Is hunting a sport?

[turkeyfeathers]

Pretty sure my hunting/fishing license says  Sportsmen

[moog5050]

43 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

 

Point is, golf takes an insane amount of practice and skill to be good. Not everyone can just become a scratch golfer with practice.

 

Biz, lots of activities require skills that I wouldn't consider sports.  When I see LeBron dunking a basketball with a stogie in his mouth, I will have to revise MY definition of a sport.  And yes, being a reformed golfer, it does take practice and skill, both of which passed me by when I no longer had 10-15 hours per week to devote to golf.  I am now a 2x/year scramble hacker with the occasional brilliant shot.  lol

[BizCT]

Biz, lots of activities require skills that I wouldn't consider sports.  When I see LeBron dunking a basketball with a stogie in his mouth, I will have to revise MY definition of a sport.  And yes, being a reformed golfer, it does take practice and skill, both of which passed me by when I no longer had 10-15 hours per week to devote to golf.  I am now a 2x/year scramble hacker with the occasional brilliant shot.  lol

The NBA is still around?


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[grampy]

Hey moog, without the stogie, while hunting, how am I to know wind direction, so the deer won't smell, said stogie?  

[BizCT]

Beer pong takes more skill than hunting.


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[moog5050]

30 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

Beer pong takes more skill than hunting.


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All depends on how you hunt Biz and perhaps you are making my point.

Edited February 27, 2017 by moog5050

[left field]

I think the original definition of "sport" and "sportsman" encompassed any activity, other than work, done outside for pleasure and enjoyment. In regards to hunting, a guy in medieval England who killed a deer for the table was not a sportsman despite the effort, skill, and satisfaction involved, whereas a royal person hunting with the attendant helpers was. Even though the stag was also going to end up on the table it was hunting for its own sake. For a few centuries, hunting was referred to as the Sport of Kings, so sportsmen, in this sense, could only be the upper or leisure class. In fact, you might be able to make an argument that sport only applied to hunting and fishing as there were no team games as we know them today.  

Times change and a new middle class develops with the time and money to pursue the upper-class sports. They become sportsmen (and women) in the true sense of the word - hunters and anglers pursuing game for the sake of the hunt. Fast forward to today where "sport" has come to mean "game" (or team game), competition, and oneupmanship and the original or pure definition is now the archaic one. 

So maybe this is less a question of action - tracking and killing an animal; and one of intent - why do you track and kill an animal? Put another way, can two hunters go out on the same track to pursue the same animal and because of a different intention, one be a sportsman and one not?

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by left field

[Padre86]

It definitely is  a sport, maybe not in the traditional sense of other activities (football, tennis, baseball).  Hunting competitions aside, the hunter isn't competing against another team or looking to get a high score from a judge.  The average hunter, IMHO, is out there to overcome challenges and find success, either as an individual or as part of a group.  Maybe if we were talking about hunters of years past, I wouldn't consider them sportsmen since their hunts were mostly for survival.   But nowadays, there are very few people who hunt because they need a source of food; just about everyone has the ability to go to a local supermarket and pick up meat.   I hunt because there is something that appeals to me about going into the woods and working to find and kill an animal.  From a personal perspective, there is nothing that necessitates hunting; it's a pastime, or sport, that I enjoy participating in.  As well it's one that brings benefit to the local environment in various ways.

Edited February 27, 2017 by Padre86

[Black Bellamy]

2 hours ago, left field said:

I think the original definition of "sport" and "sportsman" encompassed any activity, other than work, done outside for pleasure and enjoyment. In regards to hunting, a guy in medieval England who killed a deer for the table was not a sportsman despite the effort, skill, and satisfaction involved, whereas a royal person hunting with the attendant helpers was. Even though the stag was also going to end up on the table it was hunting for its own sake. For a few centuries, hunting was referred to as the Sport of Kings, so sportsmen, in this sense, could only be the upper or leisure class. In fact, you might be able to make an argument that sport only applied to hunting and fishing as there were no team games as we know them today.  

 

This is why this kind of article or debate is so annoying.  People are ignorant of the etymology of the word "sport" so they apply modern definitions to an ancient pastime.  Yeah, it doesn't have teams, there's no competition, blah blah blah.  Yeah so what?  It was called a sport a long long long time, before anyone even thought to throw some ball through a hoop or posts or whatever.

