Killing animals for sport

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I guess a lot of hunting is just a cultural/family tradition thing.

Indeed, many children may find it abhorrent - but acquiesce to family expectations of him as a 'man'.

I'd prefer they took their cues from the Maasai who only achieve manhood by killing a lion with a maasagai (spear).

Redneck avec maasagai vs. lion au naturel.

Now THAT I would pay to see.

Takers ?

I was around guns all my life. My family shoots animals (usually a couple deer or a moose, etc) in order to stock up on food every hunting season. I personally love fishing. I've eaten deer, moose, rabbit, fish of different sorts, bear, grouse, and many others.

Anyone who hunts and does not use the meat should be shot on sight. Anyone who does not know their shot and takes it anyway so that it is a wounding shot only should be shot on sight. People who miss and wound on accident and do not follow the animal for however many hours it takes to find it should be shot on sight.

Anyone who eats meat and is against hunting for food I have no respect for. (And yes I know the original poster was against hunting for sport, not food) Any vegetarians who are against hunting for food I respect but still disagree.

I don't think that there is any problem with getting children used to guns at a young age... as long as they are taught to RESPECT the gun. They need to be taught that this thing is something that can hurt/kill you and/or someone you care for if it is not treated properly. I have known people who have gotten killed due to mishandling a gun. It is a tool that easily becomes, and is usually used as, a weapon.

Now as for just going out and killing a porcupine... unless it has been constantly around his house and was getting aggressive (which I have never heard of before but you never know) then there is no reason to kill one.

...poor porcupine...

I agree, if you can't kill it responsibly yourself, what right do you have to eat it. I'm not in a situation where I can do that, or I might. It's a tough call, but I respect the person who can do so respectfully and responsibly. No question there.

The other argument is that it isn't particularly healthy to eat meat. The digestion of animal protein uses enzymes that otherwise can be better used to fight cancer within human cells, for example. With a little education the vegan diet is superior, as I mentioned before. Given the fact that most people aren't sharp-shooters, it's probably inhumane to hunt and kill animals for either food or sport.

Trophy hunting is a sick practice, I am ok with hunting if the animal is going to be used for food and stuff like that but just to kill an animal because it makes you feel better is disgusting. I guess I wouldn't have as much problem if the hunters were going after the prey with a knife at least then the prey has a chance of winning.

If one day I had to kill an animal to eat, I would become a vegetarian. Fortunately as yet there are still a whole lot of people to do the dirty work for me.

The only valid justifications for hunting are : -

- The threat of starvation

- Culling populations to protect biological ecosystems

- Removal of a persistent pest

- Self defence

The rest is just game-hunting, in my book.
For every animal the hunter game-kills, the hunter should be forced into a day's work for military target practice (perhaps with non-live ammo).

Theres a funny story that I found out on a Louix Thorough(sp?) program. There are loads of ranges in africa that breed animals just for rich americans to kill, these rangers also breed what would be considered endangered species or species that would have been wiped out in a couple of years. But because of these ranges beeding program they have actually saved these creatures from extinction. So hunting has actually saved soem species. Which i find really weird...

I think hunting and killing animals is a humaine way to gather food. Unless you are a vegaterian like the op says you are a hypocrypt if you disagree with it.

I just watched a show on tv about battery hens and factory raised chickens and saw the inhumain lives thoose animals live.

I also support the hunting of pests.

I don't think you should kill animals if they are not pests and you are not going to eat them.

I've never hunted per se, though I do enjoy fishing, crabbing and clamming. I have had fun scooping up mussels growing on shipwrecks while scuba diving, and have attempted (so far unsucessfully) to capture lobsters from the ocean floor. These are all creatures which appear not to experience emotion and which I can believe do not actually suffer, I think of their "experience" of pain as more like a feedback mechanism to a computer telling it one of its peripherals is damaged than a feeling of pain as we know it.

As for hunting animals which do undoubtedly have feelings (birds and mammals) I would probably feel some pangs of guilt, though I don't condemn others who do it. I, too agree with the OP that it is hypocritical to eat meat and be against hunting. Hunting is, as others have said here, generally more humane than raising animals for slaughter, though the latter could be made more humane (I believe in reducing and minimizing regulation of almost every industry but I could make an exception for the meat industry, also leather and fur).

BTW, speaking of fur, I don't understand why people who eat meat and wear leather consider fur to be so much of a greater evil. If it is harvested in a particularly inhumane way, require that that be changed rather than ban it altogether. Maybe since there is reasonably good artificial fur, some people believe that there is no excuse to slaughter an animal just for fur. Fine, but if you slaughter an animal for food, even pet food, or food for farm, zoo, and circus animals, why not use its fur? I'm sure every animal used for fur has some natural predator that will eat its flesh.

And that brings me to my next point. Some of the worst cruelty animals is done by other (non-human) animals. While some slaughterhouses may compare to being ripped apart with fangs and claws, a quick death from a bullet does not. I know this is somewhat OT but I would like animal rights advocates to explain to me what they would do to hold predatory animals responsible for their violations of the rights of other animals. For, if they rights they must have responsibilities too.

I do believe you should generally eat what you kill and not waste it. If it's practical you can even eat animals you kill because they are pests (obviously ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes are not good eats, especially if they've been poisoned; rats might be OK, oysters were once considered disgusting the way rats are now, and oysters are now a delicacy).

One final point, I do enjoy target shooting and guns in general, so given my lack of objection to hunting on any logical grounds I might try it. I might not feel guilty about shooting an alligator, for example. Even a mammal that ferociously attacks and eats other animals (including humans), such as a bear, would probably be easier on my conscience than, say a deer or a rabbit. Though if I had a garden being constantly attacked by either of the latter two, I might get over my remorse about shooting them.

Not a huge fan of any type of animal killing/cruelty, but I'm okay with hunting for food. I've gone fishing a few times, but I don't think I could ever shoot an animal with a gun (or even gut a fish, for that matter). I kind of have a respect for people who can stomach that kind of thing, and I'd much prefer to eat self-slaughtered food than some mystery meat from a supermarket.

Haven't seen this mentioned yet, I know a few people who only go bow hunting. They consider using guns to be "cheating"...and something about the bullets making some of the meat unusable? (Idunno, that's just what I heard)

I think all animals including birds and fish feel pain and we'd be wise to assume it's just as much as humans do. Especially other mammals we should assume experience pain like we do.

I would only be able to kill an animal in self defense, or take a suffering animal to vet for euthanizing.

I don't approve of deer hunting or any other sport hunting. I don't approve of torturing animals for medical or cosmetic purposes. It's a no brainer that if humans torture and kill animals for whatever reason, they will also do it to each other.

If you can't afford to feed a family without killing animals then in my humble opinion you shouldn't be having children but my opinion is very unpopular. Still, killing for food is way different from sport hunting. I'd rather die than kill an animal.

You need to give some creatures lots of space, tons of space in fact. A mother moose is almost as deadly as a bear. Yeah she and her baby are real cute, so unless you're informed, it would be easy to get yourself maimed or killed. Just being in bear and moose habitat is putting your life at risk. When a bear first comes out of hibernation, everything looks like food including you.