Hunting For Sport

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I don't get it... I once went hunting with some good ole boys when I was in high school...One of them slammed the rifle on the ground, it went off, and missed my ear by inches...That's the last time I ever went hunting...I don't get it...

If you're hunting for dinner then that's a different matter...But to mount something on your wall that's messed up...

[BklynChick]

1. I dont' get it either.

:shrug:

[11 Bravo]

2. I've hunted for most of my life and agree that trophy hunters are a strange breed.

I don't kill anything that my family doesn't then eat. (And you were hunting with an idiot.)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. We Were Only Sixteen Or So

But , yeah, you will never know what it's like to have a bullet whiz past your ear...Thank God it missed and thank God it was fast...

[11 Bravo]

6. Actually I spent a few months in the A Shau Valley in '70-'71, I know EXACTLY ...

what it's like to have a bullet whiz past your ear. The old adrenaline really kicks in, doesn't it?

[old mark]

39. It tends to wake you up,

and it becomes one of life's unforgettable experiences.

Welcome home.

mark

[doc03]

10. I have hunted all my life too, now admit it if

you are a deer hunter don't you try to get the biggest buck and isn't it the thrill of the pursuit
and the kill you really enjoy. I have never met a hunter that didn't brag about how many points his buck had and how much it weighed. I will take that back the Amish are an exception they kill for the food they don't care about sport or the laws they shoot bucks, does or a fawn with spots. They fish the same way, they take everything they catch.

on edit: I know very few hunters that actually need to hunt for survival as a matter of fact a pound of deer steak when you add the cost of the gun and all the other equipment costs more than prime beef.

[ieoeja]

22. That is the argument I always make.

Does the best beef come from the biggest, toughest bull? No! It comes from the young ones. Presumably the same is true for deer. Were deer hunters truly motivated by the venison, the stories would be ...

"Went deer hunting last night, but the only thing to come within sight of my stand was a big ol' eight pointer. So I took a pass."

"Oh man, that sucks. You should have seen the nice yearling I got last week. That is going to make for some tasty victuals."

[doc03]

24. You shoot a big old buck they are tough as shoe

leather unless you know how to cook them. My dad was one that didn't seem to care about the rack, he would do like you said and shoot a just legal spike buck, by far the best eating.

[11 Bravo]

34. I am a deer hunter, and I have passed by trophy bucks looking for the biggest doe I can find.

As I mentioned earlier, I eat what I kill, and I find doe meat to be more tender. As for the expense, I have taken scores of deer in my life, all with the same gun. Your estimate of the cost per pound is laughably inaccurate. Assumptions can be a dangerous thing.

[doc03]

36. You must be one of a hundred, I didn't say everyone

is a trophy hunter like I said my dad didn't care he shot a good eating deer. My estimate is laughably inaccurate, same there I didn't say everyone but for most hunters including myself we put a whole lot more money into hunting than what we could buy beef for. Most hunters I know have at least one gun around $500 minimum, many are too damn lazy to walk today and have a 4 wheeler they pay several thousand for. Most hunters don't have their own land and many travel away from home to a deer camp or belong to a hunting an fishing club that also costs money. I know one guy near me that has bought up nearly 500 acres of ground just to hunt on. Even a compound or cross bow costs several hundred dollars today. The same goes for fishing I have put enough money into fishing equipment over the years a bass probably costs me $50 a pound all things considered. I'm sure there are some who use an old rifle he inherited from his dad and owns his own land and actually walks to his stand. The Amish fit that category but believe me they are not sportsmen they are pure meat hunters, anything is fair game. Many people that burn wood will make a similar argument then pay several hundred dollars for a chain saw, log splitter a 4-wheel drive pick-up and claim they get their heat for nothing.

on edit: I have nothing against hunting but I am not going to lie most of us enjoy the pursuit and the thrill of killing your own food. There are very few of us that actually hunt because we can't afford to buy food.

[Upton]

4. I tried hunting once

years ago, and I'm still ashamed of myself. I just don't understand the mindset of those that would kill for kicks. I'm just so glad I'm not one of them.

[hamsterjill]

5. Agree

If you're hunting to survive, then it's the real deal.

If you're hunting for a trophy, then it's a sick ego boost. Especially the canned hunts where the "exotic" animals come from petting zoos, etc.

People who participate in something like that have no honor.

[IndianaJones]

7. Its fun. I don't get people that don't. nt.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. What's Fun About Killing Animals For Shit And Kicks?

~

[IndianaJones]

12. isn't that the point? you don't get me...i don't get you. nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. I Didn't Get Jeffrey Dahmer Either...

He started with ritualistic animal torture and worked his way up or down , depending on your perspective...

[IndianaJones]

15. if you eat meat, you are contributing to more animal torture than a hunter. nt.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. If

If you think hunting for food which provides sustenance is the same as hunting for sport which provides thrills is of the same nature there is nothing I can do to disabuse you of that notion...

[IndianaJones]

21. I've hunted for sport for over 5 years...in that time I have taken one deer...

prior to that, I hunted to stock the freezer and bagged out every year.

[ieoeja]

26. Do you "hunt" or ambush?

I hunt. I love to track and stalk the prey. To see how close I can get to it.

