I hunt, and I consider myself pro-hunting, and pro-guns. Yet, I usually only hunt for something I will eat (sure I'll take a trophy from a deer if I am lucky enough to get one, but I'll eat the venison too). That is how I prefer to hunt. Still though, I have nothing against trophy hunting or varmint hunting. As for trophy hunting, those guys usually pass up shots that I would think are the shot of a lifetime, to wait for something better. Sometimes they shoot nothing for a few seasons, because they are awaiting the monster buck or whatever. As to varmints, I have shot a few of them over the years for pest control. I see nothing wrong with it when others do it within legal limits set by the states. I see no reason to have to eat a porcupine, a rat, a prairie dog, a woodchuck, a coyote that someone shoots to rid their land of varmints. I am kind of against shooting animals just for the sake of killing something, and I have seen plenty of people, who are in my opinion jerks, who get quite excited by doing just that.
I see quite a distinction between a hunter and a killer. The thrill of a good hunt is not in the kill alone; in fact most of it is in the hard work coming to a good end, kill or no kill. The thrill of shooting sitting ducks, or the like, is usually in the act of the kill for the twisted person who does not believe in the fair hunt, and the ethics of a huntsman. Yes I am against that type of so called hunting, just as I am against poaching. In order for a hunt to be ethical, there should be some end in sight beyond just killing. In fact all of the animal, or as much as is reasonable, should be used after the kill. This does not mean you have to eat a porcupine. What is does mean is that if you bag a trophy buck for a trophy, you should make an effort to use the meat. Either eat it yourself, give it to a friend, give it to a homeless shelter (many such places take deer meat during the season).
There is quite the difference between hunting ethics and shooting or gun owning ethics; but each interest comes with an ethical way of doing things as opposed to an irresponsible way of doing them. As hunters, firearms enthusiasts, sportsman, we should try to remember this and we should try to support one another as much as possible because our interests are very closely at least indirectly. One thing we can all be certain of, is that the extremists see us as a group of one, and they would certainly like to divide us as Zumbo recently did. Divide and conquer is a very practical way of achieving an end to your enemies - and we as shooters, gun collectors, hunters, and the like are the enemies of the antigun and anti-hunting crowds. So even if you don't see yourself as ever being a hunter, you can support the right to hunt. Even if you hunt with bow and arrows, and never see yourself picking up a gun, you can support the right to keep and bear arms of all types. We rally need to support one another in this fight for our freedoms, because you see, that is what the antis are against, they are anti-freedom for anyone who would disagree with them when it comes right down to it.
All the best,
Glenn B
