Are you a hunter?

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
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Very few people are professional hunters. Professional hunters seldom allow themselves to make serious mistakes.

Those who hunt are usually season hunters. I reckon they hunt the kind of game that is permitted by law, depending on the state they are living in.

Say, you are a deer hunter. How many are you allowed to kill in a single outing?

In my country, as in other countries, there are those who ignore the law and hunt the big and dangerous game.

Recently, there has been an upsurge of tigers preying on humans. Later when the tigers are shot or captured, they are found to be wounded. Some have been hurt by snares. Others have been shot in parts of the body where pain is constant and death is still far away.

Thus, humans are the slowest life form in the food chain. Hence, the tigers really have no choice.

I know the hunter's code states that if a dangerous animal is wounded, every effort must be made to hunt it down and kill it before it becomes desperate to the general population.

What about a wounded deer or an animal that is considered not dangerous, does the same rule apply? That means, tracking it down and putting it out of its misery even if it takes days.

What are generally the rules governing hunting game in America?
 
I hunted until about 5 years ago, mostly for deer. It is a licensed season in Washington State, US, that lasts about 2 1/2 weeks. During that time the hunter is allowed to kill 1 male of suitable age, then the season is over for that hunter. Most other big game species are like that, e.g. elk, bear. Small game, like rabbits, has a limit per outing. Using weapons other than modern firearms generally allows a longer season.

The reason I stopped is overcrowding. When I learned to hunt with my father, there was room in the woods to hunt by yourself, track the game, and generally do things as they have always been done.

As an example of the way things have changed where I live, consider an elk hunt my brother-in-law went on a few years ago:

A herd of elk, ~25 animals, had been feeding on a corn field all summer, then baited after harvest. The night before opening day of elk season, the elk were in the field as usual. Several hunters and their families surrounded the elk with trucks in the pre-dawn hours and prevented them from leaving. At the start of the season (dawn), 4 guys let loose with a volley from their rifles into the herd, killing the bulls. They drove to the carcasses and loaded up with their quarry. Upon getting home, they destroyed the hides with their bad knifework and left the shot-up quarters for their mothers and wives to process. The guys then cut the horns off the heads, hung them from the barn, and declared the whole thing a gigantic proof of their manliness. I'm somehow a whimp because I don't hunt any more.

Most hunters are not like that, but a little go a long way when there are so many of them. It has become more of a social event than what I was used to, so I opted out. I would probably still be hunting if I lived in a place with a sparser population.

Scott
 
Hunting regulations tend to be different from state to state so there is not necessarily any uniformity as to how many of what kind of animal can be legally hunted each season.

To answer the question in your heading: the answer is "no". I grew up hunting squirel, rabbit, dove and deer but I can confidently say that I have gone on my last hunt, at least as an active participant.

I find the killing, in that manner, distasteful and the main reason is directly related to your comments about wounded but un-killed game.

When I was dove hunting as a boy I had gotten to the point where I could knock birds out of the sky pretty easily within a reasonable range. One day I had killed about 6 or 8 birds but on the last one I shot I only wounded it. If fell nearby and I had to track it down and kill it to put it out of its misery as it tried to flee in pain.

I detested that and I'll never put myself in that position again by hunting for "sport".

I don't hate all hunters or think that it should be banned but frankly I think that most types of "hunting" take very little skill beyond patience and some basic marksmanship but it seems to persist, especially in the area I live in, that somehow shooting a defenseless animal is some kind of proof of manhood.

If I ever have a son or daughter and he or she wants to go hunting I'll be glad to arrange for them to go. I'll even tag along to supervise, but I hope that they come to the same understanding that I did and find other ways to enjoy the outdoors.

I wish I could agree with the last poser that most hunters are "not like" he describes but I really think that there are very few true "hunters" left these days....but lots of people who drive up to some spot, wait for the animal to walk by, shoot it, load it on the truck, and head home feeling like a hero.

If I ever needed food badly enough I'd certainly hunt again but not just for "sport". To me it's not worth it.
 
I am a hunter. I am not a professional hunter (one who does so for compensation) but have been a professional game processor. During high school and college I worked for our family locker plant processing game animals during the hunting season. From late August till February we stopped cutting up domestic animals (beef, pork, lambs, etc.) and moved to game. We processed about 350 deer, 50 elk, 1-2 moose, 1-2 buffalo, a mountain sheep or two, mountain goat, and a bear each year. Note: a skinned bear hanging by it's hind legs in a cooler looks like a skinned fat guy!

