what motivates you to hunt or fish?

How about a topic that is likely to be more pleasant that some recent topics?What experiences really motivate or inspire you to hunt or fish?In my case,I have been fortunate to be able to take some new hunters on their first hunts.Two of my most exciting moments while hunting were calling out a bull elk in front of a first time elk hunter and calling out a bull moose in front of a first time moose hunter.In both cases,the range was 40 yards to 60 yards and it felt great to see the look on both hunters faces as the animals walked out and stood in front of them.As for fishing,I was fortunate to be able to share a salmon fishing trip with my father.After landing a 47lb salmon myself,I saw a rod tip suddenly rise and knew that it was a fish.I picked up the rod,set the hook and handed the rod to my father.One hour and ten minutes later I had the pleasure of netting the 59 pound salmon for my father.It is experiences like these that continue to motivate me to hunt and fish.How about you?

i really dont know why i spend money on tackle, on traveling, licences etc etc to go to a lake or river and release fish back after catching them. Smae as hunting, why do i waste so much money to hunt and kill game when im not starving and can turn the money i spend each year on hunting into a full freezer of beef. No idea. cant even explain why im so happy to drop an animal like a elk only to pack it out on foot and have all the hassles like late nights getting home and other things.

Ive thought about giving up hunting and fishing many times, wondering why i continue if i cant explain a purpose. But it never happens.

[gonefishin]

It is hard to explain. For hunting; it doesn't really have much to do with the kill, that is the least motivating part. It's about being outdoors, trying to outsmart something way smarter than I is, and especially the rush I get when I hear a branch break from somewhere behind me or even just seeing the animals in their environment. For fishing; again it's being in the outdoors and the many little rushes I get each time I feel a bite on the end of my line. But always hoping to get something that's a little bigger than the last "big one" I got.

[Dunezilla]

You talk of motivation, well I was motivated by a Bull moose....to run very fast, and I motivated him too, to run as well... after me. Then I became cornered, what do I do I can't kill him I said to myself, then I was motivated to speak to the moose nicely after I was motivated first to fire a couple of rounds into the ground, but that did nothing, so I spoke to it at 15 yards away while he humbled me with his stare. A few days later near the same spot a cow moose motivated me to run as well, as she came after me..but she was more gracious and stopped at 50 yards and left me along.

Then in 438 when the re-planted trees were not yet more than a few feet(except the the tall ones they leave standing here and there) I was looking for a nice WT buck, lo what is that I hear coming out of the tall trees? Now I was on a hill side at the time, and about 2 ft of snow on the ground, and I was about 15 yards from the tall trees and it was cleared behind me except for a small bush which I hid behind. So when the game got closer to me I got down behind this small bush...then what comes out of the trees(I will pause here a moment so you can take a guess), Any thoughts on what it might be? Well if you said moose well then you were right, two -a bull and a cow...now what do I do...they are coming towards me...12 yards away..I can only go up, the snow is deep and there was no trees to hide or crawl under..to stay where I was may mean getting trampled on. So I thought well if this is curtians for me well so be it...so I was motivated to jump up and yell, well they ran parralle to the trees they came out off. I was spared again.

Oh and in WMU 936 in the islet stageing area I was motivated to do the same thing with a young bull moose...12 yards was close enough..so I jumped up and yelled again.

Yes sir these kind of hunting trips make hunting very exciting....even last year when me and these two WT bucks played raindeer games, I was hiding and they came over to try to figure out what I was, then they would hide and it was my turn to try and figure out where they went without moving out of my spot...this went on for one and a half hours. I was after doe with my bow, that is why I didn't want to move. I was stalking that day.

Yes sir these are great motivations why I like to hunt.

[SakoAlberta]

What a good question. Also, what a tough question if I was trying to explain my 'motivation' to a non hunter.

For me, the answer to this question is ever changing. However, one thing is constant and that is my love of being in 'wild places'.

I've wanted to hunt and fish as long as I can remember. This seemed odd to many as I do not come from an out-of-doors family.

I love being in the out-of-doors and the wilder the better. I enjoy a hunt where I see little game but no hunters far more than a hunt where the game and hunters are plentiful.

I do enjoy seeing game and I am a 'trophy hunter' to some degree. I will sit on the hills of the Battle River looking over hundreds of deer, enjoying just being there. Many seasons I don't shoot anything even though I have a pocketful of tags.

I also enoy the company we have in our various camps. It is great fun when everybody in camp is ethical and enjoying the hunt.

I have lots of things I enjoy, including my job as a professional and my family, however, hunting/fishing is more than a pastime or hobby, its a way of life. Of course, I never get out as much I as I would like but it is never far from my thoughts.

[Blackwolf]

Why do I hunt and fish......

