Sorry but I need to vent

[mele]

Some of you may know September 1st is the start of dove season. I understand the important roll hunters play. My dad and brothers are hunters and although I love them, I hate their disregard for life. True, they shoot more rocks than birds but they do shoot a few.
This is what bothers me. If they hunted for food, then I MIGHT be ok with it. They have NEVER in my life cooked the doves they killed. Either they stayed in the freezer so long they had frost bite OR they left them in the fields, to lazy to find and clean them. That is what pisses me off. To think so little of life that they could toss it off without another thought. "THEIR JUST BIRDS"....Don't they see that these animals are precious, that LIFE is precious. They choose a mate and spend the whole of their life with that one bird. They are so connected they can fly so close that their wing tips can touch and not miss a stride. They are so connected that when one dies, the loss is so great that they choose to no longer live without them. So, they say "it's just one bird" NO, No its so much more than that.

They also started taking their kids. I don't even know where to start with this one......
They said they didnt seemed bothered by the dead bird or the blood....That bothers me. WELL...They obviously dont understand what they have done. If they dont understand about death and the life lost, then they should be tought. I would think it was important to first understand how delicate and precious life is before you take a life. They should understand that life is not renewed like in their video games. The bird isnt going to just start over. That life is lost. Im afraid that if they dont understand what they are doing and continue to do so in this irresponsible manner, they may become emotionally numb OR if they suddenly realize what they have done, it will be overwhelming.

Sorry, I had to get this out. My family dosent undertand why this upsets me. I dont understand why they dont understand why Im upset........

 

[birdmama61]

Okay first off that is not true hunting . True hunting is the hunter never leaves the bodies of what they kill to rot where they were shot . So now their kids will have no respect for the hunted animal that they kill and they will have a total disregard for life . I think that people should think before they take their kids hunting before they are totally old enough to understand the whole principal of hunting and I think some family members need to understand how others feel . I totally agree with you .

 

[mtdoramike]

I went deer hunting ONCE when I was 15 years old with a friend and his dad. I thought it was really cool, sitting waiting on the deer to come by or listening to the dogs running the deer. Then when we were heading back to the truck at the end of the day without even seeing a deer, we happened upon a deer in the woods off the trail. It had been shot in the hind leg and was trying to stand up, but couldn't. It was a doe to boot, which was illegal to hunt. You could see that it had been shot days earlier by the wound.

My friends dad left us with the deer and went to the closest ranger station to report it. The ranger came out and barrowed my friends gun and put the poor thing out of it's misery. All the while, I was crying and screaming NO, No, No, I wanted to take the deer home to see if I could help her. Needless to say, I carried on with such a fit, I was never asked to go hunting again. Which was fine with me. I have never been hunting again since that day and don't plan on ever going.

To me, hunting is a personal choice. I don't look down on anyone that chooses to take up hunting as a hobby. But it just doesn't appeal to me. Now, if I had to hunt to survive then theat is something different. But to sit up in a tree and wait for a deer to pass by and shoot them with a gun and a high powere scope AIN'T NO SPORT. Where is the sporting chance for the deer or other animal when your equipt with a gun?

 

[birdybabies]

I hate hunting as well. We have friends that go 'rabbitting" I will not go - I cant stand it. In the wild, animals kill other animals - FOR FOOD and food only, they do not kill for fun. Why then do we, supposedly the most developed species, kill for fun, sport, poaching or because we want to (this includes killing not just animals but other humans)? Yet if an animal, eg a lion, killed a human, they are destroyed. I cannot even watch docos where wild animals are killing other animals for food, I find it very distressing even though I know it is the food chain of the wild.

 

[merlinsmom13]

My brothers a big hunter, mainly deer. I hate it, but he's not going to change. He does find a needy family & gives the prepared deer to them, so no waste. The deer here are overpopulated, when that happens alot of them go hungry in the winter months. But they are so beautiful, I'm just not a hunter.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

So merlinsmom, we can kill animals for food ... as long as we only kill the ugly ones?

