Poll: eat what you shoot philosophy

[SSG]

i'm not one who will claim to be thinning the population or protecting farms or ranches... i hunt purely for the thrill of the hunt. i'll eat any game i take- but if there's no game to be found, there's always rodents and coyotes. and those i hunt for no other reason than because it's a thrill... why does that make me a sociopath? watching it die doesn't have anything to do with it. it's about using a skillset to achieve a goal- and the goal is dropping the animal, not watching it die. where do you even get that?

I get your point...so if a bear, who's bored, and wants something to do...jumps you in the woods...don't bubblegum, he's just honing his skills.

I read that some serial killers kill peeps for similar reasons...the challenge, the thrill, for the fun of it....

I guess it's all fun and games as long as it's not happening to you....

 

[45_70Sharps]

I also varmint shoot. I aint eating no coyote!!
Some critters get shot because they've got a very healthy population and thinning them out is fun and helps some of the game animals.

Some get shot because of what they do and the effect that it has on the world around them.
The pond behind my folks house was a prime example. Nutria would burrow into the banks and make them dangerous to walk around and more dangerous for the riding mower. There were other pond critters too but you get the idea.

Crows!! I am not going to eat one of them but they got shot on occasion and one would be hung in the garden. Strawberries were safe as long as you had one dead crow hanging out there.

Mostly I do like to shoot things that I can eat or targets hung around the woods though. And coyotes.

 

[45_70Sharps]

I get your point...so if a bear, who's bored, and wants something to do...jumps you in the woods...don't bubblegum, he's just honing his skills.

I read that some serial killers kill peeps for similar reasons...the challenge, the thrill, for the fun of it....

I guess it's all fun and games as long as it's not happening to you....

If the bear jumps him in the woods, I've got his back and as soon as I've got a clear shot I'll pop him (the bear) with the old 444.

I'll take the bear home and eat him also.

I just don't get the way some peoples minds work. Shooting a coyote equates to a serial killers mind?? In what world?
We are intelligent beings and we know the difference in shooting a coyote and killing people? We have no desires to shoot people, or pets, or farm animals or anything else that we are not suppose to be shooting.


Get a life and a grip on reality.


All the BS reasons for culling the heard, keeping the population down for the good of the species and all that is just justifications to assauge those that feel guilty or need an image of respectibility for doing something that is fundamentaly wrong.

It doesn't mean I want to inhibit others from doing so...as every time I eat a hamburger, or any meat for that matter, I am supporting the killing of animals...maybe it's more about the suffering of animals that I am more concerned with...a little less suffering would be nice...

If you think that the deer in my freezer suffered more than the cow that went into the assembly line feed lot butcher shop to provide the burger, you are very wrong.
The deer had a natural life (this contributes the the healthy meat), and when his time came he got a 270 bullet through the heard. No pumping them full of chemicals, castrating, cattle cars, cattle prods and so on.
The deer was way better off than a hog or cow that ends up in the store. I have better food in my freezer than I can buy and I enjoy the hunting be it rifle or longbow.

As for the culling the heard and the good of the species, look up the best estimates of deer populations in this country when white man got here and what they are now. We must be doing something right.

 

[4Freedom]

I think what it comes down to is enjoying the skill of hunting, versus enjoying the death of the animal. Most people, like over 90% hunt because they want to improve their shooting skills and enjoy the hunt. However, there are a few of those people out there who hunt and enjoy the watching the animal die. I don't condone hunters like that and feel they are disgraceful. However, I think hunters are a natural part of life, we need to hunt for our food, as well as controlling animal populations and protecting livestock. In our modern society, with all the man-made problems, we need hunters more now than ever before. Look what happen in Wisconsin, e.g. with all the diseased deer. There was not nearly enough hunters available to cull the population and prevent an outbreak of the disease.

Maybe some won't agree with me, but I enjoy the skill of being able to hunt. I am not a hunter, so I don't really have a hunting skill, but I would have no problem acquring these skills, as I feel they are necessary in many ways. What I don't agree with is people who take pleasure in the animal's dying. As for me, I would say a prayer for every animal I shoot, eaten or not. Its not the coyote's fault for being a coyote. This is just the natural order of life.

We need hunters for the survival of our planet. The few whackos you see on youtube give the majority of good hunters a bad name.

 

[PlayboyPenguin]

I would never shoot anything I did not plan on eating...unless it really ticked me off.

I no longer hunt at all for my own reasons. I could not bring myself to kill an innocent animal these days. When I did hunt I followed a strict rule of "somebody has to eat what I shot." Meaning I would kill more than what I was going to eat but I would not let it go to waste. It had to go to someone that would eat it. We used to have to cull deer in the winter. We could not eat them all, but we did know a butcher that would butcher them for free if we donated the meat to local families.

 

[goneshooting]

some one has to kill deer and bunnies other wise all the vegetarians would starve.

