Aside from the boring science behind why I hunt, I've found that hunting is a very emotional activity for me. I don't really have many traditional roots to go off of. Most hunters I know got into hunting because their parents were hunters, while neither my parents or my grandparents (except for my paternal grandpa) were hunters. My grandpa Bob lost his ability to hunt a couple decades before I came along, due to a brain aneurysm he had in his 40s, and he rarely, if ever, told me his hunting stories. I only knew he hunted because of old pictures of him and the family posing with his kills. So I can't necessarily claim family tradition as a reason why I hunt. 

My grandpa and one of my uncles posing with a Canada goose my grandpa hunted on the farm, sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

However, my ancestors, as well as the ancestors of everyone else on the planet, were hunters. They had to be. It was either kill or be killed, eat or starve to death. It's also human instinct to hunt. Of course, people will argue that just because we did it in the past, doesn't mean it's ok to hunt now. But, hunting is different than any other past activity that we deem morally wrong today.

Scientifically, it's still needed to conserve and manage wildlife. As I mentioned before, without hunting, most animals on, or nearly on the endangered species list would go extinct, and pretty soon, very common species will end up going extinct as well. Biologically speaking, we are closer to wolves than we are to sheep. Our digestive systems are designed to get nutrition from both meat and plants. We have front-facing eyes that spot objects rather than movement. And, just because we use tools to hunt does not mean we aren't natural predators. Many other predatory animals, like crows and chimpanzees, also use tools to hunt. Not every predator uses only teeth and claws to hunt. 

Emotionally, I think it's vital to human survival to trigger our ancient instincts every once in awhile, at least. Most of us, especially those of us who live in the western world, live in excess. Our lives are extremely easy compared to what our ancestors went through, which, while it has been tremendously helpful for human expansion, and has allowed us to invent things that were still considered science fiction no more than 20 years ago, has also been proven to have a detrimental effect on human health, both mentally and physically. Most people I know aren't as physically active as they should be. Even I am guilty of this. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and so many other detrimental terminal diseases have increased due to a number of reasons, but most notably from obesity. Depression and anxiety are also much more prevalent these days, likely due to so many people leading stale lives. 

It's scientifically proven that exercise and time spent in the outdoors have significant health benefits. Those who spend more time outside and moving around tend to have a lot less health issues than those who spend hours of every day, every week of every year, sitting in front of a screen under a ceiling of fluorescent lights. Unfortunately, as time progresses, it seems as though less and less people are enjoying the wilderness, and have pent themselves up in office cubicles doing the exact same thing everyday. So, predictably, cases of terminal disease and mental health issues will likely continue to rise. Humans just aren't meant to live indoors. If we want to be the best version of ourselves, we have to cater to our human instincts to be outside and pursue a goal and/or a purpose in life. 

Even though I recognize that most people can't see themselves as hunters, I do encourage people to get outside, even if it's just walking a few laps around a block or a stroll through a city park. However, I tend to my human need to be outside through hunting and fishing. I hate doing things without a purpose. To me, just to do it for exercise is not an adequate reason to get me on my feet. I need much bigger risks and rewards to get me on my feet.Hunting and fishing give me a real reason to get out there. They also motivate me to stay physically fit and healthy during the off-season, so when opening day comes around again, I'll be ready to go do it. 

So, even though I think walking, hiking, and running for no reason is the most boring thing to ever do on the face of the earth besides watch paint dry, I'll do it to keep my body lean and fit in preparation for when hunting season arrives. Oftentimes, I'll walk through State Parks and hiking trails with a backpack full of fishing supplies. If and when I come across a body of water that possibly has fish in it, I can cater to my instinct to get my own food, and hopefully return home with a few fish fillets for the freezer. If I don't have the opportunity to do that, I'll take my dog for a walk. He's very fluffy, overweight, and has short legs, so he tires out a lot quicker than me. Usually, he'll make it about halfway around the park before stopping and refusing to continue, which forces me to lift his 35-pound body off the ground and carry him the rest of the way home. 35 pounds doesn't sound like a lot, but trust me, after a half-mile of carrying that in your arms, you'll be begging to put it down. Once my dog is safely home, I'll go back out and complete my two-mile walk alone. 

My job also requires me to have a certain level of physical fitness. I found out that I can't do CRM (data-entry) work for longer than 2o minutes without getting twitchy. I have to move around. So, I traded my CRM job for a job in the basement, sorting, filing, and running papers all around the office. When I'm not on my feet sorting papers by date and/or name, or putting said files into various filing cabinets around the basement, I'm quite literally sprinting up and down staircases, delivering paychecks and documents to my equally fast-paced coworkers. Real Estate, even for me, is a very fast-paced job, so I always have to be ready to dash up three flights of stairs in less than a minute to deliver something important to someone important, before their meeting starts or they're called out to a property way outside of town. 

Still, I find myself unimpressed and even discouraged by my frail looks. I certainly don't look like I exercise as much as I do. I don't have any fat on my body, which might have something to do with it. But, at the same time, I do struggle to stay as nourished as much as I ought to be, which I'm sure contributes to my skinny profile too. People sometimes don't believe me when I tell them what I do for work, and what I do when I'm hunting. They need to see pictures. And, even when I do show them pictures of me hauling my kills to the butchering station after a hunt, or show them that I can in fact lift a 70 pound box of papers from one shelf to another across the file room at work, people still judge me for looking like a skeleton. I've gotten used to the criticism, but I still get annoyed by someone telling me I ought to eat more so I'll have more meat on my bones, like I don't eat 6,000 calories everyday already. 

Hunting has at least proven to me, as well as to my doubters, that I can carry my own weight, literally and figuratively. I'm not nearly as weak or helpless as I look on the outside. This has been a huge confidence booster for me, since hunting has shown me that I'm a lot physically and mentally stronger than I used to think. However, hunting has only been able to do that because it will forever push me well beyond where I think I can go.