Let me preface this by stating that I am not an animal rights activist–I wear leather and love a juicy steak. But killing for fun? That I don’t understand. I was flipping through the tv channels and happened upon some sort of deer hunting show. Suffice it to say, it really creeped me out. The viewer gets to witness an ill-fated father-son ritual, in which a man guides his child on the proper way to stalk and kill a beautiful, defenseless doe. They just blow its head off, so to speak. What sort of joy and honor can this possibly bring? It’s not even a “fair fight,” involving hand-to-hoof combat (not that that would be fair either, but a rifle just makes the situation ridiculous). Granted, some hunters may also consume the meat; but I’m speaking to situations where the primary purpose is not to provide sustenance, but rather to provoke an adrenaline rush.
As I said before, I enjoy the meat and biproducts of animals, but I don’t revel in the killing process. Someone, please try to explain this sick, barbaric joy of hunting that is engaged in for no other reason than the hunt itself.
It’s hunting, for goodness’ sake! It’s how humans have gotten high quality protein to ensure their own survival for nearly a million years! Evolutionarily, being good at it was necessary for survival, so of course there will be positive re-inforcement that comes from pursuing the quarry.
And all the deer hunters I know around here eat their kills, or donate the meat to food shelters. At least they did until Chronic Wasting Disease reared its ugly head.
And having that “beautiful, defenseless doe” starve to death during the winter and start rotting out in my back 40 is a real downer.
Qadgop, I think the question is not about those who hunt for food and just happen to enjoy the hunt. It is about those who hunt for pleasure only.
I’m sure that a deer starving to death during the winter is even more unpleasant. But most deer (where I live, anyway) don’t starve to death. They are proliferating.
The deer population in many areas is beyond sustainable limits. There just isn't enough food in winter. There has to be hunting, or they will starve. This is largely due TO hunting- there is a preference for the trophy bucks with the big racks, which leaves a disproportionate number of females, allowing the herd to rebound very fast. We've also taken away the predators, like wolves. If hunting was banned, in a few years they will reach equilibrium, but a lot will starve in the interim.
Anyone else see the claims that deer kill more people than alligators, sharks, dogs,and snakes combined? Lot of auto accidents.[sub] right, Jodi? [/sub] Suburban sprawl strikes back.
FTR, I do not hunt, but have no problem with a regulated hunt for hunters who eat their kill. IMO trophy-only hunting is barbaric.
What evidence do you have that the hunting show you watched hunted for sport and didn’t use the animal for food? I live in Upstate NY (for 3 more days, anyway) and have grown up around hunting and hunters my whole life. Never once have I heard of a person here shooting a doe and not butchering it for the meat.
As long as the animal is a pest like all those rural rats (Or deer, as the city folk call 'em) it bothers me not a whit. As I said, at least a million of years of evolution have gone into making humans effective hunters.
And no, I don’t hunt. Nor do I allow gun hunting on my property. But that’s because I don’t like bullets zinging around where I live. Bow hunting thins the deer herd on my land.
But the hunters have to take care of the mess they make. And be responsible as to gun safety, property rights, etc.
Yep, cityfolk don’t realize what a pest deer is. With no NATURAL predators, and with urban gwoth providing them the perfect habitat, they breed like rabbits.
I note that DC discussed (and decided against) a limited deer hunting season in Rock Creek Park.
Of course, consider the source, I enjoy cock- and bullfighting.
I concur. Although I don’t like the idea of hunting, if it’s for food, then fine and good. Yes, I eat meat but if I had to kill my own food, forget it!
As far as hunting and killing for sport and pleasure? I find it disgusting and sick. People who enjoy killing for the sake of killing don’t have any respect from me. The more I think about it, the madder I get. Sick Sick Sick!
I think anyone who eats meat should, at least once, hunt and kill an animal. Then clean it and eat it. Far too many people have forgotten where meat really comes from and see only neatly wrapped steaks in the grocery store instead of a large and vibrant animal.
