I think in many ways it boils down to a male ego and approval of like minded buddies, and me being different, it's a part of the male makeup that I don't think that I'll ever be able to identify with as I'm a big wuss.

For some, you are probably right, it may boil down to nothing more than that. Thankfully, I am not one of them.

 

In all sincerity, if that is your limited understanding of hunting and hunters then you really don't have a grasp on it. I don't think I could adequately explain it, but I hope you will just accept that it is so much more of a personal thing than killing an animal and bragging to my buddies. It is a connection to the land, to God's creation, to the prey even. I do it for me, and the quiet times alone in the woods have done more good for me than a thousand hours of counseling would have. It brings me peace and satisfaction.

Successfully harvesting an animal is much different from taking aim on moving target....it's taking aim on a perceptive target. It's taking aim on a target that would otherwise try to elude you.

 

And as much as people focus on the goal being to "kill"...that is a vast over-simplification of the scenario. You kill, but you also get meat. You kill, but you also are helping thin the herd (which in the case of white tail deer, desperately NEEDS management). I suppose there are people out there who have some kind of strange sense of killing for pleasure...but for the responsible hunters in the world which DO represent the majority, the fact that you're ending an animal's life is not the real thrill. That's why responsible hunters worry so much about working hard to get an optimal shot that will quickly end the animal's life and in as painless a fashion as possible - like that boy did with an extremely well placed bow-shot that dropped the buck immediately.

 

Reposting what I said in post 10.

 

I've been recently set straight that it's done for the meat and to control the deer population, and here all along I thought that the primary motivator was for the sport of it, and the thrill of the kill. Glad I now have a firmer grasp on what it's really all about.

 

Sarcasm? You decide.

People have all kinds of affinities, I don't understand a lot of them. To each his own.

 

Humanity is culture mostly raised with an adversity towards killing and mostly because it's probably fairly natural to feel so, yet we pick and choose that certain things are fair game, and some are not, and that can be quite different from culture to culture.

 

Which is it?

 

Either it is or it isn't, but humans too also tend to justify their actions depending on their upbringing or their cause, and write their own actions off as acceptable, while often seeming to be inconsistent with what message they're sending all the while unconscious that they are doing so.

 

This topic is about death and not simply variances of likes or dislikes. Anyway you slice it up, it's death. How do we justify some and condemn others? That I find inconsistent.

 

If I said that I like to kill dogs (I don't) and placed a video here showing myself killing a bunch and celebrating it, and objecting to anyone who says that I shouldn't behave this way, do you think anyone might object? I'm guessing they might, and by their own standards, why actually would they?

 

Why's it so different?

Wouldn't ALL people in urban environments be less likely to be drawn to hunting than rural folks? I don't think it matters who they like to sleep with.

 

Yes that is my premise as well. The first paragraph is to debunk, so to speak, a correlation between being gay and hunting although I would see that as an attribute. :lol2:

I don't expect to be understood here.

 

In this microcosm (and whether or not you'd like to believe that, it indeed is), I'm a minority in thought. This is Kentucky and that in itself is a microcosm. Why, if I'm so different would I spend my time on this particular blog? I ask myself that all the time.

 

I initially signed up because I've always dug high school basketball from the time I was a kid and I liked the information provided here to keep me informed.

 

I never expected to ever be involved with other discussions, and little by little found myself looking at other forums, especially in the off season, just to pass the time and discovered that lots of times I'm made aware of current events by doing so.

 

Then I found myself contributing to other topics, some where no opinions are necessary, and some where that's what it's mostly about.

 

Are there people in the world that understand my points of view? Most definitely. Do I expect to find much of that here? Definitely not.

 

That either says a lot about me, or a lot about many of you.

 

Being here places me virtually right back in the thick of a "certain society" where my thoughts are not popular. I've faced that my whole life, so I'm used to it. Having the opportunity to speak my mind to this "certain society" hasn't often been awarded to me. Now that I have a chance to, I'm not missing that chance whether or not anyone understands me or not.

 

I've been wanting to speak my mind my whole life to those who don't get it, and who knows perhaps in some ways my vision will be heard, understood or not.

Humanity is culture mostly raised with an adversity towards killing and mostly because it's probably fairly natural to feel so, yet we pick and choose that certain things are fair game, and some are not, and that can be quite different from culture to culture.

 

Disagree. Humanity has been eating meat since it's beginnings. Meat comes from killing animals.

 

How do we justify some and condemn others? That I find inconsistent.

