So am I a complete wussy or what?

[cslinger]

You know I love to shoot and have shot just about every type of firearm under the sun. Bolt action, lever action, semi auto, full auto, 20mm, .50 caliber etc.

All that being said I just cannot ever seeing having the heart to actually hunt or shoot an animal. Ok ducks maybe but they are just fish with wings, but I digress.

My point is I see pictures of some of your folks prairie dog kills etc. and I actually feel bad for the little critters. I know they are pests and I have no problem with hunting or hunters etc. but unless I am hungry or threatened I just cannot see ME killing a living thing.

Now all that being said if any of you would like to send me any venison I would be happy to eat it and let you know how it was, I could even send back a couple of recipes or two if you like Yep guess that makes me a wussy hypocrite as well.

Anyway any other gun owners out there that would have a hard time actually plugging bambi or a poor little praire dog?

Cslinger resident THR gun owning wuss.

 

[peacefuljeffrey]

The last time I shot an animal for sport/fun, I was a teenager, and I used a BB gun to shoot a mourning dove that was in a branch over our pool area. It fell to the concrete, injured but not dead, and I had to shoot it several more times with my BB gun to kill it. It seemed to suffer a lonnnnng time, and resist dying.

I hated the experience. I killed it for absolutely no good reason other than it was thrilling to hunt it and shoot it.

I am no wussy. I just don't approve of reckless killing. I feel there is nothing wrong with hunting for meat -- even despite the anti-hunting mantra of "You can get your meat at the supermarket." (Yeah, and those animals are treated soooo much better than the deer lives in the wild, right? ) I just don't like doing it, myself. I mean the meaningless killing. I feel that I could hunt for food, but I don't currently live where it is possible, and I don't currently need to do it to sustain myself. I would never drive 200 miles to the wilderness and then kill something and then bring it back for food. If I were going to hunt for food, it would be because I was actually out living where store-bought meat was no more available to me than hunted meat.

-Jeffrey

 

[Sindawe]

Anyway any other gun owners out there that would have a hard time actually plugging bambi or a poor little praire dog?

Plugging bambi?
Not a lot of meat on a fawn, but I guess I would if hungry enough and there was no other game about.

Shooting prarie dogs? What's the point? Again, not much meat on 'em, and those few times I've seen varmant shooting videos, there is not much left of the critter after being hit.

 

[3rdpig]

I hunted for years as a younger man and hated it, I kept my hate to myself because I love the comraderie and getting away from the city into the woods. Despite the fact that I was the best marksman amoung my hunting buddies, I was always the one to come back without an animal. Eventually as I got older and wasn't afraid to state my feelings, I let it be known that while I'm not about to quit eating meat, I just have no desire to kill an animal myself. I've still got tons of guns, go to the range weekly, love shooting and firmly believe in the 2nd and in self defense and defense of the country, but I just love animals too much to want to kill one personally. Funny, I don't feel the same about some humans!

 

[Kamicosmos]

I went deer hunting a couple times. Only killed a deer once. I didn't much care for it. The killing part that is.

Others hunting doesn't bother me, and actually I would like to try both praire dog and turkey hunting sometime.

I think it's "OK" to not like to kill a living creature. But, as you already mentioned, hunting is neccessary. I'm glad there are lots of people that like hunting. And I think alot of hunters don't like to Kill, it's the challenge of the hunt that draws them.

 

[Tony Mig]

Ditto what 3rdpig said.......

 

[Vernal45]

NOPE, you are not a wussy. The only shot I will take at Bambi, or any other critter, is a camera shot.



NOW, if the SHTF, and I had to provide food for my family, thats a different story.

 

[BryanP]

Hi, my name is Bryan, and I'm a wuss.


Honestly, I could kill an animal in self defense or to put it out of it's misery. I might be convinced to do it for food, but probably not. I prefer to stalk the Wild Frozen Foods Aisle. I don't think I could kill anything just for sport or enjoyment. I don't see the attraction.

 

[P95Carry]

The main component of any hunt is for me - everything that leads up to the kill - the environment,the sounds and smells, sometimes the company - tho I have usually been a lone hunter.

The kill itself - has never given me any pleasure per se and the older I get the more I need very good reason for the kill. It must in my conscience be for food, or at least for very strong reasons of control. A kill must also be the most immediate and ''clean'' that I can make it.

If we had P Dogs here I could control those as I might groundhogs here, when numbers have been productive of problems. Again - no half measures with technique - kills must be instant.

Back in approx 1995 I helped out a farmer who was overrun with rabbits - and took 134 thru the summer season. Initially some were eaten and the dogs ate some too - in the end - no one wanted more rabbit!. It was a hunt for one purpose only - erradication. The only one of those 134 that suffered at all was the one day I had only got solid 22's instead of HP's. Despite a good hit the critter ran off to its burrow and I know would have died slowly. That gave me considerable cause for remorse.

