What are your thoughts on hunting?

[goju]

Poll question: What are your thoughts on hunting?

What are your thoughts on hunting? I hunt, but only what I will eat. I dont know if I would ever hunt bear or coyotes or any predator for that matter. Aside from a skin, a few pictures, and maybe some dog food, I dont see what else you would do with with the harvest. I understand depredation hunts but I choose not to. Same with trophy hunts.


Edit, I put this in J/PS because of the gun owner/hunting relationship.

[Deja Q]

1. Hunting for sport is the ultimate barbaric, unchristian act.

Do it for survival. Nothing more. </IMHO>

[Spoonman]

6. "ultimate barbaric, unchristian act"

So by your own words raping and killing a child would rank second?

Hunting has been a tradition in my family for YEARS. I started hunting with my grandfather who just happened to be a Baptist preacher, and have continued to hunt with all my uncles and cousins, two of which are Baptist preachers.

Of course, being an atheist, I totally disagree with your statement.

[Warpy]

11. If you define sport hunting as killing an animal and taking

its head for your den wall and leaving the rest to rot, then I'd have to agree that it rates among the least acceptable human behaviors. The same goes for the "sport" of killing semi tame animals in pens on a game ranch.

However, around here, that "sport" of hunting provides necessary protein for a lot of families out there. This is a poor state, and hunting is generally done for the purpose of supplying several months' worth of meat for the price of a license.

[TX-RAT]

28. leaving the rest to rot

That will land you in jail in TX.

[skippythwndrdog]

50. Same in KY.

[skippythwndrdog]

16. Ho Kay!

So, uh, just where does killing a human being come in on your list?

Hunting for sport is the ultimate barbaric, unchristian act.

Ultimate is a superlative. Therefore, sport hunting is at the top of your list of heinous acts. I'd also like to know where genocide falls on your list.

[demosincebirth]

23. I don't believe in hunting while I have a freezer ...

and refrigerator full of food.

[goju]

32. Said the grasshopper to the ant

But where did all that food in your freezer come from? Unless you have live chickens shivering in your freezer, someone had to do some "hunting". As it turns out, you can hunt with a checkbook too. It might be easier and less "messy", it might make you sleep better at night not having to experience the kill, but you ARE hunting nonetheless.

[mark414]

2. bah

i don't hunt and i don't care

what i don't support though, is pollution and deforestation that is a form of hunting in itself

[whistle]

3. Big game hunting for me is a large standing prime rib roast...

...with the ribs still in, slow roasted so it's juicy and pink all the way through.

[MrBenchley]

4. A dying sport, and good riddance to it, too....

"Hunting in America, experts say, faces a mountain of challenges that could grow to insurmountable heights due to problems revolving largely around two issues: Fewer people are becoming hunters, and access to hunting lands is increasingly limited.
The number of American hunters has been in a slow but steady decline for the last 20 years, and in the last five years alone fell from 14 million to 13 million, one of the steepest drops since the USFWS began keeping records in 1955. And as the general population has swollen to 290 million, hunting has become important to an ever shrinking minority. Today, only 6 percent of Americans 16 and older hunt.
More unsettling, the average age of hunters is increasing. Sixty-seven percent of all hunters are now over the age of 35. Only 14 percent are between 16 and 24—and just 4 percent are 16 and 17 years old. In the language of wildlife biology, the sport of hunting is having "recruitment failure"—a condition that, in the wild, ultimately leads to extinction. "

http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/hunting/article/0,13199,458090,00.html

Hilariously, the NRA itself has done more to elect the sort of politician who allows destruction of wilderness areas than just about any group around.

[LibLabUK]

5. Hmm

I think it's the best means of controlling the population of certain animals, that would otherwise affect the populations of other animals.

For instance, elephants and lions need to be culled despite being protected species in order to protect the other wildlife and people in their habitats.

[Demobrat]

7. I know a single mother of four who hunts deer

to help put food on the table. Kills them, skins them herself and freezes the meet. Knowing her has changed my opinion about hunting completely. If it's OK for me to eat meat bought at Safeway, it's perfectly OK for her and her kids to eat meat she kills herself.

[Spiffarino]

8. Depends on the hunter

There are those who eat what they hunt and donate any leftover meat to charity. They don't decimate animal populations, pick up all their trash, and generally behave responsibly. They keep their hunting and fishing licenses current and pay all the necessary fees because they understand that it helps preserve their sport. This describes the majority of hunters I know personally.

Then there are those who will shoot anything. They leave empty rounds, beer cans, uneaten food and even the dead animals they've killed behind. These are not sportsmen, they are vandals. Responsible hunters have no use for them.

[JeremyN]

9. Hunting is an important part...

Hunting is an important part of the ecosystem in this country. For example, if deer hunting were outlawed this minute, deer populations would begin to grow out of control. We'd have to kill them anyway to stop the problems this would cause. Hunting isn't about killing. There is a lot more to it than that. I've never been hutning but I'd like to go some day, not because I want to kill something, but because of the entire experience. I think the actual killing part would be the most difficult for me.

