Why do you hunt? Honest Research here...

[RunnerUp]

i started when i was 12, didnt bag anything bigger than the occasional hog until i was 18 or so. i hunt deer, pheasant, hogs and quail.

i hunt because of the solitude of being alone in the woods with your rifle stalking your prey. i also enjoy the nights back at camp drinking with my family and friends and cooking up something that we got that day, if we didnt get anything, well its venison sausage on white bread with a little mustard... gotta love it.

on a side note, i go for head shots on anything less than 50 yards out and head shots only on does when we have tags. if its more than 50 yards or its a trophy buck, i go for the neck or the heart.

i also go hunting because face it, we as a species have invaded their land, and if we didnt have yearly hunts to thin the heards, they would literally starve themselves to death if left to their own devices. atleast my girlfriend is okay with that aspect of it.

[surf4runner]

I will not kill something just to kill it. If i am not going to eat it then i will not shoot it.

i started out shooting ~10. mostly w/a .22 and targets.
then started going out w/my dad and a few of his friends on dirtbikes, sometimes overnight.
rabbit, deer, duck, pheasant, boar/pig.

some of his friends were, uh.. 'connected', the craziest time was rabbit hunting w/a tommy gun.

learned a lot since then. and now approach it w/the above quote.

i prefer to use a bow now.
my friend has deer vertebrae w/the tip embedded in it, didnt even take a step after it was hit.

its satisfing to think that i could sustain my family.

[Henrythewound]

I'm not a hunter (not sure if you were looking for this input or not). I have relatives in TN who do, but I have never been along. I don't see anything wrong with hunting for food, but trophy hunting pisses me off.

[oly884]

I started last year, and got my first deer and a couple grouse last year as well.

I hunt for food, exercise, pest control, and the love of the outdoors. Aside from pest control, I'm with Henry on this one, trophy hunting just annoys me. As surf4runner said, it is satisfying to know that I can sustain myself and my family if need be.