The face of modern hunting

[Roadless]

An interesting perspective on why so many people are "dropping out" of hunting.

Some may find the video offensive:

http://wilderness-sportsman.com/wsblog/

[Le Taz Hot]

1. Before I open this does

it depict killing/torturing/dying animals or children?

[Roadless]

2. No, not in the post or the link.

You have to click a youtube link to see anything bad. The video shows a guy calling in a young coyote, who he then mangles with a high power rifle. He then calls in a young bobcat and shoots it while it's sunning itself.

[pnutbutr]

7. he's calling birds

but the huge number of birds that he doesn't shoot attract predators so he shoots the predators so they won't kill the birds he's not shooting but apparently intends to at some point. Most likely he's just a douche baiting birds in order to attract predators to kill.

This is not hunting. It is a douchebag killing animals for the sake of killing animals. Most hunters are not like him.

[cliffordu]

46. Don't matter to the pusbags that will paint hunters with this kind of

excretia.


I wonder if they know the difference or if they care.

[Heidi]

5. Don't watch the video if you're squeamish. It shows a coyote and a bobcat being shot.

:thumbsdown:

[T Wolf]

3. Hopefully, hunting will go the way of other animal abuse (Michael Vick) as we (maybe) advance

as a society. Hunting for the thrill of the kill is just sick.

And NO ONE needs to hunt for food anymore - even those rural types.

[slackmaster]

6. There are still people in this country who hunt for food

Let me be the first to point that out.

It is less common than a generation or two ago, but it still happens. My stepfather hunted for food when he was a child.

[TXRAT2]

30. I've yet to meet a hunter who didn't hunt for food in some way or another.

[XOKCowboy]

37. And I've seen real hunters turn in game wasters...

My grandfather being one of them because real hunters know that those people ruin it for everyone. Not every gun owner shoots up every road sign he sees and the guy in the video is not a real hunter.

[TXRAT2]

39. Well this is where I’ll differ with others on here.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with what he’s doing, other than the need to video it. Predator control is very important to ranches. I have a soft spot for bobcats so I don’t shoot them or allow anybody else to, but all coyotes and hog’s will be shot on sight. This is calving season and calves are vulnerable to both.

[Roadless]

40. Predator control is uneccessary taxpayer waste

The logic in your post is way off. You don't need to kill anything on sight to protect anything. It's simply blood lust.

Also, when you live in an area that has native wildlife, you need to learn to adapt. Ethical ranchers have non-lethal means of predator deturrent.

[TXRAT2]

44. The logic in your post is way off.

Please tell me what I should do instead. OH! And please explain to me how this is a burden to the tax payer.

[Roadless]

47. Hmmm....

$100 million a year in taxpayer subsidies to the wildlife services to kill 1 million animals a year:

http://www.trib.com/articles/2009/02/17/news/wyoming/0fad4a142c411a7987257560000b267f.txt


"Conservationists argue in a new report that U.S. taxpayers should stop subsidizing a $100 million program that kills more than 1 million wild animals annually, a program ranchers and farmers have defended for nearly a century as critical to protecting their livestock from predators."


You said you shoot on sight any coyote.

Why?

[Roadless]

49. Ted Turner is the largest landowner and rancher in the U.S.

He practices ZERO predator control, even on ranches next to Yellowstone which still has all of the native predators intact, things like grizzly bears, wolverines and wolves.

He does just fine.

[tanngrisnir3]

55. Perhaps you've noticed that Mr. Turner doesn't rely on cattle ranching...

to make a living.

[Roadless]

59. Yes I have

Bison have calves too. And his ranches in New Mexico and Montana have FAR more predators than any setup in the east.

[XOKCowboy]

50. Hogs aren't that big a problem in my country

and yes they would be shot on sight. The big ranches around us shoot coyotes on sight and hang them on the fences for trophies but I don't know of anyone who can personally remember witnessing a coyote stealing a birthing calf. I know the guys personally and they just enjoy shooting coyotes, science be damned. This guy is of the same ilk and I don't consider him a hunter or a sportsman.

[Roadless]

51. plus hogs are non-native

The "predator control" is just a a poor excuse to kill something. Bad information and habits handed down through generations.

[tanngrisnir3]

56. If they're non-native, that's another reason to get rid of them.

Have you actually thought about this and what you're saying?

You're contradicting yourself.

