Can't Kill

As long as it's justified, no problem.

I worked for Animal Control for a while. Killed hundreds, maybe thousands of cats and almost as many dogs (including some dogs and cats I got to know and like). It's not fun at all, but if they gotta go, they gotta go.

I love animals, but they are not people. If there is a reason they need to die, I will kill them, and I won't beat myself up for it.
 
Any animal is open season for me unless it is protected by the law of the land. Animals were made for the use of man; and so, I also believe that unless there is a use for them or they present a danger (including depredation) to man, I will leave them alone. I would hesitate, however, to shoot a gorilla. The look too much like my old Pa! :eek:
 
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Dragon, I've been fortunate enough to hunt where either cross-country walking hunting was commonplace, or where sneaky-snaking around in swampy-jungly country was workable. Just sitting and waiting in a stand is not something I enjoy.

But kicking Bucky out of bed and watching hair stick out all directions, eyes rolling, is a hoot. Or easing along and finding a buck before he knows you're there gives a feeling of satisfaction even if he's too small to shoot.

I never worried about $/lb. At the old home ranch, it was maybe 20¢ for the whole bloomin' deer. :) Plus labor. At the deer lease? My father always said that it was worth a few hundred bucks a year for the right to trespass across some rancher's several thousand acres. A deer on the ground is worth maybe four bits, 'cause the fun's over and the work begins. Heck, the campfire companionship was worth a few hundred bucks.
 
I have shot lots of animals the last three years but only with my Canon digital SLR ..:D ..don't get me wrong i have shot my share of deer with the ole o6 but I don't worry if I am going to kill something or not i just enjoy being in the outdoors and away from the scumbags here in town ....I do have my 30 rd. mags loaded for the Bushy just in case the do have open season for the scumbags
 
I could kill anything, 10-legged, 8-legged, 6-legged, 4-legged, 2-legged. Doesn't matter. Whether I would or not is another issue.
 
Shot a few (very few actually) squirrels and rabbits as a young guy, and I think I'd shoot a pheasant and maybe other game I would eat, but for the most part, killing things isn't something I like to do. I couldn't see myself shooting another predator, except maybe a shark.... they're all just to damn magnificent to me. OTOH, I have no problem with others who want to shoot animals for food or in defense of persons or property.

Don't much care for trophy hunting. And while I don't really care what others do, shooting from a blind or tree stand is what I call ambushing, rather than hunting.

Anyone know if giraffe is good?
 
Me killing an animal has to meet 2 criteria. Is the animal I'm hunting and about to kill legal/in season, and do I intend to eat the animal once I kill it. I will not for any reason kill animal for the sake of killing.
 
Most of the typical African game I have no interest in shooting,except with a camera.Buffalo,maybe.Some antelope,maybe.Elephants,cats,giraffe,rhino ,hippo,zebra? No,thank you.Crocs? maybe.

I'll go deer or elk hunting for the trip,and,I'll happily shoot,while perhaps it is supposed to be the point,it is not the point for me.It is the other parts of the hunt.
Some critters,like prairie dogs invading private pasture,are nuisance targets.I can understand feral hogs being the same way.
Some idiots with a wolf sanctuary ran out of resources and released their wolves near here.Not a DOW project.If I see one I will shoot it

If I found a rattler near a house,I'd kill it.In a prairie dog town or away from folks,I leave it alone.
 
I'll shoot a coyote without a second thought.

Even if I've been sitting in a tree stand for 4 hours waiting on that monster buck I saw on a trail cam last night and a yote comes out first, he's toast. No exceptions.

I would not do the same with wolves were they present here. Don't ask me to explain it as I have no real logical explanation.

Beyond that, birds of prey even if they were legal, would be off my list.

I basically shoot what I intend to eat and nuisance animals like 'yotes.
 
I agree with Brent on the river otter. There is just no good reason to kill something that has so much fun.

