Hunting poll

[Ktulu]

I find the choices in this poll...lacking.

I hunt to have hunted. Everything else: the kill, the sport, the meat, the trophy is superfluous.

 

[Newt]

I voted sport, however, I'm not a trophy hunter. I will hunt whatever is legal to hunt. To quote Ktulu... "I hunt to have hunted." I hunt with friends and family that make the hunt much more enjoyable. So I'll have to say 1 & 2.

 

[jdkelly]

I hunt for the enjoyment.

I hunt for the experience.


I'll shoot a buck and use the meat, but I won't shoot a doe for its meat.

If someone in camp wants meat I'll shoot a doe on my tag (late in the week) and give most of the meat to them.


Respectfully,

jdkelly

 

[aerod1]

I hunt for fun and sport but I do eat the meat.

Jim

 

[Werewolf]

I haven't hunted since I was a teenager and hunted with my father. I am now 52.

IMO:

1) if one hunts for food fine.

2) if one hunts for sport but eats what one kills or makes it available to others then fine.

3) if one hunts for sport and just takes the trophy leaving a dead animal in the wild then one is little better than a psychopathic killer. Killing for killing's sake and keeping a reminder of it is just wrong. Jeffrey Dahmer did that only he kept his trophies in the freezer (ate some too if I remember right).

[rant mode on]
Regarding #3 I suppose if one is just into the sport and the killing that it would be OK if you took the animal on in a manner that would give it even odds of taking the hunter out. Deer are pretty tough but killing one with a gun really isn't all that difficult once you find it. Try taking one on with just your bare hands, a knife or a rope and the game is now a real challenge. Wanna hunt bear or lion take it on with a knife, a spear or bow. If there's no danger to the hunter and he kills just to kill and have a reminder then he is an aberation of nature and nature is better off without him...
[rant mode off]

 

[DigMe]

3) if one hunts for sport and just takes the trophy leaving a dead animal in the wild then one is little better than a psychopathic killer. Killing for killing's sake and keeping a reminder of it is just wrong. Jeffrey Dahmer did that only he kept his trophies in the freezer (ate some too if I remember right).

Personally, I'm of the opinion that there's a difference between killing people and animals (I share that opinion with the laws of our country as well). I don't do the above, except maybe with nuisance animals for which there is no trophy to take, but you sure are being presumptious by assuming that a person who does that is killing just because they like killing. The real stretch though is comparing them to Jeffrey Dahmer.

brad cook

 

[rust collector]

Hunting is, for me, more than sport and more than subsistence. It's a connection with my ancestors, family members, and my friends. It's a good opportunity to get a little closer to the earth, to smell the wetlands and listen to the redwing blackbirds. Tromping along the edge of a tree belt or sampling the bass population of a stock dam in the middle of nowhere is just plain and simple joy.

Yeehaw. I think I'll have to dig out my hunting gear and go. It's the best time of year to be right here.

 

[Can'thavenuthingood]

Grew up in Minnesota eating squirrel, deer, pheasant, duck and goose. Every deer season the farmhouse would fill up with Dad's buddies and they'd fill the tag.

Me and younger brother were used as dogs to scare up pheasant. Had fun running through the brush, one of the few times we made noise.

I last hunted in 1974, since then huntings been confined to the local meat counter. Everytime I went back home Dad or someone I was visiting would haul out some venison steaks or sausage. But that was years ago.

Howcum we can't get venison in the supermarkets or a niche store? Seems it would be profitable for some cattle rancher somewhere. They are raising Ostrich, Emu's and Buffalo, why not Bambi?

Two summers ago I was in Minnesota and the Geese were everywhere, many, many more than I remember as a kid. I filmed a gaggle of fifty seven in my brother in laws yard, lotta food there. Same with the deer, seems they are everywhere sticking their tongues out at you. Hunting regs must have gotten fairly tight or there are fewer hunters. Or more hunters that need practice in stealth and shooting.