All the others were total sudden kills and I accepted that what I was doing was little more than an ecological ''adjustment''. So - bottom line - for me no ''killing for killing's sake'' - must have what I consider good reason. That could well include a rabid animal or ferocious attacking dog etc.

These days I do not hunt much at all.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

Loving shooting, and not wanting to hunt, are two completely different things.

I do a heckuva lot more shooting than I do hunting, and when I hunt, I don't always do any shooting. And while I have absolutely no problem with killing an animal, I absolutely HATE to make it suffer. A quick, clean, humane kill is what I strive for. On the rare occasion that I must make more than one shot, I berate myself for inflicting suffering on the animal.

Meanwhile, anti-gunning and anti-hunting are most certainly intertwined-show me one from either group that doesn't also fully support the other group. They would love nothing more than to achieve their goal of getting shooters to oppose hunters, because once the hunters are gone, there's only the shooters to go after.

Sam

 

[bakert]

I've been a hunter since age 10 but have a friend with a gun collection that makes me drool and there's no way he would shoot an animal. In fact he seldom shoots his guns except very occasionally try a new one out on paper. No way this big burly outspoken man's a wuss. You don't have to hunt to enjoy guns. Had another friend that was a fine trap and skeet shooter that was not a hunter either. Use your gun as you see fit for your enjoyment.
By the way, my wife shoots handguns with me at times but there's no way she would shoot an animal either but she loves those deer chops, steaks, venison burger etc.

 

[Surefire]

No interest in hunting. No interest in killing for sport. No interest in killing for fun.

I have no problem with legitimate hunters, its just not my cup of tea. IMO, legitimate hunting is a good thing, it keeps the animal count down and is good on the ecosystem, and plus the animals get eaten.

I do not really respect true sport shooters, those that go out and kill animals just to put an animal head on their wall (and don't end up eating any part of the animal). Nor do I respect those that just kill for the thrill of it. Case in point, I have distant cousins that will shoot anything that moves, and have killed magnificant birds like bald eagles (which was an endangered species at one time). I also have an uncle that kills deer just to pin heads on the wall--he doesn't eat the meat.

I don't understand the menality of wanting to put dead animal heads in a room, but if one is going to do it I think they should at least eat the meat.


If I was hungry and needed meat, I would hunt. Likewise, if an animal charged me and I had a weapon on me, I'd try to kill it. But killing just for trophy or fun I do not understand.

 

[kngflp]

One of the few times I found my self out hunting I found myself watching two squirls playing. The thought never crossed my mind to shoot. Later on when the other guys were complaining of no game to be had I told them that I saw two squirls playing and didn't bother to sholder my gun, I thought I would never live it down.

I would shoot an animal if I were hungry, or if it posed a threat but not out of sport. I don't however see anything wrong with it, and I do like venison and I love duck,mmm duck... I would shoot a duck. nnyone in TN that would want to take a novice duck hunting I'll go.

Ok I won't shoot anything that has ever stared in a Disney movie.

 

[browningguy]

Ok, maybe you are a wussy, but the world needs gun loving wussy's too! Just don't get on the ban hunting team or you quickly become one of THEM.

I hunt 4-5 times a year, usually get enough venison to fill the freezer every year, also share with a bunch of people at work that really think hunting is cruel, but for some reason they love the venison sausage. My youngest daughter is a senior in college, all of her friends are what we would consider city folk, turns out they love venison also. She had me make up a batch of venison meatballs for a party she was going to a couple of years ago and now every time she is going her friends want the venison meatballs again.

And by golly I just love going hunting. Being outside for 4-5 days, watching the little animals hopping around, then taking one home for dinner. It's just just for the soul.

 

[Infidel]

I have long thought that each and every one of us ought to be required to kill our own dinner. Go out, hunt it down, look it in its big brown eyes and kill it, watching the life go out of those eyes. We ought to learn exactly who we are, and how it is that we survive, that we have survived, and getting beyond those nice little Saran-Wrapped trays in the supermarket meat section. It would severely decrease our hypocisy. Maybe require it at least once, or once every few years, whatever, but it should happen for all of us.

However, I don't do very well at practicing what I preach. I draw an occasional elk tag, which sometimes goes unfilled.

My problem is that I have spent, and still spend, a heckuva lot more time in the woods and mountains, just Being there, than I do hunting. I think of the other critters there as my hiking partners and neighbors, especially the rarer critters like bighorns and mountain goats. No way I want to eat them, so killing them is unthinkable.

Color me conflicted, But convinced that we all ought to do it, at least once, for our own understanding.

 

[jefnvk]

Nope, you just look at them different than me. I have no problem killing the animals. First off, if no one killed deer, there would be a serious problem with overpopulation. Deer starvinmg in the winter because of a shortage of food is not a better way to die than quickly from a bullet.

