While I understand the need to eat, I have no respect for sport hunters.

[Mark W.]

I'm not saying you guys are being suckered by a troll... but you are being suckered by a troll.

You sir are correct. But like fly fishing a catch and release location. Arguing can be fun in it own right.

 

[Burt Gummer]

I'd probably be more into hunting if my dad didn't shove me inside an bloody elk carcass when I was little. He followed that up by leaving me snipe hunting for hours in a creek bed near Enterprise OR when it was about 10 degrees. Ahh, youth and a nurturing parent.

 

[jbett98]

Arguing with a troll is like wrestling a pig in mud. After awhile, you realize they enjoy it.

 

[lucky guy]

This is less a diatribe against all hunters but those that do so for fun, for entertainment.

Not that I am a vegan or some hippy, I just don't get shooting animals and watching them die.

Personally I think most of your sport hunters are really, in the end, insecure, as that is all the power they can get in their lives.

If you want to man up, put on some gloves and do some MMA.

Sounds like you're big on live and let live. Might practice what you're preaching brother.

 

[RVTECH]

It would help if Fickle would be a little more specific as to what he is actually against. "That do so for fun, for entertainment" is pretty broad - based and doesn't really tell me anything. Now if he had made reference to something specific, such as a high priced African Safari to go kill some magnificent animal for a head mount then I would understand but he really wasn't clear as to what he was actually opposed to.

 

[phatdoughnut]

This is less a diatribe against all hunters but those that do so for fun, for entertainment.

Not that I am a vegan or some hippy, I just don't get shooting animals and watching them die.

Personally I think most of your sport hunters are really, in the end, insecure, as that is all the power they can get in their lives.

If you want to man up, put on some gloves and do some MMA.

Outlaw hunting! If it sounds like a hippy, smells like a hippy, it must be a hippy.

 

[theficklefinger]

I'd probably be more into hunting if my dad didn't shove me inside an bloody elk carcass when I was little. He followed that up by leaving me snipe hunting for hours in a creek bed near Enterprise OR when it was about 10 degrees. Ahh, youth and a nurturing parent.

Reminds of talking to a guy in Idaho that grew up hunting to actually fill up the freezer. I asked if he hunted now, he laughed, he said they had a Safeway in town now. I've seen Eskimo interviews that went about the same way.

 

[tac]

Back in 1990, while in a hiatus during an exercise in Normark, three of us each got taken away for the weekend by a local guide/hunter/trapper to take part in a moose cull. It's a vitally necessary part of life's rich pattern up there where there is often not a lot to go around, and the indigenous Sami people need a lot of fodder for their reindeer.

On the second day, shooting a seventy-five-year-old m/38 with 140gr Norma ammunition, I 'culled' my first and only ever big game - a large bull moose [called 'elg' in Normark]. It seemed to me to give itself to me, and it dropped like a millstone at the one and only shot I fired at it, at about 75 metres. It was plainly a distressed beast, with its ribs showing, and I gave it a mercy, and respect as it lay there afterwards. It dressed out at just over 570 kilos, as it was starving. I felt great pity for its predicament and great relief that my shot had gone well. I never shot anything that big, ever again. I never needed to, either. I just know that I stood on the plate and gave my best, and it worked. End of story.

My guide went on that week to take an average of four every day, and that year almost 11,000 similar animals were culled. Here in yUK we have an overabundance of deer, to the tune of almost 400,000, but cull-shooting is not popular with an uncomprehending public who know nothing of the way that nature works. Without the efforts of the members of the BDS, thousands of deer will die miserable deaths. At least, by humane thinning of the herds, their population will benefit, and many people will eat venison that has suddenly become affordable.

The old saying is still as true today as it was when an old ghillie spoke it in the middle of the last century but one - 'unless we kill them down [sic] there will soon be none left alive'.

North America is no different. Humans are either hunters or grass eaters. In history, the hunters usually end up ruling the grass eaters.

tac

 

[RVTECH]

Reminds of talking to a guy in Idaho that grew up hunting to actually fill up the freezer. I asked if he hunted now, he laughed, he said they had a Safeway in town now. I've seen Eskimo interviews that went about the same way.

Relatively speaking in the last 100 years or so not many people (per population density) have actually 'had' to hunt to fill their freezer. If you actually have a freezer then you are not too far from civilization. Even in the latter parts of the 1800's market hunters were accounting for a large part of the meat sold to consumers and their indiscriminate slaughter nearly wiped out certain species. (Crack a history book sometime that contains information on market hunting for a real eye-opener) Most people who we hear about who hunted to 'fill their freezer' did so not so much out of necessity but more due to availability of legal game close to home, The quality of fresh game meat over standard beef and the lifestyle of the person harvesting the game, meaning if the person grew up in hunting family then the chances were greater he/she would continue the tradition providing the other elements were present, specifically availability and proximity to the game. Nowadays unless maybe some areas of Alaska, Canada and possibly some other isolated areas of the US most of us do not have the availability nor the quantity of game to 'fill a freezer' nor did we ever. For most of us even if we are lucky enough to draw a tag the per lb. cost of the game would be alarming taking all costs into consideration.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Humans are either hunters or grass eaters. In history, the hunters usually end up ruling the grass eaters.

tac

A universal truth indeed.
Thanks Tac.