I've seen some very messy kills come in: full of dirt, leaves, twigs, fly eggs, and occasionally the whole digestive system (not cleaned!). Then the hunters wondered why the "200 lb" deer they brought in only resulted in 35 lbs of meat.

My hunting now is very selective. I hunt mainly to give my sons a chance to enjoy themselves. I let them take the shots unless they can't. I don't hunt for trophys. A two-point buck (western 2 point) tastes much better than a 4 point.

My wife chides me about hunting with statements of, "How can you kill something with a rifle and eat it. It is'nt humane to murder those poor defensless deer and elk." ...but she still likes a beefsteak! I've offered to take her to the local slaughterhouse and watch her steak being harvested but she doesn't want to know. Steak comes from the grocery store, milk comes from a plastic jug.

I have gleaned my motto from others, "If we weren't meant to eat animals, how come they're made out of meat?"

Bruce
 
i have been hunting for many years, i have a very strict set of rules that i hunt by, if i find and get the game it is fair chase, and i have worked for the game. i dont bait game, i dont do canned hunts, i will track any animal that i wound until it escapes or i have finished it. i obey the game rules and hunt only in season. and i eat what i kill if possible. these are my hunting rules.

alex
 
I hunt too. I still think most hunters do it ethically as in fair chase, consume the meat, etc. There are a few bad examples as there are in every other past-time or profession, but they are not the majority. I live in the country and have also seen what happens when animals exceed carrying capacity. I have found wounded deer and been ashamed that they lingered longer than necessary. I have also noted that those deer were later consumed by coyotes and other animals / insects that probably would have consumed a different and healthy deer if not for the wounded one. Few things are truly wasted in nature. Anyone who sees foxes with mange or raccoons with distemper will not consider mother nature so nice in her efforts to balance the scales. Ethical hunting is probably the most humane way to keep animal populations in balance.
 
Also...
Just because you go hunting, it doesn't mean that you have to shoot anything and everything you see.
I've passed up shots on spike bucks and does too.
I think of it more like a day in the woods with my rifle and the chance of bringing home some venison.

Sunrise on a snow covered mountain with a hot cuppa coffee is a beautiful thing :)
 
Brothers & Sisters of the "Hunt",

A very good friend of mine says that he only hunts with a camera. His skills have been honed for as long as I can remember. No telephoto lenses either! He stalks up so close that when he releases the shutter it "spooks" the animals...Now THAT'S c-l-o-s-e!

Being a hunter is only half of the H/K equation. If you're going to hunt it, kill it. Don't leave any animal to die slow and miserably.
Know your target. Process the carcass correctly and teach others the same skills.

With larger aggressive animals do not wound it and leave it. Large animals know that there are no jungle preditors that can make a big noise, put a hole in your paw and you don't see them. Those preditors are called man. They know "hunt it, kill it".

Regards,
Lance Gothic
Shibumi
 
Every quote I have ever seen from Jose Ortega Y Gasset's book has been right on the mark. You will want to read this man's book on hunting to gain good insight into our Gun Culture.

"Meat comes from the grocery store. How can you hunt, you Brute!" Yeah,(wearily) I know. I am surrounded by people who repeat that same line to me, as if it originated with them, as they stuff hamburger into their mouths...

In this country, our hunting culture is more of an "English style," fair chase type of pursuit. It is more important to carry out the hunt in a "sporting" manner, than to limit out. It isn't the having, it's the getting; the journey.

When I am far away in the misty mountains, laying up in a fold of the icy land, drinking coffee from a canteen cup and staring up at the sky, watching clouds and day dreaming.. now that's hunting.

Sorry guys. I can't properly explain any better my primitive, visceral need to "bring home the bacon."

--------
"I'm filling my mind with thoughts so primitive, you couldn't hope to understand them."
 
The answer to that question is complex. We have had similar heated debates on the topic, so I won't go down that road again.:)

I am only a hunter when my/my family's life and survival depends on it. Otherwise I am not a hunter, nor do I need to be one. I do not enjoy sport hunting, nor do I condone it. That is my philosophy.

