180 Hunting Quotes to Make You Want to Head Outdoors

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published November 6, 2023

The following hunting quotes do a good job of showing the passion and appreciation that hunters have for the sport and the animal.

Are you ready to head out in nature?

True hunters and outdoorsmen love getting out in nature.

They are passionate about nature and wildlife.

Tell us your favorite hunting story in the comment section below.

What are the benefits of reading these hunting quotes?

They take what they are doing seriously while looking forward to being outdoors with a chance to connect with nature.

These hunting quotes will offer perspective on what a hunter is.

Those that aren’t hunters often think it’s just about killing the animal.

However, as these quotes explain, true hunters:

have respect for the animal
enjoy connecting with nature
are helping to control the wildlife population

There are many reasons hunters enjoy and invest time and money into what they do.

Keep reading to learn more and understand the mind of a hunter better.

If you like this article, we suggest you explore our most popular quotes article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily encouragement.

Read more related content on our inspirational quotes category page.

Hunting quotes about the outdoors

1. “You know, if you need 100 rounds to kill a deer, maybe hunting isn’t your sport.” – Elayne Boosler

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2. “A duck call in the hands of the unskilled is one of the conservation’s greatest assets.” – Nash Buckingham

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3. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

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4. “A gun is like a woman, son — it’s all how you hold her.” – Rhett Atkins

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Quotes about hunting techniques

5. “You must not only aim right but draw the bow with all your might.” – Henry David Thoreau

6. “A hunt based only on trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be.” – Fred Bear

7. “If we act like prey, they’ll act like predators”― Alyxandra Harvey

8. “Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak, so we must and we will.” – Theodore Roosevelt

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9. “You not only are hunted by others, you unknowingly hunt yourself.”― Dejan Stojanovic

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10. “A lioness will use all of her strength even when hunting a rabbit.”― Kazuki Nakashima

11. “If you are not working to protect hunting, then you are working to destroy it.” – Fred Bear

12. “You can see the true heart of a man when you’re out in the woods with a weapon.” – Jase Robertson

13. “I am hunting you down with your research techniques.”― Steven Magee

14. “I don’t always tell people where I hunt, but when I do, it’s a lie.” – Dos Equis

Hunting quotes about wildlife

15. “The only reason I ever played golf in the first place was so I could afford to hunt and fish.” — Sam Snead

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16. “The history of the bow and arrow is the history of mankind.” – Fred Bear

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17. “I enjoy being with my family and hunting with my children.” – Jerry Jones

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18. “I am a country girl. Fishing, hunting, hog hunting.” – Brittney Griner

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19. “Hunting is part of a cycle of life that repeats.” – Roberto Baggio

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20. “Hunting is religion for me.” – Tom Brokaw

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21. “I will always look for what my eyes cain’t see.”― Jessica Marie Baumgartner

22. “To track prey, you must first know it as you would a brother.”― Michelle Paver

Hunting quotes about the excitement it brings

23. “Don’t get much better than fall. Bring on the camo, ammo, ducks, and bucks.” – Earl Dibbles, Jr.

24. “The perils of duck hunting are great – especially for the duck.” – Walter Cronkite

25. “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein

26. “There is a passion for hunting something deeply implanted in the human breast.” – Charles Dickens

Hunting quotes on why people love the sport

27. “Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow.” – Fred Bear

28. “The week leading into spring marks the start of the hunt.”― A.D. Aliwat

Hunting quotes about the start of the hunt

29. “I’m an outdoors girl – I like to go fishing, riding four-wheelers and hunting.” – Miranda Lambert

30. “Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for.” — Ernest Hemingway

More hunting quotes

31. “If there is a sacred moment in the ethical pursuit of game, it is the moment you release the arrow or touch off the fatal shot.” – Jim Posewitz

32. “When he was young, I told Dale Jr. that hunting and racing are a lot alike. Holding that steering wheel and holding that rifle both mean you better be responsible.” — Dale Earnhardt

33. “Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person.” – Fred Bear

34. “Fortunately, as it pertains to guns, my dad and uncle introduced me to guns the way it needs to be done: smart, slow and safe.”— Ted Nugent

35. “A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than that of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.” – Aldo Leopold

36. “I never knew a man that hunted quail that didn’t come out of it a little politer by comparison.” — Robert Ruark

37. “Vegetarians are cool. All I eat are vegetarians — except for the occasional mountain lion steak.” — Ted Nugent

38. “The hunting partnership between man and dog developed thousands of years ago and from it came a deep bond of affection. I suspect it was the dog’s idea.” – Aaron Fraser