 

If I said that I like to kill dogs (I don't) and placed a video here showing myself killing a bunch and celebrating it, and objecting to anyone who says that I shouldn't behave this way, do you think anyone might object? I'm guessing they might, and by their own standards, why actually would they?

 

Why's it so different?

 

This brings in the subject of domestication and "pets". It's hard to kill and eat an animal that you keep for pleasure, and that is understandable. However, that is a matter of cultural norms. Some people keep rabbits as pets and couldn't kill them in a million years, others raise them as livestock and kill them for meat. Some people worship cows, others eat butchered cows daily. Vegans won't eat dairy, whereas some people in developing countries desperately need it for its nutrition. Maybe you can call that "inconsistent", but humans are inconsistent by their nature. We're not all the same height, weight, color, or shape. Aren't those inconsistencies? We don't all speak the same language. Isn't that an inconsistency? We don't all like the same music. Isn't that an inconsistency?

 

If you don't want to hunt, that's fine. If you don't even like the idea of hunting, that's also fine. It's all a matter of personal preference. Whether or not you understand that preference is irrelevant. Whether or not you choose to accept that you just don't understand someone's preference is on your own shoulders.

 

Reposting what I said in post 10.

 

I've been recently set straight that it's done for the meat and to control the deer population, and here all along I thought that the primary motivator was for the sport of it, and the thrill of the kill. Glad I now have a firmer grasp on what it's really all about.

 

Sarcasm? You decide.

 

Are you a vegetarian?

Disagree. Humanity has been eating meat since it's beginnings. Meat comes from killing animals.

 

 

 

This brings in the subject of domestication and "pets". It's hard to kill and eat an animal that you keep for pleasure, and that is understandable. However, that is a matter of cultural norms. Some people keep rabbits as pets and couldn't kill them in a million years, others raise them as livestock and kill them for meat. Some people worship cows, others eat butchered cows daily. Vegans won't eat dairy, whereas some people in developing countries desperately need it for its nutrition. Maybe you can call that "inconsistent", but humans are inconsistent by their nature. We're not all the same height, weight, color, or shape. Aren't those inconsistencies? We don't all speak the same language. Isn't that an inconsistency? We don't all like the same music. Isn't that an inconsistency?

 

If you don't want to hunt, that's fine. If you don't even like the idea of hunting, that's also fine. It's all a matter of personal preference. Whether or not you understand that preference is irrelevant. Whether or not you choose to accept that you just don't understand someone's preference is on your own shoulders.

 

Although it's not completely known for sure if humans are in fact omnivores, we do know that we are at least herbivores, and definitely not completely carnivores.

 

Our bodies would suggest that we are closer to being herbivores than we are carnivores when compared to other animals. Monkeys and gorillas, our closet animals in nature, are herbivores.

 

There are obvious differences between humans and typical carnivores. Outside of just our physical makeup, our internal organs, our mouths, head and teeth, one is that carnivores rely only on their own bodies and its abilities to hunt for other flesh.

 

We as humans are not suited and quick like typical carnivores to hunt on our own abilities alone, or have the same type claws so we rely on invented unnatural instruments to aid in making our kill.

 

True carnivores eat raw flesh while we cook it to make it consumable and digestible.

 

It has been suggested that we by nature are herbivores but some humans, if developing in locations void of enough necessary herbs to eat, expanded their diet by need to consume and developed rituals to hunt for food by killing other available animals, and through evolution developed bodies that can somewhat handle it, yet it's known that some of our health issues are related to the consumption of meat suggesting that our bodies are not completely evolved and fine tuned enough for meat to be our primary source of food.

 

Fire is essential for us to prepare our meats for consumption and isn't in its nature natural although it's how we learned to develop in our food processes through outward knowledge other than innately. Fire aided the process, but we are not born with knowledge of fire, or how to produce it.

 

So with not being completely convinced that we are truly carnivorous by nature, I'm not convinced either for certain that we by nature are natural born killers. I believe that we were herbivores that evolved into being omnivores, but still actually have issues with meat consumption to a degree.

 

I had mentioned in another post that I personally was adverse to eating meat as a child although I caved and gave into my parents promptings.

 

The most primary factor that changed this for me was Ronald McDonald, Big Boy, Burger Chef & Jeff.

 

Although adults eat at fast food restaurants, companies understanding the effect of commercials and human conditioning, understood that if you paired fun things with their product it would attract children to want it, while knowing that it would be the parents wallet that comes out to pay for it.

