I’m interested in hearing what Lemmings think about hunting. 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. IMO, it’s much more humane than what factory farmed animals endure. Less suffering overall than most natural deaths. Overpopulation causes disease and starvation and we killed off their predators, so we kind of owe it to nature to fill the ecological gap.
Also, I fucking love it. I watch the sun rise, think, record birds I’ve seen, think, watch squirrels play, think a bit more, and sometimes, I get some food.
Idk. I’m not looking for approval or trying to change your mind, just wondering what people think.
Hunting for sport and trophies is bad, but hunting for meat is a hell of a lot more ethical than industrial meat production. Interestingly I’ve known people that were Vegan due to the ethics of commercial animal handling, but were also hunting and would eat meat from animals killed in the hunting team.
I live in Sweden and hunting is pretty common here, even though I’m not personally involved. There are limits on when and how many animals you may shoot and when to make sure the population is healthy.
I don’t think the solution to the predators being gone is for humans to fill the gap, rather to let the predators make a return.
Here in Sweden we’re looking to shoot most of our wolves for no good reason. That is after a considerable effort to stabilise the population and bring genetic diversity back to it.
Instead of killing, try a trip just to photograph the animals. Then compare your experiences. The killing may not be what you enjoy about your hunting trips.
I tried that once but the photographs tasted aweful.
The equation is simple
Not eating meat >>> Killing for meat >>> Funding meat factories who make animals suffer.
It is a perfectly fine thing. Humans are part of the ecosystem. We are predators and fill that niche. So long as we do so with attention paid to ensure it is done sustainably then there is nothing wrong.
It’s awful.
hunting for food is ethical, over killing, killing for profit, killing for sport are not.
the impact of hunting for food is so far below the impact of industrial agriculture and other things, it’s fine
I’m pretty simple.
Hunting to eat it? Great. I love me some deer sausage.
Hunting to chopoff its head and mount it on your wall like some ghoulish asshole? Go fuck yourself.
I feel like trophy hunters don’t show any respect to the animal, while hunters for eating do.
I’d add hunting because humans eliminated all natural predators and we need to control the population to prevent disease and starvation.
Yes. That’s true as well.
I’ve worked in wildlife conservation, and I’m all for it. With a few caveats.
- Be a fucking good shot. Practice. Don’t slop and wound. Humane kills to the greatest extent possible. Know what the fuck you’re doing.
- Eat the meat. Venison is delicious. Harvest, don’t just take a trophy.
- No spears. Holy shit, please. See point 1. Why is this still a thing? Even a niche thing, but still.
- Don’t scoff at tag prices. Be proud of your contribution. Donate to the crunchy granola hippies that ensure you have game to hunt.
Also have a degree in wildlife conservation and I second all of this.
Venison IS delicious.
I’m just realizing I haven’t had any venison since I moved out of parent’s house. Dad was a poor hunter but my cousin was a good one so there was always some meat in the fall.
If you ask around, you might be surprised who has some in their freezer and would be willing to trade something else for it. One time when I was visiting my parents we wanted some and asked around and found out one of my mom’s friends had plenty. Traded them a pan of brownies and bottle of wine for a couple pounds of stew meat. Everyone was a winner.
A lot of people bring up the moral problems with eating meat, but I have barely any such issue in regard to wild animals, especially those overpopulating areas.
Of course, if a company ever made a big product out of reselling venison, we’d probably get perverse incentives where someone would start trapping and farming them. So, it ends up just being a homey domain of hobbyist hunters and all their family friends - but one I respect a lot.
Shooting a deer that’s lived wild and free, making every effort to make the kill as quick and painless as possible seems like just about the most ethical way to get meat that I can think of. And especially in areas where the deer population is too high, it’s really important for managing the ecosystem. Plus, ammo and equipment sales get taxed specifically to fund conservation, which is important.
I also feel like if you can’t stomach the process of killing and cleaning an animal, maybe you shouldn’t eat meat at all?