[MrBenchley]

10. Actually, that's not true...

Although the overpopulation of deer is often dragged out in public as the rationale for hunting, many hunters now bag their deer on game farms...doing nothing to reduce the wild population.

"Hunting isn't about killing. There is a lot more to it than that."
There's wounding, there's missing altogether and hitting something else, there's getting drunk in the woods, there's getting lost and starting a fire that causes millions of dollars of damages and kills many people...

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040821/news_7m21cedar.html

[skippythwndrdog]

13. I shoot mine in the wild.

No canned hunts for me.

Deer overpopulation is a huge issue here. Hunting helps, but there weren't enough taken last year to alleviate the problem.

Maybe we should handle it like NJ does. hen when a carload of PETA members on their way to protest hunting hits one, they can sue my state just like they did in NJ for failing to control wild animals.

Get your own link.

[MrBenchley]

21. That's so sweet, skippy...

I believe you. Thousands wouldn't.

"Get your own link."
Why bother?

[skippythwndrdog]

15. Come for a visit.

We'll put you up and take you out to get a deer. No guarantees, but the odds are pretty good. We're so overpopulated that we see several killed on the roads every week around here.

According to Fish & Game, if we can take about half a million does this year, we can reduce the total popualtion by almost 10% after the does that are left breed next spring.

[DavidMS]

25. It can be part of a sucessfull wildlife management program...

By permiting hunting, there are more stakeholders in the substainiability of an ecosystem and aditional stakeholders makes it easier for legislators to protect ecosystems. As I understand it, Ducks Unlimited does wetlands-preservation work. The NRA, AFAK supports politicians that never saw a swamp they didn't want drained.

That said, I don't and would not on religious grounds.

[FatSlob]

12. Hunting is cool, animals are tasty, and their pelts are warm.

[skippythwndrdog]

14. Wrong time of year for the full freezer option,

but I took it anyway. ours should be full right after deer season. Squirrels and dove just don't take up enough space to fill the darned things.

[goju]

17. You dont fish?

Ive got 20 pounds or so. That's what summer is for! Im going out next weekend or the next one to get my winter bait. Ice fishing is a great way to get away from kids and the wife. We eat alot of fish so I can never have too much.

Ive still got a few ducks from last year (hope theyre not freezer burnt), a roast from someone's elk, not mine, 3 more deer steaks to go, and "mystery" package containing who knows what from god knows what animal :). I think its jerky from a friend but I havent been hungry enough to find out.

[skippythwndrdog]

26. I fish a bit, mostly with a fly rod,

just not enough to do much damage to the freezer. My great grandfather, who passed away when I was 18, was another story. He practically lived on the Green River in Kentucky. The biggest catfish I ever saw him catch was 58 lbs. He ran several trot lines. (For the less informed, trot lines run completely across the river. You usually check them around dawn and dusk.) He had a picture of one he caught with my dad in the 60's that he claimed weighed aver 100 lbs. I din't know about the actual weight, but it was longer than granddad was tall, and he was about 6'1".

[goju]

27. I believe it

Ive heard stories of catfish the size of a small car. Might be a bit exaggerated but I know they get big.

I do a bit of fly fishing myself. Youre right, unless your a pro its a hard way to stock the freezer ;).

[Endangered Specie]

18. I find it interesting, that man chooses only to take on an animal

with a clear artificial advantage (a gun)... A real sport would be trying to kill something with your bare hands. Odds are the animal would win, especially, say a bear or large deer.

[Redneck Socialist]

20. I'll give it a shot if...

the deer looses two legs, its sense of smell, most of its hearing and most of its knowledge of the area it lives in. Then I suppose it would be fair.

[Endangered Specie]

22. Why two legs?

you each have four limbs.

[Redneck Socialist]

24. Speed

It would be tough to run one down.

[Retired AF Dem]

41. Actually that would make it about even

with a human.

[Endangered Specie]

19. If you eat what you kill, I dont have much a problem with it...

Hunting for sport I dont particulary like, only exception may be a species that threatens the balance of nature (like gross overpopulation/introduced species)... If you could find a way to hunt kudzoo, Id be all for that.

[TX-RAT]

30. Whats your definition of hunting for sport?

[Endangered Specie]

37. Hunting for sport I would define as

pretty much anything that is not hunting for food or for population control.

[TX-RAT]

38. With that definition.

I don't know anybody, nor have i ever met anybody, who hunts for sport.

[skippythwndrdog]

36. Make a salad!

[TX-RAT]

29. My deer, turkey, quail and dove, have helped pay for my place.

That and running cows are my livelihood. I have no hi-fence, all my hunts are free range hunts. My deer hunts are limited to bow,and handgun hunts only, no long rifles. My deer hunts last year made me a total of 12,000 dollars, that was 4 mature whitetail bucks. My turkey hunts totaled 4,000, dove and quail brought an additional 5,000. My cows brought in close to 9,000. These monies go along way in supporting this ranch.
When we bought this place in 1980 (i believe), there were about 3 deer, no turkeys and very little, quail or dove. Now we have a thriving population of all. Food plots, supplemental feeding and predator control created these results. If it wasn't for the profit in deer hunting, they would then be considered pests, in direct competition with my cows.
When a land owner can guarantee 140+plus class bucks he's doing something right.
Flame away.