It seems that most of us as boys, go through a stage where we want to make the hills run red with blood. I went through it, and nothing was safe. I haven't seen this in girls, but they are often more sensible than guys on many things.;)

Now as I get older, I find myself becoming a big softy. I absolutely hate seeing dead critters on the road. -- seems like a horrible waste of life, as well as meat.

I love eating most all of the critters that roam the earth, and I like the furs and leather hides of several that I wouldn't eat.

One thing is certain, and that is that we had better show good purpose in what we kill and how we kill it these days. We are living in a world where a lot of these idiots put more value on animal life than they do on humans. If any one of us does a poor, ugly, or excessive job of killing, it will be played to the hilt in order to make all hunters look bad.

Sometimes discretion is needed. For instance, I won't condemn the clubbing of baby seals, but ya gotta admit that it looks pretty bad on the evening news. jd
 
I can see the sneaking up thing on a deer would be a thrill to get away with it. I can also sneak up on my dog ... or even the old lady's cat but I ain't gonna shoot 'em. And also, 'Thinning 'em out helps the population'. That's BS and you know it. Who the hell was around in 1700 with friggin scopes and 30-30's to do the thinning? Uh.. well no one. That's right.
 
Dragon, You ever hear of CWD? That is a problem in areas with excessive populations caused by too short of seasons and low bag limits...
In the 1700's very few folks had livestock and killing was year around so I think populations were kept in check partly due to the fact that most people ate deer year around. the .50 Hawkin was a lethal deer gun in the hands of your average guy who depended on it to feed the family!
Brent
 
Like a previous poster, I have no interest in shooting a giraffe . . . I still have memories of hand-feeding them at the zoo when I was a kid. And when I've seen them in the wild, they seemed so placid and inoffensive I saw no point to it.

On the other hand, if there weren't safety issues to contend with (I'm in a populated area with NO safe line of fire in any direction), no free-roaming felis domesticus that I could see from my window would be safe.
 
Dragon,I do not mean this as an attack on you.I just want to use your position as a point to make a counter point on.
No disrespect to you.

If you go to the predator thread,near this one,I wrote at length.

We all kill.If we accept that,there is a humility we can find about respecting life.
If you buy skinless,boneless ,bloodless chicken breasts under cellophane at the grocery store,that is fine!! enjoy!Just remember in the price per pound,you hired someone to kill,and rip its guts out.Hiring the killer,is it different?

Chickens are different? Ask a chicken.Is there life in a grain of wheat?

Does clearing a field and farming kill animals? There is death in spinach.Dead deer,too.

In one of Ruarks books,he brings up the point,there is no kind,gentle death in bed for creatures in nature.The lion is eaten alive by hyenas when he is old.

Death is inevitable for all of us,and it is good to know we are all part of the circle of Life.

Now,I do agree,it is appropriate to take something sacred to the hunt,and not all hunters do that.

But,I think it is darn near certain that anyone who eats,even Vegans,that looks down their nose at an ethical,honest hunter,does not know where they are in the Circle of Life.And those that deny they kill,have not found something sacred
 
Interesting

Thanks for all the replies. It seems that many people here draw the line at birds of prey. I wouldn't shoot them either even if it was legal.
 
Roy, If the bird of prey were invading an area where it was a non native specie I would add it to my "hit list" if the powers that be deemed it harmful and put varmint status on the head of them. But they just don't seem to spread like other vermin...
Brent
 
I've known since I was in my pre-teen years that I have the capacity to kill. I also have the ability to live with it. That said, I have chosen to follow the laws of the land wherever I may be. I have made the personal choice not to kill that which I know is endangered. Not to kill that which is out of season or illegal. I also will not waste edible meat from what are considered game animals.

If the rules change and I need to eat or to protect myself, family, or property... Or there is some plague of varmints.... Then I have the ability to do what it takes and live with it. I might shoot a varmint or two just for fun now.

Of course, this may not always mean using a firearm.
 
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