So am I a complete wussy or what?

[Stevie-Ray]

I've never been a hunter. Always a shooter. Hunting doesn't bother me at all, it's just not for me. I'd be perfectly happy to go hunting with pals just to get away and out in the wild - but never even firing a shot at an animal. Killed a few things as a kid; birds, muskrat, frogs, etc. but never even wanted to go as an adult. I kinda suck at shotgunning, so that rules out birds, and most tell me that's the most fun.

I could conceivably go varminting. I've always wanted to try that, just haven't yet.

 

[Monkeyleg]

The posts by avid hunters on this thread should give those of us who don't hunt pause.

One of THR's favorite topics--SHTF scenarios--has been brought up.

Well, to be honest, I could shoot a deer, but I wouldn't know how to begin to dress it for meat. Guess I'd be picking fur out of my teeth.

That's a real concern. Seems like I'd better ask my brother to teach me some of the basics.

I know people who like to hunt, and I know people who hunt to feed their families all year round. The latter talk about removing certain parts before urine or other fluids get into the meat and affect the flavor.

What strikes me about this thread, though, is that we have hunters--people often characterized on THR as not caring about the Second--defending themselves against people who characterize themselves as Second Amendment purists.

Folks, we have to start circling the wagons, and sooner rather than later. The NRA believes that hunting is more in jeopordy than guns. Don't know about you, but I see PETA TV ads almost every night. I can't remember the last Brady Bunch ad I saw, if ever.

There have been any number of "I took a non-shooter shooting" threads here. Maybe it's time some hunters took some shooters hunting.

 

[bigun15]

I'm 15 and have been a duck hunter for 2 years. I have also hunted one jackrabbit. When I did that I hunted it down with a scoped .22, had one of the guys show me how to clean it (I did hands-on, he told me what to do), and then we barbequed it up and had it as a little dinner. I don't know if I've ever done anything more educational.

 

[dakotasin]

monkeyleg- in the past 2 years or so, i started 5 people hunting, all 5 of which still hunt, 1 has become a rabid prairie dogger, and the 2nd will make his first dog trip w/ me in 2 weeks. the third and fourth simply do not have the time to take on additional activities, and the fifth is wrapped up w/ a wicked divorce and custody battle.

as far as defending myself or actions... haven't in this thread, though some comments probably needed a little education. not going to, either. i quit trying to defend hunters from the 2a purists long ago - i get classified far too often as not caring about the 2a (though a peek in my gun safes would probably change a couple of minds), and, frankly, am tired of it.

taking shooters hunting... i have (the previous 5 were non-shooters/non-hunters - and one of those 5 is a hard core liberal... i think i made headway w/ her). however, shooters that don't hunt don't want to stick w/ it. they want to whine about the cold, or groan about the terrain, or complain about the lack of game... at any rate, i have offered before to take shooters out, and have always been declined - which is fine, the prairie is crowded enough come november, anyway. but, if there is someone who wants to go and the logistics can be hammered out, let's go huntin'!

last thing:

...I could shoot a deer...

if only it were half that easy.
field dressing, however, is very easy. much easier than finding a cooperative, patient deer/antelope/whatever.

 

[Byron Quick]

You know something? I could sympathize with the PETA pukes except for one thing...when I see them throwing red paint on a bunch of leather clad outlaw bikers instead of little old ladies in furs...then I'll listen to them. Until then...they're a bunch of whiny wimps.

I hunt. Mostly, I eat what I kill except varmints. I don't have a problem with hunting prairie dogs. They're pests, people. I'd rather shoot hundreds of them than to have to put down my horse that stepped in a prairie dog hole.

Exploding prairie dog videos? No, I don't really get off on that. I do get off on the skill required to make them explode at the ranges involved, though.

 

[BHPshooter]

Nope, you're not a wuss.

