I like to hunt; I used to love to hunt, but the older I get, the less I seem to enjoy the things I once did. Specifically, I used to be all about bowhunting. I was a highly competetive tournament archer and did not rifle hunt at all for years. These days, I don't have the time to scout and move stands around as much as needed to be successful with the bow, so I mostly just rifle hunt a few times a year to fill the freezer. We do eat all the deer that I kill. The one type of hunting I still really enjoy is squirrell hunting with a .22 rifle. In general, I think hunting (and fishing, and any outdoor activity) is very good, but it bothers me when people refer to it as "sport." I want to stick my finger down my throat when I see hunting shows and horn porn. I think "trophy hunting" and the commercialization of hunting in general is somewhat perverse. One of the newest trends in rifle hunting these days is to gear up and train like a sniper (very closely related to the "tactical" craze in knives) and attempt to kill game at uber-long range. I see people perched in condominium-like heated stands with 12 pound ''tactical" rifles, chambered in the newest ultra-long range shoulder-stomping calibers and fitted with 20x mil-dot scopes, using $5,000 Zeiss rangefinding binoculars and blasting away at anything that crosses the pipeline, and I wonder where it all ends. That's not hunting, that's target shooting at live targets. Bowhunting has gone the same direction, all about being a "gearhead;" bows look more like rayguns these days, and the emphasis seems to be (especially on some of the tv shows) on flinging arrows at long range. I've gone back to shooting and hunting with traditional recurve bows myself, even though I make compound bow parts for a living. Hunting, like everything else I see in America these days, seems to be swirling around the bottom of the bowl.
You may eventually realize some economies from hunting but it will take time owing to the startup costs, licenses, fuel, etc. I do it more because I like wild, natural meat and the experience of being outdoors than to save money.
