WHY DO I HUNT?

When someone finds out you are a hunter there is usually one of few reactions. Some of these include excitement, indifference, curiosity, and sometimes anger. I wonder, was it always this way? I doubt it. But because we live in times when people have very effectively walled themselves away from the natural world, we sometimes encounter others with differing opinions. That is okay and even when they get angry, even when they hate me; I have to remind myself that I am not perfect and that love is far more powerful than hate.  

All these reactions prompted me to ask myself a question. Why do I hunt?

 

I began as a boy in rural Nebraska hunting geese and pheasants on the plains. From there I encountered deer and other big game. Back then I never asked myself such questions. Back then it was just a part of who we were. Now I ask myself that question a lot. I am not the same boy of yesterday. Part of that boy still remains, but I have a lifetime of experiences, misfortunes, mistakes, and relationships that have formed and are forming who I am now and who I will become.  Mostly, it is my growing relationship with God that influences who I want to become—though I am still so far away from that person. Yet I have found that the only way for me to work toward becoming the man I want to be is to work on my relationship with our Father.

So, what does this have to do with why I hunt?

I guess part of why I hunt now is because of those places where the birds and deer and antelope lead me--those places where I am quiet enough to hear the still voice within me that is not me at all.

There are so many good reasons why I hunt and some I have yet to discover, but most of all I hunt because it is who I am and because it gives me a chance to work on the most important of relationships.