First, because I feel closer to The Lord when I'm hunting than I do in any other endeavor. There's just something about waiting for sunrise and hearing all the sounds that go with it. Seeing God's creations rom the stars in the sky to the terrain to the animals...its just awesome!

Second, because I enjoy eating deer sausage!!!

Third, for the memories...

My favorite things to do growing up were playing baseball, hunting and fishing. While I still have a few memories from baseball, the ones firmly ingrained in my mind are hunting and fishing trips with my Dad. I am trying to pass that down to my son and daughter and hopefully, they will hold on to those memories like I have.

My boy isn't big on hunting but loves to fish and my daughter loves both hunting and fishing. There is nothing like wade fishing in Rockport at sunrise or sun down or sitting in a deer blind at those same times....God has painted some beautiful pictures while I've enjoyed the outdoors with my kids and it never gets old looking at them.

Lastly, the peace and quiet of course, now with cell phones that has changed a bit as you can text, watch videos, post on THF while hunting, but it still beats sitting in front of a t.v. or being behind a desk.

This right here.

She shoots more than I do

Cant say it makes me feel closer to God, but it sure does amaze me how he put it all together, but I see that all year long. It is a great time to share thoughts and thanks to him though, just you and him.

Honestly, I hunt for the "quest", the "score", or harvest. For me it is everything combined/involved with it, from summer long field work, then cool weather and food plots, watching the herd grow as you try to manage the range. Then the actual hunt time.

Other reason, hmmm it isn't "catch and release"

I do not get into hunting or fishing. I love camping, being in nature, and shooting hand guns /rifles. I am not against hunting and look forward to doing that soon.

The reason that I have taken to hunting is my son. He told me he wanted to hunt when he was 10. It took 2 years to get him on his first hunt (Texas youth hunting program), but he harvisted a prong horn on the first shot. A friend took him duck hunting and of course I tagged along. In two weeks he goes on his second Texas youth hunting program hunt, for doe, hogs and turkey.

They are tought well by TYHP, and the fellowship is great.

As long as we are hunting he is learning out door skills, we are spending quality time and makeing memory's, he is not running the streets trying drugs and Booz. Having meat on the table that he harvested, smoked, and prepared has boosted his confidence dramidicly.

I can not think of a better reason than theese

I just love it. I love the outdoors in general. I kind of ran wild when I was little. My dad wasn't around, and mom and grandma both worked. So I got into all kinds of stuff in the woods with my buddies. Most of the kids where I grew up were "lock and key" kids- like me- and pretty much all of us did the same thing. At least in my part of town.
Hunting takes me back to those days. I like to lose myself in the woods and just enjoy nature. Like NP, I feel closer to God in nature. I love to hunt and fish, and to bring home my own food. The feeling of being self sufficient gives me great satisfaction. I also feel like it's a great way to put some healthy meat on the table for not much of an investment. That one single deer justified spending the money on the licenses and permits i needed to hunt and fish Fort Bragg, and I haven't even done any fishing yet this year.
I had a great childhood and made a lot of great memories messing around in the woods and creeks near home. Shame I can't do it for my kids. These days I am scared to let them out of my sight, for fear they might get snatched up by someone!

because i am still alive

A couple have already mentioned my reasons, being in the woods at daybreak and watching everything come to life is an awesome experience every time. But I really love taking my boys to the "deer woods" every week and checking cameras or filling feeders and mowing and planting "deer seed" as they call it. I'm lucky to have a few places within 30 minutes of home that I can visit frequently and let the boys out to run around or ride 4 wheelers.

I always loved going to the lease and having fun with the boys and hunting when we woke up, but It got real serious and surprisingly a lot more fun when I hung my first trail cameras in 2011 and really started seeing what kind of deer I had to hunt. Since then I spend all my time trying to kill the biggest and oldest bucks on each place, I have failed miserably on one and done fairly well on the other. I don't spend any time with the boys at the lease anymore, I might again one day, but right now I love my time chasing swampdonkeys around the woods.

Getting to walk up on my last buck with my 5yo son is one of the coolest things I've done and I'm gonna do all I can to get my soon to be 8yo son ready to sit with me next year and see if we can't get him his first deer. I won't trust the little one with a gun till he's...well, maybe never...

My wife tells when we are going hunting.

I hunt slowly for food Idont get excited at all over deer it can be a 16point of a spike and it the same dinner now turkey hunting I use to love and i will hunt this spring I halve the fact you have to track them down call them in close then shot them but its still just dinner a really good dinner My Mother inlaw move in with us for a while she is from THAILAND and has been replacing all the stuff she bake with beef with deer and man is it good better then with beef and we dont hang our deer shoot then bring then home asking it on the ground do to having no place that would support a dear and me pulling on it so the sound works I quarter it out the mother in law buts it up and there is just leg bones to throw a way and a head and skin she uses every part of the animal neckbons have a tone of meet on them and are good in this soup the make with soured mustered plant leaves it is really good but we hunt to eat its free food

This, and meat

for some, no explanation is needed, for others, no explanation is possible.

Thank you. Every time this thread comes up its always "because as I watch the sunrise over the freshly plowed wheat field, I feel nothing but the gentle caress of natures gentle touch, refreshing the blood that courses through my veins like a gentle summer rain refreshes the dandelions. When a see a majestic beast grace me with his powerful,yet gentle presence, I'm reminded of the blissful presence of joy in my heart.... Yadda yadda.

I like to hunt, I like to eat meet. My dad taught me to do it when I was a kid, and I fell in love with it, so I still do it.

I hunt because I can sit down, cross my legs and meditate hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. But seriously life is stressful and being in nature with the animals, the song of he bird, the first braze of light as the sound of crickets fades and the birds start to sing, sitting in stealth watching the animals live in there natural environment and learning the tendencies and behaviors of wildlife is a relief from the everyday routine of work. Even when I do not harvest anything I absolutely love my time in the woods being in tune with nature and taking some tasty food and sharing stories with friends and family makes hunting so addicting and rewarding. Those mounts look pretty good on the wall too.

I hunt, therefore I am.

It's a part of my heritage, handed down for generations in my family. It is not only deer, as the part of LA I live in did not have a large enough population of deer to hunt until the 1960's. Until then, my family hunted waterfowl and squirrels. I was blessed to have grown up in a day when the timber company lands were open to the public. It was a natural thing to drive the backroads of the parish I lived in as well as 2 neighboring parishes. I regret that my son was not able to grow up with this freedom as I was. I believe it is part of the reason that he doesn't enjoy hunting like I always have. He hunts, but maybe just 1 or 2 times a year. But I truly believe it is a part of who I am. I love it!

This.....its an activity that requires few words to participate in, but it takes volumes to relate the experience!