Ask Lemmy

I really like birding. IMO it's all the fun parts of hunting without any of the killing.

If you like it and do it responsibly, then hell yeah

Hunting is natural and sound.

I've gotten hunter certified, bow hunter certified, and trapper certified through my job (this is a class for 12 year olds). In each class they talk about the ethics of hunting, why there are bag limits, and ask the kids what they would do if someone close to them is not hunting ethically. E.g., what would you do if grandpa really wants your hunt to go well, and sets a bait station up, in a state where salt licks and bait stations are illegal, because of chronic wasting disease? What would you do? Turn grandpa in?

One part i didnt like about the class is we didn't discuss solutions so i think a lot of kids walked away thinking they should let grandpa slide.

The hunters ed instructors talk about how society has hunters, anti hunters, and neutral people, and that by following ethics, and being considerate (e.g., don't drive around town with a dead deer visible mounted to your vehicle) you can avoid creating more anti hunters in society.

The hunters ed instructors also described the rush of adrenaline you get when the animal is in your sights, and how that keeps them hooked.

Me personally, i get the conservation reasons why hunters help keep populations of prey animals in check, in environments with lots of resources and where natural predators are removed. I have friends who had food on the table because of hunters in their family, and would have gone hungry otherwise.

But for people doing it just for the love of the game, i don't think that will ever sit right for me. Imo killing animals is a necessary evil at best, so when people like doing it for fun, that kind of freaks me out.

Go hunt to your hearts content. We’re all part of the cycle.

Just be safe, responsible, and don't poach. As long as you're doing it for food or going after something like feral hogs, I think its fine, even important.

I'm quite neutral about this. I don't mind hunting and fishing as much, unless it's on an industrial or wasteful manner.

I loved everything about hunting except the part where you shoot a cute forest creature, so I became a hiker. But you do you.

These days I only hunt 'the deadliest prey'.

It doesn't seem like a fun hobby and strikes me as unhinged for the most part.

I think killing animals is fucked.

We killed predators so we need to kill more. We could have instead not killed (and keep on killing) the predators.

It’s absolutely necessary around where I live. If people don’t hunt the deer, they get killed by cars and that’s much worse for everybody involved.

I don’t have the spine to do it, but I’m all for people who do. Also, hunting is about the only reason people should have guns imo.

I've been hunting for 21 years now. I've taken 4 weeks of vacation every year I've worked during the moose season.

I have to agree with everything you wrote - from my personal point of view. For me hunting is very… immersive?

One other thing is that if I had to nominate someone to protect / look after a herd, flock etc I’d choose either a “proper” vegan or a “proper” hunter to do that job. Both parties, in my experience, would have the best intentions - although admittedly for wildly different reasons.

Spent a lot of my youth on the family ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Madre. Grass fed beef, they, the cows, had pretty idyllic lives up until the end there. I have never had a problem eating a good steak. I certainly don't have a problem with someone killing and eating a deer. We've decimated the apex predators that should be culling the wild deer herds anyway.

I totally agree with you. It's far more humane. They get to live a natural life in the wild and the death is often far better than what they'd face to a natural predator. It also has a very small carbon footprint.

I don't hunt, and probably never will. It's not really the killing and butchery that keeps me from doing it (I think I could handle that), but more the activity isn't appealing to me, and I also don't live in a great area for it. I have ADHD I'm pretty sure though, and the idea of sitting there for hours sounds horrible. I like camping, but I can't be active and do things while camping.

I'm more curious of people who are against hunting. I can't really think of a good ethical argument against it. I can understand an emotional argument, being against hurting animals, but that isn't logical really. That's part of nature. They will be hunted, by humans or otherwise, or their population will get out of control and they'll die horribly from starvation. If anyone does have an ethical argument against hunting I'd love to hear it!

people who shoot animals for sport do so because photography is too difficult for them

I have never understood trophy hunting and frankly it pisses me off. I look for animals that taste good, which means reasonably young, not some tough old moose bull I have to hold my nose to eat.

And we probably feed a couple hundred deer on our grain bags all winter, I think they can donate one or two to my freezer.

As much as I'm not a fan of hunting, I realize it's a necessity to keep the population in check. I'm not anti gun or anything, but I personally feel you should have to use a bow. The level of rifles now is absolutely insane and it's not even a challenge anymore. Bows are pretty bad as well now a days, but at least your much more range limted and it takes a lot more skill. But I guess a bullet could be less suffering depending on the shot. I guess I'm not against it, and I understand why, it just isn't my thing.

Humans have created the need for "culling to preserve healthy species". Do they shoot the unhealthy for food? If humans caused the problems in wild species, does "culling the species" really remove the ones causing the problem? Just sayin'.

So the first vegan I met was not adverse to eating meat. I did not know this about her until like years later but we got onto doing a friends thanksgiving at a friend who had his first apartment. Turns out she would not eat anything factory farmed but was fine with something that had been allowed to live a natural life and was caught for sustenance. Of course I also found out that if someone does not eat meat for years and years then they will get sick if they eat meat. If she had hunted she could have likely ate enough meat each year to keep the ability to digest it. So if someone onlly eats the meat they personally hunt and catch and hunt sustainably. That makes a lot of sense. If you still buy meat and then hunt as a leasure activity it kinda brings it down although I could see eating when its offered socially. Just not buying the factory farmed stuff.

Pretty much the same as my opinion on eating, shitting, and gardening op

I started hunting deer years ago because I wanted to be a part of the process, like if I couldn't handle killing and gutting an animal I shouldn't be eating meat.

Sorry for the extreme parallel, but... "If I can't handle murdering a defenseless child, I shouldn't be in the military."

Have you considered... just not doing that?

Also, I fucking love it.

I guess there's the answer.

I tried writing my comment as nicely as possible, but the post seriously reads like a billionaire's diary. I don't know how else to put it.

https://tvpworld.com/88387508/polish-hunter-kills-neighbor-after-mistaking-him-for-a-boar

Probably every year there is similar accident.

I think wild hunting is harmful to the environment, and hunting overall causes unnecessary suffering for the animal.

Overall, I'm turned against it. But if you really need to follow primal urge, at least put it to good use: some wildlife preservation projects require control of animal population, and a man with a rifle is by far the most common way.

Also, make use of your game, at least. Don't hunt for trophies.