He Shot the Elk on Saturday. It Killed Him the Next Day

[Major Nikon]

121. I'm just replying you your statement about the death itself

I know a lot of people that hunt, and most of them are folk I wouldn't trust managing a portable toilet. Whatever suffering an animal receives is the farthest thing from their mind. Certainly some hunters are very responsible in this regard, but that is hardly representative of the group as a whole.

As far as stress goes, wild animals receive far more stress than domestic animals who don't have to worry about the constant threat of just staying alive. It doesn't mean many, if not most states have a long way to go in regards to regulating the treatment of livestock. It does mean comparisons between the two are apples and oranges. Wild animals have the serious stress of famine, disease, predation, and habitat destruction which just doesn't happen to any large degree with livestock. Controlled hunting and conservation programs relieve some of this stress, but it's never going to be anywhere close to the level of domesticated animals. As far as any method of dispatch goes, stress before dispatch reduces the quality of meat produced and decreases shelf life. So not only do commercial operations have a regulatory interest in reducing that stress, they also have a financial interest. Hunters should have that same interest, but many just don't understand why and ignore or are ignorant of it.