Why do we hunt?

It’s an age old question that can’t be answered in a single sentence.  Sure there’s the instinctual drive that man has possessed ever since he decided to get up off his knuckles and run a woolly mammoth off a cliff.  The cave man who came back to the village with enough sustenance to feed the clan was held in the highest regard.  So there’s definitely some of that left in us today, when we bring home that big whitetail buck or cooler full of moose meat from Alaska.  It gives us a feeling of pride that hearkens back to the beginning of time.

For some, hunting or fishing for that matter, is just a way to remove themselves from the every day struggles of life.  When you’re out in the mountains waiting to hear the faint bugle of the Idaho Elk Hunts, everything seems so simple.  There are no bills, no nagging boss you have to toe the line for.  Just simply you, the woods, and your game.

There is one aspect that seems to become more important to me with every passing year.  Sure I want to bring home the bacon just like everyone else.  If I wait an entire year for the chance to kill a caribou in Alaska, I’d sure like to bring home a caribou.  The aspect that has become more paramount these days though, is the adventures I share with my best friends.  I recently took a spring bear hunt in Alaska and there’s no doubt the hunt was exciting, but I seem to remember my two companions mooning a cruise ship from the window of our hotel (which was a converted brothel) as much as the taking of our trophies!  Life really is about the experiences, not the pursuit of wealth or fame.  Those experiences we have with the ones closest to us are what we’ll remember in the end.  Hunting is just a way to make that happen.