Hunting!

[Matt]

Just a general thread for the topic, go nuts!

[Darkthoughts]

And now they're allowed, no-one wants to play

[Míchéal]

I've been reading alot on this in the papers, mainly from the Brits havig a go at each other about it. Personally I don't think it's moral at all. It's one thing hunting for food and shit(if you'll actually eat what you kill,i dunno,like a deer or something) but over here they just let psycho bloodthirsty dogs loose to kill poor little cute foxes bad out.

[John Blaze]

I guess I might expound on what I said in the Displeased and Bothered thread.

Hunting is something I very much enjoy. To be out in the wild, breathing the fresh air, feeling the breeze on your neck, it's awesome.

Hunting is my way of "communing with nature" if you will. Some people go out in the woods and get high. I've done drugs in the past, but have given them up. Not my thing anymore. To each his own.

I was born in a small ranch, raised in cities, and lately bought myself some land on the outskirts of this town i live in now, and I love it. Pretty soon I will buy some cattle, some horses, some goats, and be like I used to. I had 8 horses before I got married, but sold them. Horses are very expensive.

There are two types of Hunters, meat hunters, and sport hunters. You can be both, but you're mostly one or the other. I'm mostly a meat hunter. If I hunt, I'm eating what I'm killing. I like Elk meat, Venison (deer meat), quail, even rattlesnake and rabbit. I don't hunt predators unless they are a nuisance, and only then only if they can't be caught and relocated by the game wardens.

I know I was all over the place here, but just wanted to state my position.

[Míchéal]

Meat hunting-fine by me.
Sport hunting-mean and pointless.

[Matt]

I think hunting is fine. The way humans have changed the environment means that 1000 of animals will simply starve if we don't cull the herds out.

I have no problem shooting something even though I never have.

Dora grew up in a house where her Dad was the sole provider and drove an over the road truck to do it (very poor). He hunted in the winter months to provide food for his family flat. I know there are plenty of families out there right now that probably do the same.

[MonteGss]

I've never hunted before but it is cool with me too.

[John Blaze]

I've been reading alot on this in the papers, mainly from the Brits havig a go at each other about it. Personally I don't think it's moral at all. It's one thing hunting for food and shit(if you'll actually eat what you kill,i dunno,like a deer or something) but over here they just let psycho bloodthirsty dogs loose to kill poor little cute foxes bad out.

Foxing is an old sport in Europe, and even Russia. It was mostly practiced by aristocrats, nobility, and the otherwise rich. It's a tradition that goes back for generations.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand it's a custom and tradition which people feel are important to pass on to their offspring.

On the other, it's killing for sport.

For me, it's a tough call. I won't condone it, but I can't condemn it. If it were me, I'd want to save the past as well. I want my children to grow up with me enjoying the outdoors as well.

here's where you can read more about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_hunting

[John Blaze]

I think hunting is fine. The way humans have changed the environment means that 1000 of animals will simply starve if we don't cull the herds out.

I have no problem shooting something even though I never have.

Dora grew up in a house where her Dad was the sole provider and drove an over the road truck to do it (very poor). He hunted in the winter months to provide food for his family flat. I know there are plenty of families out there right now that probably do the same.

One of my first white friends growing up was very poor. His dad worked, but his mom had cancer, and was sick all the time. Because his dad couldn't even afford a hunting license, he used to go out at night and poach a deer about every 2 months. He'd bring it home and butcher it in the bathroom tub. That's how they had food for the next couple months.

Growing up myself, we didn't have much. so I grew up eating whatever my father brought home. Wild goat, snake, deer, antelope, rabbit, and even jackrabbit on occasion. I still like all of these except jackrabbit. Since now I have a taste for it, I put in for elk and deer every year, although I've only drawn for elk once, and try to bag one to bring home and eat. Although I'm not a sport hunter, it's also nice to keep the rack and put it on display.