[Roadless]

60. non-native animals

I do believe non-native animals causing problems are not a good thing and should be removed. See cattle and sheep as example #1. ;)

[XOKCowboy]

57. Abandoned dogs who get hungry and pack up are more of a threat

in our area. You are right about it being handed down through generations. The idea that the would was yours for the taking. Luckily many people nowadays don't see the need to fight Mama Nature and realize the value of predators.

[Roadless]

61. you are right on the money

Those are the views of someone with an understanding of the ecosystem.

[Roadless]

64. That doesn't really equal out other faulty actions

There's no reason at all to do what the guy in the video did except for the sick thrill. There are good hunters who respect the prey and rely on the animals for sustenance, and are appreciate of that, and then there are very sick people who get off on shooting whatever they can.

Again, TX, please tell me why the largest landowner and rancher in the U.S. doesn't need to practice "predator control" for his land?

[rvablue]

53. FOR ALL THOSE DEFENDING THIS AS SUBSISTENCE HUNTING:

One of you, just one you, tell me that you have ever eaten a coyote or a bobcat.

They are carnivores and taste absolutely disgusting. Like baked blood!

BTW, while in a foreign country, I ate carnivorous meat and it is truly the most revolting thing I have ever eaten in my life.

Just to make it clear, while I myself do not hunt, I have ZERO issue for those who do and eat what they kill.

But, I'd really like to hear a rational argument for killing coyote and bobcat unless one was stranded and starving and had no choice, because I've tasted similar game and it's NASTY!!!

[tanngrisnir3]

58. You are mischaracterizing what is being said here. Why is that?

This is not subsistence hunting, and no one is really defending it as such.

The reason for killing coyotes is that they can kill calves. It's really quite simple.

[atreides1]

10. Who Died and Made You God?

"And NO ONE needs to hunt for food anymore - even those rural types."


Some people hunt to supplement their food supply in those rural areas, my brother-in-law happes to be one of those people. He hunts in season, he doesn't go over the limits set, and tries to use everything from the animal.

By the way I don't particularly like my brother-in-law.

[pnutbutr]

12. current financial climate

may change the hunting for food thing. My grandfather owned some land in N.C. and would let a few very poor nearby families hunt because they really needed it. This was about 15 years ago. I believe after he died my uncle and father inherited the land and let them continue to do it. Don't know if they still hunt for food but the area is still very poor.

[Thirtieschild]

13. Hunting an animal for food is more humane that eating an animal that spends its life in a feed lot

and ends up wrapped in plastic in a supermarket. Every hunter I know hunts for food. I couldn't do it - love to watch the mule deer who drink at our stock tank - but it seems to me that only a vegetarian has a legitimate right to object to hunting.

[shrike]

23. Yes. I don't hunt, but accompanied my husband on one

A GOOD hunter (and I'm emphasizing the word good) knows how to make a kill shot, so that the animal drops and it is done. I grew up on a farm, know well what happens in a slaughterhouse and remarked to him afterwards that I found hunting much more humane than domestic production of meat. It's clean, it's quick, little suffering. Unless an IDIOT is involved, don't get me started . . .

[X_Digger]

14. My family still hunts.. and NEEDS to

Those deer in the freezer provide meat well into June, sometimes July. Steaks, burgers (mixed with beef), sausage (mixed with pork scraps), and stock for soup- all see them through the winter.

My dad is a self-employed home builder. He's usually out of work during the winter months, and with the economy where it is, I'm sure they'll need the supplemental meat even more this year.

[whoneedstickets]

54. yeah, you need this meat so you can afford toys?

I suspect if you have a computer and internet access that you don't require game-meat for subsistence but instead use this to offset the cost of store-bought meat allowing you to spend that money on other lifestyle choices. Don't pretend under those circumstances that you NEED to harvest game to survive.

[X_Digger]

65. Oh really..

Personally, I don't live in an area where I can hunt readily, nor do I have the ability to take the month of November to go hunting like my dad. For now, at least, I'm employed year round.

The computer my parents use to get on the net is my old p3, and my mom's work pays for her internet access (home health care nurse in rural virginia.) Have any other aspersions you'd like to cast?

You're right that the wild game does offset other costs. As I mentioned, mixed with other meats, it goes a long way. It allows them to have things like.. oh say.. health insurance, car insurance, gas (being rural, even a trip to wal-mart is a 30 minute drive.) But hey, my dad did pick up a used john deere tractor so that he could hire himself out to dig septic tanks and house foundations. I guess I should tell him to stop buying 'toys'.