Yep most farmers shoot deer and bunnies eating their crops that feed vegetarians.

If we were all vegetarians there would be no use for certain animals and their habitat would be destroyed to make more farm land.

Its the circle of life. Want to save the planet? Stop breeding.

 

[thatkidwho]

Simple, I would need a justified reason to kill. Be it for food, pest control or defense. Psychos kill only for the kill and no other reason. That is what sets us a part. Your own justification will differ from mine and thats fine. Its your morality and you will have to live with your decisions. Thats our freedom.

 

[The B]

I get your point...so if a bear, who's bored, and wants something to do...jumps you in the woods...don't bubblegum, he's just honing his skills.

I read that some serial killers kill peeps for similar reasons...the challenge, the thrill, for the fun of it....

I guess it's all fun and games as long as it's not happening to you....

if a bear can get the jump on me, he's welcome to do so. are YOU implying a bear should follow some moral code, and make the decision to not attack a hunter out of boredom? i don't understand your point.

 

[SSG]

if a bear can get the jump on me, he's welcome to do so. are YOU implying a bear should follow some moral code, and make the decision to not attack a hunter out of boredom? i don't understand your point.

What I am saying is that a person who justify's killing animals for sport, because they are bored, for the thrill of it, to practice, to keep thier skillz up etc......shouldn't start whining, when a bear, a serial killer, a dog, a pack of bikers, kills them, for the sport, for fun, for the skillz ect...

Animals do stalk, catch and kill animals for fun by the way...just like hunters..

 

[djm68]

Generally, I do not hunt -- though I have take a few ducks in the past and yes we ate them. Personally, I find trophy hunting despicable...unless, of course, you ate the creature as well. I am pretty dubious about those who go around killing coyotes and such purely for sport -- IMO, just does not seem right.

I do think there is a good reason to "thin" when there is a sudden explosion in population -- say with "pests" such as rats or squirrels. We have a huge number of squirrels in my neighborhood -- the "hippies" love to feed them; then they have a huge population explosion. Last spring I had 8 living in my roof (very destructive!), my neighbor (elderly woman) was quite surprised when two came down her chimney, fighting! That's when the air rifle came out...

Cheers,
DJM

 

[The B]

What I am saying is that a person who justify's killing animals for sport, because they are bored, for the thrill of it, to practice, to keep thier skillz up etc......shouldn't start whining, when a bear, a serial killer, a dog, a pack of bikers, kills them, for the sport, for fun, for the skillz ect...

Animals do stalk, catch and kill animals for fun by the way...just like hunters..

i'm very aware that hunters do occasionally become the hunted. if hunting was much more like that here in America, i think i'd probably do nothing but hunt all day every day. personally, i'd love nothing more than to spend a season hunting lion in southern central africa- real dangerous game. 475lbs of razor-sharp vise against you with a double-barreled, break-open, big-bore.... the ultimate thrill.

you cannot equate animal hunting to human hunting, however. that's a load of crap, and nobody will buy any argument that incorporates that theme. animals and humans are two totally different classes of biological organisms. we possess intelligence and opposable thumbs to put that intelligence to positive and constructive use in the world- animals do not. controlled, responsible hunting maintains a healthy balance between animal and human kingdoms, allowing us to coexist. otherwise, animals would not be valued and preserved- we'd simply eradicate all "dangerous" animals out of fear and hatred.

 

[Scott]

What I am saying is that a person who justify's killing animals for sport, because they are bored, for the thrill of it, to practice, to keep thier skillz up etc......shouldn't start whining, when a bear, a serial killer, a dog, a pack of bikers, kills them, for the sport, for fun, for the skillz ect...

Animals do stalk, catch and kill animals for fun by the way...just like hunters..

Do you really think animals just kill for the fun of it? I never heard of a serial killer in animal form. Creative.... I would like to see that documented.

 

[litesong]

I had bought a Beeman spring piston air rifle in which I had Beeman give it their 'supertune'. Not only were the pellets faster than those coming from an 'untuned' rifle, the accuracy was very fine, & the usual spring piston vibration transmitted itself as a solid snap of energy through my fingers & body. While at an Audubon meeting, I found myself admitting that I killed 90 starlings with my air rifle one year. Yes, starlings began avoiding my neighborhood, & other birds, more numerously attended my bird feeders, which I didn't shoot....except for house sparrows (another not native, imported species). Expecting some vocal opposition at the meeting, I was happy when the attending Audubon membership, gave me a round of applause.....& not just a smattering of claps.

 

[nwhpfan]

When I was a kid I used to shoot frogs in the creek with my BB gun. I wouldn't let my kid do it today unless he planned to eat it, so I'm pretty much a eat what you shoot kind of person. I do have some exceptions for rodents and predators and animals hit by cars.