[Two Track]

I never hear that soccer, football, tennis, volleyball,... are sportsmen/sportswomen - They are called athletes because they participate in athletic activities.

Some athletes are sportsmen, not all are - not saying that those athletes are hunters/fisherman, but those that display fair play, encourage others (whether team mate or opposition) and help another that is down.  They perform that way because they respect others and have compassion for their opponents and team mates.  They have a sense of fair play  and ethics.  Those that don't and act like that do get called for unsportsmen-like conduct and suffer penalties -they are not called for un-athletic conduct.

Participating in a sport does not make you a sportsman, your conduct does.

A bad athlete lacks skills.

A bad hunter lacks skills.

An athlete that cheats gets suspended, disliked by others and fails into disgrace with the public, maybe has to pay fines or relinquish a trophy. They don't go to prison.  If caught for drugs use during season, suspended and go to re-hab.

A hunter that cheats is called a poacher - fined, loss of trophy (animal killed) and may have to turn in all their firearms, temporarily or banned for life from hunting, and/or prison time.  Caught using drugs/alcohol hunting, may face jail time.

An athlete displays poor conduct - they a viewed as a person. and their sport or team is not affected.

A hunter displays poor conduct - they make all hunter looks bad to the public.

We are held to a higher level than athletes are - we are the sportsmen.

[Two Track]

By the way, yes balls are involved firearm use for hunting.

• Black powder pumpkin balls
• bird-shot (ever open up a shell?)
• buckshot

Probably could make an argument about a rifled slug or sabot - being a modified ball.

Hey you throw a discuss which is basically a squished weighted ball and that is a sport, so why not a rifled slug or sabot at an animal.

Hunting not a sport because death is involved:

• Mayan's losing team decapitated or hearts cut out
• Roman gladiators fight to death was a sport
• Roman lions, tigers, or bears vs captives was a sport

Wasn't part of Columba's soccer team killed because of World Cup loss a few years ago.

Well there is another item you can cross off why hunting is not a sport - death/taking a life involved.

[Merlot]

Years ago, I thought hunting and fishing and golf were referred to as hobbies.

[Two Track]

Tying fishing flies or collecting them is a hobby.

Building models, model railroading, photography, collecting (antlers, stamps, coins, comics, memorabilia) tinkering with old cars, re-enactment particapation... are hobbies.

Never heard of fishing as a hobby - but as a sport, recreation, or occupation yes.

 

Edited February 27, 2017 by Two Track

[The_Real_TCIII]

I agree about hunting but have to disagree on the golf side. Just because you can smoke while playing doesn't mean it doesn't take a lot of skill. I can drink beers during men's baseball, basketball, or softball leagues. Point is, golf takes an insane amount of practice and skill to be good. Not everyone can just become a scratch golfer with practice. Whereas with shooting a gun It's pretty easy to become proficient shooting a rifle. So then it's just a matter of having access to the right property.

In hunting a 12 year old girl with zero athleticism can kill record book trophies- more than a grown man. In other "sports" she stands no chance.


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Completely agree. Professional golfer are light years ahead of amateur golfers, so much more so than any other sport. Even a scratch golfer on his local track is not even close to being able to compete on even a smaller tour, never mind the PGA tour


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[vizslas]

has anyone said outdoors man..I think its more like that ..   if you hunt for food,then your a hunter. Check that definition.. Just because you go on a hike to find a deer to shoot, and you have practiced your shot , wearing your camo uniform, lets not forget your sportsman number on the center of your hunting coat...and  Now up for the humans, joe sportsman, and he is going to kill a whitetail. ??????? Are you still a sportsman if you hit it with your car and take it home and eat it.????

[stubby68]

A sport is a game. Football,baseball,basketball,hocky,golf all games. One team or individual try to score more points then the other in a game. When hunting one individual is trying to kill another but that is one sided the animal is not trying to kill you. Hunting is not nor should not be considered a game therefore it is not a sport. It is an outdoor avtivity. Are hunters called sportsmen? Yes. I dislike being called a sportsmen I am not playing a game I am a hunter. Games are not meant to end with a loss of life hunting is.

