According to the stuff I've read, the only demographic that is growing in hunting is girls. Adult women are stable and males are declining. Lots of moms and dads are introducing their girls to hunting though.

Both of mine are on their way, getting their first taste of shooting this summer on our Adirondacks vacation. At 5 and 7 they are older than I was when I started hunting, but they are also very petite girls and aren't quite able to comfortably handle a short-stocked .410 yet.

I really don't want to pull this into P&C so please feel free to ignore my question if you think it's going too heavily there, but I do have a question for hunters.

I understand and appreciate the desire and ability to connect with nature in a meaningful way. I know that it's not as easy as just running in guns blazing, and that you really do NEED to have a connection to the world around you to do it well. I guess my question is... why pull the trigger? If you aren't going to eat or display the thing, I don't really see what it accomplishes.

Like Mars said, I'd personally rather go through all the tracking and whatnot and then get a really good picture.

Food or Pest removal, deer/rabbit/foul for food, coyotes/groundhog pest removal.

Well, yes, killing for food does make sense to me. That's why I said, "If you aren't going to eat or display the thing..." Unless you buy your ground chuck from Kroger and then don't eat it.

I do understand the pest control angle but I guess I have a hard time believing that someone can get that in tune with nature, track down their prey, get it in their sights, and then think, "better kill it or it'll eat someone's garden."

People don't need to think this though, because the limits are set by the state. The state has figured out that the deer population this year was X and that is higher/lower than last year so hunters can take out less/more than the year before.

In Washington there is no need for a license to kill crows, take out as many as you want they are deemed a nuisance. Same with coyotes, you kill as many you want (I have a friend that this is pretty much all he does). As for the 'game' type creatures there isn't a need to think "I'm keeping their population in check!" because the state has only so many licenses to give out and if you get one you get one and if you don't you don't.

I think "BOOM! HEADSHOT!"

Good times, good times.

I've never been hunting, for various reasons, but always wanted to.

I think I'm just going to chalk this up as one of the things I don't really understand and get out of the way of a group of enthusiasts discussing something they all enjoy.

Thanks for the answers though, and Reaper, I'm sure your rhubarb is extremely safe.

Last night I watched a deer hop a 7 foot fence in my backyard, after helping himself to a couple hundred dollars worth of plants. Teneman, feel free to stop by central NJ on your way to the Adirondacks.

No need to abandon the thread Lobster, the kind of discussion you're inviting is sort of what I was hoping for.

Out of curiosity, do you go fishing? I'm interested to see if your... hesitance?... to pull the trigger in a hunting situation carries over to a hesitance to pull a fish out of water.

I'd like to echo both Paleocon and Teneman in my answer to your question Lobster. I live in a suburb of Minneapolis that had (I'm not sure if it is still true) the highest population of deer in the entire state. Certain people with "connections" could get a permit to bow hunt in this densely populated city to try and curb the population explosion. with around 70k people living in 32 square miles, there are a lot of roads, and deer + roads = a reasonably dangerous situation for drivers. Add that to the the Chronic Waste Quintin mentioned and it turns into a rather large problem. Keeping animal populations in balance has been proven for quite some time to reduce massive population loss due to disease and such.

I've always been taught to eat what you kill. I really enjoy duck and goose hunting, but I really don't care to eat them. I hunt with people that love to eat them though. I know of a few families that live on mostly wild game that they hunt through out the year.

Hunting is huge here in ID, and I don't know anyone who doesn't keep their meat. Some even use it as their primary source of protein during the winter.

In MN we have Hides for Habitat. Every fall parking lots are littered with drums for people to dump their unwanted deer hides. The money goes to the enrichment of our local habitats. Wood Duck houses and things of that nature I presume. Kill a deer to help a duck- or something like that.

I want to go hunting some time. But do not have the equipment or the know how (or those pesky things known as time and money) to do it. But I do love Deer Jerky and venison.

If there is anyone looking for a hunting buddy in the Houston area look me up! I play violent video games, so I should be a natural to this hunting thing. As I understand it now you just run through the woods at topspeed and if you see a deer you open fire at the same time you dive to the ground and get up again.

Also I'm working on jumping while running so far I do not see any speed increase but I'm sure I just need to practice.