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The Benefits of Hunting as a Sport

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The Benefits of Hunting as a Sport
A father and son hunt together. Family bonding time is one of the many benefits of hunting as a sport. Photo: USFWS Midwest/Flickr

Have you ever thought of taking up hunting as a sport or as a hobby but were doubtful if eventually it will be worth the time, effort and money spent on the myriad of gears? Well, this article will convince you to do so, by listing some of the great benefits you will reap.

Keeps physical health in check: Skip the gym and hit the jungle or hunting grounds instead. The effort you will use trailing and hunting down animals is as good as any cardio workout. This increases your heart rate and improves blood circulation, leading to overall better health. Hunting gear can be heavy, especially rifles, and lifting it consistently will sculpt those bicep muscles. Not to mention, every time you score a game, the thrill of it sends a surge of adrenaline which stimulates glycolysis to produce more glucose.

Bonding time with family: Rather than spending time watching television, why not bring the whole family on a hunt? It is a great way to bond as it involves a lot of trust, communication and team work. Plus, you will get to celebrate together when the hunting trip is successful and even prepare dinner together from the obtained prey. There is no better feeling than that, surely. The young ones will be able to learn a lot about the outdoors and pick up on skills that will serve greatly them later on. If hunting happens to be a tradition in your family, be sure to keep the tradition going as those will serve as great memories to look back upon.

Develop skills: Hunting certainly enables you to pick up skills which leads to better personal growth. Some of those skills include discipline, patience, better time management and an increase in alertness. You’ll find that you are no longer sluggish or all over the place but instead, full of energy and put together. Moreover, hunting also enables you to develop survival skills which is very important as you will be dealing with wild animals. It helps in keeping your wits sharp and being able to spot signs of danger. Safety has to be a number one priority.

Balance the ecosystem: Lastly, by taking up hunting as a sport, you will be doing your part in helping balance out the ecosystem. In most cases, deer breed very fast and can increase rapidly in numbers in a short period of time leading to overpopulation. This causes an imbalance in food chains and food webs because these deer consume most of the primary producers. This induces competition among many other species and those who are weaker and smaller ultimately die. Hence, by killing a few hundred deer every year, it helps balance the ecosystem.

Hope you enjoyed reading this article and good luck hunting!

By John Lewis

John Lewis is an avid outdoorsmen with a passion for hunting. He blogs about his experience and shares tips online at http://epicwilderness.com/. 

11 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t like at how people hunt deer for hobbies or to satisfy their satisfaction. It may imbalance the ecosystem but there’s still many things to do to balance it. It’s just sad that deer keeps on dying because of that reasons :((((

  2. Hey John, thanks for putting together a great article. You highlighted some of the main advantages of hunting. I especially agree with your “balance the ecosystem” point. It’s true hunting gets a bad press always, but if it’s done just right (within legal bounds), I think it goes a long way as a sport.

  3. My husband and I are thinking about learning how to hunt and I didn’t realize there are so many benefits! You make a great point that it provides a lot of physical exercise and cardio. Also, the fact that it can help our family bond together is great because it will be a great activity to do with our children as well in the future.

  4. My 8 years old son also loves outdoor archery, he always gets ready to go to try something new with compound bows and arrows. I would really appreciate the author of this post for sharing his experience with us.

  5. My favorite part about this article is how you pointed out that hunting trips can provide good bonding time with your family. I’ve been looking at establishing some traditions that my two sons would look forward too every year, and a hunting trip seems like it could actually be a great idea. The patience and discipline that hunting can teach them would also be great since those traits will benefit them in other aspects of their life too.

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