speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That's just sick!

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Your dumb assumptions are just that dumb assumptions with no substance. I hunt and I kill animals because I enjoy it and because I want the meat. I have hunted in Africa and took a number of game animals there as well. Unfortunately American laws do not allow the bringing in of meat from some other countries but the meat of every animal I shot went to feed the native population who generally cannot afford to eat meat. They eat a form of corn mush, at least in Zimbabwe where I hunted.

"Big brave hunter with a cannon in his hand and a telescopic sight at 100 yards"? You haven't done much hunting have you. Many of my animals were killed at short range, out to about 60-70 yards with a revolver. Many hunters use bows and arrows to hunt while many others use muzzle loaders to shoot their animals. Yes, of course, many hunters use scoped rifles to take their game. Isn't it better to use a scoped rifle which assists the hunter to put the bullet in the right place for a humane killing shot rather than to shoot the animal poorly due to less effective sights? Every hunter I know wants the animal to die instantly so as not to suffer. What's more, getting as close as 100 yards to some animals is quite a feat in itself. Whether you think it is sporting or not doesn't matter to me. I only care that I hunt ethically, take care to kill the animal as humanely as possible and use the meat to feed my friends and family. I honestly don't care what you think. No, REALLY, I don't. You may not agree but hunting is a sport, highly regulated and needed to keep the number of animals to a population limit that their habitat can handle.

There are stories galore about do gooders such as yourself who have stopped hunts where animals would be shot rather than starve to death because there were just too many animals for their habitat. Years ago in New Jersey is such a story. There were about 400 deer too many on a small land plot. A special hunt was arranged where hunters could go in, shoot some of the deer to keep the population to a manageable number and also feed their families. But unfortunately a group of people, just like you, had a judge stop the hunt. The do gooders were going to go in and trap the deer and then take them to other locations to save them. Their trapping scheme did not work as planned and over half the deer starved to death. So much for your Liberal do gooder ideas. This situation has happened before because of people like you with idiotic ideas. Predators keep the animal population down and with no predators deer and elk will over populate and starve to death. Man is and has always been a predator. You may not like it but I just don't care.

You don't like hunting then don't hunt. Again, wasn't that simple.

Dennis

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

I am not trying to stop anything, if I said anything that isn't true then please correct what isn't true. You wrote " I hunt and I kill animals because I enjoy it" enough said.

PH CIB

I remember hunting Grizzly Bears in Alaska,,,We hiked in using snowshoes through the timber and streams of the lower elevations and then took off our snowshoes as we hiked up the mountains about five thousand feet elevation and hunted and glassed the valleys below from the ridge lines…Spent about a week camping in a tent up there, used sunglasses to prevent snow blindness and forgot to use sunscreen on the first day and by the time we hiked out, never got a bear, our faces were scabbed over…Then Moose hunting in Alaska in a canoe took us all day to get in on Little Goldstream just north of Denali National Park…Crossed eleven Beaver Dams where to portage you unload the canoe and pack everything around and over the Beaver Dams…Shot a nice Bull Moose after four or five days of tent camping and packed the Moose and everything else out portaging back over those eleven Beaver Dams,,, brutally exhilarating and exhausting…Walking all day Pheasant Hunting in Iowa to get the limit of three birds many times ending up with one or two birds or no birds,,,or Walking all day in White Coveralls with a rifle in the snow Walk Hunting Coyotes,,,many times not getting a shot…And I know what it feels like to be a Prey Animal,,, it is a unique and terrifying and exhilarating experience,,, having Armed Professionals, Men with Rifles hunting me and trying to kill me,,,in Viet Nam never walk down any trail stay in cover on the side of the trail, never walk down a stream bed,,,stay in cover along the side of the stream,,,never use light at night, a glowing cigarette can get your head blown off, never make noise, on a three man listening post wake up anyone snoring as it can give your position away,,,always stay in cover,,,always stay in the shadows…Finally hunting Deer in South Dakota along the Wyoming Border,,,four wheel drive pickup and tent camping,,,walking each day all day long running a compass course in the dense forest of trees, counting the logging roads you crossed and then how long you walked up or down the first and last logging road,,, making a big square counting the logging roads back to get to the one the Truck was parked on…Never got a Deer and a big Snowstorm was blowing in so we got out of there…But I did not want to leave,,,something inside stirred in me and I wanted to stay to wander the rest of my life as an animal in those woods,,,reason caused me to leave as within days I would have probably died from starvation or freezing to death,,,but I always wondered what it would have been like if I had stayed,,,to answer that primitive primordial animal call inside of me,,,The Call of the Wild….

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

What you did was try to portray the sport of hunting as bad when it is not. My comments are also true. I am proud of my skill at hunting and I will continue to do just that when it suits me and according to the law. I do not bad mouth you non hunters and resent you trying to portray me somebody who has less care about our wild animals than you do. Animals do need harvesting from time to time and our fish and game departments regulate the harvest so we all have a chance to see these majestic animals.

My question to you is, what have you done, what do you do to help these animals survive?

Dennis

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Well said. I would not give up similar experiences in the past nor future experiences for anybody.

Dennis

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

I don't kill them! I photograph them, I don't kill them.

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

So you basically do nothing but enjoy the fruits of what hunters do. Many millions of dollars in taxes, started by and voluntarily paid by hunters due to the Pittman Robertson Act, go to supporting game animals that you enjoy. In effect, you do nothing to support these animals but other hunters and I do support them.

Dennis

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

You called it..... makers and takers, and as the story goes takers aren’t satisfied with just taking, they want the makers to make them feel good in the process!

Smudgey Loc: Ohio, Calif, Now Arizona

As far as I know, by not killing them, that contributes to a longer life for them. You made a very good point that it is possible to enjoy the outdoors, hiking, camping, without killing any animals. You said "that I do nothing to support these animals but other hunters and I do support them" and you are correct, so you can go on killing. I don't support the Pittman Robertson Act because I don't kill animals. There really is no point to keeping this discussion alive as this is a photography site, not a hunting site. It is totally legal for hunters to go on killing, you are within the law, so be it, but I do have an opinion. I will continue to hunt with a camera and you go on legally killing animals. End of discussion.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

There have been several comments made by the blissfully ignorant in this thread. One basically said hunters go out and only kill the biggest or best. If that person had ever been hunting he would have known that hunters take what opportunity allows them and generally aren't, or can't be, picky. Of course if they are only allowed one critter and there ar two standing there, the larger (more meat) is taken.
Someone else said why not take just the sick ones. Huh? Would you eat meat from a sick animal? BTW the sick are usually the result of over population.
Then there are those who don't comprehend the concept of controlled hunts to keep the animal population in balance with the available browse. Where I live the deer herd population fluctuates from year to year. Hunting is not allowed in the immediate area because there are too many houses. Consequentially the herd grows until there too many deer for the browse then we start seeing diseased and skinny animals with visible sores on their bodies. They die off during the winter and come spring there are just a very few around. I'd predict that if any of you who protest the thinning of the herd by controlled hunts witnessed this on a regular basis you would change your opinion. In the long run herd thinning is far more humane and merciful than letting disease and starvation run its course.

RCJets Loc: Virginia

To add to my previous post above, I just read a piece tonight about the over populations of deer in New York. Seems there is not enough hunters to keep the herd in check. LIme disease has become a serious problem due to too many deer in the area.


North Carolina has a similar problem. it's not Lime disease, but just as serious. It is also caused by too many deer.