Akula765
Akula765
Jul 28, 2017 · 2 min read

It is a totally normal hobby. Tens of millions of people participate in it, just in this country.

Its also a far more ethical way to eat. Not just meat, in general. Even if you go full vegan, unless you’re growing all your food yourself, you are still complicit in killing animals. Agriculture requires the slaughter of animals, in protecting crops from pests, in destroying habitat for fields, and the fact that in modern times, modern harvesting techniques also wind up killing lots of small rodents, snakes, and birds. Just about ever farmer in this country has shot some sort of pest animal. Rabbits, prairie dogs, deer. Feral hogs in particular are very destructive and are an epidemic in many parts of the country, to the point that machine-gunning entire herds from helicopters is not only allowed but encouraged by many state governments. And its certainly more ethical to take the responsibility to kill your meat yourself, rather than put that off onto some anonymous minimum wage slaughterhouse worker. Just about every organism on this planet exists at the expense of the destruction of some other organism. Modern civilization lets us detach from that reality, but we can never fully escape it. For most people, hunting is about embracing that reality, rather than trying to ignore it, and accepting the responsibility that is inherent in being a part of the food chain.

As for the fun part of it… yeah, it can be fun. Birds especially, though clays are just as fun. In general though, it really isn’t that “fun.” More like a “positive experience”, in the classical Stoic way — that is, its actually usually pretty damn miserable. It can be boring, the weather can be horrible, the bugs can be voracious. Often times it seems you see every other kind of critter in the forest except the ones you have a tag for. And sometimes is can even be downright dangerous. Its over coming that to still have success that winds up feeling good in the end. That’s why many hunters try to increase the challenge. Maybe they actively stalk animals instead of sitting in a blind. Maybe they switch from a gun to a bow. Maybe go deeper and deeper into the wilderness. Maybe they go alone. The best hunters do all of these things.

    Akula765

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    Akula765