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Author - Tracie Abram
Database Name/Website Link - https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/health_benefits_of_hunting
Author's Purpose - The Authors Purpose of this article is to tell you the health benefits to hunting.

Summary (2 sentences)
Hunting helps with natural antidepressant, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, reduces stress, and sunshine increases vitamin D intake. Also the exercise that hunting has meets the recommended exercise for the average adult.

Quote - "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that each week, adults should engage in 150 minutes of “moderate-intensity aerobic activity,” such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of “vigorous-intensity aerobic activity” like running. This recommendation can easily be achieved through the sport of hunting."
Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences)
This quote supports my stance because being able to get your exercise can help your health with being able to keep moving and being active. With hunting being a sport it can help being with your health because theirs a goal involved when your doing it and it can motivate you to do better and keep working harder.

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Hunting involves physical movement, mental preparedness, and provides nutritional benefits.

Photo: FreeImages/Jamie Woods.

Hunting is a sport that provides numerous health benefits. Whether you hunt using firearms, bows and arrows or traps, you are physically moving more intensely than normal. Hunters walk long distances in uneven terrain to scout the woods looking for the game of their choice.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that each week, adults should engage in 150 minutes of "moderate-intensity aerobic activity," such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of "vigorous-intensity aerobic activity" like running. This recommendation can easily be achieved through the sport of hunting.

Hunting easily fits into the category of "moderate-intensity aerobic" activity. Hunters are physically on the move for more than a day. Hunting requires preparation before and after the season ends. Physically, hunters are preparing blinds, traps, and bait or maintaining food plots before the season opens. Besides preparing equipment, hunters are physically scouting the woods, target shooting and even sometimes training dogs. Hunting requires stamina, strength and balance to maneuver through the woods and shorelines, opening traps and to stay upright and still in a tree stand. These hunting tasks require walking, bending, stretching, balancing, pulling and hauling, which are cardiovascular (aerobic), strength building and stretching activities. Some hunters even process and package their own game, which can take more than a few days to complete.

Hunters also get a mental workout, familiarizing themselves with hunting rules and guidelines that can change yearly. They need to be able to read a compass and control their breath and nerves while aiming. Many hunters have tales of missed opportunities due to nerves. Some refer to these nerves as "Buck Fever, "when their hearts race, breathing increases and their knees and bodies shake when they see that they have a shot. Being able to recognize and control these physical and mental responses is key to a successful hunt. There are mental health benefits for just being outdoors:

Natural antidepressant

Lowers blood pressure and heart rate

Reduces stress

Sunshine increases vitamin D intake

Hunting can be done alone, or with friends and family. Many hunters were taught to hunt from a family member when they were young and continue to enjoy this outdoor family-time tradition. These social benefits are what enticed many to go hunting initially and what makes them continue to participate. Some enjoy the challenges that temperature, inclement weather and terrains can add to their hunting adventure. There are many hunting related social groups individuals and families join such as archery or shooting clubs, hunting clubs, veteran support clubs and even clubs that fight hunger.

Once the hunting season ends, consider attending a Michigan State University Extension mindfulness series such as RELAX or Stress Less with Mindfulness. These programs provide stress management information and techniques to calm the mind and body, similar to what you may experience during hunting. MSU Extension also has a variety of food preservation programming that can teach you how to preserve the nutritious lean game meat you've hunted.

Did you find this article useful?

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Hunting involves physical movement, mental preparedness, and provides nutritional benefits. Hunting is a sport that provides numerous health benefits. Whether you hunt using firearms, bows and arrows or traps, you are physically moving more intensely than normal. Hunters walk long distances in uneven terrain to scout the woods looking for the game of their choice.

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Author - Coastal Breeze News Staff

Database Name/Website Link - https://www.coastalbreezenews.com/sports/health-benefits-of-fishing/article_858ded6d-60df-56a8-8d05-598a461c37ed.html#:~:text=Among%20these%20health%20benefits%20are,per%20hour%3B%20Improves%20your%20balance%2C
Author's Purpose - The Authors Purpose in this article is to tell us how fishing can be used to help increases full and upper body strength.

Summary (2 sentences) - It's something you can do with your family and have fun with your family on vacation. Also it helps with your strength and it's relaxing.

