Why do we love to hunt?

[CatfishKev]

Since I was young I've had a primal urge to hunt something and eat it. I didn't grow up that way though. On a wim in my early 20s myself and my mom's boyfriend at the time decided to buy bows and give it a whirl. I was hooked ever since. Then I read the book from Wal-Mart "Whitetail Strategies". The author talks about the "hunting gene". He talks about how hunting was such a way of life for our ancestors and it is simply interwoven into our dna.

 

Looks wise I favor my mother and I look a lot like my uncle who was a big time hunter. My father on the other hand not so much. Now my son who favors my father also seems to not be so much into hunting but in contrast my daughter who favors me and my mom's side loves it. The hunting gene theory sure seems to hold water in my experience.

 

How about you guys? Do you see similarities in yourself and your extended family? What is it that makes us love hunting so much?

[muledeerarea33?]

Both sides of my family hunts so I cant really relate to the hunting gene I guess. Im glad you got the right genes though.

[DUG]

I was brought up in a non hunting family. My Dad bought me a BB gun and I started hunting sparrows and starlings in the backyard. We started dove hunting because some friends did it. Then quail. Then javelina. Then deer. Then elk. Then antelope. Then put in for bighorn and buffalo. My wife's side of the family hunted when I met her so I fit right in. All 3 of my kids like to hunt. It's just hard to go sometimes with our busy schedules with school and softball etc. We do make it a point to get everyone together for a labor day dove hunt and then at least a couple days if someone gets an elk tag.

[trphyhntr]

my dad planted a seed in my head when I was born basically, created a hunting and fishing monster.

[lancetkenyon]

My dad took me ever since I was tall enough to reach a light switch. That was seriously his criteria. Small game, dove, rabbits, lizards, quail. He taught archery at summer parks & rec. We also fished a ton.

 

First big game hunt was when I was 14 for archery deer and turkey. Took me a year, but I got my first Turkey and I was hooked for life. Looking back, he has only taken 1 big game animal ever. A ride deer. A very small forkie up on the Kaibab with me about 20 years ago.

[300RUM]

Both my grandfathers hunted some, in Wisconsin. My father hunted a little when he was young but gave it up before I was born. I started taking small game on my own when I was around 12 with a .22 rimfire my father bought me. My mother always happily cooked whatever carcass I drug home or back to camp. When I turned 18 I bought myself a .270 and 12 gauge. In my early 20's I bought a bow and almost completely forgot what a rifle was for quite a few years. Although my father does not hunt he will often come with me. He is a rock hound and enjoys looking for interesting rocks while I wander through the woods or desert looking for critters. My father and I did do a lot of fishing together when I was younger.

[knothead]

I was raised in a non hunting family but I always wanted to hunt from the time I was very young. At least my father liked to camp and we had horses that we would ride in the mountains. My freshman year in HS I had every class except for 1 with a kid who hunted. He invited me along on a rabbit hunt out near pinnacle peak and we have been best friends ever since. That was the fall of 1977. He was the best man in my wedding and I was his. Pretty much everything we learned we learned from mistakes and trial and error. There were three of us that hunted in HS. We would pack up every Friday after school or football game and get back home Sunday around dark. Never killed a dang thing except for dove and quail but we had the time of our lives. Spent most of our time in 17A/B, 20A and unit 10. As much as we hunted we never were all that interested in elk and as a matter of fact the first elk I ever saw was near Clints Wells in 1983. We were mostly archery deer hunters but once we got the elk bug we got it bad.

[brian390]

My dad grew up in the Willcox area so they were pretty much in a great area to hunt with easy access. They had motorcycles and were always out in the desert hunting something. His dad didn't hunt but one time they needed a ride to a mountain range to hunt deer. He drove them in his car as close as he could to the mountain range without getting stuck. Once there my dad and his brother walked the few miles up to the mountains. He ended up getting a mule deer and they both dragged it back to the car.

 

I grew up going out in the woods with my dad just looking at deer and elk. My first big game experience was when I was in first grade when my brother and I carried bb guns following my dad while javelina hunting unit 19b. We jumped a herd and he got one and I have been hooked ever since. My brother and I continued to follow my dad on unit 19b javelina hunts every year up until 6th grade when we could actually hunt it legally with a gun in hand. We hunted that unit every year that we could get in there without getting stuck from when I was age 7 up until about a few years into college. Many javelina were harvested over those years and every hunt is engraved in my head as a memory. I'm in my 30s and haven't missed a year of putting in for everything since I could put in. I think that I got the hunting gene.

[Ohthatguy]

This....

[naturebob]

Cause Daddy brought me up rite and Beautiful scenery like above........BOB!

[Delw]

my dad planted a seed in my head when I was born basically, created a hunting and fishing monster.

Same here. I just took it to an extream level when I was younger. Missed most of high school because of hunting and fishing. missed most of the early years of marriage, ie bars, concerts and parties cause of hunting and fishing(drug the wife along she liked it though as long as she had a book)

got older had kids took them,. unless they want to go for big game which our Daughter always does I only go yote hunting or p dog shooting

got burned out on the fishing thing every day for 17+ years at the local lakes takes its toll. always picked them up after school in the bass boat to go fishing.

[Delw]

Now this post got me thinking about the old days.

 

heres a pic of Dad and I fishing for Wahoo in early 63 on an island dad was stationed on 500 miles from Japan, then when I was around 14 dad sent me back to the same island for a month so I can see it before he retired.

a pic of my biggest. caught the shark drop shooting a live goat using bobbers with the guy behind my sister in the pic, basically hooked a live goat to some big butt hooks and threw it over board attached to some of those big orange floats I think there was 3. next morning we had the shark.

Ive lead a pretty AWSUM childhood

 

 

[CatfishKev]

Dang that's a big shark. Where do you buy fishin goats?

[trphyhntr]

Now this post got me thinking about the old days.

 

heres a pic of Dad and I fishing for Wahoo in early 63 on an island dad was stationed on 500 miles from Japan, then when I was around 14 dad sent me back to the same island for a month so I can see it before he retired.

a pic of my biggest. caught the shark drop shooting a live goat using bobbers with the guy behind my sister in the pic, basically hooked a live goat to some big butt hooks and threw it over board attached to some of those big orange floats I think there was 3. next morning we had the shark.

Ive lead a pretty AWSUM childhood

 

 

captain quint?

[Delw]

Dang that's a big shark. Where do you buy fishin goats?

HAHA dude that was the 70's on a island they were wild , you either went behind the house and clubbed it, shot it with a bow or spear. islanders got that one for us(no guns on that island after we sold it back to Japan in the late 60's). the guy in the picture was the chief of police.

Islanders wanted that shark out of the bay as it bothered people/ tourist, they thought is was a tiger shark but it was a mackerel shark. which is just as aggressive. it was 3 meters 3 centimeters long.

that building in the background is the original Sea turtle and shark research facility and I believe the 1st one in the world. there was thousands of baby sea turtles on the beach. we would help catch them and bring them into the center to be tagged and studied

hammerheads and tigers breed in the shallows of the beachs On chi chi Jima. really cool to see hundreds of little 1-3 foot long hammer heads swimming in knee deep water while every one was swimming.

funny cause when we got there jaws the movie had Just come out on the base and we watched it a few days before departing on that 2 day long boat ride. it was harder than heck to go in the water.