Eat what you kill?

Growing up hunting with my father. I'm always taught to only kill what you will eat. So animals I do not eat, I do not kill. I've seen so many videos on people just shooting animals for fun and to test their personal best longest distance kill and post on YouTube to brag it. Are animal just for targets practice? Do people get a kick out of it for taking a life. No respect for their life? I go hunting and fishing but i eat all the animals I shoot and catch. I see all the dead animals people killed and I'm like wtf that's such a waste of good meat. Cause they don't even eat them. They leave it out to riot and used excuse like other animals will come eat it. 
 
I agree with you with the exception of pests like ground squirrels. Here in California if you don't actively keep their numbers down they will spread out and colonize your property, doing all kinds of damage. They are edible, but given the fact they can carry plague I leave them for the bobcats and buzzards. In the case of rabbits, once the freezer is full I also leave them out as I can only eat so many and they are eating crops-in that situation I do try to sit up next to the field so I get the "bad bunnies" and give the ones who are not doing damage a pass.

John
 
What's ethical is entirely up to the hunter himself, can't judge others. Thankfully I have a choice to not watch certain videos if I don't agree. Most of the hunting here are for varmints and may not make the best of meals. I'm probably one of few who enjoys cooking Jackrabbits. Ground squirrels are nasty creatures that cause a ton of problems beyond what most may realize. I think it's important for people to be educated on why a particular species is hunted. 
 
very well put guys. Back when the kids were growing up and had a house full, I hunted a lot freezer meat and mouths to feed, now kids have grown and moved out. No longer a need to hunt. I am absolutely 100% happy punching paper or swinging targets , but on the same note I have on occasion and very rare occasion taken a rabbit or squirrel only because I myself enjoy a good meal and believe the grandkids should be introduced to wild game
 
Ethical is a standard.Some people have a higher standard than others..pests are pests and there is general agreement on what a pest is.

To shoot animals with disregard of what they are or what good they do for our environment shows a lack of knowledge,as guns owners and hunters we should know the difference and protect our environment...= the freedom to shoot.

Truth be told you should go to hunter safety class....learn to respect guns and the environment that they are used....

Respect is losing its importance....without respect you have anarchy,= anything goes...

It seems people who have had a life threatening experience have more respect for all things.

In the end Freedom is what it is about.
 
Ethics are not relative. That lesson has been forgotten and we are not paying for it. It is called "moral relativism". Rather than chase rabbits down that hole, I will leave it DRT.

As for eating what you kill. Fair enough when what you kill is edible. The fox you kill in the hen house, probably wouldn't taste very good, but the chickens you save will. The ground hogs you shot in the field can be eaten and the horse running across that field that does not break his leg in that ground hog hole will carry you a long ways further. So killing should be viewed as a necessary responsibility that man has to nature in as much as he is responsible for husbanding nature.
 
I hear what you are saying. Been there, done that myself in years past....but today is different.

I never met a disease carrying pigeon I liked! Ask Australians how they like their imported rabbits and Cane Toads. Ask Floridians how much they enjoy boas, African rock pythons, and their current influx of African/South American lizards and thousands of city dwelling, native song bird killing feral cats, ask P.R. citizens how much they enjoy imported iguanas in their yards and trees. Ask any Great Plains resident how much they enjoy putting down a horse because of broken legs caused by thousands of holes made by prairie dogs. Go to Louisiana and inquire about the demand for nutria meat. Further, I absolutely refuse to eat a rat!

There's always two sides to every story. Your best bet, with all due respect to your concerns, would be to find a forum more suited to your values. This is not a forum suitable for individuals sensitive to elimination of vermin.

Kind regards,

Kindly 'Ol Uncle Hoot


 
  • Like
Reactions: xarus
I agree with you with the exception of pests like ground squirrels. Here in California if you don't actively keep their numbers down they will spread out and colonize your property, doing all kinds of damage. They are edible, but given the fact they can carry plague I leave them for the bobcats and buzzards. In the case of rabbits, once the freezer is full I also leave them out as I can only eat so many and they are eating crops-in that situation I do try to sit up next to the field so I get the "bad bunnies" and give the ones who are not doing damage a pass.

