Anyone shoot/own guns but not hunt?

[Roadkill]

I shoot and hunt weekly, sometimes several times a week. In fact I'm leaving in about an hour to go shooting and will go coyote hunting in the morning. I started hunting coyotes about 12 years ago, open season here, no limit, and I get calls from landowners from way off to please shoot these damn things. I deer hunt only because I love to eat it and my wife really knows how to fix it. I field dress then bring home the carcass, hang it in the garage, and fully process it myself. I am no survivalist by any means but I think its important to know how to do as many essential things as possible yourself, such as food preparation and reloading. I can field dress a deer in about ten minutes and have it wrapped in the freezer in a couple of hours. I try to get about four a year.

rk

 

[mack69]

Re:

I have had guns and knives all my life but never hunted. Would like to, but don't have anyone nearby anymore who does. Nearest buddy who does alot of hunting is in Wayne County Mississippi. :banghead: Keeps asking me out to hunt but thats a real long hike from the NW burbs of Chicago!.....mack

 

[Ky Larry]

Yes. I'm a non-hunter. I like to shoot ground hogs and coyote's but don't hunt any game animals anymore. When I have deer grazing in my yard it doesn't seem like much of a challenge. Besides, I made a deal with the local deer. They don't come in my house bothering me so I don't go out in the woods bothering them. After 20 years, I haven't had a single deer in my house.

 

[Bobster]

I pay someone dearly every week to slaughter beasts on my behalf, and bring their carcasses and body parts to the local grocery for my enjoyment.

I have guns, too, and will buy more of them. Same with the aforementioned services provided by others.

 

[cz75bdneos22]

i do not hunt.
i own .22,.9mm,.357 sig,.45lc,.44 spc and will soon get .45 gap.
i have a .30-.30 rifle..
i shot one bird with a bb gun.
never will do that again.

 

[Alan Fud]

Don't hunt. Never did but I see nothing wrong with it. As a matter of fact, if society ever falls apart, the hunters will be eating steak for supper while the rest of us will be eating salads -- and that's only if we're lucky!

 

[mainmech48]

I started learning to shoot at age seven in order to go hunting with my Dad. I'd gone with him and a cousin of my mother's hunting quail and deer up near Yreka, CA since I was four or five. They let me carry a "cork gun" to keep me quiet and interested.

When I was ten or eleven, I was allowed to go out for small game unaccompanied. I was always taught that it was my moral obligation to clean and eat the game animals that I had killed. In hard times, I was proud that I could help put food on our table for my family.

I hunted avidly for many years. While I was attending college on the GI Bill hunting was my main source of protein, as $238/mo. didn't stretch very far even back then.

As the years went by, I found myself spending more time just enjoying being out in the woods and fields than actively seeking game. I didn't need the meat, but I did need the quiet and the times of reflection and revelation that always came to me in those moments.

I still buy my license every year. It gives me a "socially acceptable" rationalization for ditching my day-to-day chores to spend the day loafing in the woods, digging on the peace and wonder of it all. As long as I have my firearm and that piece of paper with me, I can tell people that "I'm going hunting" instead of "I'm going to therapy". ;->>

I still take an animal very occasionally as a kind of "sacrament" for my Dad. That meal is my way of remembering the time we spent and the lessons we learned together.

 

[gggman]

I hunted when I was in high school, but haven't hunted in thirty years. I am very soft hearted toward animals, and hate to watch them die. I've shot animals to put them out of their mysery, if they were hit by cars and such.
I'm not against others hunting, and I certainly am not a vegetarian, but I don't want to partake in the slaughter.
My father cut meat for a living for 40 years, and I've watched him cut up dead animals many, many times, but they were already dead and I didn't have to see them die.
I love guns, and enjoy shooting, reloading, and working on guns, but I have absolutely zero desire to use them for killing animals.
If there was a SHTF situation, and I had to kill to put food on the table, then I know that I could and I would hunt for food.

 

[hansolo]

Y'all should be proud!

For the record, I've never hunted, except a few snakes, but would kill a predator if it were coming after a pet, a friend, or myself. I eat meat and I guess that hunting is more humane and probably healthier than slaughterhouses.

I'm very impressed that there has been NO flaming on this thread; It's nice to see the High Road in action!

 

[J. Garand]

O.K. now i hear that "I don't hunt etc. etc. etc. BUT... i will kill a coyote.
I don't get it.
You can't get the "Thrill " of the hunt, but its OK to kill a coyote?
I hunt deer. its my thing. I have taken many over the years.
I have NEVER killed anything just to kill it.
To shoot a coyote or anything else thats living just to burn it is wrong. When you get to judgement i hope there aren't a bunch of coyotes at gods feet saying "There he is! that's the guy"!

 

[Archie]

I'm a hunter at heart...

I have not hunted in years... mostly due to an inability to get anywhere to do any real hunting.

