by Shawn Michaels on Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 5:24am ·
I’m sure that you have all heard people say things like: “I am going to simplify my life” or, “I am going to get back to my ‘roots!’” Well, now that I have retired from the WWE after more than twenty-five incredible years of entertaining all of you that is EXACTLY what my family and I are going to do!
Let me give you a little history. I grew up in a military family. My father is a retired Air Force Col. and he stressed the importance of discipline, hard work and self-sufficiency. Although I did not grow up hunting, I did grow up around it. After all, I did grow up a Texan! But, I was spending 250 days a year on the road jumping off of things much too high, so I simply did not have the time. However, I always wanted to get into hunting. It took a severe back injury to lead me down a path that would change my life forever, and that included. starting to hunt.
When recovering from my back surgery a friend of mine took me on a deer hunt. It was a life changing experience. I found myself alone in the midst of the splendor of God’s creation. For what seemed like the first time I listened to the wind blowing, and the birds chirping. I saw a bluer sky and greener grass. I enjoyed the challenge of becoming a better marksman and better provider for my family. Also, it was then that I realized I was actually a mortal. Everything in my life changed, forever. Jesus Christ became my personal Lord and Savior and I vowed to live the rest of my life guided by faith and to read and study the Bible to help me on that journey.
Although I thought my WWE career was over at that time and I would actually get to start hunting more, God had other plans for me. With faith, determination and the support of my wife Rebecca, “The Showstopper” had one more come back in him. I was able to not only get back into the WWE ring, but to come back and wrestle some of the best matches of my life. I had made it back !
Now, fast-forward almost a decade later and I find myself retired from the WWE ring. I have been hunting for over 12 years and now find myself hosting a show on Outdoor Channel. To be specific, I am hosting, “Shawn Michaels” MacMillan River Adventures with my friend Keith Mark. The show will air Tuesday nights at 11:30 pm EST and Saturday night at 7:00 pm EST starting June 28, 2011!
Since word of me hosting an outdoor television has reached the public I have been getting a lot of questions about hunting and why I hunt.
From a practical standpoint, here are some of my thoughts:
Venison is the healthiest, most natural organic renewable nutrition on the earth. Not to utilize it would be a shame.
The science of sustained yield demands that the surplus be harvested each natural season of harvest to balance game populations from next spring’s production on a limited habitat. In others words, even if many hunters hunt only for sport, there is a checks and balances that must be maintained to ensure both the health of the wildlife and us.
The quality of our air, soil and water, and therefore our quality of life, is determined by the health of wildlife habitat. It is hunters, fishers and trappers that monitor and pay for the management thereof. It is due to the hunting lifestyle and wildlife management financed by hunters that has created the healthiest wildlife biodiversity on earth today. Because of the hunting lifestyle, there are more deer, turkey, cougars, black bears and wild geese in North America than ever in recorded history. Without the billions and billions of dollars generated each hunting season by American hunters, the unprecedented success of wildlife management in America would cease to function. That would be criminally irresponsible.
Hunting is the most basic natural function of man, beast and nature. God created us as hunters and gave us the birds and animals to manage, hunt and eat.
In Genesis 1:28 it says, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
It continues in Genesis 1:29-30, “And God said, ‘Behold I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, and every green plant I have given for food.’”
Genesis 10:9 “He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
Genesis 27:3 “Take your weapons, your quiver and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me.”
Genesis 21:20 “And God was with the boy (Isaac) and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.”
Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill.”
Acts 10:13 “Peter was told to, ‘Rise, kill and eat.’”
Also, hunting is incredible fun and naturally challenging, I enjoy the time I spend in the wild with my family and friends and I believe that the discipline involved in the hunting and shooting sports are helping my children to grow up to be productive, responsible people and citizens.
Plus, at the Michaels’ home, we eat what we kill. In addition to that we and countless other hunters have donated thousands of pounds of meat to homeless and needy people across this nation and others. We recognize how healthy wild game is and we are proud that we do not buy our meat at the grocery store. I am a hunter! That’s how God made me and I am not ashamed to admit that. My family and me have gotten back to our roots. We hunt, we pray and we love our country.
I recognize that no matter how much love, faith, and factual information I provide there are going to be people who simply will not agree with the lifestyle I have chosen. Personally, it's that diversity that makes us so great. I would ask that as I respect your right to disagree, you show me the same courtesy. I spent 25 years defending myself and you against the stereotype that we're all a bunch of "dimwitted toothless rednecks," what's the harm against doing it again for another group of people I believe in? And at the end of the day there will still be those who just love to be difficult because...well, just because. To you I say this, my lifestyle is 100% protected by and in accordance with, the laws of this land...in every sense. You wanna challenge me in that? Knock you sox off!!
And if you're not down with that...I got two words for ya...
Shawn Michaels