By and large, I think hunting for food is a great way to get more in touch with where your food comes from, one of the most ethical ways to acquire meat, and a nice excuse to sit quietly in the woods without interruption. Trophy hunters can fuck off tho.
I can accept trophy hunting for population control, but I will still think less of them for wanting to do it
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 get a lot of down votes for this but it’s important since we wiped out natural predators. One of my favorite days was cooking up some venison my students; we had a field day or whatever and no the meat came from another hunter.
I almost died when a a bunch crossed over the highway in the middle of the night. Tokyo drift instincts kicked in lol. Thankfully a buddy bought a Jeep XJ and it saved his ass.
Then there’s this ongoing argument against firearms; do you shoot the deer that ran into your car or beat it to it’s death with a blunt object? And I mean this in a humane question, otherwise you leave it die suffering in pain.
I only go for kill shots. None of this trophy bullshit. I’m not going to make a game of chasing around a wounded animal.
I’m confused what you mean by only going for kill shots. Which hunters aren’t going for kill shots? Is there an animal I’m not aware of that is a better trophy or meat by maiming it and letting it bleed out?
Disconnecting the spinal column for minimal suffering. It’s not popular because you don’t a “trophy” kill. I get a lot of hate for this ironically.
You shoot for the spine? How do you dispatch them after?
back of the head, then slice the innards out and get em weighted. at least that was it how it’s done.
Hunting with a valid reason (for food, population control, etc.) is acceptable and/or a necessity.
Hunting for funsies only - including all the BS safari hunting that are essentially glorified high tech fishing trips - is disgusting
BS safari hunting funds conservation in ways that are unachievable otherwise
Well, then this funding source should not be pursued
Then animals die, populations drop, restoration programs end
Not if the funding is made up somewhere else?
It isn’t though, which is why conservation groups that hunt are a net positive in practice. The members also tend to discourage poaching, push harder for maintaining ecosystems, and other stuff beyond what funding can do on its own because the individuals who tend to be involved have ofher forms of influence and power.
It sucks that this is how the world works, but in this specific case it works.
Yeah, I’m less so making at argument about what is currently happening, and more just saying that I would prefer a world in which we fund conservation differently, and we should try to move things in that direction
Two kinds of people typically hunt endangered animals: rich assholes and starving people. A straight ban on hunting these animals does nothing to solve either problem.
We know rich assholes are going to do what they want by whatever means, including exploiting animals and the poor, so I don’t think I need to go into that.
Poor people will hunt endangered animals or take rich people to hunt them because both those paths lead to them and their families eating. They may care about the animals, they may not, but they and their families need food and money to live.
Legalized hunting of endangered game does a lot to solve all these problems. Poor people become legitimate guides. Poachers in places like Tanzania were for a while allowed to be killed legally. Now they aren’t shot for trying to provide food for people and are putting the money into their villages. The people now have economic incentive to protect these animals to protect their new local tourism. Associated services are created to make the destination attractive. Governments see the benefit of monitoring and protecting these species.
It’s not perfect. Anti-poaching measures leads to violence on both sides, just as things like the war on drugs. Things like legalized gambling, drugs, and prostitution help prevent exploitation, keeps participants safer in their activities, and allows monitoring and oversight by regulators. Some will still poach no matter what. But it brings more things to the open and people can work with facts and figures about their local situations.
I don’t like the idea of trophy hunting anymore than I like seeing people participate in other senseless and destructive vices, but we can ensure people do things in ways that are better and safe for all involved.
I do hunt for one deer a year myself. Where I am has a higher number than is sustainable, and with people having less money and time off than ever, the state cannot get all the deer they want to be hunted as things are. It lets me take one animal that gets me through most of the year instead of however many from the store, and I know it’s all natural and never spent a moment in captivity. Hunting is mostly a chore for me, though I do enjoy the time in the woods and spending a few days with my brother.
There’s an incredible Radio Lab episode called “the rhino hunter” that deep dives into this fact, and it’s honestly one of the most emotionally confusing pieces of media I’ve ever encountered. Highly recommend.
“Man, this baby grinding machine sure eats a lot of babies, but think of all the money it generates!”
