A wink's as good as a nod to a BLIND MAN ! :usa:

Pretty cool pictures, you must have a nice camera. I love Photographs from history, national geographic and archeology.