What do you think of hunting?

[Rio and Me]

I'm just going to say my opinion!
I agree with hunting if the animal is going to be used, is not endangered and if it is dont correctly!
I dont agree if it is just for fun, if you have no idea about what you are doing!
I have gone fox hunting on horseback with foxhounds, the last time i went sabatours were there and i must say how hypicritical they were, how can they be there protesting hunting is crulety when they throw nails/needle into the path of horses and dogs, shouting waving things frightening the horses and dogs, geting whipped in the face is payback!

Since hunting has slowed down (i know it still gos on), i have hit countless rabbits, pheshants (?spelling) and 3 fox's in my car, and seen thousands on the road, im not saying it didnt happen before, its just more so now its banned! fox's are more and more in the towns and MY GARDEN.
Rio has managed to catch and kill 2 rabbits (both had myxi)(fed to ferrets so they werent wasted), she wouldnt have stood a chance else!
I just think in the long term in the end they will regret there choice!
Ky
Ky

[caseysmom]

I hate the idea of an animal being killed anyhow, anyway. I also eat meat so I can't really sit in judgement but I don't like the thought of it.

[Miss Z]

I have gone fox hunting on horseback with foxhounds, the last time i went sabatours were there and i must say how hypicritical they were, how can they be there protesting hunting is crulety when they throw nails/needle into the path of horses and dogs, shouting waving things frightening the horses and dogs, geting whipped in the face is payback!

Payback? For standing up for animal rights? I did not hear about needle throwing, but the idea and shouting and waving banners is to confuse the dogs and to throw them off the scent. When I watched that programme I mentioned earlier, I researched it fully afterwards to confirm any truth in it. I find the huntsmen, in most cases, to be far more violent than the protesters. I admire the sabatours for their bravery, getting whipped and beaten up in the name of 'payback', that's no easy job, and the people go back and do it again and again. Why? Because they CARE. Good riddance to hunting, I will work with every muscle in my body to get hunting with shotguns for sport out of this country once I am old enough. I'm going to stay off this thread now I think, as it's a subject I feel very strongly about and do not want to start an arguement.

[luvofallhorses]

I seriously think it's cruel..especially how the dogs are treated. I mean some hunters take good care of them, but some don't and it breaks my heart.

[MomOf7]

I hunt with my dogs. Waterfowl and upland birds. Yes we use the meat. We also use the feathers and wings for training purposes. Not much is wasted.
We also do hunt tests which are simulated hunts where live ducks are used. The dead ones are taken by trainers and used for training purposes and used several times as they freeze them and re use them.
Sounds cruel sure. Its a lifestyle I guess you could say.

I think its more cruel to keep animals in too small of grounds in horrible conditions then go to the meat store to eat these poor animals. Thats more cruel than any hunt I have ever been on.
JMO

[dogzr#1]

Like many have said before me: As long as the whole animal is used, not just for the hide or antlers etc, then I'm ok with it. I'd rather see a deer shot once and it's life ended quickly, than it getting hit and living, and just living the rest of it's days in pain. But to just hunt for mere sport then that is cruel. Just my opinion.

[CagneyDog]

In most cases I am against hunting. Hunting is made a bit better if it is done for food but I still see no reason to do it. I rather let nature take it's course, and if that means that we are overrun by deer (which we wouldn't be if we didn't kill their predators by the way) then so be it. People need to leave nature alone.

[Cataholic]

I think there's something weird about people who can find it enjoyable to watch something die and know that they killed it.

Very well put. I have YET to meet (and I am 40 years old) a 'hunter' that didn't make me go "hmmmm....".

[BOBS DAD]

Very well put. I have YET to meet (and I am 40 years old) a 'hunter' that didn't make me go "hmmmm....".

It may very well be though Cat, that "You have" met hunters that seemed very normal to you. You just did not know that they were hunters. Because like a lot of things, most people participate in activities in moderation and are not consumed by them. I also do not agree with hunting merely for sport but I have hunted and still do on occasion. I once posted on this same subject (but was more on the theme of "hunting dog" breeds). In that post I mentioned how we (my family) hunted for food. We had no real pleasure in seeing anything die, but was more of a natural order of things. In order to eat, you had to kill and clean and process your meat. It is a bit hypocritical to eat a hamburger and think that you are totally against any sort of brutality or mistreatment of animals. It may in fact be more respectful of nature to hunt, forage and gather your own food than to rely on others to do so and pretend that your Big Mac was born a patty!!!

In my previous post I said: I am no longer a Hunter (per se), but I used to hunt frequently with my father. Growing up my father always had Beagles as he was an avid hunter. He taught us to love and respect nature. He also taught his boys to hunt. As a family, we did not have much (in the way of money) and so any game that we bagged was cleaned, processed and prepared as food. Rabbit, Pheasant and Deer (processed and frozen) sure helped to lower my Mom's bill at the market. To this day nothing makes me feel more relaxed than a brisk, sunny morning, walking in golden fields, smelling the fresh air and hearing a Beagle off in the distance howling. It reminds me of a simpler time. A time when my biggest worry "was for Christmas, what would be my toy" - thanks to Stevie Wonder for that line.

