Shooting large animals with rifles: What's the point?

[JTO]

I prefer to do my own killing of the meat I eat, while it sounds like some of you hire proxy killers. I like to eat the meat grown on the soil locally. I like to be true to myself, take the life, praise God for the bountiful land and health and strength to pursue the animal and turn it into meat. We are all still killers and blood is on our hands. That's how I teach my kids. Animals die for us every day.

Troy

[motion]

Originally Posted by JTO

I prefer to do my own killing of the meat I eat, while it sounds like some of you hire proxy killers. I like to eat the meat grown on the soil locally. I like to be true to myself, take the life, praise God for the bountiful land and health and strength to pursue the animal and turn it into meat. We are all still killers and blood is on our hands. That's how I teach my kids. Animals die for us every day.

Troy

You teach your kids that they are killers? This thread is really opening my eyes.

[Henry Schmidt]

Don't hunt anymore because I don't see the challenge and don't want to kill anything.
I gave up fishing as well. I struggle with the thought of torturing an animal for the fun of it. I know.... you eat the meat. Buy a fish if you must. I just can't wrap my head around the "torture of fun" aspect of the game.

[mikesride]

Originally Posted by Henry Schmidt

Don't hunt anymore because I don't see the challenge and don't want to kill anything.
I gave up fishing as well. I struggle with the thought of torturing an animal for the fun of it. I know.... you eat the meat. Buy a fish if you must. I just can't rap my head around the "torture of fun" aspect of the game.

I think the fish I caught and ate had a less stressful time on the end of my line for 30 seconds than your store bought fish that struggled in a net for hours and then slowly died in a cold packed hull of a ship before being processed.

Same goes for the deer my buddies shoot.....BAM!!! Gone, no overcrowded feed lots or pig "boxes".

But to each his own.....I eat protein with every meal of the day, the majority does get bought at the grocery store. (except grilling steaks....I have a butcher that ages at least 30 days and knows just what rib steaks I like, 2 inch thick yummy yummy goodness!!!)

I respect the way you feel about it.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by mikesride

goodness!!!)

I respect the way you feel about it.

That will most likely be the best post of the thread.

[pwd72s]

Probably should give my hunting rifles away. Hunting just had no appeal to me after my hunting buddy died. He's been gone 25 years now.

[LakeCleElum]

Agree with you 100% Richard. I grew up hunting and don't do it as an adult. I have deer and elk in my yard. I shoot with a camera. Ticks me off when the local newspaper has a front page photo of a 12 year old child posing next to the trophy elk he just killed.

Had a friend recently spend $18,000 for a week long hunting trip in Africa....

Around here, some of refer to "hunting' as "Armed Camping"....An excuse to hang out with the guys and drink a lot.

[Henry Schmidt]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Probably should give my hunting rifles away. Hunting just had no appeal to me after my hunting buddy died. He's been gone 25 years now.

Keep the rifles, the Zombies are on the way. For those of you that don't believe in Zombies, The last presidential election proves there are brain dead Zombies everywhere.

[Venetian]

"When I shoot a deer, I thank the deer for sacrificing its life."


I think that's what Sarah Palin said after shooting her Caribou! I wonder if she ever had a taste of it??

[Seahawk]

If you eat meat, all we are talking about is where you put yourself in the supply chain: That Costco steak had a mommy, just like Bambi.

I have hunted but prefer not to these days, except ground hogs and Dove hunts. My son loves to hunt and fish and we taught him the right way, as others in this thread have mentioned: Respect the kill, dress it and make sure you eat and use as much of the animal as possible. I absolutely have no issue with hunting if done properly, including managing the trigger pull, letting the youngsters grow and prosper for another year. What you don't shoot is often the difference between a hunter and a shooter.

Trophy hunting, however, is anathema to everything I was taught and passed on to my son.

According to the article in the link below, and based on my observations in my rural slice of the pie, true: there are more deer in the US now than at any time.

The Deer Paradox - Tim Heffernan - The Atlantic

Now, I love to shoot, wish I was better at it. Thank god for clay pigeons.

[mikesride]

Originally Posted by Venetian

"When I shoot a deer, I thank the deer for sacrificing its life."


