Coming out of the closet

Growing up on a farm in New Richmond Ohio in the 40’s and 50’s slaughtering farm animals for food was a necessity, beef and hogs once a year chickens weekly as needed. Hunting is a natural extension of that and I suppose one can’t be a meat eater with out accepting that fact. But the average person in this country probably doesn’t give that one moment of thought.

Brutuskend said:

Good point.

At least here in Oregon they passed a road kill law, where you can pick up road kill for dinner. Though that hardly helps in removing the dent or busted windshield.
Do many other states have that road kill law?

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in Rhode Island one is entitled to take the animal but must notify DEM. Road kill deer is an important source for many gun clubs game dinners. In the past it was a source of income, game dinners I mean, until a law was passed by the Board Of Health requirIng that game meat be sourced from an inspected facility. Now no ticket sales, members only. Pretty much killed game dinners as fund raisers. My club the SSC is fortunate to have members who will respond to a call from police or DEM any time of night for picking up deer.

Apoliges a little off thread here.

DustyGmt said:

It didnt go over well, I lost alot of faith in .38spl that day and also felt like crap, 6 cylinders later....

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Six Cylinders?!?! Surely you mean six shots? I mean, cats can be hard to kill but every one I've ever had the misfortune to put down took 1 .22 short was done. Of course, if you were shooting FMJ then all bets are off. Same goes for LRN. Just not enough body mass to make the bullet expand. I had a similar situation happen to me involving my .357 and a marauding possum. In your situation however, I'd have felt more sorry for the cat than I did the possum. But I do understand.

Mac

MacAR said:

Six Cylinders?!?! Surely you mean six shots? I mean, cats can be hard to kill but every one I've ever had the misfortune to put down took 1 .22 short was done. Of course, if you were shooting FMJ then all bets are off. Same goes for LRN. Just not enough body mass to make the bullet expand. I had a similar situation happen to me involving my .357 and a marauding possum. In your situation however, I'd have felt more sorry for the cat than I did the possum. But I do understand.

Mac

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Yes 6 shots, FMJ. It was a bad day. I felt awful. I acted quickly because I know it had been suffering for at least 20 mins. Then i started wondering if i could have got it fixed up at the vet.... I'm an animal lover, my wife is too but x10.

DustyGmt said:

Yes 6 shots, FMJ. It was a bad day. I felt awful. I acted quickly because I know it had been suffering for at least 20 mins. Then i started wondering if i could have got it fixed up at the vet.... I'm an animal lover, my wife is too but x10.

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I figured that's what you meant, and yes, that would've been a bad day. I'm an animal lover/tolerator. I have my dog, her name is Sam, and she lives on the porch. She likes to hunt, so that I guess that makes us pretty compatible. My wife is an animal lover to the nth degree. She loves her kitties (the dozen or so that live in the barn; this is the "tolerate" part) and her pet rooster gets hand fed breakfast and supper. She's not gonna kill anything, except maybe if something is messing with her critters. I'm the vet around the farm, and a pretty fair one that. Mostly I can fix the little fellers up, but sometimes I can't. So, I do what needs to be done and have done with it. Still gives me a little wrench in my guts, though. Anyhow, sorry for leading us astray.

Mac

MacAR said:

Six Cylinders?!?! Surely you mean six shots? I mean, cats can be hard to kill but every one I've ever had the misfortune to put down took 1 .22 short was done. Of course, if you were shooting FMJ then all bets are off. Same goes for LRN. Just not enough body mass to make the bullet expand. I had a similar situation happen to me involving my .357 and a marauding possum. In your situation however, I'd have felt more sorry for the cat than I did the possum. But I do understand.

Mac

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There's not enough body mass in a cat to make a hollow point .38sp expand much, if at all, so FMJ or not it won't matter. The key is shot placement. I've put enough coons, possums, ground hogs, and skunks "to sleep" with .22 LRN that I know a solid bullet will kill them instantly. When an animal is trapped or seriously injured you can typically get close enough that it's essentially a point-blank shot to the skull.

bassjam said:

There's not enough body mass in a cat to make a hollow point .38sp expand much, if at all, so FMJ or not it won't matter. The key is shot placement. I've put enough coons, possums, ground hogs, and skunks "to sleep" with .22 LRN that I know a solid bullet will kill them instantly. When an animal is trapped or seriously injured you can typically get close enough that it's essentially a point-blank shot to the skull.