Animals are hardly “defenseless”. They smell and hear far better than we do. They also know their environment far, far better than we could ever hope to. Most animals are also swifter and stronger than we are. Finding an animal in the wild, and then getting close enough for a shot, is not as simple or as easy as going into a store. It would save a lot of time to just walk into the woods and stumble over deer who then stare at you stupidly while chewing their cud, but I can assure you that that simply does not happen.
And yes, I enjoy hunting. Despite the queasiness that modern, Disneyfied urban dwellers feel, humans are hunters. We have evolved to hunt, kill, and eat meat. I feel no need to hide or feel somehow ashamed because I engage in a completely natural activity that until very recently was a normal way of life for H. sapiens.
I should add that “enjoyment” is more than “fun”. It is a very complex set of emotions and feelings that run through a hunter’s mind that are very difficult to explain to those who don’t hunt. “Enjoyment” is a convienient shorthand, but unfortunately it gets twisted by those who wish to paint hunters as evil subhumans who gloat over death.
As well, although you can debate the morality of hunting in this day and age to no end, I’m somewhat tired of all the obsessing over deer from those who don’t live in an area where deer are beyond a nuisance…such as here. Yeah, deer are cool when you first see them. They stop being so cool when you realize how dangerously impulsive they are, as far as running into the path of cars goes. When you first hit one that ran in front of you at the last moment, when it would have been perfectly safe if it had just stayed where it was, you start getting annoyed. Oh, and because few people hunt here, the only predator our deer have is the automobile.
I think we need to qualify that. What do you mean by sport? I live in rural Arkansas and I don’t know of anybody who relies on hunting or fishing as a means to provide food for themselves or their family. In that sense just about all hunting or fishing is sport.
**
Of course it isn’t a fair fight. It wouldn’t be a fair fight if I used a bow, a sling, or an atl-atl either. In the end I would probably cause more pain the animal if I were to use such primitive methods of hunting.
**
Actually, I believe this to be false. The primary reason the deer population is so large is because there is much more food available for them now then there was in the past. Deer have a habit of eating our farmland, our gardens, and people actually feed them corn throughout the year. In Arkansas they put a limit to the male deer you can kill but no limit the number of doe that can be killed.
**
Why should he be limited to hunting with a spear? Were you one of those cavemen that pissed and moaned that the younger hunters used spears instead of bashing rocks over the heads of small rabbits like your ancestors did?
Hey, you guys have it easy with just deer. Up here hitting a moose does significantly more damage to ones’ vehicle.
Fortunately, a less-prolific population (on both sides of the coin) keeps overall incidents fairly low.
Actually, I know one fellow who made his own spear out of commercial steel stock, and hunted and killed a fair sized black bear with it.
One of the largest Grizzly bears on record was taken with a bow and arrow at less than forty yards.
Try and tell me THAT’S not exciting.
True, in these days of industrialized agriculture and farming, we don’t “need” to hunt our own game. But in that same vein, we don’t “need” fast cars, we don’t “need” to make nonstop round-the-world balloon flights and we don’t “need” to scale Everest.
But we can, it’s a safe and controlled pastime (yes, you hear about hunters and injuries, but you don’t hear about the 1.2 million others that had no problems whatsoever) and it helps keep the populations in check. Hunters also contribute billions every year to conservation efforts through both equipment and ammo taxes, as well as direct contributions (such as to Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.)
Sure, the hunter in the OP may have been out for “sport” or a “trophy” more than any need for actual meat, but I’d be very surprised if they just left the carcass. Almost every state has laws about wasting game animals- some will confiscate your rifle for it.
I agree with most of what has been said. I took a half year course called Wildlife and basically we were told that there are to many deer in most places and they are constantly running the chance of depleting their food supply. So we have to kill them or they’ll die. ;).
I haven’t heard any stories about people who just hunt deer for sport. All people I’ve talked to use the meat and hide. Hunting animals just for the sake of killing them isn’t right. As long as they’re being used for some purpose I’m alright with it.
One day we’ll probably have holographic hunting systems to do away with the process completely. But I’d assume that there would still have to be hunting to keep the animal populations in check.