I hunted some when I was younger -- I went for Deer and Duck every year. I took the occasional duck (and my Dad has the BEST recipe for duck), but year after year never got a Deer. One year we finally did. I didn't feel bad about killing it, but I didn't get off on it. After that, I haven't been deer hunting again. It's not that I was put off or anything, but I did accomplish what I set out to do, and I was okay with that for a while.

I'd actually like to go again, now that it has been a while.

But on to the wuss thing: No, you're not a wuss. Killing isn't a pleasant thing. I posted this thread a long time ago, and it helped me think through the killing thing. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=34469

Basically, my buddy and I were shooting. We saw a rabbit and he said "let's get it!" I didn't even think about it... The rest is in that thread. I still feel badly about that.

No, killing is not fun, and killing is not pretty. Killing for recreation is a disgusting thing, as I have learned for myself (again, read that thread), but killing in general is part of nature. I don't particularly enjoy it, but I do see it as a part of life, in a sense.

On top of it all, it's an incredibly profound learning experience to kill something that you're going to eat. It's emotionally unsettling, and -- funny thing -- after you've killed that animal, cleaned it, and cut it into meat, you're not so hungry anymore. Everyone should experience that at least once.

I'm also quite fond of animals and consider myself as something of an animal lover -- as a matter of fact, I saw a Mallard Hen with seven little ducklings trying to cross a road the other day that just about melted my heart... it's hard to think that those are the animals that I like to eat. Life is a hard game to play.

My big exception is insects and bugs of any kind. Kill all of the little buggers. Maybe that's why I like "hunting" mormon crickets so much.

Okay, enough rambling.
Wes

 

[runswithscissors]

No, you are not a wuss

But think about this. Where do you think all the meat you eat comes from? Someone has to kill it. Nothing wrong with letting someone else do the dirty work. Nothing wrong with doing the dirty work yourself. Eitherway, animals are tasty

 

[Cesiumsponge]

PETA is full of nuts and hypocrites.
Over half of the animals they "rescued" in 1999 were documented to have been frozen to death in a tax-exempt mondo walk-in freezer they purchased.
They get angry at anything remotely related to animals, including using them in scientific experiments of any type including improving human life. Yet, their vice president Mary Sweetland feels perfectly content in using animal-derived insulin and claims in order to further PETA's cause, she has to remain alive and isn't hypocritical.
They've also divered tens of thousands of tax-exempt money to the extreme ELF and ALF movements listed as a domestic terrorist group by the FBI in the past.
Tax records show that less than 1% of their money goes into actually helping the animals they hold so highly. A 2001 tax filing showed that they donated a whole $25.00 to Vieques Humane Society

...kinda like the high-position gun-control nuts that own guns themselves.

Such is logic from bizzaroworld.

 

[M99M12]

I eat meat, and I wear leather. But only as long as someone else kills it and skins it. That's what makes me feel like a man.

 

[CowboyEngr]

I always told my sons that if they didn't feel a little remorse when they caused an animal to breath it's last, then they probably needed to re-evaluate what they were doing. I don't mean to be overly dramatic, but I have always felt that hunting and killing game was somewhat spiritual. It's okay to do it, look forward to it, and feel rewarded by it, but one should have some reverance for the life he just took. It really kinda bugs me to see some of the hunting shows on the Outdoor Channel, and see the guys jump up and down, slap each other on the back, and tell each other what a man they are. Having said all that, I don't think it's weird to not want to hunt and kill, as long as you don't think it's weird (or immoral) to want to do it. I think hunting and killing serves a beneficial purpose to the game in general, in keeping populations under control and healthy. The money from hunting licenses has paid for the vast majority of wildlife restoration. But, if another person wants to shoot paper and not game, that's okay by me too.

 

[triggertime]

I'm a hunter. I eat what I harvest. I think hunting plays a major part in being self sufficient. Why be dependent upon society in order to exist? Thats my personal philosphy, anyway...