[whoneedstickets]

66. There are poeple living in the US who do NEED to hunt..

..for subsistence (survival) rather than to subsidization (stretching income). Most of them are native people. Some in Alaska are starving or are being force to choose between heating their home or eating while skipping meals. That's pretty different from offsetting the cost of groceries for car insurance. If you don't get that you might want to try living like these folks:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/rural.alaska.villages/

[X_Digger]

67. So are you proposing..

That only those in the direst need should be "allowed" to hunt? My family wouldn't be able to have meat as often as is recommended without hunting.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

24. Yet another uninformed bigot

Subsistence hunting is much more common than you think, and not just out here in the sticks. Its also Hundred plus pounds of non-hormone laced meat for a couple of dollars.

[vadawg]

26. are you fecking serious, no one needs to hunt for food

though i no longer need to, my neighbours wouldnt get through the winter without the deer and bear that fills their freezer. I still take the odd rabbit and birds. Once again a person from the city telling us rubes that we need to follow the city folks ideas of whats right and wrong.

[MadHound]

27. Must be nice for you to have enough money to afford to get your meat from a store

However there are many poor people in this country who can't afford to buy meat, so they buy a bullet instead, all to feed their family.

Also, there are many kind-hearted souls who, having more deer tags and such than they need for their families food, go out and bring down deer and donate them to food pantries and such so that people who can't afford food, and don't have the ability to hunt actually get food in their freezer.

Also, there are many people out there who hunt because the fact of the matter is that most wild meat, deer, geese, turkeys, etc. are much healthier for you than the meat that you buy in a store.

Furthermore, since mankind has eliminated predators like mountain lions and wolves, deer and other species are growing out of control. This increases the amount of damage to food crops, cars, property, and even deaths due to deer strikes and cars. Also, with this exploding deer population lots of disease are cropping up, some of which can jump species, get into the domesticated animal populations, and even jump to humans. Thinning the deer herd is actually a good thing for this reason also.

So take your uninformed, judgmental attitude and shove it. You have no clue about what you're talking about.

[seejanespottdick]

31. I couldn't agree more...What kind of sport takes pleasure

in killing a living creature?

[tanngrisnir3]

35. It's called "Enjoying living by getting food".

I don't know anyone, and I know a lot of hunters, who takes pleasure in the act of killing.

[seejanespottdick]

36. I separated the activities...Yes, there are people who hunt for sport

Luckily, I don't know any of them.

[leftyclimber]

41. I'd like to tell you a little story about the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.

Part of what they do is try to prevent people from hunting out of season (poaching).

Here in West Virginia people can be pretty proud. It's not uncommon for the DNR to catch poachers out in the woods because these guys would rather shoot a deer out of season than admit -- in a small community, where everyone is likely to find out -- that they are doing so poorly that they can't afford to put food on the table for their children.

So what the DNR officers do is get these people the help they need on the QT, so they can keep their pride and be sure the neighbors won't find out and talk up their sleeves about them. No ticket. Just help getting the food they can't afford. Which is why they were out there shooting a deer in the first place.

The deer that the individual shot is taken and given to the local food bank.

[slackmaster]

4. LOL

Wut?

[Heidi]

8. Young Zachrys is an asshole.

End of story.

[ipfilter]

9. I live in the heart of deer hunting country.

Every year starting at the end of September I get to hear all of the same hunting tails from my coworkers. Every damn deer hunting story sounds exactly the same.

"I was freezing my ass off in my stand when this ___ point buck came within ___ yards. I shot him in the ___ with my blackpowder/crossbow/rifle and he ran about ___ yards and hopped a fence. I couldn't get my four wheeler to it so I had to dress it there and haul it ____ yards back to my truck".

Same story every year.

[bertman]

62. Yep. I've heard that same one many times myself. But, it's true.

Although, most of the guys I know don't use four-wheelers.

[tanngrisnir3]

11. How is this 'the face of modern hunting'?

[old mark]

15. The guy in question is a sadistic shit, and has nothing to do with hunting.

I'm sorry that so many here can not see the value of hunting,and feel called upon to demean those who enjoy it.

mark

[Roadless]

16. There are many, many like him.

IMHO the hunters who aren't need to split off and be more vocal.