Quote - "Among these health benefits are the following: Improvement and increase in your full body and upper body strength; Promote greater relaxation which leads to lowered stress levels; Helps to boost the immune system; Helps to improve cardiovascular health, while burning up to 200 calories per hour; Improves your balance, flexibility, and core strength; and Eating the fish you catch provides lean protein and natural Omega-3 fatty acids."

Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences)
This quote supports my stance because it tells us how fishing can improve your health by helping with strength, relaxation, and how the fish you catch you can eat and the protein that they have in their meat.

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There are so many health benefits that can be derived from fishing. So, while you are sitting at home and planning your next family vacation this summer, why not consider a week-long fishing trip in the 10,000 Islands area with your family. It is an enjoyable way to escape the hustle and bustle of life, and can also offer you and your family a multitude of health benefits that you may not have considered before.

Among these health benefits are the following: Improvement and increase in your full body and upper body strength; Promote greater relaxation which leads to lowered stress levels; Helps to boost the immune system; Helps to improve cardiovascular health, while burning up to 200 calories per hour; Improves your balance, flexibility, and core strength; and Eating the fish you catch provides lean protein and natural Omega-3 fatty acids.

Among all those health benefits, you will also experience great family bonding time and can learn the art of patience and self-reliance. Sometimes getting away is just what the doctor

ordered. What better way to relax and enjoy nature and the great outdoors then by trying your hand at fishing?

Fishing is also a great way to teach your kids the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle, and it will get them away from the distraction and mind-numbing video games, computers, and cell phones that all kids seem to be attached to these days.

You can also find other mental health benefits associated with fishing. Fishing can help boost your self-confidence, teach problem solving skills, promote clear thinking, and even further enhance social interaction.

There are many fishing spots in the 10,000 Islands area that will be the perfect place for a weekend, and you are sure to catch something that is photo worthy. There are so many different spots and locations to choose from and several different species of fish that you can have the opportunity to catch during the warm summer months.

There are so many rivers, flats, and island areas you can choose from and you can most likely witness and catch

fish from over a dozen species in just a single trip. You can even charter a boat for your next vacation and experience even more that the islands have to offer. There is no shortage of fun or fish when you choose to take advantage of the mental and physical benefits that you can see from a fishing trip this summer with your family.

Contact Capt. Pete Rapps by email at CaptainRapps@Outlook.com or by phone 239-571-1756. Captain Rapps' Charters & Guides offers year round expert guided, light tackle, near shore, and backwater fishing trips in the 10,000 Islands of the Everglades National Park, and springtime tarpon-only charters in the Florida Keys. Capt. Rapps' top-notch fleet accommodates men, women and children of all ages, experienced or not. Between our vast knowledge and experience of the area, and easygoing demeanors, you are guaranteed to have a great day. Book your charter 24/7 using the online booking calendar, and see Capt. Rapps' first class website for booking info, videos, recipes, seasonings, and more at www.CaptainRapps.com.

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There are so many health benefits that can be derived from fishing. So, while you are sitting at home and planning your next family vacation this summer, why not consider a week-long fishing trip in the 10,000 Islands area with your family.

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Author - NPS Illustration
Database Name/Website Link - "https://www.nps.gov/articles/naturesbenefits.htm"
Author's Purpose - To tell us how national parks can help us with our health.

Summary (2 sentences) - This article tells us how going to national parks can help us with being smarter, stronger, healthier, and happier. All the physical activity that you have going to the national parks and walking around and climbing.

Quote - "A 30-minute visit to a park can improve heart health, circulation and lower cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure. Walking in nature reduces inflammation and boosts your immune system, which decreases the risk of certain diseases and cancers. Interacting with a green space increases social interactions which can prevent diseases like dementia."

Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences) - This quote supports my stance because it tells us how going to a national park can help with you health and how you can increases social interactions.

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Nature Makes You... (U.S. National Park Service)

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Author - Tracie Abram
Database Name/Website Link - https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/health_benefits_of_hunting
Author's Purpose - The authors purpose of this article is to tell us how hunting can get your heart racing in excitement and how you have to learn life skills.

Summary (2 sentences) - The author tells us the hunting a animal be one of the most adrenaline pumping thing that you could ever do. It also tells us how hunting makes you think and remember the rule and how the follow a compass.