Have a nice day all.
 
I hunt with bow & arrow, and my goal is to make my own bow from chokecherry and my own arrows from wild rose, with stone tips. To kill a deer with my own hand-made primitive equipment would be quite an achievement.

I've also been considering learning the atlatl. Now that would be a hunt!

As far as reasons, I don't feel like philosophising so I'll pass. I like it, it doesn't bother my conscience, so I do it.
 
No, I don't hunt. I am not opposed to hunting on ethical grounds. I don't mind others hunting.

Why I don't hunt, in no particular order:

The crowds and the alcohol. That scares me.

To me the reward for the work isn't worth it.

I don't need to in order to feed my family.


Phil
 
Sure, I hunt. I'm not a "great" hunter, but I do hunt. I hunt deer, rabbit, squirrel, and pheasant. I haven't hunted deer very long or often, but I have hunted small game forever. I'm gonna try turkey hunting one of these days, just usually too busy in the spring.

Deer hunting is the most popular, with rabbit probably next. Turkey season is growing in popularity, and are hunted in the spring, with no other season for competition. All the other game species seasons are in August to early January. We have all kinds of seasons, goose, duck, but nothing bigger than white-tail deer. Our bears, elk, and moose are long gone.

The sucky part around here, as others have said, is that there are too many deer hunters in the woods, especially during gun season. In Indiana, because of our population density, we are restricted to shotguns, large caliber revolvers, muzzleloading rifles, and bows/crossbows. Each type of weapon has it's own season, with two archery seasons. There are farms and subdivisions everywhere! I am working to get good enough with my bow to hunt (not good enough yet :( ) because the archery season is longer and less crowded.

Around here, we hunt deer mostly from tree-stands. Safety is paramount, but every year someone gets shot by someone else, or falls out of their stand. I never fails to amaze me that someone could mistake a person for a deer, especially since we have to wear Blaze Orange during gun and late archery season.

As long as you (and everyone else) leave alcohol out of the picture, and remember safety is the most important thing, hunting, with or without a kill, can be a very enjoyable, primal experiance.`
 
I hunt. Elk, deer, and bear are usually on my list. Big horn sheep and moose will probably make it onto the list eventually.
 
I love to hunt, and have been to Africa..Man they really know how to treat you with all the services...Most of my hunting is for reloading the freeser with Moosemeat for the coming year.I really enjoy the flavor better than beef..
 
Golok,
I have been hunting since 1967 in north Louisiana which has lots of bayous and swamps with wooded hills. I practice as taught by my father, 1 shot, 1 kill. The animal is not to suffer. Quickly put it out of its misery. Don't shoot if you don't have a killing shot and you don't have a gun with enough oommph to put the animal down.
As far as wounding an animal, for example a deer, yes we will track it and have spent up to half a day tracking one. Usually we either find it in the first hour or its long gone. The only way we could track for days would be to put dogs on its trail and only a healthy animal would normally elude them for days. Sometimes the deer where I grew up swim to islands to elude both hounds and humans.
As I understand it, wounded lions and tigers are especially dangerous as they usually go to heavy cover and charge whatever follows them. In heavy brush/grass that could be a deadly thing to do. If I had to deal with animals like that I would want to have a small pack of hunting hounds to bring the animal to bay and at least two armed hunters.
 
Originally posted by phatch
No, I don't hunt. I am not opposed to hunting on ethical grounds. I don't mind others hunting.

Why I don't hunt, in no particular order:

The crowds and the alcohol. That scares me.

To me the reward for the work isn't worth it.

I don't need to in order to feed my family.


Phil
Click to expand...


I don't allow alcohol on the hunt or in camp.

A day in the woods even if I don't take anything is more reward than I could ever ask for.

This is some of the best eating I have ever had. It also does ease the budget some between the cost of the license and the cost of a bullet I figure I put about a 100 or so pounds of vension in the deep freeze last year for less than $20.00. In fact I am making some stew with some vension that was canned last year for supper tomorrow.

Jim
 
As to the alcohol, I don't drink, but there's a lot of other imbibing hunters out there, even if my group is clean.

Also, like I said, the reward isn't there for me to hunt. That's just personal preference, not a moral judgement on what you're doing.

