Why do You Hunt?

One Person’s Trophy Hunting…

Why do we hunt big game animals? When someone asks you this, do you immediately flash to how great the meat is? Is the answer any different when someone “accuses” you of (gasp) trophy hunting? So why do you, I, or anyone hunt? We could certainly buy grass-fed organic animals on the hoof from the local farm. In some cases, this would be a cheaper alternative to wild game.

I know why I started hunting and why I continue to hunt. I absolutely love the challenge of outsmarting other hunters, finding an outsmarting the game, and pursuing unique animals. Sometimes this would be searching for an animal with the largest antlers or horns. Other times it would be enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime hunt of a rare or different species. While my family eats game-based protein as a bulk of our food, it is not fundamentally why I hunt.

That First Buck

How about the very first buck you ever harvested, or the one that you helped someone else to take? Maybe it was a tiny two-point (western count) or a small pronghorn. Perhaps it was a wild pig. Do you remember how amazing it was to be on that first hunt and to know that you took that animal home for the dinner table? I remember it very well, and I’ve recently had that spirit reborn in me by taking children and first-time hunters into the field.

I’m not a guide and I’ve never received a nickel for helping a friend or family member make a big-game hunt. With that out of the way, I absolutely relish helping my friends and family experience hunting for the first time or chase after a trophy animal. Very few things give satisfaction or connect me so squarely with my primal inner caveman. Our family helped a friend shoot his first buck this year and he made a perfect one-shot harvest. It was a very small deer, but the accomplishment was real and the whole hunt was captured in one word, from beginning to end…success.

Trophy Hunting

I am one hundred percent unapologetic about seeking to find and harvest an animal with massive headgear. You can rest assured, I will put that animal on the table, but the hunt for such a bruiser is such a deep part of the challenge. I have zero problem with tearing up my big game tag at the end of the season if I chose not to take one of the animals I’ve been on. Success is not about the kill, rather it is about the hunt and, if it comes to an end, making it a humane end.

Trophy hunting plays a large role in conservation. Please do not tell me that people lust for desert bighorn sheep meat so much that they are willing to pay upwards of $1,000 per pound for it! The fact that so many people are so keen to hunt and take one of these rugged creatures is exactly why they thrive. Hunters spend enormous amounts of money on entry fees, guide services, gear, and other taxed goods that support habitat management. If those animals were not pursued at that level, there simply would be a tiny fraction of the money available for habitat improvements.

King (or Queen) of the Hill?

So, if pursuing an animal that is very large by trophy standards or unique is on the menu, why do you do it? Do you do it so that you can have bragging rights? I’m going to admit right here and now, that there is a part of me (small, I like to think) that relishes out-competing other hunters; however, down deep that is a fool’s errand. I’ve learned that just being in the presence of outstanding specimens of any big game species is really enough for me. I won’t pass on the shot once I’ve earned it, but there are so many times when just being in the presence of greatness was enough.

I see nothing wrong with celebrating your, a friend’s, or a family member’s success, but if you get caught up in that to the point that it hurts your feelings when you’re not top dog, it may be time for some introspection. Really, should hunting be a competition? Let me rephrase that: Are you paying appropriate respect to hunting and the big game animal you seek and harvest if you are disappointed when someone kills one bigger or your animal doesn’t “make book”? Does that make your exceptional hunt and success any less exceptional? Trust me, I know the feeling, but it doesn’t make me proud.

Outfoxing Other Hunters

What does give me immense satisfaction is locating animals that others ignore or drive by. This is part of hunting as well, and if you embrace it, it can be incredibly rewarding. It is rewarding precisely because of the puzzle that it is; this takes massive amounts of homework and research. In essence, you can spend many more hours in the off-season, dreaming, plotting, and scheming your approach. This makes hunting season seem a helluva lot more like Christmas to me!

Would you consider your first archery harvest of a desert mule deer to be an accomplishment? What about consistently finding mature deer or elk in areas that are largely untracked by other hunters? This, to me, is the largest thrill in hunting, and I often experience it when I’m hunting something as un-trophy-like as cow elk. So, in that respect, your cow, spike, or raghorn elk can become a monumental “trophy” because of the effort you put in and the success YOU orchestrated! See? Now we are trophy hunting!

Why Hunt – Meat on the Table

I’ve already stated that putting meat on the table was not the primary driver behind my hunting aspirations. While that is completely true, I now put a very high value on wild game on the table, so much so that I always put in for and look forward to hunting cow elk. Wild game has the same Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio that is so lauded in wild salmon as being heart healthy. Without any doubt, wild, non-corn fed wild game is a world class trophy for the dinner table!

Back to antlers and horns. Every big game animal that we’ve harvested, we’ve eaten, and that is paying homage to and honoring those animals. Yes, at times, we’ve collected beautiful one-of-a-kind trophies that adorn our home, but they provided food for us also. Those trophies remind me of why we hunt, and they remind me of the amazing times we have together with friends and family. Meat has become a major focus of our hunting, but horns also remain a top-two attribute we are seeking. My wife did not harvest her once-in-a-lifetime desert bighorn for the meat, rather it was a week shared with my father and one of my longest friends, memories we can never replace.

Your Turn to Introduce Hunting

If you have not introduced another person to big game hunting, this is your moment to enrich not only their lives, but yours as well. Is there a niece, nephew, grandson, or child who would benefit from your mentoring as a hunter? What about a coworker or friend? Once I was asked by a friend why I hunted and he felt it was a rather barbaric activity. The first year, I tried to explain, but the second year I told him I’d take him hunting and that if he’d go sit in class with a bunch of 12 year-olds to get his hunter’s safety card, he could be the hunter. He was surprised by that response and took me up on my offer. He hasn’t yet harvested, but now he wants to continue hunting, which is a great success story to my way of thinking.

The time is right for you to take this on. Hunter’s safety classes typically run in the first quarter of each new year, so take up the challenge and seek out a person who could benefit from your experience. Once we see that the true trophy in hunting isn’t the inches or the score, but rather the wide-eyed joy of the hunt in the magnificent outdoors, we can all be successful “trophy hunters.”

Why Hunt – Redux

Yep, I get that trophy hunting is maligned. I just hope that people can be swayed to realize that hunting isn’t about some creepy blood-lust. Hunting is a pursuit and an exploration which takes intelligence, determination, wits, an ability to learn from mistakes, but more than anything should embody the reverence for nature. Sometimes we take the shot, while other times we do not. It is the whole process that envelopes us.

Hunters are the original and most prolific conservationists. We contribute to habitat, wildlife programs, and opportunities for others to experience the outdoors like nobody else. We must not hang our heads when someone accuses us of being “trophy hunters” or other less savory epithets. Be honest about why you hunt. It may be mostly for meat, or it may be mostly for horns, but as long as your ethics are impeccable and you honor the practice and the animals we pursue, you will be able to keep your head up quite easily.