The 'fun' of hunting appeals to me, though I've never engaged in it for similar reasons as elaborated above. I think hunting for food if perfectly fine. An animal shot in the wild has had a far better life and has been killed far more humanely than those that make the meat in your local grocer.

As for the fun of it ... try laser tag. Same thing, without killing.

Or make teams where one builds a little remote controlled vehicle that can run through the woods, and everyone else goes out to try to shoot it. Strap a melon to the top of the vehicle for a little added "reality".

But of course then we're killing fruit ... and if all life is precious ... or was it just animal life ... or just vertebrate life ... or just vertebrates who we subjectively find "cute"?

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Is fishing better than hunting? Is it because fish aren't as cute?

 

[suebee]

i have no problem with hunting, as long as the hunter is competant an kills cleanly, animal is not endangered, its remains treated as a food source.

i am very anti trophy hunting, fox hunting i am on the wall with that one, as i hear both sides of the debate, and as for the glorious 12th, it kept ppl in jobs and hedgerows taken care of


hunting is such a grrr area

 

[merlinsmom13]

When you find an ugly animal, let me know. The only ones that fit the bill in my opinion would be rats & who would want to eat them.

A big fad around here is bow hunting. I have a huge problem w/this because any fidiot w/a little money can bow hunt. I can't tell you how many wounded deer come thru our property. Legs shot off, arrows sticking out of their bodies. The suffering of dying slowing from infection is tremendous. They do require new hunters to pass a gun safety course, not required for bow hunting.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

When you find an ugly animal, let me know

I see one every morning in the mirror. Then I go to work and see dozens of slightly less ugly ones all day.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

I like to think that I respect life.... I don't believe in taking an animals life without just cause. That being said, we raise our own chicken, pork, and beef. We also hunt (although most often bow hunting), I believe in a clean shot... and never to waste what you shoot.
Many years ago in Wisconsin (I am originally from Wisconsin) there was a 2 year period where the state didn't issue as many hunting licenses because they were trying to get an accurate population count, the population exploded... Deer running into towns, through people front living room bay windows, and after a little longer a disease hit the deer and became so widespread from the overpopulation problem that it wiped out over 40 percent of the population. Point is, that we got rid of their natural preditors (bears, big cats, etc), so either hunters shoot them, or we fill the area with bears, and mountain lions again.

As far as Dove goes.... I have no purpose shooting a Dove.... although the people I know who do actually eat the ones they shoot. But here in West Nile area, I have no problem with a cut into the wild bird population, it might help slow the spread of west nile.

It bothers me to kill something, but I understand why.

I absolutely hate waste though....

I also know that "city people" are more likely to be bothered because they are more distant from their food. I haven't eaten an animal I didn't know personally before hand in over 4 years.

All that said, there are better food animals to hunt and shoot than a Dove.... never has made much sense to me...

 

[mele]

I Didn't say I had a problem with hunting or fishing (for consumption) My problem is with the waist. They don't eat the animal or give it to someone who will.

Responsible hunting is detrimental to each species and their habitat. I majored in forestry and worked in the field. I have seen first hand the devistation of overpolulation. Hunters are important to the balance.

Again, my problem is the blatent disregard they have for life and what they are teaching to my nephew and niece.

 

[MominNC]

I have to agree hunting for sport and wasting the meat is plain wrong.
I was offered to go hunting as a teenager I was hopping ready to go my mother said hold on a minute! She sat me down and explained hunting to me. She told me a story back Thirty years prior when she went squirrel hunting. She sighted, fired and the squirrel fell. She followed into the brush where there knelt the squirrel both it's hands clasped as if in prayer. It looked at her then looked straight up into the trees gasping for last breaths. She handed the rifle off to an Uncle, turned on heel and walked back for home. She never hunted again. After hearing this I picked up the phone and declined the hunting trip. I've never been hunting and have zero interest in going.
I know if it came down to a survival situation and the family was hungry I could take care of matters. I'd hate it and be blinded by tears and riddled with guilt but sure there would be full bellies. It would take a major event for me to get to that point.