Shooting animals for the sake of shooting them?

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It's just nothing I would ever find enjoyable, even "the spectacle". I dunno, if I ever flipped a deer with my Mauser, I would probably be proud of myself for such a well placed shot, but I would be more proud that I dropped the animal with minimal suffering. I understand that's what you're doing by sending guts flying, but still, laughing?

And while prairie dogs are not going extinct, their numbers have dropped drastically in the last 100 years. They do damage crops (after asking my cotton farming in-laws in West Texas) but they also keep range land open for cattle, leaving grass for the cattle while eating other plants that cattle don't eat.
 
I understand that's what you're doing by sending guts flying, but still, laughing?
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Yep.

I laugh when I shoot balloons that explode too.... and soda cans, cans of paint, apples, pumpkins and grapefuit too.... lots of stuff.

Same effect. Same laugh.

Where's the moral police for the paint cans?
 
Food has gotten so expensive I mostly eat it,and I love grapefruit,but,darn they make a nice target!!!No objectionable litter,and that explosion in the scope!!!
Sorry,I understand the ideology,and respect the concept behind it,but it is a bit like saying sex is only for making babies and we really are not supposed to enjoy it.
Few folks go to the field with blanks.
I like the thump of a solid hit.I like an instant kill.
I am honest enough to say so.I will not posture the politically correct response for approval.
When the rancher says"Would you shoot some of those prairie dogs for me?"
I do not hang my head ,shed a tear,and sigh,"Oh,if I must"

I get a big smile,Say"Well,Yeah!!!" and I have a lot of fun killing prairie dogs.

You think what you want.
 
As a retired Marine, I take no pleasure in killing and have not hunted in many years but agree with the fact that, if done correctly, is a source of game management. As far as varmints go, they are a valuable source of food for many other species. I enjoy watching a eagle or hawk swoop down on a prairie dog and is far better IMO, than me shooting it for FUN. As far a coyotes, if they are messing with your livestock, you better shoot them. Other wise, the Government pays other people to kill them when and where they need to be thinned out, like to protect the Antelope. They know best, at least better than me, how many need to be killed. I live in the mountains and see these morons from the city come up here to shoot things with no regard for where their bullets go. It's amazing to see how ignorant they are and how unsafe. It's a wonder more people aren't killed by mistake. Any one that thinks it's fun to splatter some creature's guts all over the dirt needs to have some one trying to do the same to them and see if it's still fun. You know, even out the odds a little. Killing for fun is just macho B.S. and is cowardly when the thing you are shooting has no chance at all.
 
The old ranch I hunt prairie dogs on never had any prairie dogs till some morons decided to build houses toward the foothills.A prairie dog town was in their way,so just like the folks who dump dogs and cats in the country,the PDs were vacuumed out of their holes and transplanted to some city owned ground near the ranch.The PDs like the ranch better.

The PDs do not create grassy areas.They strip the ground to bare earth.

The rancher balances the idea of having a controlled PD town through shooting,or using bubble gum and poison to eliminate all the PDs.

Hawks,eagles??I like them ,too.I don't shoot the burrowing owls among the PD's.either.
But the harsh reality is,if this town takes too much from the rancher,it will be poisoned.

I also do not shoot white spots on cliffs.Eagles make white spots below their nests.

Folks,even putting houses in the mountains or foothills pushes deer and moutain lions and coyotes into the edges of the city,where they get in trouble..

With all due respect to all veterans,(I am not a veteran) I have seen footage of troops reacting to a sniper being taken out by a missle,or a successful sniper shot,or a chain gun delivering effective fire,or night vision images of a gunship eliminating folks.and those guys reacted like the home team scored a touchdown.

I suspect when a lion takes down a wildebeast they feel good about it.

When I killed the bear that bit my wife, something happened.Maybe all the adrenaline/fear/fight/flight juices had to transform so I wouldn't explode,but something powerful happened.It felt good.

I'm not an LEO,but,despite the fact a politically correct,traumatized face has to be put on an LEO who makes an appropriate shoot,I suspect when a really bad guy goes down and the LEO gets to go home to his family,the LEO feels good about it.

You all,do whatever is true for you.I will do what is true for me.
 
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peetzakilla
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Quote:
paint cans aren't alive.
Who gets to decide how, when and why that matters?
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I'm not saying anyone should. I am going to say that we are going to disagree on this, and you're going to say what you say and I'm going to say what I say.
 
running iron said:
As a retired Marine, I take no pleasure in killing and have not hunted in many years but agree with the fact that, if done correctly, is a source of game management. As far as varmints go, they are a valuable source of food for many other species. I enjoy watching a eagle or hawk swoop down on a prairie dog and is far better IMO, than me shooting it for FUN. As far a coyotes, if they are messing with your livestock, you better shoot them. Other wise, the Government pays other people to kill them when and where they need to be thinned out, like to protect the Antelope. They know best, at least better than me, how many need to be killed. I live in the mountains and see these morons from the city come up here to shoot things with no regard for where their bullets go. It's amazing to see how ignorant they are and how unsafe. It's a wonder more people aren't killed by mistake. Any one that thinks it's fun to splatter some creature's guts all over the dirt needs to have some one trying to do the same to them and see if it's still fun. You know, even out the odds a little. Killing for fun is just macho B.S. and is cowardly when the thing you are shooting has no chance at all.
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I'm going to agree with this guy, except I anticipate feeding my family by hunting one of these days when we have land to feed them from.
 
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wrothgar said:
I'm not saying anyone should. I am going to say that we are going to disagree on this, and you're going to say what you say and I'm going to say what I say.
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Well, now, wait a minute. We aren't "disagreeing". You said that laughing about killing things makes me a "sicko". That's not a disagreement, it's a character judgement. If you're going to make that judgement then it would be helpful to have it defined in some sensible way.

Paint cans aren't alive. They're fine to "kill" and laugh about it.

What about spiders? I kill them because my wife is scared of them. No other reason.

Grass is alive. What if I enjoy mowing my lawn? Am I a sicko?

Is it only "animal" life? What about bacteria? Is it only vertebrates? Can I light an ant hill on fire and laugh or does that make me a sicko?

What if I bow hunt for fish and "Ooh and Aah" when a good shot is made? Is that enjoyment of the kill?

What if I shoot flys that land on my target and think it's fun?

This gets pretty complicated.... seems almost like there should be solid rules or something.
 
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