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Not hunting anymore

Miboy86

Miboy86

Active Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Messages
150
Location
Michigan for Now
Went small game hunting last weekend, shot a squirrel then made a joke I was done hunting for good, selling my equipment, guns and joining PETA. A afterthought I had was that I don't know anybody personally that decided one day they were not going to hunt anymore, has anyone ever met a ex hunter for whatever reason besides health reasons?
 
Yes actually. A guy I knew, he used to hunt everything. Went to a tag sale with my wife and bam there he was selling all his hunting stuff. Said he wasn't really into it any more. Darned if I know. You might as well rip my heart out. Maybe he just hunted and wasn't really ever a hunter.
 
Miboy86 said:
Went small game hunting last weekend, shot a squirrel then made a joke I was done hunting for good, selling my equipment, guns and joining PETA. A afterthought I had was that I don't know anybody personally that decided one day they were not going to hunt anymore, has anyone ever met a ex hunter for whatever reason besides health reasons?
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I've definitely second guessed hunting and my methods of hunting after a couple of bad shots and not finding an animal, usually it was fairly short lived though.
 
I think this is extremely common. I talked to some fellas at work they gave it up. They said they just don’t care to kill anything anymore. A few of them typically pick up fishing or something. Strangely enough my dad said the same thing to me on the phone Saturday night after I called to tell him I put a bad shot on a deer. We never deer hunted growing up but did plenty of hog hunting. He just works out now so I guess that his thing.
 
My faith, my family come first in that order. Although it is difficult sometimes, especially when the Turkeys start gobbling or the bucks start running, for me to "prioritize." But, I can honestly say that if I were no longer able to hunt or trap, I wouldn't be long in this world. My mother has always said, "Its in your blood."
 
My dad and i got out of hunting for a while when the land we hunted sold. My dad had a share in a tree farm that was leased to a hunting club so being members in the club was a good way to keep tabs on the place. When i came along i progressively became more interested in hunting and i think he truely enjoyed teaching and spending time with me. We never killed a bunch of deer but overall it was about the time spent together outdoors and he did kill a very mature deer off the ground the last year we hunted there. Once the land sold i think he was happy to transition all of his free time into fishing (another passion i picked up from him) and that was about the same time i went off to college. He always entertained finding a place to hunt again but it never happened.
 
As long as I’m able, doubt I’ll ever quit. But the way I think about animals has changed and last year I decided to go almost vegetarian... so other than wild game and fish, I don’t eat meat primarily because of high volume factory farming, I just think it’s bad life for living things, by the billions. At least wild game gets to do its thing for a couple of years. If I knew the animal was raised decent, like a small well run farm, prolly be ok with that too. I’ve also gotten a lot more serious about taking high % shots, I’m not winging an arrow hoping to hit something at 47 yards just to put bone on the wall.
 
Jtaylor said:
I've definitely second guessed hunting and my methods of hunting after a couple of bad shots and not finding an animal, usually it was fairly short lived though.
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When I get a little canker sore my face throbs for 3 days it’s terrible, I can’t imagine a couple weeks + of walking around with an arrow high in my shoulder.
 
neonomad said:
As long as I’m able, doubt I’ll ever quit. But the way I think about animals has changed and last year I decided to go almost vegetarian... so other than wild game and fish, I don’t eat meat primarily because of high volume factory farming, I just think it’s bad life for living things, by the billions. At least wild game gets to do its thing for a couple of years. If I knew the animal was raised decent, like a small well run farm, prolly be ok with that too. I’ve also gotten a lot more serious about taking high % shots, I’m not winging an arrow hoping to hit something at 47 yards just to put bone on the wall.
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While i don't think i am following your thought process to the same extent that you described, I have been thinking the same thing lately. Eating more wild game and vegetables is probably healthier and better for the environment /animals than the way i currently eat. I feel same way about plastic... It is not realistic for me to swear off of it completely but i want to make a conscious effort to limit the amount of single use plastic that i use.
 
Kurt said:
Yes actually. A guy I knew, he used to hunt everything. Went to a tag sale with my wife and bam there he was selling all his hunting stuff. Said he wasn't really into it any more. Darned if I know. You might as well rip my heart out. Maybe he just hunted and wasn't really ever a hunter.
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Kinda like Bruce Jenner huh?
 
I had a hunting buddy, that woke up one morning and decided he was selling his hunting gear and taking up golf. I bought 3 ladder stands, a Remington 700, an industrial meat grinder and a bunch of small stuff for $300. Two years later he was done with golf and wanting to hunt again:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
 
I've only known 2 guys that hunted but were not really hunters, they hunted because that was their way of spending time with their friends, family or in the one guys case get away from his wife. Me personally I could never see myself giving up hunting or fishing, I love every aspect high or low.
 
fbwguy said:
I had a hunting buddy, that woke up one morning and decided he was selling his hunting gear and taking up golf. I bought 3 ladder stands, a Remington 700, an industrial meat grinder and a bunch of small stuff for $300. Two years later he was done with golf and wanting to hunt again:tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy:
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Wish I could find someone doing something like that around me lol
 
Stopped for 2 years, missed it so much. I did not sell my gear (didn’t have but 1 stand, 1 ladder, and 1 gun). Also fell in love with archery, then black powder season. Kind of sound like a Brad paisley song.
 
I almost stopped. Moved to a different state to go to school and ended up staying when I got a job. Lost all my contacts and access to hunting ground. Regulations in the new state were also drastically different.

Had I not been in a position about 10 years later to buy some ground, I probably wouldn't have ever gotten back to it. Even now, with work and other responsibilities, it's still not easy to get out there.

There's probably not a lot of people that have a big philosophical revelation that causes them to stop, but there's a lot that can get in the way.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
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