What are your thoughts on hunting?

[Guardian85]

I happily eat meat.  If I had to kill and butcher on my own behalf, I would, but I don't, so I don't.

Hunting for trophies makes no sense to me, not for moral reasons, but for psychological ones.  The only trophy that would mean anything to me would be the beast I killed with a knife in a fair fight.  Hell, I think if I killed a mugger in a fair fight, I might be tempted to have the corpse (or at least the head) stuffed and mounted.  But shooting something that can't shoot back just doesn't feel like glory to me.  Now, if I found myself in a gunfight with a sniper and won, I might be tempted to stick the head on my wall.

As a sniper, I'm slightly offended, but I see your point! 

[DeterminedJuliet]

I live is small town south Texas and we have A LOT of deer.  Even with hunting season in full swing the deer are often overpopulated and in search of food and other resources they wander onto highways, into the city and munch on the neighborhood greenery.  It's extremely common for me to drive to work in the morning and see several mauled deer carcases on the side of the road that were hit the night before.  In this instance is helps for population control but, like now, even hunting hasn't made a significant enough dent in the population.  Disease has also become a problem as well, as it does with many large populations of organisms.  Without hunting I think it would be quite worse then what it is now.

Newfoundland is like this, but for Moose. There are over 600 significant car/moose collisions a year, which is pretty large for a province with a population under 1 million. Fatalities from these collisions is a real concern, as well. A moose can totally demolish most passenger cars. So yeah, I have no problem with moose hunting.

Moose meat is pretty tasty, as well, actually. And most people that I know who do moose hunt use the meat.

[Guardian85]

I have moose in the freezer right now. Very tender steaks.

[Pharaoh Cat]

[unholy1971]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport. 

[Tank]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport. 

How do wild animals normally die? Illness, accident, starvation and/or being eaten alive.
I think I'd rather take a clean effective rifle bullet.

[OldGit]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport.

As I said before, there's at least one more reason for killing, which is to get rid of a pest.  I daresay unholy1971 would have no qualms about using a spray can to kill flies or wasps.  Similarly I don't mind killing crows.

[xSilverPhinx]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport. 

How do wild animals normally die? Illness, accident, starvation and/or being eaten alive.
I think I'd rather take a clean effective rifle bullet.

I know that in private parks the animals live relatively stress-free compared to their wild counterparts. Their natural predators are kept separated and they don't go lacking in things such as food and water.

[unholy1971]

LMAO Okay this is absolutely hilarious.  Thanks for posting.

[Davin]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport. 

How do wild animals normally die? Illness, accident, starvation and/or being eaten alive.
I think I'd rather take a clean effective rifle bullet.

Humans die the same way, though being eaten alive is a little rarer.

[Sgtmackenzie]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport. 

How do wild animals normally die? Illness, accident, starvation and/or being eaten alive.
I think I'd rather take a clean effective rifle bullet.

Humans die the same way, though being eaten alive is a little rarer.

I would agree.   Mostly because Humans have No natural predators, while at the same time they prey on every other creature including themselves.   

Think about this a minute.   Would the agriculture industry that grows cows for meat, chickens for meat, turkeys for meat, pigs for meat, would those have had any impact on the increase in the deer population?    Now instead of deer being a major source of protein for consumption by humans, they are an animal that is to be avoided if at all possible while driving our deathtraps on the road.

It is easy to see why deer overpopulation has become a "problem".     More American's on the road, which leaves the deer fewer natural habitats caused by an increase of population in the US or an increase in the amount of land used to grow crops (a yummy source of FOOD for Deer) which by extension was also caused by an increase in population.

My argument would be that hunting deer is necessary, if only to prevent even worse alternative fixes for the "problem".

[xSilverPhinx]

Interesting question.  If  someone has to hunt as a means of survival it's one thing, but there is certainly something wrong with killing poor defenseless animals for sport. 

How do wild animals normally die? Illness, accident, starvation and/or being eaten alive.
I think I'd rather take a clean effective rifle bullet.

Humans die the same way, though being eaten alive is a little rarer.

I would agree.   Mostly because Humans have No natural predators, while at the same time they prey on every other creature including themselves.   

Think about this a minute.   Would the agriculture industry that grows cows for meat, chickens for meat, turkeys for meat, pigs for meat, would those have had any impact on the increase in the deer population?    Now instead of deer being a major source of protein for consumption by humans, they are an animal that is to be avoided if at all possible while driving our deathtraps on the road.

It is easy to see why deer overpopulation has become a "problem".     More American's on the road, which leaves the deer fewer natural habitats caused by an increase of population in the US or an increase in the amount of land used to grow crops (a yummy source of FOOD for Deer) which by extension was also caused by an increase in population.

My argument would be that hunting deer is necessary, if only to prevent even worse alternative fixes for the "problem".

They do this in Africa as well, the overpolulation of some species can really endanger others, by competing for limited resources. Numbers should be kept under control.

[Guardian85]

Not to forget the fact that venison is freaking delicious! 

[Asmodean]

Not to forget the fact that venison is freaking delicious! 

Although in Skyrim, it is too heavy to make for good loot. 

[xSilverPhinx]

Not to forget the fact that venison is freaking delicious! 

Although in Skyrim, it is too heavy to make for good loot. 

In Oblivion too. Two feathers?!