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It was dragging itself away from me and making it rather difficult to get a good shot, that and I had gotten myself upset and was probably off my game. In the future I would handle it differently. Close enough to almost touch.

Been there.
Done that.
Wound up having to use a club.

bikerdoc said:

I hung for meat and varmint control.
Killing communists never bothered me.

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Then better days may be in the offing.......Mod
delete if beyond boundaries .........

I am not a hunter because no time. But I eat meat, and I do not have a problem with killing something if my intention is to eat it.

Except for spiders. I don't eat spiders.

I grew up in a family of hunters. Spent many cold mornings in the tree stand. Go home, hang up the bow, grab the shotgun and turn the beagles loose. Be warmed up just in time to go freeze in the stand that evening. Last 2 years my beagle was alive, we hunted without a gun. Haven't bow hunted in 10 years and if I have time (and my dad feels up to it) I'll gun hunt for deer and absolutely not care if I see or shoot any. Still love venison, but it's not a necessity. I'm not going to kill anything without a really good reason, but it's comforting knowing that I have experience and knowledge and skills to do so if necessary.

I do however enjoy taking turkey calls when I go mushroom hunting, just to see how close they'll come. Ever turkey hunt without camo?

I won't hunt for trophies.... if I'm not going to eat it, I won't hunt it... and the Mrs. won't cook or eat venison, so I haven't hunted since I was in my 20s...

Now vermin is a different story. I hate meeces to pieces and will kill as many as I can. I'm also about to wage war on chipmunks. Since our dog died this past summer, the little monsters have overrun the place. They're real cute, until they chew up your motorcycle seat

SSN Vet said:

Now vermin is a different story ...

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See if you can find a copy of Peter Capstick's article, Backyard Safari. It's a fun read.

ETA: Here's the text.

Legionnaire said:

See if you can find a copy of Peter Capstick's article, Backyard Safari. It's a fun read.

ETA: Here's the text.

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O.K. that... was funny

Yep, couldn’t guess the prey was a bit surprised.

If I'd have written a narrative of my rat sniping sessions at the dump up at the cabin, it would have been a cross between that and White Feather, by Carlos Hathcock.

I've only hunted coyotes because they were killing my sisters ducks and chickens. Still felt bad.

And rattlers that get too close to the home for comfort.

So, following the "don't shoot something unless you're going to eat it" philosophy, was your grandfather intending to eat any intruders he might have shot?

Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to "bust your chops" over the adage, but I am trying to point out that taken literally, such an adage is 1) unlawful, and 2) immoral (constituting cannibalism).

I empathize with you I don't like killing anything in the critter world with the one exception snd that is squirrels, I hate squirrels. Its not like I am looking to go out of my way to knock em off but I do thin the population, jus sayin.

They might view your actions as genocide.....

I wouldn't kill anything unless it was a threat, or I needed food. I am lucky enough to be able to afford to buy the meat I need. There is no challenge or thrill to hunting for sport, I've never understood it.

I know a guy going pig hunting in texas, to kill as many in a week as possible. They are Feral wd boars, and the are ruining hks friend's 1200 acre ranch, so I get that. I probably wouldn't do it though. The whole "What if they have babies" thing got me after I had kids.

Pregnant sows are a bonus.

peeplwtchr said:

. I probably wouldn't do it though. The whole "What if they have babies" thing got me after I had kids.

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If they have babies, that’s more vermin to ruin thousands of dollars of your land and crops.

I’m not typically into killing just to kill, and I’ve pretty much given up hunting. But, if I were a rancher I’d kill every one on sight

Nothing wrong with that. I have been both a shooter and hunter since my early teens, since age 8 if you want to include a BB gun. I had hoped my son and daughter would take an inteterest, when they didn't I hid my disappointment, but I accepted it and never did I try to force it on them.

I dont feel bad killing rats at all. i admit I enjoy taking their lives. I dont hunt them for food either. if that makes me a bad man, so be it.