John

Ground squirrels ARE a bane here in Cali. I've had over $1400 worth of damage on my truck from the little........ GS's are the only thing I hunt and only around my house. I have all kinds of Eurasian doves, rabbits, regular doves, ravens which are protected etc. 
 
All the videos I see and post are about shooting pest animals. You and others need to educate yourself about invasive species and pests that over populate and the damage they do to the environment, native species, farm animals, buildings and equipment. Also there are always animals in the wild that benefit by eating and cleaning up many of the pests killed. Bill
 
Squirrels are an overrunning pest here. They by rodent nature MUST chew as their incisors continually grow and must be kept honed in check. What they chew is up to the squirrel. It has been wire harnesses and wiring under the hood of cars and hunting trucks. Firewall insulation. Eaves and soffits and when accessible, attic wiring. They also like old metal vent stacks. They also happen to taste very good fried and in gravy. I eat and pest and if I don’t keep them in check I make a lot of repairs. I have raccoons, opossums, deer, fox and crows in my yard. None of them have caused any property damage so we live in peace. 
 
I put my thoughts on this very subject in my first book twenty years ago, The Manic Compressive; (copyright 1998). The pertinent excerpt-

"Some folks think anyone that would kill any animal is a slob hunter. However, Realists understand that killing is not only natural, but often necessary, for a variety of reasons ranging from pest control to plain-old 'good eating'. And while extremists might preach their ideals, I doubt they have many qualms about squashing a cockroach, or utilizing mousetraps in their own home. It's simply a matter of perspective, and each individual's grasp on reality."

So Pigeonman, do you not kill mice, rats, cockroaches, scorpions, or other pests? And if you do, are they tasty?

Just so you don't get the impression I'm attacking you specifically or anti-hunters generally, I gift you the following excerpt of the very next paragraph in The Manic Compressive-

"Most hunters are also hypocritical. Each feels his own methods and ethics are the correct ones, and everyone else is wrong." "Though I also am vain enough to feel my hunting methods are the most noble, I am Realist enough to understand what a hypoctrite I am to think so!"  

FWIW, in the ensuing decades since penning those profundities, I've become much more selective in my killing. I don't hunt nearly as much as in my younger days; nevertheless, I also don't hesitate to kill mice, rats, cockroaches, scorpions, or other pests... and also don't hesitate to NOT eat them! But I'm a Realist.


 
I hunt only pest birds and groundhogs and when I can prairie dogs. I don’t eat them .

if that is ethically wrong it is WAY down on the list of things that I do that I could be criticized for you will have to trust me on that 😬

If eating them makes you feel better GREAT I’ll let mine for the cats, birds of prey, foxes and other members of the food chain that can’t shop at Wal Mart. 
 
Raden1942, I agree with you. Some things just need killing, even if you can't or don't eat them. I grew up on a Dairy farm and my brothers and I always had air guns and I killed a lot of birds that didn't need to be killed, but I know they didn't lay there and go to waste. The barn cats got a meal and if nothing else the ants were happy. We wouldn't shoot a squirrel or groundhog for just fun. We ate squirrels and used groundhog liver for catfish'n . Tougher than chicken liver, stays on your hook. Hell, we even ate groundhog a time or two 
 
So basically we should not kill rats ... or flying rats right? I will not eat those! ;)

IMO

Hunting is for eat - Etical all the way

Pesting is for Extermination - Do not care about ethical really 

So far I have not watched any video with kills for fun, or they are for eat or they are pests (rats, doves, squirrels, starlings, etc..)
 
Ok most I see here keep popping up is squirrel? Are they really that bad you need to kill them? Where I live there are squirrels running around all over the place and we just leave them be. Sometime I would shoot a few to eat. Squirrel are good eating. I just people don't know how to cook them. Idk why people complaining they are pest. I enjoy walking around my neighborhood and see squirrels running and chasing each other around. I guess some people just want them all dead. Oh wells