 

Get the child early and you have a lifetime customer. I bought into it, and the first time I even wanted to eat meat was to experience of all the "fun" that was waiting for me at McDonalds if I did.

 

Through that experience I developed my taste for it. If not for those commercials of my childhood I can't say for certain if I would have ever submitted to eating meat, but teasing and social pressure too as I aged would undoubtedly have played a factor as well so not to be teased by my piers.

 

I'm not against eating meat and if done so carefully within my diet it can be done healthfully. There's a huge market for the selling of meat, and I'm guessing that in all the factories processing it, it's not about any thrill related to killing. It's just an industry processing meat for sale for consumption.

 

What I fail to understand is the thrill of the Sport of Hunting and the thrill of the kill. When reading through the comments on the youtube video I was perplexed how I so differently view things than all 28 of the commentors of the video.

 

That's what made me wonder what all the factors might be related to those inclined to think of hunting as wonderful and those who feel it against their nature and if there was anything in the idea that most (not all) heterosexual men have any innate leanings, and most (not all) gay men have natural leanings to not be attracted to it. I realize that many other factors, nature/nurture, that can play a role, and that I couldn't possibly lay a blanket statement over it.

 

In reference to the dogs I was using them to find out what the cutoff is for hunters who don't mind killing animals and why any animal in their minds are off limits. I'm well aware that animals are slaughtered daily for consumption. There's a difference about killing for survival and killing for the thrill. My interest and confusion in this topic is why some are inclined to be attracted to the thrill of the kill.

 

I did an experiment without telling any of them how I felt, where I had a few of my gay friends watch the video and read the comments to see their reaction. They all shook their heads in disbelief of the video as well as all the comments. Unanimously, their initial gut reaction was that it was awful and they couldn't believe that people thought that way, and they themselves could never kill a deer or anything for that matter, and that just watching the video disturbed them.

 

Deer are not animals that hunt us, and they are not carnivores. They are passive, but will protect their family if threatened, but typically will scurry most of the time. They're an easy target for us as they are not a threat.

 

If hunters really want to add some excitement to the sport how about hunting lions? Would the risk perhaps make you think twice? Well... wouldn't it make you look tough to the brotherhood if you did anyhow, or is it just understood that it's really not a smart move to hunt something that will also hunt you, and that is stronger and quicker than you?

 

Since that's the case, lets all hunt a harmless passive animal that is not interested in harming us. That would be much safer and our chances of making a kill without being killed first is much higher.

 

Here's another thought. This is for the Christian bunch among us who are also deer hunters. From your Bible knowledge, I was just wondering if Jesus was so inclined to aim and shoot a deer or any other animal, and get a big rush of excitement out of it? You might have a better understanding of that than I do.

Edited October 29, 201411 yr by B-Ball-fan

Are you a vegetarian?

 

These are exerts from two other posts of mine answering your question, and before I post them again, I'll say that my confusion is not that people eat meat, it's that there are those who are inclined to get a thrill from killing, which I'm perplexed by and have trouble understanding as it's not in my nature to do it, but I obviously have to take it as a given fact that for some it is.

 

 

I'm not a vegetarian, although as a small child my parents did have trouble getting me to eat meat because at a very young age my initial gut reaction was that it was gross and disturbing to me to eat it.

 

Being fine tuned by my parents that once I did, I was truly going to step up and finally understand that it was what I should eat.

 

Not having in my young mind very much option to decide differently, I bought into the idea that that's what I needed to do.

 

I continued on taking my chances with it and developed a taste for it that was not naturally apart of my makeup, but learned to tolerate it even to the point of liking some of it a lot.

 

Still today, I'll have meat, but sometimes I'll still at times plan a meal that has no meat in it whatsoever, because at times I just flat out don't feel it to be what will do the trick for my hunger.

 

...and the other exert:

 

I had mentioned in another post that I personally was adverse to eating meat as a child although I caved and gave into my parents promptings.

 

The most primary factor that changed this for me was Ronald McDonald, Big Boy, Burger Chef & Jeff.

 

Although adults eat at fast food restaurants, companies understanding the effect of commercials and human conditioning, understood that if you paired fun things with their product it would attract children to want it, while knowing that it would be the parents wallet that comes out to pay for it.

 

Get the child early and you have a lifetime customer. I bought into it, and the first time I even wanted to eat meat was to experience of all the "fun" that was waiting for me at McDonalds if I did.