[tanngrisnir3]

18. OK, one more time: how is this the 'face of modern hunting'?

[Roadless]

20. "head shot"

That may be a term you are familiar with from video games. And to many young hunters, hunting is no longer about the wild or nature, but rather about "kill points" and "the rush". You could see the rush Zachrys was going thorugh as he found his target, you could hear his breathing growing frantic, you could even see it in his flitty, vacant eyes.

Perhaps you heard about the Challis Idaho Coyote Kill Tournament last week? Where they awarded points for most dead coyotes, biggest, smallest, etc?

http://faultline.org/index.php/site/item/coyote-killing_tournament_in_idaho/%E2%80%9D

It's the video game mentality(perfectly fine for video games, but not when applied to living creatures).

[tanngrisnir3]

22. Which doesn't in any way make it 'the face of modern hunting'

While it could very well be called 'the face of hunting for people who grew up on video games who now project their borderline pathologies in ways that I find distasteful', what you are claiming it to be it quite clearly isn't.

[tanngrisnir3]

17. Yes, there are certain mouth-breathers who try to demean that which....

they don't understand by trotting out the same old extremist examples.

[RebelOne]

19. Those who enjoy it are those who love the thrill of the kill. n/t

[old mark]

21. See? nt

[Paladin]

34. Guys Like Ernest Hemingway And Clark Gable Used To Represent Hunting.

Now it's Dick Cheney and Ted Nugent.

Hunting is dying out, licence sales are dropping across the country. Young people are avoiding it in droves. And most gun activists now think that hunting is distasteful---nothing but assault-style rifles and combat pistols for them. The trend's pretty obvious.......

[lumberjack_jeff]

52. One pass through Cabelas dispels any myth that it's practiced like grandpa did it.

Interesting blog.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Occam Bandage]

28. How is one sadist "the face of modern hunting?"

I mean, that's a bit like taking one criminal from Los Angeles and calling him "the face of California."

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

29. I've known a number of people who enjoy bird or deer hunting,

eat or donate what they shoot and play by the rules. Not my cup of tea, but I don't see anything wrong with that sort of hunting.

[TXRAT2]

32. I've known a number of people who enjoy bird or deer hunting,

Heres one right here! Been doing it for over 50 years and will continue to do so until I'm no longer capable.

[DemoTex]

33. The face of modern hunting:

[Roadless]

43. hahhah

That cover must be a collecter's item by now.

[benEzra]

38. I'd hardly say he represents "modern hunting."

I know a lot of hunters, both in my own family and in my circle of friends. Every single one of them is careful and as humane as possible, don't want the animals to suffer, and don't let the meat go to waste.

I think a lot of anti-hunting people don't realize that steak, burgers, and chicken don't grow on trees and aren't synthesized at your local supermarket's meat counter.

[Roadless]

42. Unfortunately

That meat wasn't eaten. Most predator "hunting" never uses any parts of the animal. It's very similar to the sick people who do "varmint" hunting for prairie dogs and never utilize the animal.

There's nothing in that video that points to ethical hunting. The guy had a feeder set up for wild turkeys, and was shooting anything that came near the turkeys.

[jmowreader]

45. Trust me on this: you would NEVER eat a prairie dog

This is an animal that destroys crops and carries the Bubonic Plague. The only thing prairie dogs are good for is feeding raptors and coyotes.

[Roadless]

48. If you don't eat it, don't shoot it.

The prairie dog is a native part of the American ecosystem. It has just as much right to exist in the ecosystem as any other animal.

[bertman]

63. Organic hunter-gatherers. That's the way I view my hunter friends. They selectively kill

a deer, turkey, rabbit, ducks, geese, then dress it/them and bring it/them home for their family or friends to eat.

They spend a lot of time outdoors, are all conservationists and "tree-huggers", and have a love of nature that most city-dwelling anti-hunters only dream of. They do not slaughter animals, but kill and eat only what they need.

In many ways they are more in touch with humankind's true nature than those of us who only send in our checks to Greenpeace or Sierra Club. We all evolved from humans who lived by hunting. Fact.

[Pavulon]

68. Hunting is becoming more expensive and people have less time

if you actually care about why it is on the decline. You grow up on a farm? no, so even if you wanted to hunt you have limited options or have to pay. I pay $50 a year to the state to hunt and pay a significant amount of overhead to do something I enjoy and that provides food.

Hunting is not cheap if you dont own land.

Now hunting is regulated and the VAST majority of people I run into hunting follow the rules. Most people will not tolerate people who ignore rules.

Using some video of an asshole to classify a whole group is pretty stupid.