All living things live from the death of something else. Herbivores kill grass and other plants when they eat. Carnivores eat the herbivores. Us omnivores are even less picky. By the way, when most anything dies, the body decomposes and the grass and plants consume the remains. Everything, in a sense, kills to survive.

Humans are predators. Our bodies are made to eat meat and our eyes are positioned forward to track prey. For the entire history of the human race, we have been predators. It shows in the way we deal with each other, in a multitude of circumstances. I feel hunting is a better outlet for our primal nature than supression, having our predatory nature manifest itself in other ways, like crime or corporate greed or supressive politics.

For those that refuse to hunt, bear in mind that if you eat meat, you are simple shirking your responsibility to provide. To actually do the deed, to kill and skin and cut. Some have mentioned they are aware of that; good. You have come to an accomodation with yourself about you can and cannot do. For those that ignore the reality, you need to face it, one way or another.

Not everyone needs to, or should hunt. But it's healthy to understand the basis.

 

[sherpa]

hunting

i have not gone hunting since moving to s/w florida 4 years ago, the problem is i will not spend $50.00 to spend the day in a hot dove field to oossibly shoot at a few birds when i can go to the store and buy steak for less. i do love dove breast wrapped in bacon and cooked on the grill but the limit is 15 so per oz dove is not in my limited budget anymore. deer is not an option as the weather here would ruin the meat before you could get it field dressed. so the only thing i have killed in 4 years is a few clays at the local trap and skeet field. sure do miss the ocasinal feast of dove . i make do with the store bought quail or duck. i am suprised at the number of non hunters with so many posts on a forum devoted to guns.

 

[Piney]

I hunted many different animals with shotgun, rifle and bow and arrow all the way into my 30’s. All of a sudden I came to the realization that I didn’t want to kill anything anymore if I could avoid it. I have absolutely nothing against hunting. I just chose not to do it myself. I live in the woods and will shoot a pest of a coon or possum if I can’t keep them from raiding my house, but that’s about it.

 

[Detritus]

have not been in a LOOONG time. and would now only shoot an animal for three basic reasons, food, pest/varmint control, and "humane" (rabid or suffering animal) reasons.

 

[YodaVader]

I saw some large arachnid thingy coming toward me... could've been a scorpion or a tarantula, who knows. Emptied 30rds into the abomination and the surrounding grass with my AK.


Hope you took the time to fill in the crater that you made!

 

[tex_n_cal]

Dad was more of a collector of both guns (and cameras), and I have become more of a user than he was. I was always puzzled as to why I never got to go hunting when I was a teenager, since my oldest brother was taken hunting when he was younger. Years later I learned that on his first hunt, when they brought back his first deer, they walked into camp into the aftermath of a fatal accident. Similarly, when Dad was a teenager he and a friend souped up a car for racing - and the friend crashed it and was killed. I guess those two tragedies made Dad shy about risky behavior and made him so conservative. He did take me bird hunting a couple times when I was younger.

After college I moved to the big city and took up deer hunting with coworkers when I was 31 years old. The first deer I ever took was 200 yards away, walking into a stiff cross wind. I was using my handloads in a single shot .25-06. One shot, he walked maybe 20 feet and dropped. I will always be proud of that first shot, and all the preparation that went into it.

Deer hunting was lousy in California, but the scenery was gorgeous and I enjoyed myself, even though I knew darn well I wasn't going to bag one. Those big Sierra Nevada mulies will get your heart pumping when you see them. Never did draw an elk - never quite hooked up with anyone going to other western states. Hunting, just for the record, is FAR harder than target shooting!

As far as eating goes - on wild game, soak the meat in ice water for two or three days, like in a cooler. When the water gets bloody, repeat. You'll be left with little or no gamey taste. Cook the meat slowly in either a crock pot or quicker in a pressure cooker - you'll be delighted.

Invest in a meat grinder, grind the trimmings up and mix them half and half with extra lean ground beef. The result is an unusually lean, healthy and delicious burger.

Every wild animal you eat is that much less demand for beef, pork, or chicken, and that indirectly translates into less grazing pressure on the environment. A demand for wild game means more incentive for landowners and governments to maintain habitats that support wildlife.

I have no disrespect for vegatarians who respect my choices, just as long as they don't get self-righteous about it. When vegatables are grown, the land is cultivated, habitat is lost, and the wildlife that was there is displaced and often killed. This argument has shut up more than one anti-hunter who tried to claim meat-eating is immoral. You CAN make a pretty fair argument that in many ways, hunting helps the environment.

 

[PigPen]

I use to hunt extensively.......three days a week for a few years (another story). I would again if I needed the meat. Years ago, I stopped hunting because I liked store bought meat better and considered store bought was cheaper.

I am not vegetarian. But I had to be honest with myself and admit that store bought was cheaper, higher quality, more consistently available and less taxing to procure.

