Being part of the food chain when hunting, is so vastly different than just observing wildlife. I think I see your point Danny. If I’m on a stroll looking for sheds and maybe see a deer or turkey it is leisurely and enjoyable; but the intensity of focus, eyes, ears, nose(ever smell a rutting buck), and our reasoning mind ratcheted up to the max when you aren’t just watching nature, but actually partaking in it....that’s what I think makes hunting so powerfully attractive to us.

I simply like the taste of meat. Most every kind.

According to old indian chief quote........(a vegetarian is bad hunter)

I guess vegetable gardening is a form of killing - those poor Zucchini never had a chance

Not to mention eating all the animals food.

I'm a hired killer.

I kill for food and clothing as God intended.I also enjoy the job that God gave me as well.

Its the challenge. More than anything.
Picture of a mountain ? Pretty. Climb that mountain ? Challenging.
Beaver tail slapping video ? Neat. Catch an educated beaver with a masters degree ..... challenging.
Pic of the smartest 3 legged, 2 toed Coyote sniffin a bait hole from a distance ... cool. Pinch that pad .. challenging.
To actually hunt deer, before cams, feeders, heated huts and blinds and the like is super challenging.
To happen upon a trophy is cool, but not necessary (4 me) I don' kill just for the antlers, they're gonna fall off shortly anyway.
Hunting, trapping and fishing all started out as jobs. Hard jobs. Necessary jobs. And to survive one had to be good at them.
It was, and still is hard work, but not as necessary for survival as it used to be.
All of it does however still have to be done by someone, so I participate for the challenges, to experience nature, the outdoors and our precious traditions and heritage.
Plenty of liquor at the store, but I prefer to raise and kill my own corn Its a .... "Family Tradition".

The better trapping is the better job your doing for the animal populations that needs controlling or you quickly move on to a place that needs it then its just the way it works. I tell my trapping students this since most come from rural backgrounds.” Why do you feed cattle and chickens often by spreading out their feeds and not just make one big pile for them to eat from.” They know if the food is in a pile the fighting and stress on the animals increases greatly, crowded animals fight over about anything.

Each animal is it’s own worse enemy so in a crowded situation reducing their numbers that also reduces the problems overpopulation causes them improving the overall health oh the species.

One things for sure when you hunt kill process your food you will be way less apt to wast it than if you buy it already packages and have no clue where it came from, or worse yet, meat paid for with an un earned stimulus hand out. In times of natural disaster or man caused who will be able to find for themselves. The hunter,gatherer,trapper, and self reliant producer's of food.

Funny how the city types wanted to learn our skills all of a sudden when the TP became hard to find not to long ago. LOL

I have one who moved in a quarter mile away on 2.4acres
He's building a shack house for 2 years while lliving in a camper.. he told me here on my farm all the " things I need to do" to be prepared
Learn to store food...
Grow a big garden... etc etc.
He is or cannot on his land do any of that.

Full of advice. All the stuff we already do as normal here. Hahaha

If or when times get tough I will hunt (with 22 ammo I have stock piled) and trap for food. These days I like observing nature as I walk my land which has river and woods. No need to kill yet.

had a trail camera out all year long for years good way to study animals see how they react to new baits an off colored one or something different about an animal i have pictures of several years killing at these prices not me i will keep the trail camera up there has to be a reason for harvesting animals especially large numbers

I enjoy the sights and sounds of the outdoors very much. But I also enjoy filling the freezer, providing meat for my family.

I love the outdoors; I love wild places. The further away from civilization the better, a place where wolves and grizzly bear roam. With me it's something primal, a call of the wild thing. Killing is just part of it.

People around me say it keeps me calm.

I get what you are saying but I consider the benefit to turkey nests and other ground nesting birds a good enough reason to catch some of the ridiculous amount of coons running around here. Every man and Thier dog has a deer feeder or corn pile all winter with 15+ coons crawling all over it getting free food, then spring hits and they start eating turkey eggs, and I’m sure at least locally it has had a fairly significant impact on the population. So I catch coons with my young kids, teaching them the ropes and an appreciation for the outdoors and we sell them for ridiculously low prices but my 8 and 6 year olds don’t mind, to them it’s great money lol

I hunt to eat,,, trap for money (ie)fur prices, bounty, etc. or barter for something to eat or somewhere to hunt to eat.
Killing for fun makes no sense to me imo.

An outlet for all that aggression.