What do you think of hunting?

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Originally Posted by lv4dogs

My answer was not listed as an option.

I do not hunt (hope to some day though) and I do not find anything wrong with it as long as you use the animal. I do not like people who hunt JUST for the sport of it.
I do fish though and keep the ones that I am able to eat as long as they are in season. I also do not like people who fish JUST for the sport of it.

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fishing for sport is dumb. i guess I agree somewhat but it just isn't something that I like.

My Family Is Big on hunting! They use the whole animal! Around here there is and overabundance of deer around, and they are dying of disease and starvation. I feel that it is necessry, to hunt deer. If we didnt there would be many more deer hit by cars, dying of disease and or starving to death! I used to hunt, and still would if I hadnt gone blind in my right eye, it just makes me uncomfortable to hold a gun now. I feel that there is nothing wrong with hunting as long as it is for the right reasons!

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Originally Posted by shihtzulover850

things aren't that bad here but still......

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I don't know if you have/had fox hunting where you are, but I'm pretty sure that happens in other countries that do:(

i don't hunt. my dad is going turkey hunting later this year. i told him i'd like to see the bird, but i don't want to know all the details on how it died.

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Originally Posted by lute

i don't hunt. my dad is going turkey hunting later this year. i told him i'd like to see the bird, but i don't want to know all the details on how it died.

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lol i wouldn't want to either

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Originally Posted by Miss Z

I don't know if you have/had fox hunting where you are, but I'm pretty sure that happens in other countries that do:(

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There's no fox hunting around me that I know of, but it most likely happens over here, I just don't know about it. I am not a fan of fox hunting.

I'm not fully against it, as long as they use ALL of the animal that they can.
I absolutely hate it when you see a dead deer in the woods whose just been killed for his horns/antlers. As long as the hunter uses as much of the animal as he can, then I don't have much of a problem with it.
I love target practicing with guns, but I'll never go hunting.

I think there's something weird about people who can find it enjoyable to watch something die and know that they killed it. I acidentally hit a bird with my car once and I cried my eyes out, I couldn't imagine actually aiming to kill something. That being said, I also don't eat meat. I have a big problem with certain animals being hunted- like bears and cougars, whose numbers are limited but they are not technically "endangered" so in most states it is legal to kill them. I know that many of them are picked off because livestock farmers have their own interests in mind, but wildlife also needs food and a place to live. We also wouldn't have such a huge overpopulation problem with deer if all their natural predators weren't hunted into near-extinction or driven away.

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Originally Posted by Pembroke_Corgi

I think there's something weird about people who can find it enjoyable to watch something die and know that they killed it. I acidentally hit a bird with my car once and I cried my eyes out, I couldn't imagine actually aiming to kill something. That being said, I also don't eat meat. I have a big problem with certain animals being hunted- like bears and cougars, whose numbers are limited but they are not technically "endangered" so in most states it is legal to kill them. I know that many of them are picked off because livestock farmers have their own interests in mind, but wildlife also needs food and a place to live. We also wouldn't have such a huge overpopulation problem with deer if all their natural predators weren't hunted into near-extinction or driven away.

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Exactly.

Hares used to be very common in Britain. Since medieval times they have been hunted for food, and more recently 'to keep down the population'. That's pretty much the same reason my myxomatosis was introduced, to keep down the population of wild rabbits and hares, and I think in a way that is a form of hunting. Now it's quite unusual to see a hare. And the myxomatosis virus kills hundreds of pet rabbits each year:( And also, since many rabbits and hares were killed, the amount of predatory birds, such as red kites, fell dramatically. Why do some people feel the need to interfere with nature?

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Originally Posted by lv4dogs

I do not hunt (hope to some day though) and I do not find anything wrong with it as long as you use the animal. I do not like people who hunt JUST for the sport of it.
I do fish though and keep the ones that I am able to eat as long as they are in season. I also do not like people who fish JUST for the sport of it.

