Hunting and shooting are two close form of outdoor entertainment. Both engage the use of rifle or gun and target. Hunting needs concentration with the ability of continuous tracking where shooting needs concentration with the ability of consistency.
We can say that hunting is the upgraded version of shooting with the requirement of some other abilities.
However, this is not our topic of discussion. As we know that hunting and shooting are both similar in many ways, these also offer nearly similar benefits to our health. The physical and mental benefit that we get from hunting and shooting are discussed below.
1. Learning to maintain physical balance: Shooting is a great way to learn to maintain physical balance. Different types of shooting need different types of posture along with proper balance.
Thus maintaining balance becomes easy for regular shooters. Besides, shooting improves posture. It also makes the abdominal muscles strong to take the weight off the upper body.
Besides, when you aim at something with the heavy gun or rifle, it uses the core muscles of your hand. Thus the muscles become stronger day by day. The same things also happen when you are in hunting.
When you are running after the target, your brain is continuously guiding you to follow the target without losing balance. Carrying rifle or any other gun makes the muscles of your hands stronger.
2. Physical exercise: Ammunition and weapons used in shooting and hunting are sometimes too much heavy. Even regular carrying the lightest weapon, pistol Glock sights for shooting except pistols will work as a small workout. Shooting with the rifle will do more indeed.
Hunting provides a much better workout than shooting because hunting is a combination of carrying rifles or guns with foods water and some other important things, tracking the target, and running after that.
If you calculate the weight of total package you need to carry at the time of hunting, you’ll see how much heavy that is. The combination of these activities provides a great workout.
Not only the combination but also the duration works well behind the workout. In hunting, you have to pass at least 5 to 6 hours doing these heavy and tough works. What do you think? Aren’t these enough for offering you a good physical exercise?
3. Mental relaxation: Both shooting and hunting give us mental relaxation. Inner we are a bit cruel to our enemy. Shooting relaxes that cruelty of inner us. It also gives us pleasure by bringing us out from the daily boring schedule.
Hunting is really something exciting. Following and shooting down the target is something that is really exciting. When the hunter shoots down the target after hours of running behind it, he feels good and relaxed.
Hunting also provides mental relaxation in another way. A hunter hunts animal by following it in the forest. Nature fills up the mind with peace and reduces the monotony. Besides, a hunting trip of a few days works way better for mental relaxation.
With no rush of work and no busy schedule, you will be able to enjoy the real beauty of nature.
Hunting also helps to build and maintain a special mental connection with land, trees, and rivers, in a word the whole wildlife. That provides a totally different taste for our urban taste bud. The difference helps our mind to be relaxed and take rest.
4. Boosting up the adrenalin: Both hunting and shooting are exciting, hunting is a bit more exciting, I must say. So, both hunters and shooter get the benefit of adrenalin boost. Adrenalin boost increased the energy impulse of our body and helps us to be more hardworking.
The increased level of adrenalin in blood sends the signal to the lever to break down the glycogen. Glycogen is that element which supplies glucose to our muscles. Glucose works as the fuel for our body. Thus hunting and shooting help us to be more active.
5. Nutrition: This seems to be odd to think that hunting and shooting give us nutrition. Actually, shooting doesn’t always, but hunting gives us nutrition. The meat of the animals we hunt is called game meat.
Game meat can be called lean protein. Wild animals eat a wide range of natural food. That means they consume natural nutrients that are more effective than what we give to firm raised animals.
Thus, meat from those wild animals gives us more nutrients than meat from commercially raised animals. So, when you eat the meat of your hunted animal, you are getting the reward as the form of nutrients.
The shooting also sometimes provides lean meat if you practice your target on small wild animals or birds.
6. Increased mental discipline: Hunting is not only a physical game but also a mental challenge. It includes the activity of following the target with patience. This helps a person to be mentally stable and strong.
Besides, a lot of concentration is needed in hunting to find, follow and aim at the targets. Thus the concentration level increases a lot.
Not only these, a hunter has to take decisions in critical situations by using the logical and rational thinking. This helps to improve the decision making skill of a person. Creative thinking is also a thing that is developed by hunting when the hunter takes the decision about where the target may go.
Shooting is also a game where many mental calculations are involved. For example, concentration skill and patience is a must for shooting. These help the shooter to be mentally strong and stable.
Besides, some shooting games also need critical and creative thinking, decision making where the shooter has to face a fake scenario which is created by following real scenario.
Like all other games, hunting and shooting are two games that offer some benefits to our mental and physical health. But hunting is involved with killing animals.
This is a negative side of this. If you look at the benefits, these two are the really good game with many health benefits. Hunting also sometimes helps to maintain ecological balance.