Vick

 

[Werewolf]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that there's a difference between killing people and animals (I share that opinion with the laws of our country as well). I don't do the above, except maybe with nuisance animals for which there is no trophy to take, but you sure are being presumptious by assuming that a person who does that is killing just because they like killing. The real stretch though is comparing them to Jeffrey Dahmer.

I should have included in my list that killing vermin (creatures that negatively impact humans and their environment) is also not only acceptable but necessary.

OTOH I stand by my statement that killing just for killing's sake and taking a reminder of it is just plain wrong. Psychopathic may be an overstatement but not by very much. There is something just fundamentally wrong with killing a living creature that is doing one no harm, is minding its own business and isn't need as food for another - be it a man or some lower form of animal life. As far as I know only man kills for any purpose other than the acquisition of food, a mate or territory.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Do people who hunt mountain goat eat them ? What about big game hunters in Africa ? Do they eat everything they shoot ? To me it would seem that this is primarily for sport, although I'm sure the indigenous peoples of Africa like to eat or consume many things we would not. You know, buzzards gotta eat, same as worms..................

The Canadian geese population is really getting out of hand. They seem to have figured out that they can hang out darn near anywhere with no natural predation. I think we need EXTENDED SEASONS !!!!!!!!

 

[auschip]

As far as I know only man kills for any purpose other than the acquisition of food, a mate or territory.

Cats do, elephants do (out of boredom), dogs do also (my inlaws have a lab that hates possums, but he might be abnormal).

With regard to killing game and leaving the meat, it is illegal in most if not all states. It has been discussed here before, but for some reason people have this idea that trophy hunting involves only taking the hide and horns and leaving everything else to rot. I'm not sure why they think that, but it is patently false.

I consider myself a trophy hunter because I will pass on a small or immature buck. I still shoot my limit of does every year, and butcher and eat what I kill.

 

[iamkris]

I'm really between 1&2. I don't NEED to harvest my own food but it cements my place in the natural order of things. I don't condone pure sport/trophy hunting, e.g., no use for the animal outside of pure killing and/or to have the head on a wall. That said, it is not my place to change what others do.

 

[DigMe]

What about big game hunters in Africa ? Do they eat everything they shoot ?

Usually the meat goes to local villages. I think that's the law in a lot of places and those villages rely on the meat of the foreign hunters.

brad cook

 

[jojosdad]

I agree with Rabbit and Terry:

I hunt for meat. I don't hunt for antlers.

I hunt to reduce the varmints that the local natural predators can't/don't take care of to balance out the ecological equasion.

I hunt because it helps define who I am, both to myself and to my family and friends.

I hunt because it's as much a social occasion as the quest for meat.

I hunt, therefore I am.

I don't hunt for trophies but have no problem with people who do if they use the meat.

BTW - one of my favorite bumper stickers (drives the PETA folk nuts, too)
I LOVE ANIMALS - THEY'RE DELICIOUS!

 

[Atticus]

I agree with the others....I hunt for many reasons....and ET- people benefit far more from hunting funds than the reverse. Every state owned public shooting range in Ohio is on state game lands. Besides what would a box of ammo cost if it were not for the "ecomomy of scale" benefit provided by hunters in relation to the cost of brass, powder, primer, labor, etc.? I'm sure it would far exceed the small tax charged.

 

[WhiteKnight]

I once read a quote that stated
"A bowhunter is one who sees how close he can get to game before taking it, while an archer is one who sees how far away they can be."

sorry if I managed to butcher it. i'm recalling it from off the top of my head

I fall into the "archer" (or in my case, rifleman) category of the above statement. I have an unquenchable interest in firearms and shooting itself, and hunting is merely a chance for me to put to use the tool which I value so highly. I enjoy choosing the gun/load/sighting in.....examination of wound channel/damage etc. almost more than I enjoy hunting itself.

 

[Mannlicher]

I did not play with the poll, cause it did not list, to me, the most important reasons.
I hung because I love nature, and I love being outdoors. I hunt because hunting pits my skills in the woods against the prey's skills. Win loose, or draw, its an exciting contest.
I don't trophy hunt. I don't hunt with dogs. I eat what I kill. My time in the woods is as important as any success I have with the hunt.
I hunt because the woods is a great place to get away. Being alone in Nature gives one time to think, to reflect. Its like a battery recharge. Being in the woods, gives one a new perspective on Nature, on life, on our place in everything.


