Hunting - Ethical & Moral Considerations

[gdcleanfun]

Hunting - Ethical & Moral Considerations Copyright: Lark Ritchie and Brian Douglas Ritchie 1995. 1996.

I thought this to be a great read. Any thoughts, opinions?

[Huklberyhound]

Makes me hungry! I think along the same lines as he does, I just never put that much thought to it.

[ronwill]

Controlled hunts have been proven to help maintain healthy game populations. Canned and strictly trophy hunts is where the "ethical" question comes in. Is it really a hunt when an animal that has been caged or pen raised to the point its wild nature is nonexistent or is weakened is released right before someone shoots it? Is it ethical to shoot an animal, not for food, but simply to have a trophy? These are questions that will be argued for some time.

[murph50]

Good article
For the record--I am a vegetarian and have been for almost 40 years. I am also an animal rights activist and have been since the mid 70's. I used to be pretty hardcore and was extremely anti hunting but my philosophy has modified over the years.Hell--I used to be really anti gun but that has changed quite drastically.

I came to the conclusion that I have as much right to tell another person what to eat as I do to tell a Mt Lion or Raccoon what to eat. Hunting for food is a natural process and though I don't eat flesh of any kind and wish that no one else did it is not right for me to push my diet on others.
Therefore I accept hunting for food to be fine. Just not something I would do but in a survival situation I probably would.

Unfortunately hunting has ,it many cases, gone from a means of acquiring food to another form of recreation.
I do not agree that recreational hunting is natural or moral. Killing for fun and/or using animals for live targets I cannot accept as ethical or moral much as the author of this article stated.
Therefore I find things like trophy hunting,varmint hunting,canned hunts and the like to be quite an atrocity. Slapping mother nature in the face so to speak.

Some may want to beat me up over this which is fine but I will stick to only shooting animals with a camera and keep my hunting activities to hunting for berries and good vegetarian restaurants
For those that hunt animals for food--no problem and I wish you luck and a clean quick kill

[DarrellM5]

I find things like trophy hunting,varmint hunting,canned hunts and the like to be quite an atrocity.

I wouldn't beat you up as you are entitled to your honest opinion, but I do differ with you on a couple of your objections. First, trophy hunters tend to eat the meat or give it to a family that will. The meat harvested from the big trophy hunts, like in Africa, actually goes to the local villages. An elephant can feed a small village for an entire winter. Second, a varmint hunter is a farmer or ranchers best friend. I even know of farmers who have paid people to come out and help control the varmints. They do a lot of damage to the crops and take their toll on the livestock.

I wouldn't go on a canned hunt. I don't think it's fair. Like you, I don' have a problem with people who go on these hunts, but it's not for me. I need a reason. Meat and/or varmint control works for me. I've been asked by people to take terminally ill or injured dogs or cats out and "put them down". I just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe I could, if I had an animal that was really suffering and I couldn't find anyone else to do it.

[RDW]

I read this when it was first posted on 6/2, and have come back to at lest 8 or 9 times.

To start with it is not my intention to start any arguments or start a flaming war!

I have been hunting for about 45 years. One of my earliest memories is following my dad and uncles around when I was 4 or 5 when they were rabbit hunting. I have been lucky enough to hunt from Aniake Alaska to Brownsville Texas and almost all states in between. If you were to add up license fees, gas , food, plane tickets and everything else each year it would be a lot cheaper to buy a side of beef. Then you have to add up the money the wife and I give to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited, Mule-deer Foundation, Operation Game thief.

When I was younger it was all about harvesting any animal that I had a license for. Now it is more about getting away, meeting old friends, getting the next generation interested in hunting and if I harvest an animal it is just gravy ( no pun intended ).We are very careful coming home to make sure all meat is in ice-chests, heads and hides are covered so that we don't give the impression of an in your face attitude to the non-hunters. We are not ashamed of what we do, we are just trying to respect everyone and expect everyone to respect us. We eat what we harvest and enjoy it very much.

[Wolfling68]

One more way to look at it, and one of the reasons I have a strong desire to hunt. Is it right to eat meat without the connection to the animal's death? I believe it is more morally wrong to go to a market, cook up a steak, and never consider where it came from. Killing is part of the life cycle for a meat eater. I believe if you eat meat, you should understand what it means to kill.
I held my dog as he was put down, I would have done it myself if the vet had let me. A man shoots his own dog. It was a far worse day than the death of my grandfather. I've killed to end the suffering of an animal, also very sad. But I've never killed a mammal for food, which is something I feel I need to do. I hope I have adequately explained another reason why I feel people should hunt. On top of all of the others that people have mentioned.

Peace

[Debray]

I have butchered on the farm for over 50 years, I did all the shooting from the time I was twelve.

My Dad never had the heart to kill, but it was something we had to do.

Most of the animals I raised from the time they were born and my biggest concern was that I kept the animal calm and made a humane quick kill.

That is still my main concern even when hunting.

I owe it to the animal to keep my shooting skills honed, only take sure shots, dispatch quickly, and don’t waste any of the meat.

I never shoot anything I don’t eat, unless it is damaging my property or livestock.

[fuhr52]

Our creator gave us humans animals for food, clothing and labor. Animals have no rights. This doesn't mean I condone mistreatment or abuse of animals. Some animal rights wakos believe if you have to eat meet just go to the store and get it. That way you will not have to kill animals. I kid you not as dumb as it sounds the hard core does believe this.

[wolfhunter]

I am not a Hunter,
I am a Population Control Specialist.

Is it a more humane act to responsibly harvest animals and manage the growth of the herd, or to watch the herd breed themselves into starvation and disease?