[goju]

31. Flame

Damn you for not inviting me down for a hunt! You cant just hog all those deer for yourself and your monied clients, can you?

Sounds like you have a good thing going. Now explain to everyone that ranch hunts are not necessarily canned hunts. I think there is much confusion on this.

[TX-RAT]

33. not necessarily canned hunts.

Not at all, these deer are free to roam anywhere they choose. Seems several of them keep wanting to roam in my gardens, around the house.
I guide all hunts personally. Rattling and spot and stalk are the only hunts i allow.
Try to get a client within bow range of a mature whitetail without using a blind or tree stand. There ain't nothing easy about that.
The largest taken here was a 166- non-typical. He was taken with a 7 1/2 Ruger Blackhawk chambered in 45 long colt, at about 35 yards. He weighed 218 lbs, far heavier than most local deer.

[goju]

34. Doesnt sound like canned hunts at all

Canned hunts are caging the damn things and letting them out in front of the hunter.

Thats why I wanted a clarification between canned and ranch hunts. I think alot of people have the perception that if you hunt on a private ranch, its a canned hunt. They see the PETA adds with a cage full of doves or quail and some idiot standing next to it with a shotgun.

[TX-RAT]

35. Disgusting, not to be confused with hunting.

There are hi-fence ranches popping up all over TX. Everybody thats got more than 100 acres, is trying to get in the game, at 15,000 to 20,000 dollars a mile it would run me about 120,000 dollars. My place has just as many deer, and better quality than most of these places. Plenty of water, feed, and time to mature is all it takes. I don't cull bucks until they are at least 4 years old. I do take a limited amount of does every year, to keep my buck to doe ratio at about 2 to 1. I let some locals bring their kids out for those. The kids are allowed to use rifles on those hunts. Those are no charge invite hunts.

[FeebMaster]

39. I don't hunt

but I don't have any problem with hunting. I'm not even particularly bothered by canned hunts, although I wouldn't participate in one.

[gatlingforme]

40. Hunting is killing an animal. For what

reason? If the person eats the animal then I do not have a problem with hunting. If the person does it for sport I think they are sick people. It also depends on how the hunt is done. putting slop in a bucket and waiting for a bear to appear and killing it is just sporty for a moron maybe, and justifiable to Stalin. However, since most of us do not hunt for food, I will have to say I do not like hunting.

[skippythwndrdog]

42. I enjoy hunting, but I enjoy eating the game even more.

Bambi looks much better in the skillet at my house.

[gatlingforme]

47. I like to hunt Neanderthals myself, a nice big chunk of Neanderthal

meat on my plate looks scrumptious.LOL

[Trashman]

43. Hunting is great for kids too.

It teaches them firearm safety, plus respect for the animals and the outdoors. This may be hard for those non hunter types to understand. I also like the young people involved in the sport to keep it strong.

Man is a predator too, our bodies are setup to eat and digest meat. We also shair other traits.

Our archery deer season has already started. I may go this weekend and kill one. I do eat the meat from the deer, turkey, and most of the other animals I hunt. Sometimes I will give the meat to other people. I won't eat coyotes, fox, or bobcats. I usually hunt them in the winter for the fur, that is when they are the most valuable. However I do some predation hunts when the cattle and sheep owners are losing their stock to these eating machines.

I also fish. Most of the time I will catch and release, If the fish looks injured, then I will clean it and put it in the freezer.

[skippythwndrdog]

44. As Ron White said in his comedy routine

I din't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat carrots.

[goju]

45. Hahaahaa

Thats a good one.

I think alot of people dont realize that the "cruelty" of hunting is only outdone by the "cruelty" of assembly line slaughter. They feel all to comfortable chastizing hunters for our "barbaric" sport so long as their belly's are full of groceries provided by a nice clean supermarket front for the real slaughter.

[gatlingforme]

46. I have seen it first hand and it is disgusting, and I am a hypocrite

for saying that about hunting given the fact that I eat meat too - the slaughtered kind.

[Romulus]

48. vote "other"

I have never hunted, but am taking the MD hunter safety class this fall ($5 for the three-day class at the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge) so I might try whitetail hunting this year.

However, the whole "field dressing" part of it is turning me off . . . if there was just some way to go from "bang" to freezer where the only thing in between is hauling it home . . . .

[E. Tackleberry]

49. I don't hunt.

On the other hand I have no problem with others hunting.

[skippythwndrdog]

51. I usually have my best success when hunting

at the petting zoo with a Street Sweeper. The ease of the hunt more than makes up for the collateral damage.

[mosin]

52. I have hunted,

but I don't hunt regularly any more. Still, I have no issue with hunting.

[okayremedy7]

53. Hunting is a pretty basic instinct to me. n/t