Never hunted myself; but I grew up in an area thick with people who did. The first day of deer season was a school holiday for us. Too many teachers and students absent anyway. And the “Deer Day” sales were big, rivaled the big everyday holidays,
Many of the men I knew when I lived in Colorado and Northern Arizona ( including myself for a while ) depended of hunting and fishing to supplement the food on their table and feed their families – especially, in the winter, when many weren’t able to work.I always resent the image of hunters and fisherman as a bunch of drunken wahoos shooting up the woods or tossing beer cans out of a boat.My friends and acquaintances, took hunting and fishing very seriously. Particularly, when getting their buck or catching their limit, meant that their family would have fresh meat, or fish, on the table, and extra in the freezer, for when it was needed.
Given how many mushrooms are poisonous, and how many of the poisonous mushrooms look so much like the “delicious” ones that you need to be a real expert to tell them apart, it’s likely that mushroom hunting is actually more dangerous than hunting animals.
Even some “harmless and tasty” mushrooms can sneak up on you. Friend of mine harvested some inky caps that he mistook for a different species. Inky caps aren’t poisonous by themselves, but if consumed with alcohol (say, a nice dinner of sauteed mushrooms and a glass of wine) produce a violent reaction of flushing, vomiting, etc. for several hours. Surprise!
Oh please, you’d rather kill them with your car, or let them over populate and die off from Bovine Tuberculosis or Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease. Or even worse have suburbs complain about them and the cities hire professionals to kill them off, and the meat gets wasted. Americans have been removed from the realities of their food sources for way too long.
My great uncle in Oregon hunted elk to feed his family. When he would “bag” an out-of-season elk, he would send postcards to his wife’s sisters inviting their families for some “side-hill-salmon”.
Hunting is not cruel. Wild animals do not die peaceful deaths. They don’t retire to the Old Deer Home and reminisce about the good ol’ days when they outsmarted that hunter. When wild animals die, whether they are predators or prey, they either die long, painful miserable deaths (starving or sick) or they die extremely violent deaths (being ripped apart alive by predators). More often than not they die both ways: They get sick or injured or there isn’t enough food, so they get weaker and weaker until a predator finished them off. Or they overcrowd their natural habitat and become nuisances, eating gardens (or pets, in the case of suburban predators), destroying crops, and getting hit by cars. Hunters try to make the death as quick and painless as possible. Hunting isn’t nearly as cruel as nature itself.
I am reminded of a story I read once about a town that organized a special deer hunt because the deer had over populated the region and were starving because the predators had all been eliminated. Many of the deer were all skin and bones and could be packed out whole (you normally have to skin them and strip the meat from the bones).Naturally, the anti-hunting crowd got the hunt shut down before the deer population had been reduced to acceptable numbers for the habitat.
Superfrog over 8 years ago
Attempted fungicide.
PICTO over 8 years ago
I was invited to a truffle hunt but I was afraid I would get boared so I didn’t go…
gammaguy over 8 years ago
“How could you kill poor, defenseless animals?”.“I wish I knew. I tried again and again, but they all got away without a scratch.”
rshive over 8 years ago
Never hunted myself; but I grew up in an area thick with people who did. The first day of deer season was a school holiday for us. Too many teachers and students absent anyway. And the “Deer Day” sales were big, rivaled the big everyday holidays,
J Short over 8 years ago
If you eat meat, you should think twice before griping about hunting.
Linguist over 8 years ago
Many of the men I knew when I lived in Colorado and Northern Arizona ( including myself for a while ) depended of hunting and fishing to supplement the food on their table and feed their families – especially, in the winter, when many weren’t able to work.I always resent the image of hunters and fisherman as a bunch of drunken wahoos shooting up the woods or tossing beer cans out of a boat.My friends and acquaintances, took hunting and fishing very seriously. Particularly, when getting their buck or catching their limit, meant that their family would have fresh meat, or fish, on the table, and extra in the freezer, for when it was needed.
puddleglum1066 over 8 years ago
Given how many mushrooms are poisonous, and how many of the poisonous mushrooms look so much like the “delicious” ones that you need to be a real expert to tell them apart, it’s likely that mushroom hunting is actually more dangerous than hunting animals.
Even some “harmless and tasty” mushrooms can sneak up on you. Friend of mine harvested some inky caps that he mistook for a different species. Inky caps aren’t poisonous by themselves, but if consumed with alcohol (say, a nice dinner of sauteed mushrooms and a glass of wine) produce a violent reaction of flushing, vomiting, etc. for several hours. Surprise!
BeniHanna6 Premium Member over 8 years ago
Oh please, you’d rather kill them with your car, or let them over populate and die off from Bovine Tuberculosis or Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease. Or even worse have suburbs complain about them and the cities hire professionals to kill them off, and the meat gets wasted. Americans have been removed from the realities of their food sources for way too long.
SashaW over 8 years ago
Animals are not helpless, or defenseless.
Happy, happy, happy!!! Premium Member over 8 years ago
Come to Oregon.
KEA over 8 years ago
what’s the difference. life is life.
JanLC over 8 years ago
My great uncle in Oregon hunted elk to feed his family. When he would “bag” an out-of-season elk, he would send postcards to his wife’s sisters inviting their families for some “side-hill-salmon”.
up2trixx over 8 years ago
Hunting is not cruel. Wild animals do not die peaceful deaths. They don’t retire to the Old Deer Home and reminisce about the good ol’ days when they outsmarted that hunter. When wild animals die, whether they are predators or prey, they either die long, painful miserable deaths (starving or sick) or they die extremely violent deaths (being ripped apart alive by predators). More often than not they die both ways: They get sick or injured or there isn’t enough food, so they get weaker and weaker until a predator finished them off. Or they overcrowd their natural habitat and become nuisances, eating gardens (or pets, in the case of suburban predators), destroying crops, and getting hit by cars. Hunters try to make the death as quick and painless as possible. Hunting isn’t nearly as cruel as nature itself.
Maizing over 8 years ago
I am reminded of a story I read once about a town that organized a special deer hunt because the deer had over populated the region and were starving because the predators had all been eliminated. Many of the deer were all skin and bones and could be packed out whole (you normally have to skin them and strip the meat from the bones).Naturally, the anti-hunting crowd got the hunt shut down before the deer population had been reduced to acceptable numbers for the habitat.