I'd like you're thoughts on the "hunters are evil" mob.

[KaiTheIronHound]

Pretty much as the title says. I'm a hunter, and i know many others here are aswell. I find quite frequently that i run into abuse for being barbaric, or for killing for food when i can just go to a store. As far as i am concerned i have nothing to be sorry for, i hunt because i like to know whenever i can exactly how an animal has died, and that it has died clean. People who tell us we are wrong or bad or evil and still eat meat dont seem to understand that thinking your hands are clean because someone else kills it for you are fools.

I'd like to know the thoughts of the community. Hunters and non-hunters are perfectly welcome, everyone has a legitimate view!

[Shewie]

I don't have a problem with hunting for food, it's the trophy hunting I don't agree with. I think anyone who eats meat should be sufficient in dispatching and butchering their own, not that we do, we just go to the supermarket and buy it these days.

I used to follow a chap on youtube who was out in the Canadian bush making some really good films, when he started shooting black bears and trapping big cats for fun I unsubscribed, that's just a bit too raw for my liking.

[FishyFolk]

I've got nothing against it. I used to hunt myself and would like to get into it again. The only reason I stopped was that I moved away from here, and could not hunt where I was.
I too got a beef to pick with trophy hunters. And I do not like farmers that kill wolves in Norway. But I do understand that some animals need culling, or they would just be more than what would be sustainable. So in those cases I agree with that form of hunting too.
Else her ein Norway the rules and regulations on hunting is very strict, and demands a pretty high level of knowledge, specially for big game. For example it is illegal to use anything but a
rifle or shot gun. You have to prove your shooting capablilly each year, with the rifle you will use for hunting. You have to pass a written exam to prove you have the theoretical knowledge, safety and laws etc. And for big game you also need to prove that you have access to a tracking dog, if you wound an animal etc.

Hunting with sling shots, bows, sticks and the like is illegal here. And snaring only allowed in a few municipalities

[JonnyP]

Just tell them you prefer organic meat that is wrapped in natural bio-degradable materials.
People like that who are ignorant of how meat is produced have not got a leg to stand on if they think hunting for food is wrong. Only vegetarians and even more so, vegans have a valid argument and that is their choice, but if God did not want us to eat meat, he would not of made animals out of food..

[KaiTheIronHound]

JonnyP, i couldnt agree more. Humans are designed to eat everything that is edible. Animals fall under that catagory!

[KaiTheIronHound]

And i also agree with peoples problem with trophy hunters. I dont get going out and shooting something just so you can hang its head on your wall. If you eat the thing aswell, then i guess its ok, but killing for a shiny trinket to show off to your mates is just wrong.

[paulthefish2009]

Or given us a different set of teeth. No problem with hunting provided it's done humanly and it's for the pot.Got a real problem with people that shot stuff just for fun.Few guys i work shoot,mainly pheasents and seems to me half of what they shoot ends up in the skip,I do have a slight problem with that to be honest. Paul

[AL...]

Aint we kinda goin down the same road as the anti's here?
I hunt with Air rifle and Catapult for the pot but I have no problem with folks who Trophy hunt eather.
Most of them do take the meat too as well as mount the head/ horns cape/ pelt. On the wall Thats there thing and all the best to them.
They do put a fair amount of money into the coffers of the country where they are hunting/shooting.
I have a wee problem of ranch hunting like they have in the States but there again Im not one to judge. Some folks might only have that one chance to get there dream buck and want to make sure its there waiting.
Its just a case of each to there own . If ye want the trophy or if ye hunt for the pot . Go for it.
At the end of the day for me its being out there.

Cheers
AL

[f0rm4t]

I challenge any "Hunter's are evil" mob, to watch one of the below videos which, while extreme, are not uncommon in this sector, then tell me they think personal hunting and humanely dispatching, ethically selected food is still barbaric, and would continue to defend their belief.

Unfortunately everywhere in life you will come across bigoted people, people who back their belief to the death, because that's the only belief they've been taught or otherwise acquired. The classic example of this is an individual's religious orientation. But that is a provocative subject and off topic!

WARNING! These video's show animal cruelty.

[f0rm4t]

Aint we kinda goin down the same road as the anti's here?
I hunt with Air rifle and Catapult for the pot but I have no problem with folks who Trophy hunt eather.
Most of them do take the meat too as well as mount the head/ horns cape/ pelt. On the wall Thats there thing and all the best to them.
They do put a fair amount of money into the coffers of the country where they are hunting/shooting.
I have a wee problem of ranch hunting like they have in the States but there again Im not one to judge. Some folks might only have that one chance to get there dream buck and want to make sure its there waiting.
Its just a case of each to there own . If ye want the trophy or if ye hunt for the pot . Go for it.
At the end of the day for me its being out there.

Cheers
AL

I'm usually with you on most topics Al, I must say. But on this one we differ.
For me personally, my opinion is based around the end-game of hunting.
Hunting to eat is one thing, hunting to put an animal head on your wall as a trophy is another.

We (The bushcraft community) are passionate about LNT as a mind-set, and also the ethical use of the natural resource around us.

For me taking down an ancient oak with an axe for the *primary* purpose of proving to myself I can, or to lay it across my lawn to show others I did, is *exactly* the same as taking a stag or other animal for the *primary* purpose of trophy.

I'm sure you and anyone on here would read with disdain, should I have done & posted the former, so why should our standpoint be different for the latter?

Everyone is naturally entitled to their own opinion, and far be it from me to question anyone else's, but there is mine none the less