I also decided that since not all kills were instantaneous, store bought was probably more humanely killed.

Would I do it again for food.......You bet your A**! If it became necessary. Would I do it again for sport........I might but I would pass on questionable shots and I am not as eager as I once was.


PigPen

 

[gryphon]

Anyone who is against hunting for "trophy" purposes needs to live a couple summers in places that have an out of control white tail population. I know places in Ohio and Pennsylvania they have increased the bag limit because the deer are reproducing like rabbits.

In the last 4 or 5 years, I've seen more dead deer by the side of the roads than I have ever seen in the previous years. We actually need more hunters. I've personally experience a deer going through the windshield of a car, talk about an bad way to die! The thing thrashed around for 15 minutes before it bled out.

And for those worried about wasting the meat, it really doesn't happen if the hunters take the deer to a procesing station. There are a lot of needy families that would love to have that fresh meat.

 

[Majic]

Anyone who is against hunting for "trophy" purposes needs to live a couple summers in places that have an out of control white tail population.

Trophy hunting doesn't solve that problem. Trophy hunting actually caused it. By hunting and killing off the dominant buck you are allowing all the younger immature bucks to breed. You really need to thin out the doe population. I'll bet your increase in bag limits is an increase in the number of does you can kill. Here in Va. we have just as large or larger herd and we have long seasons coupled with generous bag limits if you choose to hunt them hard. Many large farmers are issued damage stamps as the herds are destroying crops and these only add to the number of deer you can take off your tags.

 

[Mil Novecientos Once]

I don't hunt yet.

In Puerto rico we have have 3 small game choices: feral pigs and goats (hunting them is only allowed on Mona Island) and doves in certain regions in the northwest. If I ever go hunting I'll choose bow and arrow to get some meat.

 

[another okie]

While the deer are pests here we have enough hunters (and poachers) to keep from overrunning us. The Wildlife people here have put in a doe season to deal with the problem mentioned above created by shooting only trophy bucks. It seems to be working.

I hunted small game extensively when younger, quail, dove, squirrels, rabbits, but never deer. The deer recently have killed some of my trees, so I may reconsider that. In the last few years I've only killed pests - I also seem to be getting more soft-hearted as I get older. And with the lack of public land in Oklahoma and the increasing population, it gets harder all the time to find a place to hunt.

It seems to me that most folks who hunt seem to go through a decision point at 25 or 30 and either begin to hunt all the time or give it up.

 

[Jorah]

I'm willing to hunt, but not terribly interested

I've hand-killed food with a knife (chickens) and with a .22 (domestic rabbits) and killed pests (raccons and me... are not friends) but never had the opportunity to hunt. I was invited on a dove hunt a couple years back; when I found out that I needed to take a three-evening hunter's training class, I gracefully declined the invitation. I would certainly hunt for food, and suspect that I would enjoy it somewhat. I don't care for the chore of cleaning meat; I'm not good at it, but I am careful and thorough.

So... at the moment, I am also a shooter who doesn't hunt.

 

[Nightspell]

I own several guns and do not, have never, and never will hunt for sport. I love to go freedive spearfishing though (no tanks). If I were ever to hunt for sport, it would be with bow and arrow. That's the only justifiable sport hunting I can condone, and I still think it's a little crude. I like spearfishing because it's hard. I track animals in their natural environment where I am at a disadvantage and have to stalk them on their own terms.

If you can hunt down an elk or bear or whatever with a bow and arrow or spear or knife or whathaveyou, then great! I'm impressed. But I see no sport what-so-ever in sniping animals at 300 yards with a high powered rifle and telescopic scope. You may as well hook a .50 cal on an ATV and throw grenades. It's just unsporting and petty. I know way too many people that get hard over killing animals in this manner, and they're all the same.

 

[Aikibiker]

Nightspell,

It is very fortunate that no one in this county has to limit themselves only to activities that you condone. Do you have any idea how arrogant that makes you sound? Webster's defines condone as to pardon or to imply forgiveness of. Perhaps you should try to choose your words a bit more carefully.

As for hunting with firearms or otherwise. I tried it once, and quickly came to the conclusion that until I know a lot more about the sport and have a guide to show me how it is done I should not attempt it. At least the game warden was nice.

I would very much like to learn how to hunt and dress game. I fell it is skill every man should have in his toolbox "just in case." I doubt however it would become a favored hobby of mine. I like animals to much to want to spend a lot of time trying to kill them.

 

[Black Majik]

I own guns, and never hunted


I want to though, I'd love to go deer hunting and actually try deer. I have no clue what to expect from it except my dad tells me the taste is very "wild". *** does that mean. Makes me more intrigued. Noticed I get intrigued really easily?

Maybe if I can find somewhere I'll start pheasant hunting. That looks like fun too.