Just weighing in on the subject! Following are Ginger shots on an early morning hunt... She Hunts - I Watch and Listen!!!

[*LabLoverKEB*]

I agree with Sarah 100%. My dad is a fishermen, but not so much a hunter anymore...

[jesse_3]

I don't hunt deer, but I do take Jesse up North and we hunt for grouse once in a while. I don't agree with hunting for fur, or antlers, or well, what we call trophy hunting. If you use the whole animal, and you killed it as humanely as possible, then I am okay with it. But if you think that it is okay to wound it, and let it suffer, then you should be shot and suffer right next to the poor animal. Basically, everything that has been said I have been repeating...

Steph and Jes

[felicity]

I absolutely despise hunting and am SO glad it is banned over here now. The RSPCA is still working to get a complete ban on hunting with a shotgun too, and maybe when I am older I will help. I remember watching a programme about people who used to boycott fox-hunts. They took an undercover camera, and the things they had to go through, it was awful. Huntsmen beat them up, rode their horses at them, hit them with their riding whips... it goes on and on, and still these brave people continued to campaign against the hunt. I felt so angry and I would have loved to have helped those people. Chasing a fox, rabbit, deer or anything that has a heart beating inside, until it collapses with exhaustion and is ripped apart whilst still alive by dogs, purely for the pleasure of 'the jolly hunt' is sick and barbaric. How anyone can watch an animal die, whether for food or pleasure, is completely beyond me. I get very touchy on this subject.

ditto,

i'm a vegetarian and see no point in killing an animal simply for food...seems like such a waste to me.

i love animals and can't stand the thought of hunting, i have two cats and a dog, i can't have a deer as a pet but i still think they are great animals and would never hurt them.

this is just my opinion, i understand that everyone is different, my husband used to hunt kangaroo's, i'm glad he stopped though because it used to be a heated topic in our house

i have to add that i think pets such as dogs and cats need meat....otherwise they can get sick, i can survive without it and that's my choice but i'd never stop my pets eating it.


felicity

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Hate it with a passion

[king2005]

Nothing wrong with Hunting, its Sport hunting that makes me & real hunters sick!!

(someone posted this in P2)
People eat bear & wolves. Bear hunting is carefully watched & banned when the population is under ccontrol. Once the population is too high the hunting is opened again.

Canned hunting isn't hunting. Its tourturing an animal until it dies!! I saw it on tv & it was horrible. The guy shot the Hog so many times with arrows, that the Hog looked like a porqupine!!

Also nothing wrong with using a bow for hunting. Its quieter & won't scare the heck out of near by animals. When bow hunting is done properly the animal just drops dead. If you cannot use a powerful enough bow to kill a deer quickly in 1 shot, you shouldn't be bow hunting!!

^ Samething when using a shotgun or rifle. If you cannot drop it in 1 shot then you shouldn't be hunting !!

I went hunting for a problem Coyotte last summer. He was not scared of people, was killing Organic sheep left right & center, & wouldn't run away when the farm dogs started barking (the farm dogs could almost get up to him before he ran away). Never did see him, but later found out the farm down the road got him that night. The farmer I & my ex was helping isn't a fan of killing them. He said he sees them all the time, but the second the farm dogs bark & run, the yotts run off. He said he looses a couple sheep/yr & thats ok, no biggy, but 30 in a month from 1 yotte is TOO much.... If we had shot the problem coyotte he would have been fed to the farm dogs (no such thing as dog kibble), so it wouldn't have been wasted.

[Argranade]

If there was a coyote they could have used a sleeping gun or a trap and set it way up north far away from the farm there was no need to shoot this animal there are plenty of ways to stop a wild animal population with out killing.

There is no real difference between a cat and dog to a deer and racoon ok so what the deer and racoon live outside that still does not give hunters a right to shoot them.Just say you switch things and your animals become wild and know how to fend for them selves then these ppl come and shoot them because they say those cats and dogs started eating our plants.

I just wish some ppl could realy see how much this animal is in pain I mean when some ppl shoot an aniamal they say it has no pain amd no fear.

Than why the hec was it running away from that gun shot Daaa because it would have felt pain like a natural preditore biting its leg. That deer did NOT want to die or feel pain so thats why it was running.Animals can't shoot down the population of us humans and when they try to they get shot.

One boy in some countrey was sitting and reading when a tiger grabed him by the neck and killed and ate the boy only because the human population has grown so much and moved into the tigers land and I do feel sorry for the boy but maybe these ppl should have NOT moved so close to the forests I mean these ppl actualy knew there where tigers in the forest.

Baby's keep comming in the human life and I think having 9 kids is way too many 1 to 3 kids is ok but we need to stop builidng houses onto the wild life lands. Animals where around WAY before us humans where they realy own the forests and there homes NOT us we just came like a pest on this earth and our numbers in population have gone WAY up In china coulples can only have 1 child and if they have another it MUST be adopted by law we dont want that to happen in other coutries.

I realy dont know what this earth is comming to.