[Five Seasons]

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 10:59 AM, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

 

I agree about hunting but have to disagree on the golf side. Just because you can smoke while playing doesn't mean it doesn't take a lot of skill. I can drink beers during men's baseball, basketball, or softball leagues. Point is, golf takes an insane amount of practice and skill to be good. Not everyone can just become a scratch golfer with practice. Whereas with shooting a gun It's pretty easy to become proficient shooting a rifle. So then it's just a matter of having access to the right property.

In hunting a 12 year old girl with zero athleticism can kill record book trophies- more than a grown man. In other "sports" she stands no chance.


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if you're drinking during softball and golf that's fine. I don't see how you drink and play any decent basketball. if you're drinking on the sidelines, that's no different than drinking on the sidelines of any sport.

[Five Seasons]

19 hours ago, Merlot said:

Years ago, I thought hunting and fishing and golf were referred to as hobbies.

I don't think that's untrue either. I am pretty serious with hunting, but not so much with fishing or golf. I still consider all 3 hobbies of mine. I don't compete against others, I'm not sponsored by UA and feel obligated to kill a big buck to keep my sponsor. I don't film a show or compete in golf or fishing tournaments for money. All those things are options and if someone does engage in them, they are certainly past the "hobby" stage.

But for many, I think hobby or pastime is a fine definition for what we do. For example, during icebreakers or get to knows at work I almost always including hunting and fishing in the activates of things I do outside of work for fun.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Belo
asdf

[BizCT]

The more I think of it, Some hunts do require serious athleticism such as Mt Goat, Sheep, Chasing Cats behind dogs, etc. in these types of hunts you may get lucky and it's a short walk, but it could also be 10-20 miles everyday for 10 straight days. I know a lot of guys train very hard before a mt goat hunt in the mtns of BC


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[Curmudgeon]

So, if hunting is a sport, when did it happen?

I, or should I say we, were preceded by 1000 generations of hunters. None of my ancestors considered it a sport.

[Rattler]

As soon as it became a past time, and not a survival tool, it became a sport.

[avg. joe]

To me it has always been more than a sport. Spending time alone or with friends and family, almost more a religion than a sport. It isn't always about how big or how many. Some of the best times I've had hunting I came home empty handed but fulfilled. Some want it to be a sport by keeping score per se, by counting sucess in numbers of birds harvested or inches of antler. Call it whatever you like, I call it an inner peace!

[nyslowhand]

Call it what you like and participate how you want!!! Been a lot of different threads on the forum about "Why you hunt" and a lot of diverse reasons. So I don't expect this time trying to put a label on it being any different.

To me it doesn't involve a lot of athletic ability, other than trekking or dragging! I view hunting as more a game of strategy, like chess. Call hunting a sport, obviously there is a clear winner &/or loser as there is in any sort of competition. There are no silver or bronze medals nor does your winning/losing record have much influence on rematches. Putting 2 different opponents in the woods with completely different skill sets is hardly worthy of calling it a sporting event. Okay, obviously there is a form of entertainment involved in hunting, but nothing like other forms of sports mentioned. For me & why I hunt has little to do with a "sporting" activity. At least in my mind.

[Doc]

1 hour ago, nyslowhand said:

Call it what you like and participate how you want!!! Been a lot of different threads on the forum about "Why you hunt" and a lot of diverse reasons. So I don't expect this time trying to put a label on it being any different.

To me it doesn't involve a lot of athletic ability, other than trekking or dragging! I view hunting as more a game of strategy, like chess. Call hunting a sport, obviously there is a clear winner &/or loser as there is in any sort of competition. There are no silver or bronze medals nor does your winning/losing record have much influence on rematches. Putting 2 different opponents in the woods with completely different skill sets is hardly worthy of calling it a sporting event. Okay, obviously there is a form of entertainment involved in hunting, but nothing like other forms of sports mentioned. For me & why I hunt has little to do with a "sporting" activity. At least in my mind.

First of all, we are not trying to put a label on hunting. The idea of calling it a sport has been around a lot longer than any of us. We are not coming up with something new. Further as far as showing the infinite ways that it really does involve competition and strategy and winners and losers, and all the other aspects of sports, there really can not be any argument that it fits any definition of a sport. The fact that it may have additional features, emotions, or whatever does not preclude it from being a sport. All sports have their unique qualities and variations and challenges and independent features and differences, and hunting is no different.

[First-light]

So if hunting is a sport do I get a T.V. timeout to go take a shit and when am I going to see the instant replay on my shot to see if was hit or not. lol