Poll: Hunting

[Dr Pussymagnet]

The only thing I find wrong with hunting is the odds. I mean it's you with a scoped rifle and enough bullets to carve a smiley face on it's skin vs an animal(quite possibly with a family) who's just trying to survive in the world we're all already trying to demolish. Some people might say it's the same as eating meat but I don't buy that. Those animals were grown and killed for that particular reason(food), cruel but it doesn't upset any balance. People however hunt the strongest and the fastest, which means not only do they kill a creature that was... you know... just out for a morning stroll, but also fuck up the balance because they keep killing the leaders. Natural selection is NOT the same thing, it's always the weakest that get taken down and if you find any fun in taking down weak and sick animals, you are sick! Hunting is and always was fine as a matter of survival. So if you're hunting the critter because you are starving, then ya it's okey dokey, if you're hunting it for sport (tho the definition of sport in this area is strange, because sport is about something hard to achieve, not sitting on your ass in a tent waiting to pull the trigger) I find that weird.

A real hunter uses a bolt action rifle. They stalk the deer and wait for the perfect shot. Anyone who uses a semi-auto rifle is just cheating.

And just because we're using powerful guns doesn't really make it like shooting fish in a barrel. I have had hard times being able to hit a deer because it was so damn far away. Just read my gut shot story on the first page, that there was most likely a result of the long distance.

Also, I can't imagine a hunter using a semi-automatic rifle either, it just seems wierd, even for me.

 

[sheic99]

The only thing I find wrong with hunting is the odds. I mean it's you with a scoped rifle and enough bullets to carve a smiley face on it's skin vs an animal(quite possibly with a family) who's just trying to survive in the world we're all already trying to demolish. Some people might say it's the same as eating meat but I don't buy that. Those animals were grown and killed for that particular reason(food), cruel but it doesn't upset any balance. People however hunt the strongest and the fastest, which means not only do they kill a creature that was... you know... just out for a morning stroll, but also fuck up the balance because they keep killing the leaders. Natural selection is NOT the same thing, it's always the weakest that get taken down and if you find any fun in taking down weak and sick animals, you are sick! Hunting is and always was fine as a matter of survival. So if you're hunting the critter because you are starving, then ya it's okey dokey, if you're hunting it for sport (tho the definition of sport in this area is strange, because sport is about something hard to achieve, not sitting on your ass in a tent waiting to pull the trigger) I find that weird.

A real hunter uses a bolt action rifle. They stalk the deer and wait for the perfect shot. Anyone who uses a semi-auto rifle is just cheating.

And just because we're using powerful guns doesn't really make it like shooting fish in a barrel. I have had hard times being able to hit a deer because it was so damn far away. Just read my gut shot story on the first page, that there was most likely a result of the long distance.

Also, I can't imagine a hunter using a semi-automatic rifle either, it just seems wierd, even for me.

Yeah well, my dad was out hunting once and a guy was using an automatic rifle.

 

[darkless]

It should be aloud i mean its just natural selection animals kill other animals ALL the time where as humans set a time in most times like your only allowed hunt certain animals at certain times of the year I don't see the problem.

 

[gamebrain89]

I am a hunter, but I feel the need now, as I have on occasion here on the escapist, to qualify my answer. I am a meat hunter. My family hunts for food, not for trophies. Our view of it is that as long as you take what you kill, and use it, its perfectly acceptable. Now while I do feel this way, thats not going to stop me from trying to get a huge bull elk if I have a Bull tag.

On the subject of Trophy Hunters, I find what they do very unethical. Hunting an animal merely because it has a large set of antlers, or some other thing that trophy hunters prize, is stupid. I am most offended when my family and I come across a rotting carcass, that some hunter carelessly left behind, taking only the cape and the antlers. If you don't want the meat, have it processed and donate it to a homeless shelter or something, they would gladly take the food (most likely). If you talk to true hunters ( people who are born and raised by hunting families, not those rich farts who think it would be cool to have a mount in their den) you will find that they are some of the most ecologically minded people you will meet. Hunters are inherently conservationists, its part of the territory. We are concerned about the future of our wildlife, and work to preserve it.

As for odds, you really do not understand how hard it is to actually find these animals, let alone see one for a long enough time to get a shot off. Trudging up and down hills, ( if you need an ATV to hunt, you shouldn't be hunting in my opinion) sitting in the freezing cold for hours on end, then trudging back, is far from easy. When I go elk hunting, the animal has a 95 percent chance of getting away without ever being seen by human eyes. That is much, much higher than your average meat cow has of surviving(0%). when hunters stay within "Fair Chase" animals have an extremely high chance to escape.

[link]http://www.boone-crockett.org/huntingEthics/ethics_fairchase.asp?area=huntingEthics[/link]

 

[stompy]

If you don;t waste the animal, if you make the kill quick and painless for the animal, and if you make sure the animal's population isn't endangered, then I have no problems. However, wasting the animal, or just killing for the hell of it it a sick practice.

 

[Atak Cat]

I am Generally opposed to hunting but the respect the arguments about overpopulation, that and to a slightly lesser extent the if you use Everything on the animal idea.
However having read Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds I propose that the trophy hunters try something new...Human Hunting (with stun weapons only) where one person starts of as the prey in a predetermined area with a cattle prod like device being hunted by however many people they choose (self imposed Difficulty). The Hunters have a Stun gun (I'm still designing) and their own cattle prod thing to defeat an opponent you not only have to shoot them with the gun but use it to tap a radio receiver in the other players helmet. By the way everyone wears a full face helmet to protect their heads and it has a tracking device so the players can tell when they are closing in on each other and to stop people accidentally leaving the hunting area.

Or maybe i thought about this to much.... oh and when you defeat someone you get points depending on the hunter to prey ratio and it all goes on an international score board.