 

[SCTSQRL]

As some above, I maintain an eat the game policy, and use(sell) the other feasible parts to artier people than myself. I make an exception for coyotes - whom I have a vendetta against as that disdainful breed killed my Schnauzer, and for ground squirrels/gophers/anything that tunnels lawns - who are proof of process theology and the inherent destructive nature of the rodent evolutionary process.

 

[coyote223]

Do you really think animals just kill for the fun of it? I never heard of a serial killer in animal form. Creative.... I would like to see that documented.

Wolves,,,






If it's the size of a Coyote or smaller, has fur, is legal to shoot, and stands in one place too long. It's getting Lead slung at it pure and simple. I like to Varmint hunt, no I don't eat them.

 

[chemist]

I'm impressed with SSG's position, as well as his willingness to wade in here with a clearly unpopular viewpoint. I find the reductionist logic others try to use against his arguments to be ridiculous and irrelevant.

That said, the lives of factory-farmed animals are sheer horror, painful and degrading from their first day to their last. A bullet through the heart of a wild animal is much more merciful than a life and death inside a pen, and probably more merciful than what Nature would have in store otherwise.

But all that hand-waving doesn't explain away balancing a shooter's momentary amusement against some creature's desperate attempts to survive. It's not a simple issue, but we humans have the capacity to embrace mutually contradictory viewpoints. I say this as a vegan with a fondness for wearing leather, who won't shoot animals but who has already resolved to kill an attacker without hesitation.

In other words, should you, just because you can?

 

[Dr.Peppers]

Varmint hunting is a great way to get outdoors and practice your craft without just putting tiny holes in a paper target. It is much different than game hunting and you would not even consider eating a coyote, sage rat, rock chuck or nutria unless you were starving. It is a great way to estimate range and wind drift, test loads and rifles and shoot at live animals. The reduction of animals is minimal really, because as their populations are stressed, they just have bigger litters to survive. Some claim they shoot varmints to practice for deer and elk season, but the calibers are much smaller and many shoot from portable benches or the hoods of pickups, so the comparison is limited but worthwhile. It is relatively cheap with small calibers like .17 or .22 and you don’t come home with a sore shoulder from shooting big calibers all day. Using larger calibers and scopes can help your reloading skills and you can practice hitting pop-up targets at a variety of ranges and variables. You can also practice shooting up and down inclines, provided you have a safe backstop, which is something you don’t get to do at the local rifle range. This is one of those things that may actually help in hunting larger game.

The first time I shot sage rats was on a ranch in Silver Lake, Oregon. When we pulled into the driveway there were dozens running everywhere at once. As we got out and looked around there were literally hundreds of them. The holes they dug could break a horse’s leg in a worst case scenario. We shot them for hours with a .22 and .22/250, until we scared off the rancher’s dog and had to go look for it. We did kill a rock chuck too, which digs even bigger holes in pastures. We also stopped periodically and picked up the carcasses so the dog wouldn’t eat them later. I had brought some old salad tongs and Walmart bags for this purpose. We dumped them in the desert on the way back to Bend, for the coyotes to feast on. Even if I had shot from dawn to dusk every day, we would barely put a dent in that sage rat population. We had fun, were responsible and practiced safe shooting techniques.

Around big crowds of sage rat shooters you really need to pay attention to safety. At Christmas Valley, they should actually have someone directing traffic in the spring. Caravans of shooters arrive to test out their wares and not all have safety as a priority. I’ve never heard of anyone getting shot, but it has probably happened before. Know your backstop and fields of fire and handle weapons safely at all times. And wear ear plugs and glasses.

I don’t hunt squirrels anymore because I have no need for their meat, tails or hides. They are everywhere here in Kansas but don’t cause the same problems as other varmints. Ironically, beavers have repopulated the waterways here and landowners will shoot them to prevent the destruction they cause along streams. It’s probably not legal to do so, but it happens. I would not hesitate to shoot a coyote anywhere because they kill many fawns, dogs, cats and other animals.

At least varmint shooting gives some people a shooting outlet. Many deer hunters only practice the first day of the season and take risky shots at running game, long distance shots and shots that only wound. If more hunters had the opportunity to shoot varmints they might be better shots. Here in Kansas we don’t have BLM land or sage rats and my shooting is pretty much at the local range. In other words, on a given day I can shoot targets only at 25, 50, 100, or 200 yards, but not in between those points because that is where the target backstops are. Rules are rules.

In the old days we just went out in the country and shot, but now it’s all private and posted. I look forward to moving back out west again and can only hope I’m in a place that I can enjoy varmint shooting again. In Central Oregon, I spent more time in the desert than the mountains because it was less crowded and I could enjoy shooting.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

I shoot anything that moves

I stand on this that anyone exhibiting this behavior should be confined on a desert island with no gun or game

I only shoot what I can eat unless it's genuine pest-varmints like Nutria (South American giant water rats) or European Starlings (non native pest birds)