FWIW, killing a game animal for food is the same as slaughtering a cow for a steak, a chuck roast or even ground round. Either way the animal dies, and those at the top of the food chain get a meal. The only real difference is that hunters do the dirty work themselves where non-hunters pawn the blood and gore off onto the meat processing plants so they, the consumer, can sleep at night and live with themselves. All in the matter of convenience, of course.

So yes Chris, you are a wuss. Now go buy a couple of ribeyes and fire up the grill.

 

[earonthief]

Your not a wuss. You made a choice.
For me it's a pleasure to just be in the woods and enjoy nature with out getting the fifth degree about where i've been.The taking of life is for food. There is no pleasure. A clean, quick killing shot and food for the table are the only satisfactions. In the case of vermin, here in Al. it's feral hogs, killing is a controll factor with the side benefit of good eating.

308win, have your friend check out charity's or state human services for carcass disposal. Years ago when local farmers had huge fields of soybeans the deer where destorying the fields. One contacted the state about donating the kill to the needy. The state sent a small reffer truck and a butcher and meat inspecter. We hadvested 38 deer that day and felt good about what we'ed done.

 

[Firethorn]

I could hunt

I have no problem with killing and eating game, however, as a single person living in an apartment, I don't have room to store most game I could take.

I also don't have the room for the equipment to efficiently process game, and I'll admit to being unskilled at it, so I'd end up taking it to the butcher anyways.

Result? I have the choice of spending $$$ for clothing(I don't have much hunter orange), gas(to get to hunting range), permit, tags, etc... Spend a couple days stalking, and finally get an animal that I end up taking to a butcher(more $$), and storage($).
Or I just go to the store and spend $2-$5 a pound for a selection of fresh meats.

Maybe when I get my own house.

 

[cslinger]

Wow another thead wth a huge response. Thanks for all the replies.

If anybody in TN wants to take a newbie who doesn't know which end of the gun is which duck hunting or bird hunting I would be happy to learn. Ok so I might just know which end the bullets/pellets come out of

Chris

 

[onrhander]

I used to hunt in my teens and early twenties. Most of the time it was woodchucks on the farm of a classmate's famely. We also shoot rabits and game brids.We cooked (badly) the rabits and brids.The chucks we dumped at the farm's dump.We never shoot at deer(.222's were/are NOTdeer rifles). We used.410's or 28ga. for briding. Also there were homes eather side of the wetland the deer frequented.One of the guy's shoot a skunk whew he got sprayed,stunk for days.Couldn't hunt much else,the aera was turning suburan(the farm niw has a major hiway thru it).Town ordances prohibit fire arms discharge in the aera now. I hope if SHTF happens I could retrive the skills but it's been a longtime. PS you are not a wussy you know yourself.

 

[scout26]

Firethorn:

When I was in college, I shared an apartment with a fellow hunter. While all our class mates were eating Mac&Cheese (tm), we were dining on (and cooking for our dates) Venison Steaks, Roast Pheasant, Grouse and Hassenpfeffer stew. Yeah, we also had a small freezer that we picked up for something like $25 at a garage sale.
As far as costs of hunting, you don't need all that high speed clothing and hi tech-gear.
For Example in Illinois: Just a shotgun with slugs, warm clothes and broke in boots.
Hunting Licence and Habitat Stamp: $15.
Firearm (Shotgun or muzzleloader) deer tag: $15, For Archery it's two (one either sex, one antlerless only) for $25.
Orange Hat and Safety Vest - $10-$15 bucks at Wal-mart.
Processing: the county we hunt has a processor that will skin it, and turn everything into steaks and burger for $55. If you want they'll gut for additional $25. If you want bacon, sausage, jerky or other stuff that's extra.
Total bare minimum cost $100. Try filling your freezer with high quality, 100% free-range, no hormone, anti-biotic or growth hormone fed meat from your local supermarket for that price.
Spending time out in the woods with family, friends and nature: Priceless.