>i don't think hunting for sport is necessarily healthy, or killing for sport
>is healthy, but I wonder about the instinct, to hunt, and wonder what happens
>when a person's survival instincts aren't developed, do they become overly
>dependent?

Good question -- I love this "paleomind" stuff :^) .

IMO, those hunting instincts are still very much alive in us today, and we
express them in various ways.  For instance, in our jobs -- which might
logically be seen as the replacement for ancient food-gathering activities
-- I sometimes think of those with full-time jobs as "gatherers," doing
fairly steady repetivite work for a consistent reward; while enerpreneurs
and free-lancers are "hunters,"  finding big strikes of "food" at more
widely spaced intervals.  Note the expression, "job-hunting;" free-lancers
do this a lot, not just occasionally.

James Wharram, a sailor and designer of Polynesian-style sailing
catamarans, has pointed out that many modern hobbies are things we used to
do for survival:  hunting, fishing, gardening, making
clothes/pottery/furishings, working on our homes, etc.  He says the
blueprint of archaic Man is written in our DNA; and I agree.  After all,
10,000 years is NOTHING compared to 2 or 3 million!

>personally, i feel humans would only hunt instinctively if their health and
>survival depended on it, which is why i don't hunt and prefer to enjoy
>animals.  i love the ones that are alive, and i can go to the store and buy
>fish or something if I feel like I want it.

I think this all fits with hunter-gatherer beliefs.  Some (most?) American
Indian tribes say prayers of thanks to the animals -- and even some plants
-- that they kill.  And surely they never killed for sport, and only rarely
would they kill to get trade goods -- they mostly just took what they needed.

I do occasionally remember to give thanks to the cow as I chomp into a
slice of beef ...