Quote - "Hunters also get a mental workout, familiarizing themselves with hunting rules and guidelines that can change yearly. They need to be able to read a compass and control their breath and nerves while aiming. Many hunters have tales of missed opportunities due to nerves. Some refer to these nerves as "Buck Fever, "when their hearts race, breathing increases and their knees and bodies shake when they see that they have a shot. Being able to recognize and control these physical and mental responses is key to a successful hunt."

Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences) - This quote is relevant to my stance because it can get you in the outdoors and it can get your adrenaline pumping and that's that best feeling to have.

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Hunting involves physical movement, mental preparedness, and provides nutritional benefits.

Photo: FreeImages/Jamie Woods.

Hunting is a sport that provides numerous health benefits. Whether you hunt using firearms, bows and arrows or traps, you are physically moving more intensely than normal. Hunters walk long distances in uneven terrain to scout the woods looking for the game of their choice.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that each week, adults should engage in 150 minutes of "moderate-intensity aerobic activity," such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes of "vigorous-intensity aerobic activity" like running. This recommendation can easily be achieved through the sport of hunting.

Hunting easily fits into the category of "moderate-intensity aerobic" activity. Hunters are physically on the move for more than a day. Hunting requires preparation before and after the season ends. Physically, hunters are preparing blinds, traps, and bait or maintaining food plots before the season opens. Besides preparing equipment, hunters are physically scouting the woods, target shooting and even sometimes training dogs. Hunting requires stamina, strength and balance to maneuver through the woods and shorelines, opening traps and to stay upright and still in a tree stand. These hunting tasks require walking, bending, stretching, balancing, pulling and hauling, which are cardiovascular (aerobic), strength building and stretching activities. Some hunters even process and package their own game, which can take more than a few days to complete.

Hunters also get a mental workout, familiarizing themselves with hunting rules and guidelines that can change yearly. They need to be able to read a compass and control their breath and nerves while aiming. Many hunters have tales of missed opportunities due to nerves. Some refer to these nerves as "Buck Fever, "when their hearts race, breathing increases and their knees and bodies shake when they see that they have a shot. Being able to recognize and control these physical and mental responses is key to a successful hunt. There are mental health benefits for just being outdoors:

Natural antidepressant

Lowers blood pressure and heart rate

Reduces stress

Sunshine increases vitamin D intake

Hunting can be done alone, or with friends and family. Many hunters were taught to hunt from a family member when they were young and continue to enjoy this outdoor family-time tradition. These social benefits are what enticed many to go hunting initially and what makes them continue to participate. Some enjoy the challenges that temperature, inclement weather and terrains can add to their hunting adventure. There are many hunting related social groups individuals and families join such as archery or shooting clubs, hunting clubs, veteran support clubs and even clubs that fight hunger.

Once the hunting season ends, consider attending a Michigan State University Extension mindfulness series such as RELAX or Stress Less with Mindfulness. These programs provide stress management information and techniques to calm the mind and body, similar to what you may experience during hunting. MSU Extension also has a variety of food preservation programming that can teach you how to preserve the nutritious lean game meat you've hunted.

Did you find this article useful?

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Hunting involves physical movement, mental preparedness, and provides nutritional benefits. Hunting is a sport that provides numerous health benefits. Whether you hunt using firearms, bows and arrows or traps, you are physically moving more intensely than normal. Hunters walk long distances in uneven terrain to scout the woods looking for the game of their choice.

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Author - NPS Illustration
Database Name/Website Link - https://www.nps.gov/articles/naturesbenefits.htm
Author's Purpose - To tell us about how national parks help us with our health.

Summary (2 sentences) - Being in the outdoors can benefit your strength in your body from walking and adventuring everywhere. National parks can help with your social skills by speaking with people you meet at the parks.

Quote - "Exercising in nature leads to greater health benefits than performing the same activity indoors. Individuals are more likely to repeat being physically active when the exercise is performed in a natural environment. Communities that are closer to nature are more likely to have stronger ties with their community members."

Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences) - This quote is relevant to my stance because you can get more friends at the parks and the your getting stronger and being out in nature.

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Nature Makes You... (U.S. National Park Service)

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Author - Coastal Breeze News Staff

Database Name/Website Link - https://www.coastalbreezenews.com/sports/health-benefits-of-fishing/article_858ded6d-60df-56a8-8d05-598a461c37ed.html#:~:text=Among%20these%20health%20benefits%20are,per%20hour%3B%20Improves%20your%20balance%2C
Author's Purpose - The Authors Purpose in this article is to tell us how fishing can help us with our mental health also.

