Airgun as a survival tool?

southbeachlaw said:
Hope you guys are eating all these "critters" killing anything for the sake of killing is irresponsible. No objection to hunting, but kids should be taught that all life is valuable and important. To me, animals killed merely for trophies sake, or merely to say you killed it, is a sign of a weak person with low self-esteem.
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HELLO, this is a survival site we are talking about a tool to get FOOD.


But I love shooting English Sparrows and Starlings with my air rifles just for the hell of it, infer whatever you wish. Chris


EDIT: After thinking about it, I guess it is not for the hell of it, whatever, I like to shoot rats too.
 
runningboar said:
HELLO, this is a survival site we are talking about a tool to get FOOD.


But I love shooting English Sparrows and Starlings with my air rifles just for the hell of it, infer whatever you wish. Chris


EDIT: After thinking about it, I guess it is not for the hell of it, whatever, I like to shoot rats too.
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I like shooting birds at random sometimes too :D :thumbup:.
 
upnorth said:
Been doing that since I was 10-12 years old.;)
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Me too, but I have always been very selective and even more so now. Most birds are protected and it is illegal to shoot them plus I like to look at them, however, you are doing a valuable service to shoot as many pigeons, grackles, starlings and english sparrows that you can get in your sights, I certainly try to do my part. :D Chris
 
southbeachlaw said:
Hope you guys are eating all these "critters" killing anything for the sake of killing is irresponsible. No objection to hunting, but kids should be taught that all life is valuable and important. To me, animals killed merely for trophies sake, or merely to say you killed it, is a sign of a weak person with low self-esteem.
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No, I did not eat all the critters my son brought home, he starting getting so good at hunting that I told him he would have to start eating them. That made him think. But that was 10-15 years ago, now he's a taxidermist.
 
Well, sorry to hear the few of you guys that kill for the sake of killing. Unless some animal poses a plague to people, the public health, or serious threat to crops, farming, or ranching, I still say it is a waste of life to kill for the mere sake of killing.

Kind of reminds me of the callous indifference, ignorance, and disrespect for life of the earlier part of the century, when people would shoot bison from moving trains for sport along the great plains of this country, crocodiles from river boats in the amazon and congo rivers, senseless killing of dolphins in commercial fishing etc. I'm not a tree hugger or a bleeding heart liberal, but as I've gotten older, I've developed a new respect for life.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were BILLIONS of passenger pigeons, by 1940 they were all gone. Extinct due to sport only.

I guess if you don't think this is wasteful and a disgrace then there's nothing really more to say about this.
 
The fact that you feel that shooting a few critters is the same as raping the land is quite disturbing to me. But hey, to each his own!
 
The fact that you think shooting a living creature for no particular reason and that they are as disposable as a used tissue is disturbing to me as well. As least we agree on one thing...to each his own.
 
southbeachlaw,
Sounds like you need to educate yourself a bit, google the birds I mentioned and I think you will find out that they do "serious" damage. If you don't like it don't do it but make sure you have all the facts before admonishing others. Chris
 
I'm not admonishing anyone. I'm not preaching either, merely stating an opinion. You want to kill indiscriminately, go ahead. However, Is this not a forum for the respectful exchange of different ideas and views? We all have different sensitivities in life. Some people think some conduct is wrong some people think it is ok. My contribution whether anyone likes it or not is that I think it is a waste to destroy life indiscriminately for no valid reason. To be walking in the woods and kill a starling or a pigeon is something I may have done when I was a foolish kid of 14, but when I got to my 20s I began to change and when I got to my 30s I changed even more. Now that I'm in my 40s I'm different than when I was 30. I expect the 50s will bring more of the same.

My humble opinion is what I've stated. I'm just kinda of surprised that woodsmen, hunters (not trophy hunters), and people that respect wildlife would take such a position.

What's in the killing of a few critters? Well, that's exactly what people used to say about killing Buffalo a hundred years ago. That's what people said about killing cougars a hundred years ago also. I guess it depends what you consider valuable. I value all life and unless it HAS to be destroyed (and I realize sometimes it has to for conservation or other legitimate purposes) I simply think it is the mark of a weak person.
 
southbeachlaw said:
What's in the killing of a few critters? Well, that's exactly what people used to say about killing Buffalo a hundred years ago. That's what people said about killing cougars a hundred years ago also. .
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No it's not, as I said respectfully before, you are ignorant.

