Hunting - The Why

A friend said to me:

"So don't want to hear the details - tree hugging furr (sic) baby lover
here, BUT hope you had a brilliant time "

in response to my recent hunting trip.

And it got me thinking about why I wanted to go on a hunting trip.

I think if you had asked me a year ago if I would be willing to shoot an
animal my response would have been "no". So what has changed?

One of the biggest impacts on my thought processes over the last couple
of years has been a friend - S. He has, at many times, challenged me to
justify my attitudes and decisions and to question my motivations and
beliefs. Sometimes this has lead me to change my stance on things,
other times not.

My attitudes to hunting is one of those areas of change, mainly based on
the following questions:

1. I like to eat meat - so why am I not willing to kill it? How
can I be willing to ask someone else to do something that I am not
willing to do?

2. I like to eat grain based foods and vegetables, feral animals
destroy these crops. Why am I not willing to do something to protect
this food source?

3. If I was in a situation where food was not available from the
local supermarket do I have the skills and knowledge to source my own?

This hunting trip was therefore the culmination of this change in
attitude and an attempt to answer these questions, particularly the
last one. I don't at the moment, have all the skills and knowledge
required to be able to source food for my family and myself if needed,
but I have more.