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ditto.
I have friends who hunt but they use the whole animal.

Depends on what you're hunting and why...

If you're hunting a Wolf, Coyote, Bear, etc. I don't agree with it at all because those are animals people don't eat (atleast, I've never heard of it anyway). If you're hunting and taking home a few rabbits/hares, ducks, geese, etc. I don't have a problem with it if you're going to use all of the meat on the animal.

I do not hunt deer, but do not see a problem with it, as it is a huge problem that we, the humans, have created. We hunted to near extinction all the white-tailed deer's natural predators - wolves are extremely rare back east (here), for example. I have seen deer, dying of starvation or dea by the side of the highway in upstate New York years ago. It is far less cruel to shoot a healthy animal and use its meat to feed people than to see the forest ecology destroyed, and the deer population slowly starving to death.

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Originally Posted by Orangutango

If you're hunting a Wolf, Coyote, Bear, etc. I don't agree with it at all because those are animals people don't eat (atleast, I've never heard of it anyway). .

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Lots of people eat bear, at least up here. It's a dang hard meat to cook properly and cook improperly it's disgusting. Cooked right, it's not bad.

The only time I agree with hunting coyote & wolves is when they are direct threat to me and mine. The next wolf who tries to come into my yard and eat my dogs is a dead wolf.

My husband is a hunter. Wild game feeds my family--human and canine. I can't remember the last time we bought meat. We use everything from an animal. Stuart is Cree so he also does a traditionally ceremony to thank the animal for giving up it's life. We eat the meat, the dogs eat the bones and any scrap meat. My f-i-l is a carver. He turns the antler into beautiful art. We give the hides to a First Nation's elder who tans them, unless we want the leather. In that case we send it out to a tannery in Alberta. (that's where this year's bison hide is). I don't eat organ meat, but we know people who do so the liver, heart and kidneys get given to friends.

IMO, hunting done properly, is much more humane to the animal than a commericial feed lot. Ever been to a feed lot? The animals are terrified. They are packed practically on top of each other with no room to move. At least a hunted moose gets to spend it's life in it's natural surroundings; they aren't fed steriods to get more meat faster; if the hunter is a good shot(and you shouldn't be hunting if you aren't), the animal dies quickly and relatively painlessly.

It is illegal in the Yukon to use a dog or other animal to assist in hunting. A lab can go retrieve a bird, but chasing a fox, ect is illegal. You can actually get a fine if you're just walking your dog and it decides to chase a moose(a bad idea and potentially fatal for the dog in any case). "Harassing wildlife" or "allowing an animal to harass wildlife" can lead to pretty serious punishment.

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Originally Posted by Karen

I do not hunt deer, but do not see a problem with it, as it is a huge problem that we, the humans, have created. We hunted to near extinction all the white-tailed deer's natural predators - wolves are extremely rare back east (here), for example. I have seen deer, dying of starvation or dea by the side of the highway in upstate New York years ago. It is far less cruel to shoot a healthy animal and use its meat to feed people than to see the forest ecology destroyed, and the deer population slowly starving to death.

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Very well put. I agree with that. Whether it was wrong or not to kill off the natural predators, we can't change that at this point and the deer would all die of starvation if they weren't kept down in numbers by hunting. Since man has destroyed most of the natural predators for the deer population, we have to take its place or it messes everything else up too. I couldn't do it myself, but I don't mind if people do, providing they aren't doing it just to kill something, which to me is kinda sick of a person to want to do.

I voted that I dislike it, but in truth, I dislike when it's done improperly. I totally despise bow hunting as I think you'd have to be an expert marksman to kill the animal instantly. I think the chances of the animal suffering are pretty high. I also don't like the idea of hitting an animal in the leg to wound it, chase it down as the poor thing is running for its life. But, as Glacier so eloquently put, if done properly, can be a huge blessing, especially when the whole animal is used.

I too, despise canned hunts, poaching and the like.