# Okay Vermonters, get your asses in here and explain **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645 "2004-05-11T16:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/21 "2004-05-11T21:54:36Z")
Didn’t the indigenious people of North America use arrows sometimes to catch fish? Seems I’ve read somewhere that this was one of several methods used. (Might still be used in some parts of the world.) Arrows, or spearlike things make sense. So, I guess I’m saying that “shooting fish” isn’t so bad if you do it archery style. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/22 "2004-05-11T22:20:03Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Yeah, but recreational dynamite might be illegal. “Recreational dynamite.” BAND NAME! Anyway, speaking as a dedicated vegetarian, I agree with Miller - I don’t see how this is any worse than any other sort of hunting. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc8723/32.png) [@coffeecam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/23 "2004-05-12T01:39:44Z")
well, that is a lot of lead in the bottom of the lake… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/24 "2004-05-12T03:09:28Z")
Well, as long as they don’t start taking aim at Abe Vigoda… ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/25 "2004-05-12T11:55:53Z")
I shot the trout, but I did not shoot the cra-p-pie, oh no. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/26 "2004-05-12T15:38:08Z")
Whether this practice is loathsome, or not, it’s really fucking stupid. Shooting at water can be quite dangerous to the shooter, and more importantly, any bystanders. Bullets will often skip off the surface of water and spin away in unpredictable directions. Dumb, dumb, dumb. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/27 "2004-05-12T16:00:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Do you have a cite Guess I’m the only one to see the irony considering the OP said he didn’t have a cite. FWIW, this past weekend I shot 39 Crows with my new widow-maker. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/28 "2004-05-12T16:07:42Z")
“I shot a man in Tibet, just to watch him reincarnate.” - Weird Al Yankovic Then he came back as a fish… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Lambo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lambo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lambo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/29 "2004-05-12T16:08:18Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Didn’t the indigenious people of North America use arrows sometimes to catch fish? Seems I’ve read somewhere that this was one of several methods used. (Might still be used in some parts of the world.) Arrows, or spearlike things make sense. So, I guess I’m saying that “shooting fish” isn’t so bad if you do it archery style. 😉 It’s still done by many, actually. When I was younger, I would go out with my stepfather to net carp (use a landing net to scoop up carp). It would be springtime, there would be a good amount of snowmelt still working its way through the system, and some lakes would have pretty good streams running into their overflow areas (this is Southeastern South Dakota. While we used a net, there were plenty of people out there with their compound bows set up for getting carp (the carp would run through the runoff streams in pretty big numbers). The bows were set up in a special way, they would have a large, wide plastic ring mounted on them that the arrow would go through, and often, the arrow would be tied to a length of string, which would be wrapped around the plastic tube. Since this was very close range shooting, the plastic ring also acted as a sight, of sorts. There were also people out there with spears, and you always saw one or two people catching them with their bare hands, but that got real cold real quick. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/30 "2004-05-12T16:10:35Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > “I shot a man in Tibet, just to watch him reincarnate.” - Weird Al Yankovic > > Then he came back as a fish… > > Regards, > Shodan You’re not helping. People are being mad here. Go away until you can be mad about fish dying. What, are you too busy doing something for your fellow man? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/31 "2004-05-12T21:04:44Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Guess I’m the only one to see the irony considering the OP said he didn’t have a cite. FWIW, this past weekend I shot 39 Crows with my new widow-maker. I didn’t say I didn’t have a cite, dimwit, I said I couldn’t link to it. And thank you for confirming that there are still plenty of knuckle-draggers in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/32 "2004-05-12T22:37:00Z")
> [@coffeecam](#): > > well, that is a lot of lead in the bottom of the lake… Keeps the lake in place. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/33 "2004-05-13T02:54:12Z")
You want sites? “A pike is a carnivorous fish of brackish and freshwaters of northern hemisphere. Eats mainly fish, but water voles and ducklings are also known to fall prey to pikes. Pikes grow to a relatively large size, length of 150 cm and weight of 25 kg are not unheard of.” - [http://www.fact-index.com/p/pi/pike\_\_fish\_.html](http://www.fact-index.com/p/pi/pike__fish_.html) “Without a doubt, the northern pike is a voracious predator – consuming three to four times its weight during the course of a year. Besides smaller fish, its diet includes frogs, crayfish, small mammals, and birds – almost anything within range.” - [http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/northernpike.html](http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/northernpike.html) “Young pike like to eat small aquatic foods like algae and tiny insects, but the adults will eat just about anything they can get their mouths on. Because their mouths can open up wide, they can catch a wide array of animals, including birds, frogs, worms, ducks, other large fish, perch, minnows, trout, mice. They’ve even been known to eat their own kind. And believe it or not, the larger pike can eat a full-grown muskrat.” - [http://allsands.com/Science/Animals/northernpikefi\_tmo\_gn.htm](http://allsands.com/Science/Animals/northernpikefi_tmo_gn.htm) “Take a long piece of strong muscle, add powerful teeth to one end, give it a big appetite and a mean disposition and you have Northern Pike. He believes in equal opportunity: they detest all living things, including themselves. If something goes near it and they can get it in their mouth they will eat it. Even five or six pound bass swimming in pike waters plays Russian Roulette when they think they can swim with the Water Wolves.” - [http://idid.essortment.com/northernpikefi\_pkl.htm](http://idid.essortment.com/northernpikefi_pkl.htm) I go up against one of these monsters, you’re darned I’m bringing a rifle. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/34 "2004-05-13T03:07:35Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Bullets will often skip off the surface of water and spin away in unpredictable directions. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I get the impression that they are firing down into the water from nearly vertical, at a far steeper angle than that at which bullet skipping could occur. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/35 "2004-05-13T06:28:45Z")
Mmmmm…recreational dynamite… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/36 "2004-05-13T11:31:26Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > Mmmmm…recreational dynamite… “Homer’s Recreational Dynamite”— **BETTER BAND NAME!!** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/37 "2004-05-13T12:21:19Z")
> [@](#): > > I get the impression that they are firing down into the water from nearly vertical, at a far steeper angle than that at which bullet skipping could occur. Mebbe so. It’s still stupid. And there are, I’m sure, idiots who don’t do this quite in accord with your “impression.” ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/38 "2004-05-14T09:46:00Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > “A pike is a carnivorous fish of brackish and freshwaters of northern hemisphere. Eats mainly fish, but water voles and ducklings are also known to fall prey to pikes. Pikes grow to a relatively large size, length of 150 cm and weight of 25 kg are not unheard of.” > I go up against one of these monsters, you’re darned I’m bringing a rifle. eh. I eat pike for breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645/39 "2004-05-14T10:03:20Z")
I know it’s not exactly the same thing, but when I was a teen, my BF and his dad were pretty proficient bow-hunters (they’d take one buck a season, their record was an 11 point buck taken entirely by 2 arrows, they didn’t own guns), and they’d go bow-fishing every spring. I’m not an awesome archer, by any means, but I can hit a target a fair amount of the time…bow-fishing, on the other hand, is a right bitch. Trying to account for the water refraction when aiming the bow was really rather tricky…the first few times I tried it, I didn’t even come _near_ the fish, and I didn’t exactly suck at archery at the time. In any case, as long as they’re not using dynamite to blast the entire lake, I don’t see how it’s any worse than bow-fishing or conventional fishing. I’d think bow or shotgun fishing is more humane than line-fishing in any case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-vermonters-get-your-asses-in-here-and-explain/244645.md?page=1)