39. “The truth is… I’m always saddened when I kill an animal. It’s not remorse I feel, I know why I’m a hunter. It’s out of respect.” – Donnie Vincent

40. “My biggest fear is that when I die, my wife will sell my hunting gear for what I said I paid for it.” – Unknown

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Hunting quotes that will make you want to get outside

41. “…hunting and fishing makes you fall in love with the natural world. This is why hunters so often give back by contributing to conservation.” – Donald Trump, Jr

42. “For people who grew up hunting, especially war veterans, shooting often settled the mind. It was something that required full concentration, and therefore took you away from your troubles, at least for a short time.” – Tara Kyle

43. “When done under the rules of good sportsmanship duck hunting is a culmination of art, skill, and scientific endeavor. It is also an act of love, for who loves the birds more than the hunter?” – Bob Hinnan

44. “Lions are neither predators nor killers. They just go for hunting like kings; because they are the kings!”― Munia Khan

45. “You might as well learn that a man who catches fish or shoots game has got to make it fit to eat before he sleeps. Otherwise it’s all a waste and a sin to take it if you can’t use it.” — Robert Ruark

46. “I’m just a southern boy who likes to go mudding in my Jeep, quail hunting, and skeet shooting.” – Will Grier

47. “I actually hated hunting the first time I went when I was a kid. My dad took us deer hunting. We sat there for 30 minutes, and I felt like I was losing my mind. But in college, I fell in love with it. Football became a full-time job, and I needed an escape. I needed something that would mellow me out.” – Carson Wentz

48. “A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.” – John James Audubon

49. “While my dad loved hunting and fishing, he didn’t romanticize them. He was filling the freezer, not intellectualizing some caveman impulse or proving his worth as a real man.” – Steve Albini

50. “I ran around with the other youngsters, hunting, fishing and raising tadpoles and all the rest.” – DeForest Kelley

The lifestyle of hunting quotes

51. “Hunting forces a person to endure, to master themselves, even to truly get to know the wild environment.” – Donald Trump, Jr.

52. “Do you know what I love about hunting? That I am no one in the woods, no one at all.” – Zlatan Ibrahimovic

53. “Hunting is alive and well, and so it should be.” – Andrea Leadsom

54. “The two biggest things that translate from the pitching mound to hunting and fishing are patience and perseverance.” – Jon Lester

55. “But I loved being outdoors. I built tree stands and ground blinds in the woods and pretended that I was hunting.” – Jim Kelly

56. “There’s an absolute surety to the hands-on conservation lifestyle of hunting, fishing and trapping where you know you’re going to consume today.” – Ted Nugent

57. “I do hunt, and I do fish, and I don’t apologize to anybody for hunting and fishing.” – Normon Schwarzkopf

58. “It’s fascinating to go somewhere where you’re away from everything. There are no houses, no buildings, no roads, no people. And for a little less extreme hunting, any place in the West – Colorado, Utah, Montana – that’s just beautiful country.” – Shawn Michaels

59. “I know he wanted me to love fishing and hunting, and I believe that he deliberately set about to make me want to do it on my own initiative.” – Jack Hemingway

60. “I am happy now, to recall that I was not only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.” – John Philip Sousa

Hunting Quotes to help you become a High-Skilled Hunter

61. “Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.” – James A. Froude

62. “’The best thing about hunting and fishing,’ the Old Man said, ‘is that you don’t have to actually do it to enjoy it. You can go to bed every night thinking about how much fun you had twenty years ago, and it all comes back clear as moonlight.’” — Robert Ruark

63. “If some animals are good at hunting and others are suitable for hunting, then the gods must clearly smile on hunting.” – Aristotle

64. “When a hunter is in a treestand with moral values and with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God.” – Fred Bear

65. “When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.” – George Bernard Shaw

66. “Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they’re in the game.” – Paul Rodriguez

67. “Now, therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison.” – King James

68. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau

69. “Don’t tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish.” – Mark Twain

70. “Deep in the guts of most men is buried the involuntary response to the hunter’s horn, a prickle of the nape hairs, an acceleration of the pulse, an atavistic memory of his fathers, who killed first with stone, and then with club, and then with spear, and then with bow, and then with gun, and finally with formulae.” – Robert Ruark

More Hunting Quotes And Sayings

71. “You let me hunt is like saying you let me breathe.” — Jase (Duck Dynasty)

72. “The No. 1 rule of duck hunting is to go where the ducks are.” — Jose Robertson

73. “Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion.” — Norman Schwarzkopf

74. “If I feel free when I hunt, then when I write about hunting I genuinely reproduce that pleasant feeling. I am almost free.” — Miguel Delibes