All of the animals I kill are killed for a reason, either for consumption by myself or my family or because there is a sound ecological reason to do so. The buffalo were exterminated because at the time you could get rich doing it, cougars because of livestock depredation and safety. In the modern world we understand a lot more about the ecosystem and what we need to do to control it and be stewards of nature and yes that includes killing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trophy hunting as long as the animals are used, by the hunter or given to someone else, in every place I know of in the United States it is illegal to do otherwise.

I suggest you do a little reading before spouting untruths on an open internet forum. Chris
 
southbeachlaw said:
I'm not admonishing anyone. I'm not preaching either, merely stating an opinion. I simply think it is the mark of a weak person.
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:rolleyes: I think Chris listed invasive species. They are considered pests by most wildlife agencies.
 
I shoot the hell out of hogs here in Texas. I do eat the good ones, but I am allowed to "exterminate" them seeing as how they are free game year round and a nuisance to deer feeders. Knock out the hogs and they won't ruin the shots for the "trophy" hunters come deer season.
 
I used to trophy hunt too, when you have filled all your tags but one buck and two months left to hunt, of course I became very selective in what I harvested. I like to hunt. Why would I not trophy hunt? It is not like I am doing something wrong. It is something easier said than done. Trophy hunting is hard.
 
southbeachlaw said:
At the beginning of the 20th century, there were BILLIONS of passenger pigeons, by 1940 they were all gone. Extinct due to sport only.
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Another untruth they were exterminated because they were very easy to catch and kill for food. At this period in time market hunting was legal and there were no game laws so most pigeons were knocked off their roost, caught with bird lime, and shot with punt guns, all to be sold for food, the ones shot for sport were the very small minority.

If you had a wife and 3 kids and made 50 cents a day on a backbreaking job or could make 2 dollars a day killing pigeons, what would you do? Like I said, do a little reading. Chris
 
I don't think I'm ignorant Chris. I'm an educated person. I come from a blue collar family but worked very hard to finish college and law school so I'm not ignorant. Also, just because something is legal doesn't make it right and because something is right doesn't always mean it is legal. As far as the buffalo statement and the cougar statment you made, you should ask old timers as to how millions of buffalo were slaughtered and not for money, just for sport.



Read below:


SLAUGHTERED FOR THE HIDE
December 12, 1874, page 1022 (Illustrated Article)


The vast plains west of the Missouri River are covered with the decaying bones of thousands of slain buffaloes. Most of them have been slaughtered for the hide by professional hunters, while many have fallen victims to the sportsmen’s rage for killing merely for the sake of killing. These people take neither hide nor flesh, but leave the whole carcass to decay and furnish food for the natural scavengers of the plains.


Our front-page illustration represents a party of professional hunters, numbering six or eight, who have come upon a large herd of buffaloes. The first shot brings down a splendid animal, wounded purposely in a manner not to kill but to make him "pump blood," that is to say, to bleed profusely. Others of the herd gather around their wounded comrade, and appear to be too much stupefied to avoid danger by flight. The hunters kill as many as they can, until the survivors at last take fright and gallop off.


Then the "stripping" begins. The hides are taken off with great skill and wonderful quickness, loaded on a wagon, as shown in the background of the picture, and carried to the hunters’ camp. Our artists spoke with the hunters on the plains who boasted of having killed two thousand head of buffalo apiece in one season. At this rate of slaughter, the buffalo must soon become extinct. Already there is a sensible diminution of the great herds on the plains, and from many places where they were once numerous they have disappeared altogether. Some of the railroads running far out into the prairies have regular trains for parties of amateur hunters, who fire upon their victims from the car windows. Thousands of buffalo were killed in this manner, besides other kinds of wild game, and their carcasses left to decay on the ground along the line of the railroad.


The indiscriminate slaughter of the buffalo has brought many evils in its train. Among other bad consequences it has been the direct occasion of many Indian wars. Deprived of one of their chief means of subsistence through the agency of white men, the tribes naturally take revenge by making raids on white settlements and carrying off stock, if they do not murder the settlers.


December 12, 1874, page 1022 (Illustrated Article)
 
Sure there was and is some indiscriminate killing but it was and is the vast minority, regardless of what PETA tells you.

Like I said, the buffalo were killed because you could make a fortune selling buffalo hides, same with beavers, really the same with all game. Around the turn of the century whitetal deer were almost extinct on the east coast and turkeys for the most part were, as a direct result of market hunting, now because of ethical hunters there is a thriving population.

Comparing hunting ethics and laws now to hundred years ago is apples and oranges. Chris
 
Driven by the appitites of Eastern city dwellers no doubt. No gun, no guilt.
 
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