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Post by mshm99 on Mar 10, 2009 18:44:05 GMT -5
I had to have this tee shirt My wife says everything I do is someway connected to hunting.She is probably right. I have the seed for the food plot sitting in the shop. Made deer sausage last Saturday and will again this Saturday. Two weeks ago went to the Illinois deer classic. Member QDMA. Going to the country soon to do a controlled burn.Spread lime. The list goes on and on. Why do I hunt? Can't remember not wanting to go. Always loved to shoot. Always wanted good guns. We shot in the boy scouts. Won a merit badge. Being known as a good shot was important as a kid. Being a good shot meant you got to go hunting. Hunted rabbits with a bow before I got a gun. I save vacation time to hunt. I'll get to retire in a few years and I can hunt more. Can't wait. mshm
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Post by meltaylor on Mar 11, 2009 0:52:48 GMT -5
When I was a lot younger, especially when I was first married, I hunted because we needed the meat. Or so I told myself. Besides that, my family has always hunted. As the years went by and the meat wasn't so important, I continued to hunt without ever questioning why.
My first wife died after 32 years of marriage and a couple of years later I married a woman who scorned hunting (but not killing animals to eat) until I brought home the first elk. Then she caught the bug and has hunted with me nearly every year since then.
Because the country we hunt in isn't really suited to the use of blinds almost all of our hunting consists of walking and watching for the animals regardless of what we are hunting. Along with that goes looking for tracks and sign and just generally trying to observe everything around you at once - although I had never really thought about it. I just did it.
My wife made one remark the first time she went with me that really got me to thinking. She said "When you're hunting you are in a whole different state of consciousness. I've never seen you this alert before."
That's when I began to realize that I hunted because of that altered state of consciousness. That heightened alertness and awareness of the world around me. And, maybe I do feel more at one with nature or the universe or whatever power that governs us all when I'm hunting.
I can't say I really regard hunting as a spiritual experience (and I've had those too) but I do feel a sense of awe and wonder whenever I spot that old buck or bull (or even a herd of does or cows) on a distant hill and whenever I'm lucky enough to kill a deer or an elk I'm always a little humbled somehow. It's almost as if I've been granted some rare privilege that I don't really deserve.
Perhaps this is not entirely coherent but it's the best way I can express it.
Mel
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Post by ozark on Mar 11, 2009 16:32:57 GMT -5
The great outdoors is the largest Churchhouse that was ever built. It is said that God built it so why not enter when we can???
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