Poll: Hunting

[flare09]

Honestly, I don't care. But it kind of has to be done cuz if deer and other animals like that aren't kept under control, then they'll over populate and die out.

 

[Lost In The Void]

The only thing I find wrong with hunting is the odds. I mean it's you with a scoped rifle and enough bullets to carve a smiley face on it's skin vs an animal(quite possibly with a family) who's just trying to survive in the world we're all already trying to demolish. Some people might say it's the same as eating meat but I don't buy that. Those animals were grown and killed for that particular reason(food), cruel but it doesn't upset any balance. People however hunt the strongest and the fastest, which means not only do they kill a creature that was... you know... just out for a morning stroll, but also fuck up the balance because they keep killing the leaders. Natural selection is NOT the same thing, it's always the weakest that get taken down and if you find any fun in taking down weak and sick animals, you are sick! Hunting is and always was fine as a matter of survival. So if you're hunting the critter because you are starving, then ya it's okey dokey, if you're hunting it for sport (tho the definition of sport in this area is strange, because sport is about something hard to achieve, not sitting on your ass in a tent waiting to pull the trigger) I find that weird.

ok have you went hunting it's alot harder than that you have to stalk the animal an if you make too much noise that 'ol deer goes running about and you sure as hell won't catch up to him. If you use a tree stand it's a different experience where you wait for your quarry but i don't have the paitence for that so i've only done it once. There is nothing wrong with hunting and it's alot more humane then some of those animal farms

 

[latenightapplepie]

When done to protect the stabliity of the ecosystem, eg in Australia killing the NON-NATIVE bunny rabbits, then by all means.

For food? Similarly, go nuts. Just in moderation.

Solely for sport? Not a chance. Just try and do either of the first two while having fun.

ALWAYS: Be as humane as possible, and be very careful with your firearms/bows/whatever. Especially if you happen to be a US Vice President.

 

[linchowlewy]

My view is that if you are going to hunt, you better eat EVERYTHING you kill. Otherwise, you're just getting pleasure (and not food) out of killing a living thing. I find that pretty sick and perverse.

sums up my thoughts exactly.

my other thought on the argument is this; it's unfair. you get a .50 cal rifle and what does the deer have, NOTHING! i only accept hunting for sport if you even the playing field: going against a deer with your bare hands or something. even then you should still eat the meat.

 

[Fangface74]

Hunting..a cool sounding word for an archaic, now cowardly practice.

 

[ace_of_something]

My grandfather worked for the parks department for 30 years; so Hunting was required by my family.

Hunting must have a purpose though. Never purely for sport.
This is why i don't hunt deer cuz i don't like the taste.

Duck Hunting! Yum.

 

[Typecast]

As a vegetarian, I have nothing against hunting, as long as it's done in an environmentally responsible way, with proper permits.
I did join a bow-hunters club once, and that was fun, shooting at targets and dummies up and down densly forested gullys. But I don't think I would shoot at a deer or goat or boar myself. As far as I'm concerned the pest species in Australia are anyones game in the bush. Just don't hit a dog or cat with a collar while you're out there.

 

[dukethepcdr]

I grew up hunting. My grandpa, dad and their friends used to take me deer, pheasant, wild goose and duck hunting every year. I've shot quite a few ducks and geese but only ever got one deer. I helped dress each animal we brought home from the time I was old enough to be of any help. We also always ate everything we shot and gave the bones etc to our dogs, so we've never shot anything and left it lay there. It's part of my heritage.

I learned at a young age to respect all kinds of weapons and to never treat them like toys. I learned the safe way to use a BB gun and hunted with it when I was only 7. When I was 9 I moved up to a 20 gauge single action shot gun. I've fired every gun my dad has since then. Even his black powder muzzle loader that I helped him build from a kit. I never once hurt myself nor any person. I think there would be a lot fewer accidents involving kids and guns if someone took the time to actually teach the kids to respect guns and how to use the properly and not to fool around with them. Don't just lock them away, teach the kids they are a tool and how to use them right. Let the kid shoot it when he's big enough at targets. Almost every kid in the small town I grew up in had guns in the house and most of them hunted with their families with those guns. No one ever shot anyone else accidentally or otherwise the whole time I lived there.

I'd like to see some of these gamers who are so good with FPS games try to shoot as well with a real gun. It's quite a bit different than a controller, even the gun shaped ones.

 

[Graustein]

Hunting for giggles and shits is no.
Hunting for a purpose... you're free to do it if you must, but I don't think I can do it.

 

[Sewblon]

I don't hunt but I eat wild game so I hold that it is our right as the dominant species to hunt other creatures.

