by John Davis

Created on: December 01, 2008

The "hunting as sport" issue boils down to a matter of semantics. If we define "sport" as competition between two teams attempting to achieve one certain goal, then no, hunting is not a sport by that definition. However, when we look at the broader definition of the word, dating back to its origins, we realize and recognize that "sport" has long been used as a synonym for the act of hunting itself.

As an example, Georgia-based magazine "Gray's Sporting Journal" is devoted entirely to the activities of international hunting, fishing, and outdoors enthusiasm. What's more, nowhere in the journal are team sports even mentioned. To those in the animal harvesting community, sport is the act of pursuit more than killing. There would be no sport, for instance, in walking into a petting zoo and executing as many animals as possible within firing range. Such an act would be barbarism at its most blatant.

However, if one were to wander about in the wilderness, seeking and searching appropriate quarry (deer, turkey, hogs, etc.), there exists the chance that no such animal is going to be found. Herein lies the sport of hunting. The act of outwitting nature itself and its related instincts is what provides the sporting element to any hunting expedition. What's more, the hunter is inclined to use various resources, including scents, camouflage, baits, and other techniques in order to capture his intended target. Such preparation requires experience, dedication, determination, and persistence; all elements of sport.

No matter how an individual stands on the topics of animal rights, the ultimate question of hunting's sporting nature has an undeniable answer: Due to its essential activities, equipment, and thought processes, hunting must be labeled as sport, no matter which dictionary definition you may choose to utilize. The two sides in hunting are man and nature, much like a good short story. The goal for both is not only survival, but out-thinking one's opponent. Indeed, hunting fulfills are the prerequisite requirements of qualifying as a sport.

If Olympic committees worldwide can call activities like "walking" sports, then hunting goes further, and is more than sport - it is high-impact adventure at its finest. One only needs to try hunting in order to reach such an understanding. Time spent in the woods is never wasted, no matter what the conditions, and the act of hunting while there enhances the solitude and peace. Hunting is the most basic of human instincts - our forbears utilized it for survival, our fathers utilized it for provision, and we as a people today may utilize it for economy as well as pleasure. Try hunting, and one trip will convince the reader that "sport" is an inadequate word for such a fulfilling experience.

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