[Bethany]

meh.

i don't believe in out and out cruelty to animals (hello? michael vick anyone?) but otherwise meh. maybe it's from being raised in the south where admitting that you don't hunt gets you strange looks and pitying head shakes. i can scale and gut fish, clean dove and quail, skin squirrel and have watched many a deer skinning. maybe i need to start putting those skills on my resume and really shock some folks.

meh.

[Ruthful]

I've been reading alot on this in the papers, mainly from the Brits havig a go at each other about it. Personally I don't think it's moral at all. It's one thing hunting for food and shit(if you'll actually eat what you kill,i dunno,like a deer or something) but over here they just let psycho bloodthirsty dogs loose to kill poor little cute foxes bad out.

I don't know. The whole fox-hunting kerfuffle seemed kind of absurd to me. Granted, I'm not an inbred aristocrat so the underlying concept strikes me as pretty retarded, but I don't think it was worth expending political capital, especially when you've got guys doing self tooth extraction and a huge subculture that wants to turn the country into a carbon copy of The Sudan.

[Brice]

Okay, personally I'm not into hunting here's why. I have no desire to hunt for sport...it's just not my thing. In all honesty it makes me sad for the animals lives wasted, which to my mind is what it is. I'm really not passing judgement on anyone. Whatever you choose to do is your business alone. I have absolutely no problem with those who hunt for food at all. I just wouldn't myself. Here's why? If I had to clean the animal I couldn't eat it. Also, I don't like venison and have no interest in trying 99% of the animals that are traditionally hunted. Maybe, when they start pig and cow hunting season I'll get me a liscense.

[John Blaze]

Okay, personally I'm not into hunting here's why. I have no desire to hunt for sport...it's just not my thing. In all honesty it makes me sad for the animals lives wasted, which to my mind is what it is. I'm really not passing judgement on anyone. Whatever you choose to do is your business alone. I have absolutely no problem with those who hunt for food at all. I just wouldn't myself. Here's why? If I had to clean the animal I couldn't eat it. Also, I don't like venison and have no interest in trying 99% of the animals that are traditionally hunted. Maybe, when they start pig and cow hunting season I'll get me a liscense.

so if you butchered your own beef you couldn't eat a steak out of said beef?

[Brice]

Okay, personally I'm not into hunting here's why. I have no desire to hunt for sport...it's just not my thing. In all honesty it makes me sad for the animals lives wasted, which to my mind is what it is. I'm really not passing judgement on anyone. Whatever you choose to do is your business alone. I have absolutely no problem with those who hunt for food at all. I just wouldn't myself. Here's why? If I had to clean the animal I couldn't eat it. Also, I don't like venison and have no interest in trying 99% of the animals that are traditionally hunted. Maybe, when they start pig and cow hunting season I'll get me a liscense.

so if you butchered your own beef you couldn't eat a steak out of said beef?

Honestly...no, I couldn't. I'd have to pay someone else to do it.

[John Blaze]

damn boy, you won't survive in the South.

[Brice]

I've been in the south for most of my life. Luckily for me southerners like money too.

[blackrose22]

I've been reading alot on this in the papers, mainly from the Brits havig a go at each other about it. Personally I don't think it's moral at all. It's one thing hunting for food and shit(if you'll actually eat what you kill,i dunno,like a deer or something) but over here they just let psycho bloodthirsty dogs loose to kill poor little cute foxes bad out.

Foxing is an old sport in Europe, and even Russia. It was mostly practiced by aristocrats, nobility, and the otherwise rich. It's a tradition that goes back for generations.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand it's a custom and tradition which people feel are important to pass on to their offspring.

On the other, it's killing for sport.

