This is not directed at the OP necessarily, but to the rest voicing their opinion and laughter at the attacked hunter.
I feel I have to chime in here b/c lately, ive been talking with some anti-hunters and some are too emotionally charged to be rational and some are simply uneducated about hunting (not criticizing the latter...just a fact). I dont care if someone is gay, black, white, asian, vegan or whatever......but i dont hatefully go after those folks.
I'm a hunter and proud of it. Im not here to turn your opinion to love hunting. Believe in what you want, but just know the facts before piping off. Im here to explain some reasons why I hunt and to maybe provide some information if youre lacking knowledge about hunting.
the one thing that kills me about anti-hunters is that the majority seem to be vegans (I could be wrong, but it seems every time there is a complaining anti-hunter, they don't eat meat). now i have nothing against vegans....to each their own. what bothers me is that these vegans are peace loving, don't-hurt-the-animals - which is fine too. i get that.
BUT then they preach how they should HURT hunters, sabotage their treestands or atvs, get in the way of a hunt (which is pretty much idiotic btw) and like the first few tasteless posts in this thread, LAUGH when a hunter....ie. another person.....is hurt.
to me, that is completely hypocritical of what they believe in. if you're a peace lover, then it should be 100% of the time no? ive had an anti-hunter call me a terrorist of the forest believe it or not...then this individual sent me a link for a video on how to disrupt a hunters day (walk during their hunt, destroy their stand and/or atv). Who is the real terrorist?
of course, there is the other side of anti-hunters who are meat-eaters. its hypocritical of them to be complaining when they go buy meat at the grocery store - do you think they ask the cows to lie down and die?! hey mr and mrs cow, we need an order of side ribs..do you think you could spare some...har har.??? One can argue that a cow slaughter is more humane, but not with rifle, muzzle or shotgun hunting. Animals can be taken very quickly and in some cases, just as fast if not faster than a cow.
Personally, Im not a bow hunter and I dont like the idea of an animal running away wounded as the hunter waits for it to lay down and die while suffering. That bothers me and is a reason why ill never bow hunt - despite the challenges in doing so.
Im not saying anti-hunters should embrace hunting - maybe just dont be so emotionally against hunting then. Meat eating anti-hunters have no right whatsoever to be angry with hunters - so hypocritical its embarrassing.
Someone has farmed that meat for you - hunters just get their own. And, my meat is better than what you get - its free range, not pumped full of chemicals to look red in the stores and not fed & bred to fat. Plus, to boot, because these animals are free range and live in the wild, their meat is very lean to start with b/c they have to burn energy to survive. Ive been lucky enough that I havent had to buy a cent of red meat in 7 years. Ive had roasts, burger, sausages, steaks and stew right in my freezer. (pat on the back)
i wont say ive saved money b/c there is the rest of the hunting costs involved, but saved time and put better food on our plates, definitely.
The subject of population control has come up - Native Indians farmed the land properly with their hunting. The white man came and screwed it all up - not on purpose, but with a massive population explosion. How did they manage to survive? By hunting and in a few cases (buffalo, turkeys for example), they pretty much eliminated the species sadly. Here in Canada for example, turkeys were native to Ontario, but they disappeared for the aforementioned reason. The OFAH (Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters) traded some wolves with Ohio (I think?) or another US state and they brought the turkey back to Ontario. Why? Because it was part of our heritage and yes, to hunt (and supposed they are fantastic to eat...I havent had one yet).
Someone mentioned removing deers natural predators, but im not sure we did that. What we did do, is insert humans as a big time natural predator. Right or wrong, it happened. And now, we have to continue being a predator to help balance the populations b/c we screwed it up. I know some folks will say, hey...use deer birth control. Theyve tried that and its incredibly expensive. Unless you, the taxpayer, want to pay for it...its not going to work. Plus, whether you like it or not, hunting does pump millions of dollars into local economies. Do have a report to back that up? heck no, but just look in your local areas during hunting season and/or check a Cabelas, Big Bass Pro etc.... look at the product being moved. Maybe call your local natural resources office and ask for stats on license sales etc...
If populations are left unbalanced, the deer get sick - diseases run rampant and they dont have enough food to eat to the population actually suffers. If youve ever heard of a deer cull in your area, that would be why. I dont know about you, but I think a shot deer is far better off than a starving animal.
Henri mentioned some idiot hunters and unfortunately, they do ruin our reputation. It disgusts me when i hear of hunters doing what he described. For the vast majority, were not like that. Im a very law abiding individual....never been in trouble with the law, take care of my kids, dont drink excessively or Im a good guy....plus, a mac user so i cant be THAT bad
Hunters put more money into conservation I bet than PETA or any other anti-hunting group. Sure, yes....a large part of that reason is to continue hunting. A big part of it is also because we LOVE the forests and outdoors. Make fun of us sure, but i bet we get out into the woods far more than the anti-hunters or people who curse us. Just asking a question, but when was the last time you went for a walk deep in the bush to a place where people probably havent been in years? Chances are its been a long, long time.
If I harvest an animal, thats the icing on the cake. Enjoying and appreciating nature for what it is, the camaraderie of hunt camp and the knowledge that Im taking care of myself while in the bush (ie. navigation, eating, how and where to walk, understanding the forest) are reasons why I hunt. lots of people like vacations to resorts and cruises, but I personally dont. Weve become a lazy society where we work so hard that we long to sit, be fed and entertained. Again, to each their own, but Im much prefer to entertain myself and live. Maybe if more people hunted, folks would have a stronger appreciation for nature and might take a better stance at protecting it instead of dwelling in the city and yelling at hunters (I realize not all anti-hunters live in the city, but you get my point
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so edesignuk, i don't know if that qualifies as a 'need to kill to eat', but hate me or not, those are my reasons for doing so.
Now, onto the original story. It would be nice to have perhaps better or more concise reporting. I quickly googled and found 2 other articles which pretty much said the same thing. As a hunter, I wonder what he was doing, but it says he made 2 well placed shots. With a .270, well placed shots would put a deer down. Maybe because it was a larger deer as 240 is on the bigger side (at least for here in Ontario). Deer are incredibly tough so caution is always needed when approaching a downed animal. Theyre far tougher than moose as an example. Out of respect for anti-hunters, i wont tell some stories of how far deer have been chased, but its truly incredible (and yes, sad the animals suffered that long
not mockery there...the truth. I dont like to see animals suffer.
An ethical hunter will only take a kill shot so id like to give the benefit of the doubt to this guy until we hear more. Maybe someone from his area will chime in if theyve seen it on TV? He might have approached the deer too quickly after shooting it. Who knows.
Unlike others, im glad hes ok and I hope he learned a lesson.
Cheers,
Keebler