Failing that send this to someone as a a PS3 exclusive game with futuristic weapons.

 

[Neon Orange Ninja]

I dont mind hunting as long as you use it as many people have said.

 

[Berethond]

I am for hunting, provided it's in a manly way. Even though I personally don't(and wouldn't)
Manly= thirty ought six bolt-action rifle, not some high-powered automatic spray gun of death.

 

[flare09]

Honestly, I don't care. But it kind of has to be done cuz if deer and other animals like that aren't kept under control, then they'll over populate and die out.

 

[Lost In The Void]

The only thing I find wrong with hunting is the odds. I mean it's you with a scoped rifle and enough bullets to carve a smiley face on it's skin vs an animal(quite possibly with a family) who's just trying to survive in the world we're all already trying to demolish. Some people might say it's the same as eating meat but I don't buy that. Those animals were grown and killed for that particular reason(food), cruel but it doesn't upset any balance. People however hunt the strongest and the fastest, which means not only do they kill a creature that was... you know... just out for a morning stroll, but also fuck up the balance because they keep killing the leaders. Natural selection is NOT the same thing, it's always the weakest that get taken down and if you find any fun in taking down weak and sick animals, you are sick! Hunting is and always was fine as a matter of survival. So if you're hunting the critter because you are starving, then ya it's okey dokey, if you're hunting it for sport (tho the definition of sport in this area is strange, because sport is about something hard to achieve, not sitting on your ass in a tent waiting to pull the trigger) I find that weird.

ok have you went hunting it's alot harder than that you have to stalk the animal an if you make too much noise that 'ol deer goes running about and you sure as hell won't catch up to him. If you use a tree stand it's a different experience where you wait for your quarry but i don't have the paitence for that so i've only done it once. There is nothing wrong with hunting and it's alot more humane then some of those animal farms

 

[latenightapplepie]

When done to protect the stabliity of the ecosystem, eg in Australia killing the NON-NATIVE bunny rabbits, then by all means.

For food? Similarly, go nuts. Just in moderation.

Solely for sport? Not a chance. Just try and do either of the first two while having fun.

ALWAYS: Be as humane as possible, and be very careful with your firearms/bows/whatever. Especially if you happen to be a US Vice President.

 

[linchowlewy]

My view is that if you are going to hunt, you better eat EVERYTHING you kill. Otherwise, you're just getting pleasure (and not food) out of killing a living thing. I find that pretty sick and perverse.

sums up my thoughts exactly.

my other thought on the argument is this; it's unfair. you get a .50 cal rifle and what does the deer have, NOTHING! i only accept hunting for sport if you even the playing field: going against a deer with your bare hands or something. even then you should still eat the meat.

 

[Fangface74]

Hunting..a cool sounding word for an archaic, now cowardly practice.

 

[ace_of_something]

My grandfather worked for the parks department for 30 years; so Hunting was required by my family.

Hunting must have a purpose though. Never purely for sport.
This is why i don't hunt deer cuz i don't like the taste.

Duck Hunting! Yum.

 

[Typecast]

As a vegetarian, I have nothing against hunting, as long as it's done in an environmentally responsible way, with proper permits.
I did join a bow-hunters club once, and that was fun, shooting at targets and dummies up and down densly forested gullys. But I don't think I would shoot at a deer or goat or boar myself. As far as I'm concerned the pest species in Australia are anyones game in the bush. Just don't hit a dog or cat with a collar while you're out there.

 

[dukethepcdr]

I grew up hunting. My grandpa, dad and their friends used to take me deer, pheasant, wild goose and duck hunting every year. I've shot quite a few ducks and geese but only ever got one deer. I helped dress each animal we brought home from the time I was old enough to be of any help. We also always ate everything we shot and gave the bones etc to our dogs, so we've never shot anything and left it lay there. It's part of my heritage.

I learned at a young age to respect all kinds of weapons and to never treat them like toys. I learned the safe way to use a BB gun and hunted with it when I was only 7. When I was 9 I moved up to a 20 gauge single action shot gun. I've fired every gun my dad has since then. Even his black powder muzzle loader that I helped him build from a kit. I never once hurt myself nor any person. I think there would be a lot fewer accidents involving kids and guns if someone took the time to actually teach the kids to respect guns and how to use the properly and not to fool around with them. Don't just lock them away, teach the kids they are a tool and how to use them right. Let the kid shoot it when he's big enough at targets. Almost every kid in the small town I grew up in had guns in the house and most of them hunted with their families with those guns. No one ever shot anyone else accidentally or otherwise the whole time I lived there.

I'd like to see some of these gamers who are so good with FPS games try to shoot as well with a real gun. It's quite a bit different than a controller, even the gun shaped ones.

 

[Graustein]

Hunting for giggles and shits is no.
Hunting for a purpose... you're free to do it if you must, but I don't think I can do it.

 

[Sewblon]

I don't hunt but I eat wild game so I hold that it is our right as the dominant species to hunt other creatures.

 

[742]

well, over here i hear the word "hunting" i picture a bunch of idiots in camo with sniper rifles and laser sites with twice as many bottles of beer as bullets-of which there is no shortage. thats downright dangerous, and dont say its a sport, no, im sorry, but sometime around the point when your aiming a sniper rifle at a rabbit hole, tracking it with ground penetrating radar, flooding the caves with contaminated water and covering all possible points of escape with land mines and remote detonated explosives it ceases to be a sport. thats just my opinion though.

but even more than that... it just seems mean, i understand the that we killed off all the natural predators, and its what needs to be done in some cases, it just seems like there should be a better way.

 

[rossatdi]

As long as the hunter eats the animal its fine. Not very manly in general though. Shooting something an all, well done. Maybe if you killed a grizzly with a knife I'd give you props but not otherwise.