Its all them women out there in in the woods wearing camo bikini's,

I really don't know, why do I breathe, or eat. Its something I am. Just came back from taking my 13 year old son fishing down the way. Noah tells me he had fun and is planning the next time we go. Maybe thats why I hunt and fish.

[ladyhunter]

Originally Posted by Dunezilla

Yes sir these kind of hunting trips make hunting very exciting....even last year when me and these two WT bucks played raindeer games, I was hiding and they came over to try to figure out what I was, then they would hide and it was my turn to try and figure out where they went without moving out of my spot...this went on for one and a half hours. I was after doe with my bow, that is why I didn't want to move. I was stalking that day.

Yes sir these are great motivations why I like to hunt.

:

thanks for sharing your reasons for your desire to hunt Bro. I enjoyed and envisioning your story.

[WCTHEMI]

Spending time with friends and family, just getting out in the bush for a few hours or days. The feeling I get when I hook a big Walleye or a deer walks out in front of me. Nothing like it.

Most of the reasons already stated..family,friends, outdoors, nature.




But I gotta be honest....a BIG reason I do it is for the








MEAT

Cuzz I can.... I pay the fee... I get to eat what I hunt ....simple. Hunting is a way of life, not the kill, but the time spent afield with young or old. Its being taught what to do, what to learn, what to expect. It is a thing you gain... and also pass on to others . Some do..... some dont.....I do.. Cuzz I can.

[Dick284]

Deep one for sure Stubble.
I think many things motivate me to hunt. I love to eat wild game #1
I also like the time of year, no alergies, and little to no bugs.
I like the time spent with family and friends.
I also like the time I spend by myself.
There is also a funny sort of buzz one gets when you see a flock of Canada's committ into the decoys.
Or the Buzz you get when it all comes together and the big ol whitey you saw in August makes an appearence right where you thought he would.
Complex and deep that's all I can use to explain it.

[catnthehat]

I always figured it was just part off my breeding, never gave it much thought.
However, wondered MANY times why the &^##!! I spend countless dollars on gear, travel, and entry fees ( let alone practice and training) to go to shoots !
I don't even enter a lot of money shoots, never had, except for trap and skeet when I was younger.
The fact that my father , brothers, grandfather, uncles , great uncles,competed maybe has something to do with it.
But, they also hunted LOTS, and i never gave that a second thought!
Cat

[killerbren]

Hunting has given me an enormous respect for the land. It allows me to wake up and appreciate nature at its finest. It has allowed me to see spectacular things, countless (perfect) sunrises and sunsets, and alot of other things I wouldnt of seen If i wasnt out there hunting.

It makes you reach down and pick up the garbage other people have left behind.

Also, ted nugent pointed out another thing. Alot of people just go to the store to buy a steak, and then go a rip on hunters. (To be honest, I think its a million times more humane to kill somthing in the wild then to send it to a slaughterhouse, but that opinion is for another day.) Alot of people who just buy the meat from a store take the animals for granted. They dont think about what that animal goes through to feed them. Hunting has taught me to respect the animal that lost its life in order for me, a meateater, to live.

[brownbomber]

i guess the biggest one is just being out there for me. just walking around in the back of beyond smelling everything, looking at tracks, finding cool things, calling just to see what comes in, taking a pass on a animal because it just doesn't feel right yet, actually getting the drop on something and seeing it go about it's business not knowing i'm watching it, talking to people about our different experiences, helping others, so many different things and i'm thankful everyday that we have this oppurtunity and i had someone to showw me the way.

[gooseman]

i have always been a grandpas boy so thats how i grew up and following him around the farm to rodeos and to town so when i came of age to hunt he was as excited as i was to get me out in the field with him. however i never realy thought of what motivated me to hunt untill last fall realy because for years before that i just wanted to get out there and come home with something but i realized that hunting has giver me more respect not just for nature but for everyone around me. i have learned that hunting does not always have a happy ending but its the memorys you get like i remember one of my first seasons waiting in a goose pit for what seemed like ages then off in the distance i heared a faint honk and my heart raced a little more and the grandpa said tack em and it was just the pair of us and i got the only bird from the flock i remember getting a pat on the back and a good job (i even felt taller) i was proud of myself i wish that some of my buddies could interact with their grandpas so in short my grandpa motivated me to hunt but theres just something about getting out there and having the cool wind in my hair and seing some of albertas riches in the form of animals or even the small aspects like the sun sun shining off of a head of barley of a flock of geese flying into the sunset that makes me want to go back year after year.

[Huntnut]

For me it's things like watching the breath come out of a bull elk as he bugles back at you on a cool October morning.
Or watching that big whitetail materlize out of nowhere.
To me the kill is secondary-I love wild meat but I know I won't starve if I don't get one.
But know more than anything I love watching my young son's face as he sees these things for the first time.

[Walleyes]

INSTINC,,, Plain and simple...