Summary (2 sentences) - It tells us that fishing can help with mental health and helps with problem solving. Also it helps with your strength and it's relaxing.

Quote - "You can also find other mental health benefits associated with fishing. Fishing can help boost your self-confidence, teach problem solving skills, promote clear thinking, and even further enhance social interaction."

Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences)
This quote supports my stance because it tells us how fishing can improve your mental health and it helps with problem solving.

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Author - James Swan
Database Name/Website Link - https://www.espn.com/outdoors/general/columns/story?columnist=swan_james&page=g_col_swan_mental-health
Author's Purpose - The Authors Purpose of this article is to tell you the health stress of hunting.

Summary (2 sentences)  - This tells us that hunting can become mental unstable from hunting because of all the stress. Also tells us that hunters from these conditions turn into dug addicts and drinking a lot.

Quote - "Earle D. Hightower, chairman of the 27-member Institute for Public Safety a group concerned with issues such as traffic and air pollution in Rockville, Md. recently sent out 600 cards to property owners in Garrett County stating that 40 percent of hunters are drug addicts, drunks or mentally unstable."
Why quote is relevant to your stance (1-2 sentences) - This quote is a counter claim to my stance because it talks about how hunters have mental health issues and their health of their body goes down because of drinking and drugs.

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The Washington Times reports that Earle D. Hightower, chairman of the 27-member Institute for Public Safety — a group concerned with issues such as traffic and air pollution in Rockville, Md. — recently sent out 600 cards to property owners in Garrett County stating that 40 percent of hunters are drug addicts, drunks or mentally unstable.

Mr. Hightower, 82, who says he is a former hunter and World War II veteran, was quoted as saying, "My personal opinion is that anybody who goes out and shoots helpless animals has a psychiatric problem."

These are the days of fact-checking. As a psychologist, I'd like to report back on my fact-checking.

Because I am an adjunct faculty member at a professional graduate school of psychology, I was able to conduct a search of the ProQuest Psychology search engine that indexes more than 400 journals in the fields of anthropology, psychology and psychiatry.

It found 258 articles that use the word "hunting." I checked them all. None report on any studies of hunting and mental illness.

I've spoken with the Research Department of the American Psychological Association. They agree that they are not aware of any studies to support Mr. Hightower's claim that hunters are prone to mental illness. In fact, the opposite seems true.

Many of the best-respected behavioral scientists of our times, including Sigmund Freud, William James, Carl Jung, Erich Fromm, Marie-Louise von Franz and Karl Menninger, have written that hunting is a natural, healthy part of human nature.

Hunting is a very basic instinct programmed into the master computer of our species for survival purposes that has been elevated by ethics to become a "sport," which enables us to express our basic biological identity, "The Id," guided social ethics, religious teachings and laws.

Erich Fromm, one of the most widely-respected behavioral scientists of the 20th century, summed up these opinions in his widely-acclaimed study of the causes and prevention of violence, "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness":
In the act of hunting, a man becomes, however briefly, part of nature again. He returns to the natural state, becomes one with the animal, and is freed from the burden of his existential split: to be part of nature and to transcend it by virtue of his consciousness. In stalking the animal he and the animal become equals, even though man eventually shows his superiority by use of his weapons.
Fromm goes on to point out that the motivation of the modern ethical sport hunter is pleasure fused with compassion. He also states that this contrasts sharply with the motivation of the sadist, who might torture and kill pets or other small animals, which is revenge.

In short, hunting and pet torture, are as unalike as sexual intercourse in a loving relationship and rape.

"Predatory aggression," as Fromm calls hunting, is a positive form of aggression, like sport and play, the expression of which is good for mind, body and spirit.

Melvin Konner in his award-winning book "The Tangled Wing," based on a seven-year study of the biological origins of human behavior supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Emory University professor of psychiatry and anthropology states, "... There is little or no evidence, physiological or behavioral, to suggest that predatory aggression has much in common with intraspecies aggression."

This may help explain why hunters are among the most ardent conservationists. Non-hunting environmentalist groups often survive on crises, real or fabricated, which fuel fund-raising. Hunting groups put their money into habitat, resulting often in more results, not more hot air.