I hunt because I love to.

 

[Kim]

I hunt and eat what I kill. I will kill varmits that are causing problems. I don't need to hunt to eat. I wanted to prove to myself that I could kill, clean and feed myself. I connects me to a more honest time of human existence. I don't like to kill but there is a felling of being more in touch with myself. I did not want to loose that ability. And who knows someday I might have to know how to kill,clean and prepare wild meat. We live in a culture where killing is a bad word. But I think that instinct and ability is an important aspect of human nature( all nature really). Anyway it is hard to explain. Maybe since I am female it gives me a more true complete aspect of myself.

 

[jeff-10]

Fishing is great where I live but the hunting kind of sucks. I often consider moving just so I could hunt regularly during season.

 

[Michigander]

I was torn between sport and food. I chose sport because I don't "have to" hunt for food, but that is certainly a great pleasure of it all.

The real reason is to enjoy the time with nature and friends.

 

[cracked butt]

Regarding #3 I suppose if one is just into the sport and the killing that it would be OK if you took the animal on in a manner that would give it even odds of taking the hunter out. Deer are pretty tough but killing one with a gun really isn't all that difficult once you find it. Try taking one on with just your bare hands, a knife or a rope and the game is now a real challenge. Wanna hunt bear or lion take it on with a knife, a spear or bow. If there's no danger to the hunter and he kills just to kill and have a reminder then he is an aberation of nature and nature is better off without him...

Predators don't believe in sports or even odds, they use what God gave them to take game. Bears have claws, sharks have teeth and speed, humans have brains. There are still African tribes that hunt Lions with spears, however, they hunt in groups of 10-20 men, they aren't fools and they don't have any false notion of 'sporting' .

 

[Werewolf]

cracked butt correctly pointed out:

Predators don't believe in sports or even odds, they use what God gave them to take game. Bears have claws, sharks have teeth and speed, humans have brains. There are still African tribes that hunt Lions with spears, however, they hunt in groups of 10-20 men, they aren't fools and they don't have any false notion of 'sporting' .

Thanks for proving my point.

Predators hunt for food. It's what they do.
The tribes you reference that hunt lions do it out of necessity. The lions are in direct competition with them for food. Lions are vermin to them.

Neither noted example is hunting for for sport as was correctly pointed out.

Killing animals out of necessity, to control over population or for food is a totally correct, proper and often necessary thing to do. If one enjoys that then so much the better for the one doin it.

BUT!Killing animals just for the sake of killing and to take home a reminder is a totally incorrect thing to do. It is against nature. It is an aberation. It is sick!

Lions are big, strong and have claws but the prey they hunt have great hearing and can run very fast. I've read that the lion loses 90% of the time.

Ya wanna hunt for the challenge of it all. Ya wanna hunt because yur a sick bastard that enjoys killing then do it with the same odds of winning that your average predator has. Don't wanna die then take on the vegetarians of nature just like animal predators do but don't use a gun. The only challenge in that is finding the animal. Killing it then becomes a no brainer with a gun.

If the tracking down of one's prey and the thrill of the chase is what one is into then a camera would do as well as a gun would when all is said and done.

Man's at the top of the food chain for a reason - brains. Killing those on lower rungs is altogether right and proper for almost every reason other than because we can. We're at the top - yes - and with that position comes some responsibility. Most recognize that. Some it seems - DON'T.

 

[Zach S]

I dont hunt, never really took an interest.

Trophy hunters don't bother me, as long as they eat the meat or give it to someone (one of my co-workers knows a guy that does this, he doesnt seem to mind, lol). But IMO taking the neck up home to put over the fireplace and leaving the rest in the woods is wrong.

 

[ducktapehero]

I hunt for food. That is when I actually have time to hunt.

 

[auschip]

taking the neck up home to put over the fireplace and leaving the rest in the woods is wrong.

And illegal.