Help with Hunting

[kanonfodr]

That's exactly what I meant. Good advice Greg, thanks a lot.

I think I am more uncomfortable with the idea of going to the store and buying meat without having to confront the actuality of an animal's death... I've been doing that all my life, and my family certainly aren't hunter types, and it sort of feels hypocritical in a way. So if I have any hangups about hunting it's that.

Welcome to the modern, convenient, world. Here you can get your carnivore fix without actually having to deal with the bloody mess of killing the creature. I wouldn't call it hypocritical, it's just the modern world.

Having said that, fresh meat that I took myself always has a taste better than anything I've ever bought in a store. It may be a pride thing, I dunno.

I'm still working on taking my own fish, I'll let y'all know how that goes when I finally get me one.

Peace,
Greg

 

[dj150888]

My Dad used to shoot pheasants manys a year back, before I was born. He got rid of all guns from the house when we were kids though, just to be on the safe side.

I've always had a bit of an interest in hunting myself. I'm a firm believer that if you can eat it, you should have the balls to kill it yourself, it can be a lot more humane than the way its done in an abatoir.

I've never hunted with a gun, but when I was younger I used to do a fair bit of trapping. Caught animals from I was no age at all, but always released them after. Caught, skinned, gutted and ate my first rabbit at 13 when I was in scouts. It was killed quickly and as painlessly as possible, but by god did I make a hack of the skinning.

I also have the good fortune of living beside one of the best coarse fishing spots in the UK. I can walk to the shore in under a minute.

 

[BillyRay]

I don't give to the mentality that buying meat at a store is in anyway hypocritical. Humans have been doing for literally ages: as soon as there were towns, marketplaces existed, and with marketplaces, hunters selling/trading meat for other products. With that said, fresh game that has been properly field-dressed and then butchered is always tastier than the farm-raised cuts you can buy at the grocery store. Moose fondue, especially, is delicious.

But this is getting way ahead of the curve. Get one, or even several, courses on firearm safety and practice. Then, start worrying about wich gun to get, hunting permits or where to hunt.

 

[dj150888]

I don't give to the mentality that buying meat at a store is in anyway hypocritical. Humans have been doing for literally ages: as soon as there were towns, marketplaces existed, and with marketplaces, hunters selling/trading meat for other products. With that said, fresh game that has been properly field-dressed and then butchered is always tastier than the farm-raised cuts you can buy at the grocery store. Moose fondue, especially, is delicious.

But this is getting way ahead of the curve. Get one, or even several, courses on firearm safety and practice. Then, start worrying about wich gun to get, hunting permits or where to hunt.

This probably isn't the place to get into a discussion on the ethics of the matter, but unless you've worked in an abatoir, you're in no position to talk about that. Some of the things that go on in there are absolutely horrible. I spent a summer in one and its the only job I've ever not stuck out for as long as I needed to. I wouldn't consider myself a wimp when it comes to those things, but some of the things in there had me genuinely upset. What got to me was on the slaughterline for lambs, they were being pushed up towards where they got the bolt in the head. The lambs were visibly distressed, "stupid animal" or not, they knew what was happening. It might sound silly and oversentimental, but I don't like the idea of an animals last minutes being so full of fear.....besides, it ruins the meat if they're all tense!

When there were marketplaces way back when, the animals were hunted in much the same way we're discussing now. It was as men got more "civilised", convenience became more important than the adequate treatment of the animals.

 

[Spector_Ray]

Skeet shooting will teach you how to hit something and with lusk some safety.

This statement is totally irresponsible. Gun safety is not learned by luck. Gun safety should be THE number one thing learned when owning a gun.

 

[BillyRay]

This probably isn't the place to get into a discussion on the ethics of the matter, but unless you've worked in an abatoir, you're in no position to talk about that. Some of the things that go on in there are absolutely horrible. I spent a summer in one and its the only job I've ever not stuck out for as long as I needed to. I wouldn't consider myself a wimp when it comes to those things, but some of the things in there had me genuinely upset. What got to me was on the slaughterline for lambs, they were being pushed up towards where they got the bolt in the head. The lambs were visibly distressed, "stupid animal" or not, they knew what was happening. It might sound silly and oversentimental, but I don't like the idea of an animals last minutes being so full of fear.....besides, it ruins the meat if they're all tense!

When there were marketplaces way back when, the animals were hunted in much the same way we're discussing now. It was as men got more "civilised", convenience became more important than the adequate treatment of the animals.

Humans have raised animals for their meat for thousand of years AND have slaughtered them for other human's consumption for nearly as long. Do you think the animals' treatment in 1400BC Mesopotamia was more humane in any way than what we have now ?

Eating meat you've had no part in raising and killing is hardly a modern convenience and hunting doesn't in anyway circonvent any of that, unless you only eat game you have killed yourself. I hear ya that it's sometimes rough to see, but it's the way life is: you gotta break some eggs to make an omelette. Myself, I'll pick free-range or local cuts whenever I can to cut down on the "industrialized" killing, but it doesn't change the fact that a bolt, blade, sledgehammer, and thus suffering, was still accessory to bring the meat to my table.

 

[bigblondeafro87]

Like it or not, we have removed most natural predators from the wild so we have to take the place of them on the food chain until the predators return. Otherwise, the natural order of things gets even more out of whack than it already is.

Now what I don't understand is how putting animals through slaughterhouses by the millions is deemed as moral and acceptable while hunting is deemed stupid, unneccessary, and immoral.

 

[dj150888]

Humans have raised animals for their meat for thousand of years AND have slaughtered them for other human's consumption for nearly as long. Do you think the animals' treatment in 1400BC Mesopotamia was more humane in any way than what we have now ?

Eating meat you've had no part in raising and killing is hardly a modern convenience and hunting doesn't in anyway circonvent any of that, unless you only eat game you have killed yourself. I hear ya that it's sometimes rough to see, but it's the way life is: you gotta break some eggs to make an omelette. Myself, I'll pick free-range or local cuts whenever I can to cut down on the "industrialized" killing, but it doesn't change the fact that a bolt, blade, sledgehammer, and thus suffering, was still accessory to bring the meat to my table.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing Mr High and Mighty here. About the animal treatment in 1400BC, I don't know, I wasn't there

I don't kill most of my food myself, I get caught up in the convenience factor too, I just don't have the time to go on a weekly hunt, I'm talking in ideals, impractical ideals, perhaps, but a bit of an, "in an ideal world" sort of vibe. The system is too deeply rooted to change it now, thats the way things work and its impractical, verging on impossible for an average guy to live otherwise......without becoming one of those weird vegetarian types