General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am a rural non-gun owner [View all]countryjake
(8,554 posts)on rural land that once teemed with coyotes, raccoon, possum, foxes, badgers, weasels, and bobcats, I really do much prefer that they come "enlightened" rather than using the native wildlife as target practice.
When I was a kid, we all had guns, too, but I used to help my daddy live-trap the occasional troublesome possum or weasel or coon and haul them back across the river. He wouldn't have shot them dead if his ass was on fire and that was in the fifties. My dogs once killed a badger but they both came out of the woods that day (and a horrific fight) with the battle-scars to prove it; I could have shot it (I was right there with them) but wouldn't have risked hitting one of them by mistake.
I don't know about any english lords or manors, the majority of my ancestors were here, appreciating and respecting the nature around them, long before any of them ferriners showed up.