To answer my own question, it is a combination of things and I cannot say which is the bigger part.

Recreational: it is simply fun to take some time off and visit the shooting range.

Success? It is "good for the soul" to shoot a good grouping, finish a new load etc.

Necessity: more time spent on the range means less wounded animals.

Both of the above as well it being a key part of a whole range of other interdependent activities. Most of my discretionary time is spent on activities linked in some way to one or other shooting discipline.

I enjoy shooting and the activities around it. Enjoyed it from when I was a kid. Toy guns, daisy, pellet gun and eventually hand guns and rifles. It’s something I took an interest in and liked. I can think of reasons now like those mentioned by DS J and Oafpatroll, but for back then not really, just loved it.

I think the fact that a gun gives a normal human a supernatural ability to reach out beyond what we can achieve with our normal physical bodies.

Shooting is fun, for one, but why? An old shooter told me it the fact that one causes something to happen.