 

[742]

well, over here i hear the word "hunting" i picture a bunch of idiots in camo with sniper rifles and laser sites with twice as many bottles of beer as bullets-of which there is no shortage. thats downright dangerous, and dont say its a sport, no, im sorry, but sometime around the point when your aiming a sniper rifle at a rabbit hole, tracking it with ground penetrating radar, flooding the caves with contaminated water and covering all possible points of escape with land mines and remote detonated explosives it ceases to be a sport. thats just my opinion though.

but even more than that... it just seems mean, i understand the that we killed off all the natural predators, and its what needs to be done in some cases, it just seems like there should be a better way.

 

[rossatdi]

As long as the hunter eats the animal its fine. Not very manly in general though. Shooting something an all, well done. Maybe if you killed a grizzly with a knife I'd give you props but not otherwise.

 

[ianuam]

If it's for food, then it's fine in my books. If it's for 'sport' then i find it sickening.

 

[DannyDeparted]

food-Yes ... purely for the fun-No

 

[GothmogII]

If it -is- for sport...why not hunt with a non-lethal weapon? Maybe some kind paint ball gun? Although...that might be considered cruel and unusual, don't want lots of startled multi-colored animals running around the place...

 

[meece]

Dunno about it really. I mean I shoot on ranges but never against a moving target so it does sound interestingly different....

But then I think - I have no idea what how to go about it, what to do once I've tried it and if I killed something what to do about it and also how cruel I'd be to have shot something....

I think I'll stick to my rifle ranges and leave other people shoot animals if they want. Fewer moral dilemmas/questions involved.

 

[Baby Tea]

Shooting deer on the other hand, I have no problem with. You use the meat, they're bred for that purpose. Or in the states, some places have a lot of them and they need killing for the ecosystem to survive.

Yup and yup.

Shooting for the sake of killing? No way.
Shooting to get the meat? Sure, why not?

And if you enjoy it WHILE getting the meat, then all the better.

 

[chronobreak]

Hunters are cowards. You wanna be a "real man" take the animal down with what the gods gave you.
Anyway I dont really have a problem with hunting as long as you are doing it for food. If you do it for sport then I hope you get shot one day.
Plus if you are going to shoot something you better bloody well make sure you kill it. Most people would be lazy and if it ran away just let it go somewhere and suffer till it dies unlike my father who once chased a hare around a paddock for 10 minutes trying to finish it off and put it out of its misery after he missed and only took of its leg.
*edit*
btw ever been to a slaughter house? I was doing sparky work in one once and I kept thinking would the employees be really upset if they came in and saw a bunch of humans in various states of slaughter.

God gave man hands. Those hands made machines that manufacture guns, right? That's a pretty lame argument man, especially bringing God into it and all. Even people hundreds of years ago used spears and bows, and not only was hunting about eating, it was a rite of passage in some cultures, I believe. Like, if you went out on a hunt, you were a man. So, I don't understand how hunters are cowards.

I hunt for sport, but I eat what I kill. I enjoy it a lot. Goes to show you can have it both ways. I'm not a bloodthirsty maniac who goes into the woods with a minigun and grenades. I sit patiently, take my shot only when I can be reasonably sure it's a kill, and drag that deer out, gut it, and store it for whenever. And let me tell you, it is not cowards' work.

I have never been to a slaughterhouse, no, but explain how a slaughterhouse is equal to hunting, and what humans in various states of slaughter have to do with hunting, because I don't see a correlation.

Broad generalizations of people you've never met, calling hunters cowards, is no way to make a formidable point in a discussion.

 

[Trilby]

Hunters are cowards. You wanna be a "real man" take the animal down with what the gods gave you.

Brushing aside the theology, man's attributes are intelligence and opposable thumbs; stemming from that, the ability to create and use tools. And how exactly is it cowardly? Because you're killing something lower down the ladder than yourself? I suppose if you were to really push it you could describe that as sadistic or something, but not cowardly. I just don't see the logic.

However, I agree with you about ensuring the kill, as would (I sincerely hope) any other participant in hunting or shooting. To my mind, and the traditions and codes of the shoots to which I belong, killing an animal is acceptable if:

>It is eaten or used. It doesn't matter whether that was the main object of killing the animal provided that something is done with the body.
>It is vermin and is being exterminated. In such a case you wouldn't really be expected to use the body in any way, though you can combine this with the above (for example deer culling or rabbit snares near your vegetables).

Also, to all those saying that hunting for food is acceptable while for sport is repulsive (there are so many of you), have you considered that the two can be combined? After a good day's pheasant shooting, tally is kept of the birds shot, the best shooter is rewarded and records made, but all the birds are taken home and frozen to be eaten at a later date. Fun and food.