Killing I don't bother with. I don't like the taste of game. But I do love the hunt.

Hanging out in a deer stand waiting to ambush a deer is where I fail to find any enjoyment.


That said, there is one time I recently set out to hunt to kill. Some wild pigs wondered onto our farm, presumably escaped from some illegal private hunting preserve as wild pigs have been extinct in Indiana for a hundred years or more and are currently banned. After my brother killed the first one, it occurred to him that might have been illegal, so he called the DNR which told him, "the hunting season on wild pig in Indiana is 24x7, 365 days a year using anything short of a tactical nuke."

So he put out the word, and it wasn't long before we thought they were all dead. Then I ran into one while out hiking one day. It actually took a lunge at me at one point.

See? She started it!

I went out, bought a spear and was planning to hunt that sucker down. But my brother shot it before I got back to the farm.

[IndianaJones]

33. I bow hunt from a stand. nt.

[doc03]

25. Amen n/t

[Demi_Babe]

8. I don't get it either but there's somethinng "primal" about it

[cali]

9. I think that a lot of the time the line between hunting for sport and hunting for food is blurry.

I actually know quite a few people who hunt for food, but that doesn't mean they don't enjoy the hunt itself- the early mornings, the tracking, hunting camp, the break from the everyday slog at the mill, etc. And in some parts of the country, hunting is part of a way of life. I know that's true here.

[wvbygod]

13. Now for the real question.....

If given the power and the congressional votes, would anyone here attempt to outlaw hunting?

[TheDoorbellRang]

30. No. I'm not a hunter, but the ones I knew were always

pretty responsible, and they ate what they caught.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. Dog fighting is sport.

Not taking a stance. Just making the question more pointed.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

17. I'm not sure that's true. Shouldn't a sport have some human competition involved?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

19. Well, the breeding, training and wagering involved is human competition

I don't think it is "a sport" but it's "sport" in the terms of done for enjoyment.

[mtnsnake]

20. Half of the hunters I know go hunting to get away from their wives & drink beer with their buddies

at their favorite hunting camp. A few actually go hunting.

[doc03]

23. I've noticed that too a lot of them I know had little

interest in hunting and fishing until they got married. A buddy of mine when he first got married about 30 years ago was invited along with some guys to fly fish in WV for a week he said he was the only one that even wetted a line. A friend of my dad's would tell his wife he was going Pike and Walleye fishing in Canada every year he would shack up with his girl friend in a town a few miles away and would do his fishing at the fish market. Same with deer hunting my dad would shoot a deer for him every year.

[Arugula Latte]

27. "Sport" hunting is disgusting.

I swear, I wish we could do instant evolution so the "sport" hunters are getting blasted and speared by bows by some more powerful, cunning animals who then mount their stupid, vapid human heads on the walls of their dens.

[chatnoir]

32. Ditto. Maybe it'd be more of a "sport" if the animals were armed with hunting rifles as well.

I like your scenario. Maybe then it would be seen for what it really is.

[doc03]

37. You just don't understand, you don't go out in a

field and pick out a buck like you would a steer. Hunters spend days in the woods scouting for deer sign before season. Hunters will spend days sitting in a tree stand and pass up many legal bucks waiting for that trophy and many times when the season ends don't shot anything. I think the success rate for bucks in Ohio is somewhere around 20-25%. You eat beef? They either either soot them in the fore head with a rifle or some times just whack them between the eyes with a sledge hammer. The deer herd has to be managed somehow, or they starve, die from decease or get killed on the road. Then what about the damage to property, the average deer car accident runs $2500 and many deer motorcycle accidents end up with a dead motorcyclist.

[PeaceNikki]

28. The hunters are angels compared to factory farming

I know it's cool and fun to rip on hunters here at DU, but I'd much rather eat meat that was hunted as opposed to factory farmed.

[jody]

29. If you eat meat or eggs, your food is raised in conditions that are cruel. See link below.

http://www.chooseveg.com/animal-cruelty.asp

[flvegan]

31. Hunting is never a "sport".

Killing animals for fun (or a trophy) is simply that...killing animals for fun. Kill a dog for fun, and you're a psycho and should get some jail time. Kill a bear/moose/tiger/whatever for fun, and you're a mighty "hunter". What bullshit.

[Beaverhausen]

35. Hunters hunting each other would be "sport." Stalking and killing unarmed animals is murder

[Duppers]

38. me either, I do not understand taking pleasure in another creature's death

We would not be here if our ancestor had not hunted but those times are long gone.
We do not need to kill to live.

If we are not vegetarians, as I am not, we need methods of humanly killing our food, BUT to take PLEASURE IN DOING SO is disgusting to me. I eat as little meant as possible and practically NO red meat, as I consider pigs and cows more intelligent and more feeling than other meat sources.
I still have hope of going completely vegetarian.

My 2 cents.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

40. I agree... I think it's disgusting unless you are eating your kill.

I would never date someone who hunts unless they eat their kill.


And really, I'm not going to lie.. it disturbs me when someone gets a thrill out of the kill.


I eat meat, but I don't get a kick out of killing.