75. “Hunting is a relic of barbarism that once thirsted for human blood, but is now content with the blood of animals.” — Christian Nestell Bovee

76. “I am my father’s daughter. It was not up to me growing up. I was his hunting and fishing buddy, so I’ve been shooting my whole life.” — Amber Heard

77. “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and like it, never care for anything else thereafter.” — Ernest Hemingway

78. “The old man used to say that the best part of hunting and fishing was the thinking about going and the talking about it after you got back.” — Robert Ruark

79. “A Hunter’s Prayer: We pray our sight be straight and our aim be true. We pray for no pain to the game we pursue. We thank thee Lord for this land. We thank thee for the sights in our stands. We pray for safety one and all. We pray we may return next fall.” — S. Elliot

80. “The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

Hunting Quotes To Help You Prepare Well Before Hunting

81. “I’m going hunting, I’m the hunter. I’ll bring back the goods, but I don’t know when.” — Björk

82. “Without hunting there would be no conservation, without conservation, there would be no wildlife.” — Rob Keck

83. “Whether hunting is right or wrong, a spiritual experience, or an outlet for the killer instinct, one thing it is not is a sport.” — R. Lerner

84. “A hunter is a peculiar type of character much given to solitude if he is a true predator.” — David Brian Plummer

85. “Hunting is a manly exercise, and therefore a proper recreation. But it is the business of a knight-errant to rid the world of other sorts of animals than foxes.” — Henry Fielding

86. “Hunting was a crucial part of humans’ survival 100,000 years ago, but today hunting is now nothing more than a violent form of recreation.” ― Fuad Alakbarov

87. “Hunting, works for conservation like slavery works for economic growth. A guaranteed but morally awful way to achieve a goal.” ― Peter Allison

88. “Hunting animals is not a wildlife or environmental management solution. Why should anyone spend money to protect an animal that a wealthy trophy hunter can then pay to go kill?” ― Fuad Alakbarov

89. “Life is beyond hunting. And the Labor gathering. It’s all about love in the light of Life.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

90. “If everyone was cognizant of their purpose on earth, we would only need weapons for hunting and nothing else.” ― Gift Gugu Mona

Hunting Quotes To Inspire Hunters

91. “There was something delightfully intimate about the relationship between predator and prey.” ― Nenia Campbell

92. “People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.” ― Otto von Bismark

93. “I had this dream about you. We went hunting up in the mountains and I caught a unicorn. You told me now I know how it feels to be you.” ― Crystal Hudson

94. “If I were a movie maker I’d set about hunting sunsets.” ― Julio Cortázar

95. “One doesn’t need to be taught fear when one is hunted.” ― Nenia Campbell

96. “The mind can be hunted, but hunting needs the mind.” ― Waheed Ibne Musa

97. “A lion does not become king of the jungle hunting mice.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

98. “The forest talks but a good hunter only hears it by learning its language.” ― Barry Babcock

99. “I believe that every man has in his soul a passion for treasure-hunting, which will often drive a coward into prodigies of valor.” — John Buchan

100. “It’s rarely talked about, but hunting for sport is just about as vile as we humans get.” — Jonathan Safran Foer

Hunting quotes and proverbs for Instagram

101. “If the hunter comes back with mushrooms, don’t ask him how his hunt was.” – Ghanaian Proverb

102. “I’m gonna hunt my life down and grab it.”― Markus Zusak

103. “You’re the predator right up until you’re prey.”― James S.A. Corey

104. “Sometimes all you need is a big heart and burning desire.”― Bernard Jan

105. “A hunter is not afraid of thorns.” – Swahili Proverb

106. “A tiger hunts best when it’s alone, not when it’s got clumsy feet following closely behind.”― Burton Vesta

107. “A determined hunter is never frightened in the jungle.” – African Proverb

108. “A Lion that hunts for survival in the jungle does not envy the one being fed in a zoo”
― Suhaib Rumi

109. “A hunter who has only one arrow does not shoot with careless aim.” – African Proverb

110. “Hunt while you can. The weather may change tomorrow.”― Debra Doyle

Hunting Quotes To Enjoy Hunting in the Woods

111. “I don’t know anyone in the hunting or sporting arena that goes out with an assault rifle.” — Joe Manchin

112. “Shere Khan, the Big One, has shifted his hunting grounds. He will hunt among these hills for the next moon, so he has told me.” — Rudyard Kipling

113. “I don’t get into the gun stuff. Some guys have guns who go hunting. Where do we stop (the gun control) at? I’m not a hunter, but we can’t say people can’t have guns.” — Charles Barkley

