Can I be a sportsman too?

I love how hunters and fishermen call themselves "Sportsmen". I think this is hilarious. It's like they need to be reminded that what they do is for sporting purposes and not just because they like to shoot living things. HUNTING IS NOT A SPORT. Sure, it may take a little talent not to shoot your head off, and sure it may take a little patience to sit in a tree all day... but it's still not a sport. We have too many advantages over the deer to call it a sport.

If deer could carry (and use) guns, then maybe I would consider it a sport. Or if we used our bare hands to try to catch the deer, then maybe it would be a sport.

Let's think about this. A hunter uses a rifle with buckshot in it. He/she sits and waits for a deer to walk by. He/she then shoots the dear. He/she doesn't even need to be very accurate because buckshot sprays.

Ok, time to analyze the situation. Were there any sort of points accumulated? Nope, in fact there is no scoreboard involved (even golf has a scoreboard). Did the hunter best an opponent? No, the deer doesn't count because it didn't know it was playing (every sport has a winner and loser and everyone knows they are playing). Was the hunter judged in any sort of way (10 point scale perhaps)? No, there is no judging of talent involved. Is the hunter tired from this effort? Probably not, unless he's pushing the 400 pound mark and struggles to hold a gun.

So what have we found? You don't need to be physically fit, intelligent, talented or even have that much coordination to hunt. These are characteristics that all sports have. Hunting doesn't need any of them. Therefore, it is not a sport.

Don't get me wrong, I eat meat and I am not against hunting. I even love fishing. I'm just against calling it a sport. We should just call it hunting and catagorize it in the farming industry. I am not a "sportsmen" because I fish. Maybe because I love to watch football, baseball, basketball and play all of the above because those are real sports, but not because I fish.


Side Note: I searched for "sportsmen" in Google and Ted Nugent's website came up. That should tell you something right there.