 

[Burt Gummer]

+1 ^

We have Neanderthal DNA, are just animals in every sense of the word, so it is in our nature to gravitate toward killing and dominating other species and other men. We are what we are, big deal.

... as the philosopher William T. Kirk once said, "We can admit that we're killers... but we're not going to kill today."

 

[Jamie6.5]

Reminds of talking to a guy in Idaho that grew up hunting to actually fill up the freezer. I asked if he hunted now, he laughed, he said they had a Safeway in town now. I've seen Eskimo interviews that went about the same way.

I could be wrong, but given the title of this thread, I don't think you "understand" as much as you think you do.

I don't think you understand much of anything about hunting.
Sport or otherwise.

 

[westcoastal]

I fill tags. And freezer bags.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

"Hunting for sport" is a phrase right out of the mouth of the president of the Oregon HSUS. It was used in his argument against hound hunting over and over. When you say you're from Eugene and use that phrase I pretty much know who you are. Take a hike.

 

[hermannr]

This is less a diatribe against all hunters but those that do so for fun, for entertainment.

Not that I am a vegan or some hippy, I just don't get shooting animals and watching them die.

Personally I think most of your sport hunters are really, in the end, insecure, as that is all the power they can get in their lives.

If you want to man up, put on some gloves and do some MMA.

So, you would rather hire someone to do your killing for you?

 

[KalamaMark]

While I understand the need for exercise, I have no respect for fools that chase after balls of different shapes for sport.

 

[WhyteCheddar]

Amazing how killing animals 'helps' them in the hunter's logic. Haven't met a PHd hunter yet. Gosh, I wonder why.

Walk into the ODFW, you are likely to meet a few.

 

[theficklefinger]

Relatively speaking in the last 100 years or so not many people (per population density) have actually 'had' to hunt to fill their freezer. If you actually have a freezer then you are not too far from civilization. Even in the latter parts of the 1800's market hunters were accounting for a large part of the meat sold to consumers and their indiscriminate slaughter nearly wiped out certain species. (Crack a history book sometime that contains information on market hunting for a real eye-opener) Most people who we hear about who hunted to 'fill their freezer' did so not so much out of necessity but more due to availability of legal game close to home, The quality of fresh game meat over standard beef and the lifestyle of the person harvesting the game, meaning if the person grew up in hunting family then the chances were greater he/she would continue the tradition providing the other elements were present, specifically availability and proximity to the game. Nowadays unless maybe some areas of Alaska, Canada and possibly some other isolated areas of the US most of us do not have the availability nor the quantity of game to 'fill a freezer' nor did we ever. For most of us even if we are lucky enough to draw a tag the per lb. cost of the game would be alarming taking all costs into consideration.

When I was range mastering at Emerald Empire I used to ask guys about the cost of driving to Eastern Oregon to 'feed their family' and have 'non steroid meat'. Never ended well as they were arguing the indefensible.

+1 ^

We have Neanderthal DNA, are just animals in every sense of the word, so it is in our nature to gravitate toward killing and dominating other species and other men. We are what we are, big deal.

... as the philosopher William T. Kirk once said, "We can admit that we're killers... but we're not going to kill today."

Once you understand that not everyone is a child molester or terrorist, you will also logically agree that not everyone is a physicist or rocket scientist.

If an asteroid was going to hit Earth and a there was a space ship departing with limited seats...who's getting on board? Certain not someone who finds killing animals for fun and entertainment then rationalizing and justifying it with spurious facts. This is an Atlas Shrugged realization. We have evil people in the world, and we have good people.

I don't fault hunting to survive, I fault doing it for fun.

 

[Jamie6.5]

When I was range mastering at Emerald Empire I used to ask guys about the cost of driving to Eastern Oregon to 'feed their family' and have 'non steroid meat'. Never ended well as they were arguing the indefensible.

Ohhh, so that's who you are!

It seems to me you lost that argument with our group.
Unless you consider ignoring the opposition, and walking off, mumbling under your breath "winning the argument."

It didn't warrant so much as a "nice try" then, and still doesn't.
In person or on the 'net!

 

[Burt Gummer]

FickleFinger -- I am an open-minded person who believes someone who says unpopular things that tend to draw angry fire from the masses are often interesting to listen to; that said, you are more than entitled to your opinion on the matter of hunting for 'fun/sport.'

It seems most of the people that have responded to you are indeed hunters that are in it for food, to fill their deep freeze. Someone hunting for food is fine by me (who cares!). Like when I eat a chicken sandwich I don't believe the chicken died of natural causes. In fact, at least a wild animal that is shot and killed for food led a better life than an animal kept in a tiny cage and shot full of hormones.

If I was hungry I wouldn't hesitate to kill and eat an animal to live. I just don't enjoy hunting though, never really have. Like I said, because it was forced on me and it is in our nature to want what we are denied and reject what is forced upon us.

Now I should add if I lived on a property where Coyotes were ravaging my resources (from pets to chickens) I would find ENJOYMENT in some night vision and subsonic ammo. Perhaps I am still a Neanderthal, who knows.