114. “I’ve been told to keep my remarks relatively brief. I understand Quayle-hunting season begins at noon.” — Dan Quayle

115. “The world consisted of predators and prey. You were either hunting or running.” — Charlene Weir

116. “Fishing from a boat seems like dilettante bullshit – like hunting wild boar with a can of spray paint from the safety of a pick-up truck.” — Hunter S. Thompson

117. “Bear hunting? Come on up and we’ll fix you up, you betcha. Just be sure you bring some hunting buddies with you, preferably fat ones who can’t run as fast as you.” — Sarah Palin

118. “Hunting after happiness is like hunting after a lost sheep in the wilderness–when you find it, the chances are that it is a skeleton.” — Josh Billings

119. “I do not know why one should not hunt two hares even in the literal sense….” — Anton Chekhov

120. “I was interested in the environment from when I was a little kid. I spent most of my time hunting and fishing and kayaking.” — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Hunting Quotes To Hit Your Shot

121. “John Kerry went hunting today. He said he killed a goose. He didn’t bring Teresa along because he was a little rusty and he was afraid he might kill the goose that laid the golden egg.” ― Jay Leno

122. “I don’t oppose hunting in any way, shape or form. If that’s what you enjoy doing, you are free to do it.” ― Jesse Ventura

123. “I spend most of hunting season at the ranch. We all love to hunt whitetails, and we have a pretty good supply in South Texas. I also love to hunt elk in Arizona, mule deer in Utah, and I’ve been to Canada to hunt caribou.” ― George Strait

124. “Jingle bells, shotgun shells, time to kill a buck.” ― Earl Dibbles Jr.

125. “You see I’m against hunting, in fact I’m a hunt saboteur. I go out the night before and shoot the fox.” ― Tim Vine

126. “My dad is very successful in his business. He’s always been big in having hobbies and having little ways to get away. He always made time for hunting and fishing. He always encouraged me to do it.” ― Luke Bryan

127. “I am in no way supportive of hunting for trophies or sport – would never do it and don’t like it that others do. But if you kill it, then eat it, it’s fine.” ― Anthony Bourdain

128. “May you find good hunting, swift running, and shelter when you sleep. (Leafpool to Ashfur, page 1)” ― Erin Hunter

129. “… all reputable falconers agreed that for hunting purposes the only way you could reliably bring down prey with a wowhawk was by using it in a slingshot.” ― Terry Pratchett

130. “Everything said, you couldn’t hope for a nicer day to have a half dozen ex-soldiers with hunting bows relieve you of everything you owned.” ― Patrick Rothfuss

Hunting Quotes For Your Hunter Skills

131. “The dusky night rides down the sky, / And ushers in the morn; / The hounds all join in glorious cry, / The huntsman winds his horn: / And a-hunting we will go.” — Henry Fielding

132. “The emotions that good hunters need to cultivate are love and service more than courage. The sentiments of the hunt then become translated into art.” — James Swan

133. “To the trapper-naturalist… the howl of the wolf… inspires [a] challenge to his own skill as a hunter and trapper.” — H. McCracken and H. Van Cleve

134. “Hunting and fishing are the second and third oldest professions, yet bonefishing is the only sport that I know of, except perhaps swordfishing, that combines hunting and fishing.” — Stanley M. Babson

135. “To my mind there is a peculiar fascination in hunting the mule-deer. By the time hunting season has arrived the buck is no longer the slinking beast of the thicket, but a bold and yet wary dweller in the uplands.” — Theodore Roosevelt

136. “If you have to be crazy to hunt ducks, I do not wish to be sane.” — Robert Ruark

137. “In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite.” — Dr. Saxton Pope

138. “The successful bird hunter must be knowledgeable about many things but in the end it comes down to this: He must know his birds, his dogs, and his guns.” — Geoffrey Norman

139. “In matters like hunting and fishing and falconry, mentors are priceless. They teach you nuance, and detail, and what is really important.” — Charles Fergus

140. “It is very strange, and very melancholy, that the paucity of human pleasures should persuade us ever to call hunting one of them.” — Samuel Johnson

Hunting Quotes To Inspire Your Prowling For Prey

141. “Hunting has the potential to balance one’s entire being.” ― Jessica Marie Baumgartner

142. “When entering an ecosystem with the intent to hunt, honorable hunters pay their respects.” ― Jessica Marie Baumgartner

143.“To remain a hunter is to be too bonded to nature to ever be able to fully master the animal, or to escape its fate.” – James Martel

144. “The best hunters are not those with a natural aptitude for hunting, but those who have had to struggle long and hard to learn every trick of the trade.” ― Théun Mares

