Why would anyone want to trudge up and down mountains or sit for hours glassing a ridge? And what's the thrill in trying to kill an animal anyway? These questions have probably been hurled your way a time or two. My response usually didn't supply any logical explanation at first. So I thought more about it...as I was trudging up a steep slope. Everyone has there own reasons. Why someone hunts is a personal matter. Many do it to spend time outdoors with friends or family. Others hunt to continue a tradition passed down from their parents and grandparents. Some go for the satisfaction of providing their own meat or the challenge of outwitting a wild animal. Many hunt simply because they feel an urge to do so. As environmentalist and hunter Aldo Leopold put it, “The instinct that finds delight in the sight and pursuit of game is bred into the very fiber of the race.”
It’s hard to generalize what hunters are doing when they go out each fall. But it's possible to explain what hunters are not doing, and to shed light on some aspects of hunting that might puzzle those who don’t participate. Are there misconceptions out there? Absolutely.
Over the course of the next week, I'll be listing some of the misconceptions about hunting that I've heard.
In the meantime, what do you think are the big myths about hunting that drive people to hate what we do?