The only thing that keeps me from hunting more, is I HATE gutting animals. I am never going to be a surgeon, either. Doesn't make me queasy, just the thought of playing with thing that wern't meant to be played with kinda unnerves me for some reason. Therefore, I pretty much limit myself to the birds nowadays.

Not a lot of meat on a fawn, but I guess I would if hungry enough and there was no other game about.

Might not be much meat, but I'd rather have 20 punds of filet mignon than 80 pounds of hamburger

 

[Barbara]

I could do it, but I doubt I could ever enjoy it. But then again, I fish.

 

[Cacique500]

If it's got wings & feathers I enjoy hunting it (though I don't get the opportunity to go as much as I'd like).

However, when you're talking about bambi...just can't do it. Now if bambi runs out of the woods, smashes part of my car, and flips me off...well...maybe

 

[Monkeyleg]

My brothers hunted (one still does), but I never got into it. I've shot a few animals, but because they were pests, not for food.

There's people who are into guns, and people who are into hunting. Sometimes the only time their paths cross are when it comes to the tools.

 

[cslinger]

Just don't get on the ban hunting team

I don't think you have to worry about that anytime soon. As I said I personally don't feel the need to hunt but not only do I realize the need for culling heards as far as preservation goes I also very much enjoy the fruits of other hunters labor.

I also agree that everyone should take at least one animal for food once in their life as I feel it is an important part of who we are as mankind. I however have yet to do so.......you know being a wuss and all.

 

[Atticus]

I'm an avid hunter.....but I believe that taking any kind of life is serious business. I'm not opposed to shooting varmits either.........but I find the prarie dog popping videos to be a little disgusting myself. I just don't find exploding animals to be all that humerous.

 

[Mauserguy]

No, you're not a wuss, but I have to say that legal, regulated hunting is not cruel, it is necessary. Add to that, if you respect the animal, your hunting buddies, and nature, you may find it a very respectible, and responsible, way of husbanding nature.

Recently I had the ocassion to go on a Sierra Club hike here in Southern California. I thought that these people were pretty ignorant about nature at the time. Later, my lady friend went with the same group. She fell and spraned her ankle. What did the Sierra Clubbers do? - They left her behind, miles from the trailhead.

I think that hunters, who have gone through the required safety training, who have permits issued by the state, permits the numbers of which are issued according to solid biological surveys, deserve respect. I would rather trust a hunter than a Sierra Clubber.

If I were you, I would try real hunting at least once. Study how the biological surveys are conducted, and how wildlife regulation is necessary in protecting game herds, and see if you like it. You may find that it is not what you are expecting.
Mauserguy

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I've been a hunter all my life, and I agree with Ortega y Gasset, "One does not hunt to kill, one kills in order to have hunted." (I also agree with Ted Nugent, "I hunt in order to not play golf.")

Men hunt like women shop -- it's bred into us. For thousands and thousands of years we were hunter-gatherer societies.

Hunting is for food -- that is part of the deep-seated ritual. I also hunt varnmits -- crows, for example, kill baby song birds. Coyotes kill sheep and goats. Ground hogs and prairie dogs ruin pasture and carry disease.

 

[cracked butt]

I have long thought that each and every one of us ought to be required to kill our own dinner. Go out, hunt it down, look it in its big brown eyes and kill it, watching the life go out of those eyes. We ought to learn exactly who we are, and how it is that we survive, that we have survived, and getting beyond those nice little Saran-Wrapped trays in the supermarket meat section. It would severely decrease our hypocisy. Maybe require it at least once, or once every few years, whatever, but it should happen for all of us.

I think another good application of this is that if every 12 year old kid were to shoot a deer and watch it die, you would see a very marked decrease in shootings among teenagers. There is nothing more sobering than watching a large handsome animal die, and it gives a person a greater respect for what life is.

I've been hunting for 20some years and have felt a twinge of remorse for killing animals, remorse for the animal but not guilt. It is something I'm going to eat afterall, rather than a animal that will be likely wasted by disease, starvation, or getting hit by a vehicle.

I hunt nearly as much as I did when I first started hunting, but I shoot a lot less animals. In the household I grew up in, it wasn't a problem to consume 4 deer, 40 ducks, 30 grouse or pheasants, and 50 squirrels a year along with all of the fish we could catch. My wife won't eat fish or wild game, so 1 deer is enough meat for a year now. There are days I go hunting just to get away from the wife and kid where I don't feel like shooting anything, because shooting a deer means I have nearly a days worth of work ahead of me in geting it home, skinning, butchering, wrapping and freezing the meat.

 

[Marshall]

I'm a hunter, have been for 35 years now. Though I don't hunt as much as I used to, I still enjoy it. The actual kill has never been the thing I like. I enjoy everything that goes with it including eating what I shoot. I hunt with a camera now as much as I do with a gun and enjoy it just as much if not more.

There's no wuss in what you described, the wuss is in the anti-hunter just as it is in the anti-gun owner.