For me, it's a tough call. I won't condone it, but I can't condemn it. If it were me, I'd want to save the past as well. I want my children to grow up with me enjoying the outdoors as well.

here's where you can read more about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_hunting

If hunting for sport meant just killing the animal with a rifle shot to the head or heart that would be fine with me as the animal doesn't feel any pain. But to chase a fox for miles on horseback with a pack of dogs is not right to me. Being torn apart by a pack of hounds is not a quick or merciful way to kill an animal. And just because it's a tradition doesn't make it right either. I find it strange that people can get enjoyment from watching a defenseless animal getting killed like this. Strange and sad.

[Armand St Pierre]

If hunting for sport meant just killing the animal with a rifle shot to the head or heart that would be fine with me as the animal doesn't feel any pain. But to chase a fox for miles on horseback with a pack of dogs is not right to me. Being torn apart by a pack of hounds is not a quick or merciful way to kill an animal. And just because it's a tradition doesn't make it right either. I find it strange that people can get enjoyment from watching a defenseless animal getting killed like this. Strange and sad.

Hunting for sport? Take on a Grizzly with a sharpened stick instead of a high powered assault rifle and I might get it.
Hunting for food....
It's probably better than spending all your life in overstocked feedlots, being fed hormones so you mature really fast and then having a bolt go through your skull (which hopefully kills you before you're hung on a conveyor line).
If you eat meat, you should be able to kill your own food. At least that way the animal can live a natural life.
After all, how many served at McDonalds? All that cow and chicken is coming from somewhere and I can guarantee it's not from Farmer Johnson's Paradise Animal Retreat.

[Mattrick]

I've never been hunting but I was a damn good shot with a pellet rifle during scouts, best in Durham region and I was youngest. I've always wanted to go hunting, my uncles do it all the time but they fish a lot more than they hunt.

hunting liscence in Ontario is about 1000 dollars and with the cost of a gun, equipment etc I can't afford it now. Of course, when I go hunting I'll always try and limit my advatages. No scope and I'd have a single shot, bolt action rifle, probably with .30 calibre bullets. I'd love to get a WWII German Karibiner to shoot.

But if it all came down to it, I've got no problem using a bow and arror or even attemptiong to sneak up and use a Machete or throwing knives. As kid I trained at my old cottage with a homemade spear to go rabbit hunting, never saw a rabbit though but I obliterated a lot of bags full of newspaper

[blackrose22]

If hunting for sport meant just killing the animal with a rifle shot to the head or heart that would be fine with me as the animal doesn't feel any pain. But to chase a fox for miles on horseback with a pack of dogs is not right to me. Being torn apart by a pack of hounds is not a quick or merciful way to kill an animal. And just because it's a tradition doesn't make it right either. I find it strange that people can get enjoyment from watching a defenseless animal getting killed like this. Strange and sad.

Hunting for sport? Take on a Grizzly with a sharpened stick instead of a high powered assault rifle and I might get it.
Hunting for food....
It's probably better than spending all your life in overstocked feedlots, being fed hormones so you mature really fast and then having a bolt go through your skull (which hopefully kills you before you're hung on a conveyor line).
If you eat meat, you should be able to kill your own food. At least that way the animal can live a natural life.
After all, how many served at McDonalds? All that cow and chicken is coming from somewhere and I can guarantee it's not from Farmer Johnson's Paradise Animal Retreat.

I've worked in both poultry/pork processors for nearly ten years so I know what you are saying. There is some pain involved but its not the same as chasing after a fox and cheering on the hounds as the catch and rip apart a fox and getting fun out of it. And as far as intensive farming goes poultry are not feed hormones to make them mature at a faster rate but high protein diets. Its against the law to fed animals hormones to induce growth in Ireland and Europe.

[Darkthoughts]

I live in the Cotswolds which is riddled with British aristocracy and is also in the heart of fox hunting country.
I think if The Hunt were forced to be perfectly honest, you'd discover this outcry over the ban wasn't really about hunting, its more a social issue.

