Hunting is the practice of pursuing animals to capture or kill them for food, recreation, or trade in their products.

Hunted animals are referred to (and often protected by law) as game animals, and are usually large mammals or migratory birds. The killing of other humans is most often called execution (judicial), homicide (illegal), genocide (an entire people or culture) or war (legalized, between political entities).

The pursuit, capture and killing of fish is called fishing, which is not commonly categorized as a kind of hunting, although many hunters may also fish.

Before the widespread domestication of animals, hunting was a crucial component of hunter-gatherer societies, and is a theme of many stories and myths, as well as many proverbs, aphorisms, adages and metaphors even today.

Their evolution through selective breeding from wolves which hunted for themselves to the pointer and other hunting dogs which find, identify, retrieve prey entirely in service to man is extraordinary.

Generally hunters also took two separate paths, recreational and trophy hunting. Although skilled recreational hunters may choose to become more selective hunters in attempts at taking a good animal, many people hunt not only to kill but to enjoy the outdoors in a way few ever experience.

The most controversial form of hunting in the United Kingdom is fox hunting. Originally a form of vermin control to protect livestock, it became a popular social activity for the upper classes in Victorian times, and a traditional rural activity for riders.

North American hunting predates the United States by thousands of years, and many Native American hunters retain key hunting rights through legal treaty as part of a long, cultural tradition. In certain cases (such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act), Federal law provides explicit protection for Native American hunting rights. This is particularly true in Alaska, where people still feed on sea and land mammals as well as fish and birds.