 

Through that experience I developed my taste for it. If not for those commercials of my childhood I can't say for certain if I would have ever submitted to eating meat, but teasing and social pressure too as I aged would undoubtedly have played a factor as well to not to be teased by my piers.

These are exerts from two other posts of mine answering your question, and before I post them again, I'll say that my confusion is not that people eat meat, it's that there are those who are inclined to get a thrill from killing, which I'm perplexed by and have trouble understanding as it's not in my nature to do it, but I obviously have to take it as a given fact that for some it is.

 

 

I'm not a vegetarian, although as a small child my parents did have trouble getting me to eat meat because at a very young age my initial gut reaction was that it was gross and disturbing to me to eat it.

 

Being fine tuned by my parents that once I did, I was truly going to step up and finally understand that it was what I should eat.

 

Not having in my young mind very much option to decide differently, I bought into the idea that that's what I needed to do.

 

I continued on taking my chances with it and developed a taste for it that was not naturally apart of my makeup, but learned to tolerate it even to the point of liking some of it a lot.

 

Still today, I'll have meat, but sometimes I'll still at times plan a meal that has no meat in it whatsoever, because at times I just flat out don't feel it to be what will do the trick for my hunger.

 

...and the other exert:

 

I had mentioned in another post that I personally was adverse to eating meat as a child although I caved and gave into my parents promptings.

 

The most primary factor that changed this for me was Ronald McDonald, Big Boy, Burger Chef & Jeff.

 

Although adults eat at fast food restaurants, companies understanding the effect of commercials and human conditioning, understood that if you paired fun things with their product it would attract children to want it, while knowing that it would be the parents wallet that comes out to pay for it.

 

Get the child early and you have a lifetime customer. I bought into it, and the first time I even wanted to eat meat was to experience of all the "fun" that was waiting for me at McDonalds if I did.

 

Through that experience I developed my taste for it. If not for those commercials of my childhood I can't say for certain if I would have ever submitted to eating meat, but teasing and social pressure too as I aged would undoubtedly have played a factor as well to not to be teased by my piers.

 

A simple yes or no would have sufficed...I think if I read that correctly then you are not a vegetarian. So while you make sarcastic remarks about people killing animals to eat, you'd just rather have someone else kill the meat that you eat for you.

 

But do I understand you when you say that external factors made you eat meat?

 

FWIW I don't hunt...I do fish for sport but throw back what I catch, most of the time. The reason I don't hunt isn't because I think it's wrong, it's just not my thing. Even though I would shoot everyday if I could afford to.

A simple yes or no would have sufficed...I think if I read that correctly then you are not a vegetarian. So while you make sarcastic remarks about people killing animals to eat, you'd just rather have someone else kill the meat that you eat for you.

 

But do I understand you when you say that external factors made you eat meat?

 

FWIW I don't hunt...I do fish for sport but throw back what I catch, most of the time. The reason I don't hunt isn't because I think it's wrong, it's just not my thing. Even though I would shoot everyday if I could afford to.

 

I realized when you asked the question that it was loaded for the response you couldn't wait to give, but your response does not apply here.

 

I prefaced my response to you that:

 

"before I post them again, I'll say that my confusion is not that people eat meat, it's that there are those who are inclined to get a "thrill from killing", which I'm perplexed by and have trouble understanding as it's not in my nature to do it, but I obviously have to take it as a given fact that for some it is."

 

I'm guessing that for most who work in meat processing facilities that they're not jumping up and down all day every time they slaughter a cow or pig or whatnot. It's just their job.

 

It's true, if I had to kill for my meat for every meal, I'd likely just end up a vegetarian.

How is it that everyone keeps missing that my point of topic is not about eating meat, but the tradition of having a thrill with killing stuff?

How is it that everyone keeps missing that my point of topic is not about eating meat, but the tradition of having a thrill with killing stuff?

 

Do you think the thrill is just "Blood Lust" or just possibly the thrill is of the accomplishment. Hunting and taking game of just about any kind is challenging, some more than others.

 

I don't know one hunter that doesn't either take the meat themselves or give it to someone that can use it.

 

I would agree 100% if Hunters were just shooting deer and leaving them in the field...but that just doesn't happen.

How is it that everyone keeps missing that my point of topic is not about eating meat, but the tradition of having a thrill with killing stuff?

 

Maybe because that's the first time you've said it in less than 500 words :lol2:

Maybe it feeds something primal in our nature. For the majority of hunters I know, I can tell you without any reservation that it has nothing to do with accolades or "fame" among other hunters.