Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Why do we shoot?
- Thread starter young Ed
- Start date
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Hunting large game isn't just walking out into a field, take a shot, put it on the truck and take it home. Shooting an Elk or Moose is often the product of months scouting, followed by a week of tough hunting, and hours prepping and packing out the animal. Furthermore you've just gained yourself your meat for the winter, if not the whole year. If all that hard work isn't something to be proud of, then I'm not sure what is, and I can completely understand the desire to 'show it off' a bit.
I don't know anyone who wraps their kill in plastic sheeting (now you've just got a load of plastic sheeting covered in blood to get rid of, and your truck is going to get dirty and need cleaning anyway), although some people will prefer to quarter their animal in the field and put it in disposable game bags. It really depends on how competent of a butcher the hunter is, and the specific circumstances under which the kill is made. The majority of the hunters I know prefer to butcher their animals themselves.
Dave the Smeghead
Über Member
In my case that would mean eating trees, outbuildings, the proverbial barn door, and on one occasion the Landy we travelled in.
jefmcg
Guru
Um, not really. Australians would never think of doing something like the (thankfully) failed badger cull to one of it's native species, or to treat a previously believed extinct species - beaver - that miraculously reappeared as an environmental hazard.
It's the british who seem to treat any species they haven't yet eradicated as a hunting opportunity.
(of course, rabbits were introduced by the Normans, so they are fair game)
IDMark2
Dodgy Aerial
- Location
- On the Roof
You said you can't afford to shoot them. Other people do pay to shoot them. They do shoot them for sport and fun and the perceived social benefits, otherwise they'd just nip down the butchers and save on the whole palaver like buying a chicken.
ayceejay
Guru
- Location
- Rural Quebec
Driving a blood spattered truck into Montreal after a boozy week end and tracking an animal for months may not be quite the same scenario HovR although the macho buzz might be the same.
I assume you flagged these chaps down and chatted with them about their hunt? Otherwise we're just jumping to conclusions.
Whilst I'm sure that (by sheer luck) people have shot large game on a "boozy weekend", it by no means represents the majority of hunters. Have you ever tried packing a 1000lb animal out of the forest and into a truck whilst drunk, or better yet hungover? Neither have I, but I can safely assume it wouldn't be a fun or easy task.
I saw a guy on a bike run a red light once, but that is by no means my view of all cyclists.
Berties
Fast and careful!
i shoot english sporting clays for sport and trap and skeet,i have shot pigeons for crop protection and protecting the thatching dolls from the pigeons and small pests i.e. rats and rabbits,
i also get involved with phesants and partridge and have gone wild fowling,all bagged birds go to good homes or is sold ,
i also get involved with phesants and partridge and have gone wild fowling,all bagged birds go to good homes or is sold ,
deptfordmarmoset
Full time tea drinker
- Location
- Armonmy Way
I go for a shoot every day. And then I open the window. Unless I'm already outside and there are no windows.
Accy cyclist
Legendary Member
- Location
- The hills of Accrington
I'm trying to think who on here reminds me of this?
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJdmnMtpAwI
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJdmnMtpAwI
ayceejay
Guru
- Location
- Rural Quebec
I think you are extrapolating my friend. I am offering my reaction to something I witnessed which had a hint of blood lust, I am not making a judgement about everyone who hunts animals for whatever reason. If you read my post again you will see that I am making a distinction between types of gun owners but doubt the sincerity of some who justify theirs on the basis of a hunters validity when they behave as these characters do.
My mistake, your initial posting seemed rather more general. I see the point you're making, and I'm sure there are a very small minority of hunters who are less ethical than the rest (mostly known as poachers within the hunting community), but I'd argue that you can't draw these assumptions about a person from the fact they had a moose strapped to the roof of their truck. At that point, the reality of it is that the moose is meat they successfully harvested, and the fact that they were transporting their kill should further back up the legitimacy of the individuals gun ownership rather than bring you to question it, or suspect "blood lust".
There are reasons why a moose might not fit into the bed of a truck (5th wheel hitch, hunting supplies, large cooler etc), and the head is a heck of a lot easier to get on the roof than it's rear end!
You make it sound like it is noble, altruistic, hard work ethics, something that only a men of calibre can accomplish. I thought it was a sport. Lets face it. We shoot and hunt because it is fun and a sport. The meat is not the reason we hunt. We could have got the meat in a neighbourhood shop. We sugarcoat the thrill by saying that we take great pains to ensure a clean kill for humane reason to be politically correct. Its like one of those big game fishing shows where the opening sermon is on the philosophy about catch and release and to ensure sustainable stock and to preserve the black Marlin for the next generation to appreciate. And not forgetting that the activity creates jobs.
OP
OP
young Ed
Veteran
many people wouldn't and won't understand and that doesn't surprise me, but for many people who own land rovers or any pickup that is a hard working vehicle they kind of enjoy getting it covered it mud, blood and what ever else they can. chucking a moose over the cab and driving 20 miles home sounds like fun to us!
I say i can't afford to do the actual shooting on these shoots, you pay £1,000 at the start of the year which covers stuff like the peasant feed and fencing etc and then you pay £20 per day you shoot, this pays us beaters (that walk through the woods or game cover scaring the birds up to the guns) and those who are there purely to pickup the dead pheasants with dogs.You said you can't afford to shoot them. Other people do pay to shoot them. They do shoot them for sport and fun and the perceived social benefits, otherwise they'd just nip down the butchers and save on the whole palaver like buying a chicken.
so say you shoot 10 times that is £1,200 for the season plus cartridges and any bits you need to buy for the gun
but as i say, this is just another hobby. one they enjoy but may well disgust others. i expect many motorists out there think cycling is a waste of money, time and quite frankly a darn right nuisance to others, why don't they just grow up, get off their silly little bikes and wear less revealing clothes and get a car like a sensible person?!
Cheers Ed
We have a problem with pigeons and rats at the yard where I keep my horses. The pigeons roost in the barn roof and crap all over the haylage. Not wanting to use poison because of the dogs Mrs Yardowner bought a gun. Result : barn roof full of holes
Okay, farrier came and offered a target lesson (he's army trained and regularly shoots on his father in law's estate in Scotland). Result: 1 dead pigeon and several others limping and fluttering around the yard.
I had to pull their necks I couldn't bear it.
Not impressed by gun use, not even for pest control.
Okay, farrier came and offered a target lesson (he's army trained and regularly shoots on his father in law's estate in Scotland). Result: 1 dead pigeon and several others limping and fluttering around the yard.
I had to pull their necks I couldn't bear it. Not impressed by gun use, not even for pest control.