Phil
 
Okay, I'm feeling a little more philosophical now, so I'll elaborate a bit on my previous reply.

I realize fully that a hunted animal is a life ended. I also recognize that an unsuccessfully shot animal is inflicted with pain. However, as long as we are as responsible as possible and careful to reduce the danger of inflicting pain to an animal that will end up surviving (or slowly dying), I see nothing wrong with taking the life of an animal. There is no ethical dilemma when a wolf harvests a caribou, or a cougar a deer, or a bear a salmon. It is the natural, recognized process. I believe that man is also by nature a hunter. It is just that simple.

Do the wolves take down every animal they attack (and wound)? No, they don't, and neither does any other type of predators. But nature is orchestrated to still maintain a balance, so an animal that dies from a wound will still feed coyotes and other scavengers, and ultimately will feed the food chain at a microbial level. The animal that lives - well, it lives. But we all die eventually.

Don't get me wrong: I am not calloused to the suffering of animals. I hate to see anything suffer needlessly, and I felt a twinge of guilt when I killed my first deer. But I knew that life - and death - go on, and that I am but a small part of a much larger picture. Some day I, too, will die. Maybe with excrutiating pain, maybe in peaceful sleep, maybe in absolute terror. But I will die nonetheless, and then it will be my turn to feed the microbial scavengers.

What I do NOT advocate or condone is the frivolous killing of anything that moves, the drunken "kill the biggest buck" contest, or the wonton and needless slaughter that somehow is supposed to lend prestige and prowess to the 'victor'. (I eat what I kill and try to use all parts as much as I know how.)

By bowhunting I avoid the more crowded hunting season, and the other hunters I come across tend to be more of the same mindset that I am. We have 'dry' hunting camps, so I don't have to worry about the drunken shoot-'em-up types.
 
http://www.sltrib.com/09102002/utah/97.htm


Hunters Miss Deer, Blast Their Trucks
Tuesday, September 10, 2002


BY SKIP KNOWLES
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Serious hunting accidents are declining, but it seems rabbits are getting revenge for all those "lucky" feet.
Two Utah hunters chasing bunnies shot themselves in the foot last season. Another blasted his own hand and shoulder while chasing Thumper.
Buck fever, sure. But bunny fever? Evidently, the sight of those trophy-sized ears is overwhelming. Two of the shootings involved guns in vehicles, a mix that is the biggest concern for Lenny Rees, Utah hunter safety coordinator, each fall. Utah hunters cannot legally chamber a bullet in a vehicle, but many do.
Six to eight accidents, mostly self-inflicted, occur annually in Utah, with no fatalities since 1998. By contrast, 62 hunters were killed from 1957-60 in Utah's gory glory days of deer hunting.
Archers are lucky. It takes a contortionist's skill to shoot yourself with a bow. The only bowhunting accident in years involved a target arrow, leading Rees to believe those involved were not hunting.
"I think he had an apple on his head," said Rees.
Utah pioneered hunter education, and hunting has fewer accidents than most sports. But they often draw blood: A 16-year-old shot off his finger last year.
Small animals are Utah's "dangerous game." Five of last year's eight victims were after birds or rabbits. A man swinging his shotgun after quail hit an 11-year-old in the face with pellets.
Roughly 50 hunters are busted each year for loading guns in vehicles. A bullet was fired at a hunter check station last year, ricocheted off the windshield and blew out a window.
Sometimes, it's funny. Excited road-hunters shoot holes in their hood or truck bed, or blow out rearview mirrors with muzzle blast.
"Once or twice a year you see people kill their truck," chided conservation officer Dave Hintze.
More often, it's not funny. Hintze saw a man fumbling to unload a pistol at a Cedar City check station last year . . . "BOOM!"
"We walked up and he's sitting there dazed, ears ringing, with a hole in the windshield and glass sprinkled all over him," Hintze said. "It was funny until we thought, 'He could have shot us, the son-of-a-bitch. Let's give him a ticket.' "
A similar blast last year hit one man in the head and took off another's arm. But "loaded" hunters, at least, are fewer these days. In Utah's only booze-related hunting accident last year, a 36-year-old shot himself in the leg pheasant hunting.
"About 95 percent of hunters are careful," Rees said. "It's too bad that five percent stands out."
 
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