The aristocracy in Britain have been losing their position in British society rapidly since the early 1900's. With more people from working class backgrounds becoming self made millionaires etc, the upper classes are even losing the financial status that previously divided them from us.
Fox hunting however, is traditionally a sport of the upper classes, as Ruthful rightfully pointed out, and I think they really just see banning hunting as another step towards completely integrating them into the rest of society - perhaps there is no longer any working class and the divide between middle and upper class is now very thin...but they will fight like hell to keep it from becoming solely middle class throughout.

[alinda]

My thought's are as follows
Hunting and fishing are both
natural, and good. The rule
that you use what you take
is paramount tho' no waste.
Personally when its fresh it...
tastes better, has vertualy
no additives, and if your
crafty and can make use
of the skins/bones whatever
this should always be done.
Otherwise.....use a camara!!

[Storyslinger]

I have hunted since a young age, and there has never been one occurance in my life where I have do it for sport. Anything that I have ever killed was eaten, or it was eliminated for outside reasons, such as damage to others or pets. I find nothing wrong with it and don't buy into the idea that hunters are hurting the environment. Much of the money used when it come to hunting is put into systems and plans to conserve wildlife and naturual habitats. Now, thats not to say that all hunters are good. Because, like in everything, you get the good with the bad.

[John Blaze]

If hunting for sport meant just killing the animal with a rifle shot to the head or heart that would be fine with me as the animal doesn't feel any pain. But to chase a fox for miles on horseback with a pack of dogs is not right to me. Being torn apart by a pack of hounds is not a quick or merciful way to kill an animal. And just because it's a tradition doesn't make it right either. I find it strange that people can get enjoyment from watching a defenseless animal getting killed like this. Strange and sad.

Hunting for sport? Take on a Grizzly with a sharpened stick instead of a high powered assault rifle and I might get it.
Hunting for food....
It's probably better than spending all your life in overstocked feedlots, being fed hormones so you mature really fast and then having a bolt go through your skull (which hopefully kills you before you're hung on a conveyor line).
If you eat meat, you should be able to kill your own food. At least that way the animal can live a natural life.
After all, how many served at McDonalds? All that cow and chicken is coming from somewhere and I can guarantee it's not from Farmer Johnson's Paradise Animal Retreat.

I've worked in both poultry/pork processors for nearly ten years so I know what you are saying. There is some pain involved but its not the same as chasing after a fox and cheering on the hounds as the catch and rip apart a fox and getting fun out of it. And as far as intensive farming goes poultry are not feed hormones to make them mature at a faster rate but high protein diets. Its against the law to fed animals hormones to induce growth in Ireland and Europe.

When I busted tires one of our clients was a meat processing plant. I got to see firsthand the practices and it is not humane.

One of my uncles in Colorado works for a turkey farm. I asked him and he said they do inject hormones in the young turkeys so they gain weight faster. The high protein diet is true also, they have to put on lean meat, not just fat.

About the dogs, I don't know if you've ever seen hunting dogs doing their thing, but there isn't a better trained or more obedient dog out there than a good hunting dog. It will not tear anything apart. Fox hounds are trained to track and if necessary bring down the fox, but they will not needlessly mangle an animal. It's not like people use fighting pit bulls to go out and rip their throat out.

[John Blaze]

I'd love to get a WWII German Karibiner to shoot.

It's called a Mossin Nagent. Cheap and fun to shoot. Look it up.

But if it all came down to it, I've got no problem using a bow and arror or even attemptiong to sneak up and use a Machete or throwing knives. As kid I trained at my old cottage with a homemade spear to go rabbit hunting, never saw a rabbit though but I obliterated a lot of bags full of newspaper

See, this is in no way more humane than using a rifle. If you were to actually hit a deer with a throwing knife, it'd be virtually impossible to kill it in one merciful stroke. And if it get away, it will most likely get it's wound infected and die in pain. This is why there are minimum caliber restrictions on hunting. Bow and arrow hunting takes alot of skill and patience. If you decide to do this, please practice alot first.

I use a rifle because I know I'm a good enough shot to take down my quarry without it suffering.