When University of Nebraska-Omaha criminologist Chris Eskridge compared hunting license sales with violent crime rates on a county-by-county basis throughout the United States, he found a significant inverse correlation: As hunting license sales go up, violent crime goes down.

Eskridge concluded that hunting serves as an outlet for stress and tension that otherwise could contribute to violent behavior.

Eskridge's research is consistent with other research that finds that owners of sporting firearms tend to learn shooting skills from parents and family, have fewer accidents, have lower rates of violence and use their firearms for sport shooting more often than protective owners.

Indeed, research suggests that, contrary to what some anti-gun and anti-hunting activists claim, when people enjoy more sport shooting it may contribute to more peace, social stability and conservation action in a community.

Award-winning Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck has probably reviewed more studies on the psychological makeup of weapons users than anyone else has.

His research finds that, "gun owners are not, as a group, psychologically abnormal, nor are they more racist, sexist, or pro-violent than non-owners are."

A study of high
school students in Rochester, New York, by Lizotte and and Sheppard, found
that kids who owned and used legal guns (which means with parental
supervision), had lower rates of crime, drug use and delinquency than kids
who had no guns, or those who had acquired them illegally.

A number of studies find that as many as 65 percent to 75 percent of hunters are motivated to hunt each year because of psychological connections with nature that are unique to hunting. Hunting, they feel, helps relieve stress, which improves mental health.

There is a popular misconception that many hunters drink to excess and engage in reckless behavior. A recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey found that 82 percent of those surveyed believed that "a lot" of hunters broke hunting laws or practiced unsafe behavior, such as drinking to excess and firing guns recklessly.

The research that I have seen finds that less than 3 percent of all citations by game wardens involve intoxication and drug use, but that is beside the point.

The false negative image of hunters as reckless slobs is created by media bias that reports only on poachers and accidents, coupled with rumors purposefully spread by animal rights activists who openly admit they lie to stigmatize hunters.

Mr. Hightower is correct that a percentage of the population does suffer from mental illness. According to a recent study conducted by Robert Kessler of the Harvard Medical School, 26.4 percent of the US population suffers from anxiety disorders and depression. This is the highest rate in 14 countries that Kessler studied.

Generally speaking, anxiety disorders are most prevalent in crowded urban areas, where coincidentally hunting license sales are lower.

In contrast to Mr. Hightower, health professionals Eaton, Shostak and Konner (a psychiatrist), write in their outstanding health and fitness book, "The Paleolithic Prescription," that devaluing hunting traditions can weaken healthy social standards and even contribute to juvenile delinquency, which is a form of mental disease. They write:
Our ' hunting instinct' has gone awry in 'civilized' society, where the thrill of the chase and the kill are no longer part of our experience and there are no clear avenues of expression except, perhaps to our peril, in the streets and subways of today's urban jungles.
Apparently Mr. Hightower has admitted that he cannot substantiate his 40 percent statistic. He also might want to reconsider his claims about hunting safety.

Thanks to Hunter Education classes, which are now required in all 50 states, it is now statistically safer to be in the woods during hunting season than to drive to the woods. And, according to the National Safety Council, hunting is far safer than baseball, tennis, golf and even ping-pong.

Writing in Time magazine's Nov. 30, 1998, edition in a special feature story on school shootings and after extensive interviews with school psychologists and forensic experts, Lance Morrow concludes that "teachers and counselors report that kids who are taught to hunt responsibly are generally more mature and better-mannered — and saner — adolescents in the wilds of modern American culture."

Mr. Hightower is entitled to his opinions, but clearly they are not rooted in science. If he's looking for nut cases in the woods, he might be better off studying squirrels.
James Swan — who has appeared in more than a dozen feature films, including "Murder in the First" and "Star Trek: First Contact," as well as the television series "Nash Bridges," "Midnight Caller" and "Modern Marvels" — is the author of the book "In Defense of Hunting." Click here to purchase a copy.
To learn more about Swan, visit his Web site.

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The Washington Times reports that Earle D. Hightower, chairman of the 27-member Institute for Public Safety - a group concerned with issues such as traffic and air pollution in Rockville, Md. - recently sent out 600 cards to property owners in Garrett County stating that 40 percent of hunters are drug addicts, drunks or mentally unstable.