145. “If your hobby is hunting, at the end of it you get to eat what you catch, which is awesome.” — Tyler Childers

146. “For me, hunting is a natural fact rather than a choice.” — Roberto Baggio

147. “I try to think of myself as a lion, bringing down the kill, controlling the jungle. A lion controls his jungle.” — John Daly

148. “To hunt successfully, you must know your ground, your pack and your quarry.” — K.J. Parker

149. “To abhor hunting is to hate the place from which you came, which is akin to hating yourself in some distant, abstract way.” — Steven Rinella

150. “While the arts were making us spiritually viable, hunting did the heavy lifting of not only keeping us alive, but inspiring us” — Steven Rinella

Hunting Quotes That Will Make You Pause And Take Stock

151. “After you died I realized that I never really like hunting. I just like hanging out with you.” ― Joseph Gordon-Levitt

152. “I have no problem with hunting rifles and shotguns and pistols and what-not.” ― Chipper Jones

153. “I think the competition in the octagon is translatable to the competition when you’re hunting, at least for me.” ― Chad Mendes

154. “I would always go hunting with my dad, my grandpa and some of their friends. We’d hunt quail.” ― Auston Matthews

155. “I always try to scour local vintage shops and antique stores as much as I can while I’m on the road – it’s my version of hunting for buried treasure.” ― Alison Sudol

156. “I grew up hunting and fishing, as did my family. But then I served in the military.” ― Ralph Northam

157. “My dad would take me deer hunting with him, which was pretty traumatic – ‘Bambi’ was one of my favorite movies.” ― Haley Bennett

158. “Leaving aside handguns and hunting weapons, what’s the justification for possessing an AR-15-style weapon?” ― Richard Cohen

159. “As part of the ritual of becoming a man, my maternal uncle, a judge, and his four sons, each older than me, took me deer hunting.” ― Hisham Matar

160. “The biggest thing is, you don’t hit the good sliders; you just hit the mistakes. That’s what my thing has always been: Just keep hunting mistakes.” ― Aaron Judge

Hunting Quotes To Inspire Courage

161. “For sure, I won’t go hunting for a guy to love and get married to. But once I’m in love, I’ll do what it takes to make it work.” ― Andrea Jeremiah

162. “When I was a boy, it was paradise to go hunting with my father.” ― Roberto Baggio

163. “My life divides into three parts. In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting.” ― Roger Scruton

164. “I go hunting for my opponents high up the field, and I put stock in physical one-on-ones and winning individual duels.” ― Giorgio Chiellini

165. “Yeah I got all sorts of guns. I got functional guns, I got guns for looks, I got hunting rifles, and everything in between.” ― Dan Bilzerian

166. “I’m a big time hunter. I grew up my whole life hunting and providing meat for my family.” ― T.J. Dillashaw

167. “I started hunting at 5 years old.” ― Devlin Hodges

168. “My father is a retired army colonel, and my family is into hunting.” ― Kemp Muhl

169. “Certain classes of weapons that are strictly military and have no useful purpose in sport, hunting, or self-defense should not be legally sold.” ― Dick Durbin

170. “My whole career, I’ve been climbing or chasing or hunting something.” ― Finn Balor

171. “One doesn’t need to be taught fear when one is the hunted.” ― Nenia Campbell

172. “They say this soul hunting will cost me my sanity, i say i’d go insane if i stop.” ― Findinglostsouls

173. “Before hurting an animal, feel her pain and see her tears. Then question your conscience.” ― Debasish Mridha

174. “When a child goes missing, do not all the best hunters go looking in the woods, therefore a child did not go missing, it was the best hunter in the woods.” ― Moonn Tzu

175. “Life is beyond hunting. And the Labour of gathering. It’s all about love in the light of Life.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita

176. “One thing about us, since I bring our food home on a daily basis, most of it is so fresh you have to make sure it isn’t going to make a run for it.” ― Suzanne Collins

177. “Who was she? She was one who has an interest in hunting and it may be said that this heart of mine has made it its business to catch the arrows and bleed.” ― Mukta Singh-Zocchi

178. “Like hunting, fishing offers up a sacrifice and a bond to the land that increases power in those with honorable tactics.” ― Jessica Marie Baumgartner

179. “I’d never understood why hurting animals for fun was considered an early warning sign of serial killer behavior, while fishing and hunting were seen as healthy male bonding activities.” ― Jack Heath

180. All prehistoric books are secondary data to me. I need primary data, which I obtained by adventuring and hunting prehistoric traces.” ― Toba Beta