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So, Why Do You Hunt?

Just last night, after returning home from my outdoor TV gig at Omaha’s WOWT Channel 6, and unloading my vehicle filled with various pieces of waterfowl hunting gear/TV props (goose decoys, layout blinds, camouflage clothing, etc.), a new neighbor and I got to talking. After exchanging pleasantries and ‘small talk,’  she asked me the question: “So, why do you hunt?” I explained to her that hunting is who I am, it is part of my fabric and I conveyed to her my deep, eternal affection of and the connections I have with Nebraska’s outdoor scene. Later that night, I got to thinking a bit more … So, why DO I hunt?

I hunt because I like tradition and having my soul hard-wired as a descendant of pioneers

I hunt because I like to have fun meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones and staying close to family members

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I hunt because I like contributing to conservation, being a wildlife manager, and being viscerally tied to the earth and the circle of life

I hunt because I like celebrating the freedom of America and to fully appreciate the North American Model of Conservation

I hunt because I like and understand habitat — the woods, the waters, the wetlands, the grasslands, the crops 

I hunt because I like the adventure

I hunt because I like to make memories that will carry me well into my senior years

I hunt because I like watching sunrises and sunsets in wild, rural places

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I hunt because I like smelling the wind

I hunt because I like the spiritual experience it offers

I hunt because I like escaping the concrete jungle and the hustle & bustle of everyday life

I hunt because I like the challenge that hunting offers with Nebraska weather and trying to draw game animals and birds close enough for a shot on their turf

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I hunt because I like viewing nature

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I hunt because I like to watch a good hunting dog work

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I hunt because I like eating healthy, lean, free-ranging wild game

I hunt because it is who I am

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If you’re a hunter, I want you to stop and think: So, why DO YOU hunt?

About greg wagner

A native of Gretna, NE, a graduate of Gretna High School and Bellevue University, Greg Wagner currently serves as the Communications and Marketing Specialist and Manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's Service Center in Omaha. On a weekly basis, Wagner can be heard on a number of radio stations, seen on local television in Omaha, and on social media channels, creatively conveying natural resource conservation messages as well as promoting outdoor activities and destinations in Nebraska. Wagner, whose career at Game and Parks began in 1979, walks, talks, lives, breathes and blogs about Nebraska’s outdoors. He grew up in rural Gretna, building forts in the woods, hunting, fishing, collecting leaves, and generally thriving on constant outdoor activity. One of the primary goals of his blog is to get people, especially young ones, to have fun and spend time outside!

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