I think that's what Sarah Palin said after shooting her Caribou! I wonder if she ever had a taste of it??

I grew up eating caribou!!! Very tasty stuff indeed!!!

I will say that I don't understand shooting an animal just so you can stick its head up on your wall. If you want to mount a deer or elk head on an animal you harvested I get it, but to just shoot a trophy seems like a waste.

[Hads930]

I have likened it to shopping for meat, I do it differently than most. The taste of the meat is unreal when compared to store bought, feed lot, growth hormone beef. I shot a buffalo last year, still eating it, my wife has not had a migrane since that meat has been in our freezer and she used to get them every couple of weeks. Is the meat the reason? Not sure but I think there may be some correlation. Same with sausage, being from a German family cutting out the sausage food group was not an option. I have sausage made of 60% venison and 40% lean pork. I have changed my diet to almost all game meat in the past year. I am down 35 lbs and I feel great. This fall I will either go shoot another buffalo or buy a 4H/FFA steer, either way I want to be done with store bought beef. My daughter came hunting with me last year and I would not trade that time in the woods with her for anything. I was amazed, she soaked up everything like a sponge. First thing we did when we found the animal was say a prayer of thanks for the animal to be able to feed our family.


To answer you question, I dont know why. I gave a few of my reasons. Would be cheaper to go to the store thats for sure.

[winders]

Originally Posted by Zeke

So what? We kill them so that they don't die?

Think about that for a moment.

Again, you show how clueless you are on this subject.

If you have too many animals for the food supply, THEY ALL SUFFER from a lack of food. It hurts the whole population.

Hunting is used to manage the game populations so those populations with continue to thrive. If there are too many animals in the population more animals are allowed to be taken. If there are too few, less animals are allowed to be taken.

Learn before you go off half cocked.....

Scott

[lowyder993s]

I'm not a big game trophy hunter...upland and waterfowl are a different story. Many of those who are trophy hunters spend incredible amounts of money for super licenses to get THE CHANCE to harvest a trophy animal. Some of these guys spend in excess of 6 figures. Some also do not take the shot; some even buy the license and don't use it. In my mind, if they are throwing that kind of money toward a species I think they've earned the priviledge to take any specific animal they choose...(within the confines of the season, etc.) That money goes toward the understanding and propogation of that species...i.e. sheep, elk, buffalo. That is a FAR CRY better than PETA.

[RWebb]

large prey populations create larger predator populations

winders, I am aware of only 2 areas in the US where prey popn's were overly large (parts of AK and Y'stone), and am not aware of any at this time. I am not sure of the source of your claims, but it sounds like you are half-cocked.

trophy hunting results in smaller antlers over time - that was shown just a year or 2 ago

humans trophy hunt b/c of their evolutionary history

[JTO]

Richard
Don't be difficult!
If you eat meat, you have to kill to do so.
Why wouldn't my kids need to understand that?
Troy

[motion]

Originally Posted by JTO

Richard
Don't be difficult!
If you eat meat, you have to kill to do so.
Why wouldn't my kids need to understand that?
Troy

Not buying it, sorry. If you need to eat meat, go to Costco, or purchase a 4H cow or whatever they're called, and have it butchered.

This is about buying guns & ammo, and going out into the wild and killing stuff. And taking photos and putting them on the wall.

[winders]

Originally Posted by RWebb

large prey populations create larger predator populations

winders, I am aware of only 2 areas in the US where prey popn's were overly large (parts of AK and Y'stone), and am not aware of any at this time. I am not sure of the source of your claims, but it sounds like you are half-cocked.

trophy hunting results in smaller antlers over time - that was shown just a year or 2 ago

humans trophy hunt b/c of their evolutionary history

Do some research on wildlife management......get back to me when you actually know what you are talking about. There is a reason there are only a few areas in the USA where game populations are overly large. Why do you think the wolf was reintroduced into Yellowstone?

Do some research on natural predators (lack thereof).

Wildlife management of game animals is working quite well in this country.

Scott

[Rodsrsr]

Let see.... A human being with a high powered rife, a scope, and technology vs. an animal. I just don't see the challenge here. I wonder how many pseudo hunters there would be if the only weapon you could use was a large knife....

[targa911S]

Shoot and release would be sooo cool..