HOLEY MOLEY!!! yuck!!!!

I'll admit it, my hubby hunts and I feed some of the deer meat to the dogs!  They love it!  After the deer is quartered, I give the dogs the front leg bones.  It takes them much longer to eat them than it does ham bones!  Doggies are happy and there is not as much "trimmings" to dispose of!

ORIGINAL: DakotaSpirit

I realize there will always be people out there who are completely 100% against hunting....

 
I did not say I was against hunting.  I just don#%92t see how anyone can deny the power high as the driver.  Having a gun in your hands, shooting the gun, and bringing down an animal, that#%92s what it all about.  Yes, that is a good gesture that you honor the maker but most do that at dinner each night or at least once a year during the Thanksgiving holiday…minus the killing thrill.
 
Look at my avatar.  That is my former foster Lady, a field Pointer and old girl that I rehabbed for 7 months.  The key to bringing her back to health was to trigger her natural instinct to hunt.  I had help from a pair of mating Morning Doves who graced my backyard.  If you know Morning Doves, they are the most populous gaming bird in the US.  They also keenly know the boundaries for danger.  That means they would perch just a few inches beyond Lady#%92s reach and in doing so perfected Lady#%92s point which in turn made her more adoptable.  To the exclusion of other families, Lady was adopted by a hunting family because that was best for her.  I have no problem with hunters, just be honest as to why you hunt.
 

ORIGINAL: rolenta
 Besides... how do wild deer usually die? Either they're killed by a wild carnivore or they die slowly of disease.

Or hit by a car . . .a completely wasteful death, except for the few scavenger birds that get to the carcasses before they're picked up by the transportation dept.

I thought hunters do it for the sport. The biggest, strongest, the fastest, the more healthy, the bigger the thrill. Where's the culling of the weak and sick? “I am after venison, not antler”- please. “I disagree with trophy hunting” – it#%92s the same as “responsible hunting”.

The guys in my family don't hunt for trophies.  They hunt on their friend's land and the friend doesn't let them shoot most of the deer.  Most of them buy doe permits and end up shooting does anyway.  That's not really trophy hunting since a doe has no points.  The bucks they do shoot have antlers, but that's because the owner of the land doesn't want the buttons shot yet, he wants the younger deer to be the ones breeding.  The tradition of deer hunting solidified in my family when my grandpa had health concerns and was told he could only eat certain forms of the leanest meat.  Wild venison is pretty much the leanest red meat available, so that's what he started to hunt.  When I lived with my parents, we ate venison for dinner 2-3 times a week.  My dad butchers the deer himself and they use almost every part.  My uncle uses the hides and things for weird stuff he makes, my bro ties flies with the hair, we even keep the crappier meat for jerky and stews.  Once we have enough, we stop hunting.  My brother and dad have never hunted for antler and don't even have any antlers.  I have a friend who shoots his limit every season but donates the meat to a soup kitchen for homeless people.

Maybe some do it for sport, which I don't exactly agree with but I'm not going to make a big stink about, but not *all* of them do just because some male deer happen to have antlers.

To be honest, I have more fun shooting animals with my camera then I do a gun.  I find the thrill in being outdoors and just spotting the animals.  Growing up I had no interest in hunting-it was something my father MADE me do, but I'm not going to get into that.  I resented having to load up in the truck to head out to the field to go hunting.  I did grow up eating wild game and eventually gave into my father and would shoot the first deer I saw that I had tags for.  I'm home hunting for one weekend out of the season.  If I return home empty handed, oh well.  I went elk hunting one time when my dad drew a tag.  Even though I didn't have a tag myself, it was the best experience of my life.  We never even SAW an elk, but we hiked through the Black Hills of SD and were surrounded by mule deer galore, listened to the bugling of elk in land we didn't have permission to hunt on, and scoped out mountain lion tracks.  I would not give that experience up for the world.  So, no.  The thrill of the hunt for me is not picking up a gun and shooting an animal.  If it was for the thrill of the hunt, I would have hunted during the 2 seasons my dad was overseas and wasn't forcing me to go out.  Did I go out?  No.  Didn't shoot one animal in either of those seasons.  Now, as I'm in college, I can't afford to buy myself meat from the store every week.  Wild game stores great in the freezer and that's what I fill it with.  I still go out and shoot the first animals that go by that I have tags for.  I don't care if its a spike buck, a nice sized doe, or a decent buck.
 
Taking out the weak and wounded?  Last season my dad took out a buck because it had been wounded by another hunter and only had a broken leg.  He tagged it and took it home.  A few years ago my dad, brother, and I came across a deer that had three broken legs.  Now, how on earth he got away from the hunter is beyond me or how he broke three legs.  We called the local Game, Fish, and Parks and put the animal out of its misery.  We would have tagged it and took it home ourselves, but disease had already set into its wounded flesh.  We also came across a doe that had suffered a glancing blow to the head and was still up and walking around.  We didn't have guns with us at the time because we were on our way back from Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's ranch, but we called the GFP and told them where she was at so someone COULD come out and end her suffering.  We don't have a huge problem with sick deer in our area as the coyote population is sufficient enough to weed most of them out.

I did not say I was against hunting.  I just don#%92t see how anyone can deny the power high as the driver.  Having a gun in your hands, shooting the gun, and bringing down an animal, that#%92s what it all about.  Yes, that is a good gesture that you honor the maker but most do that at dinner each night or at least once a year during the Thanksgiving holiday…minus the killing thrill. .... I have no problem with hunters, just be honest as to why you hunt.

 
Honestly, you are 100% wrong to think that there are no hunters out there who truly do not enjoy killing.
 
Saying that all hunters kill for the thrill of it is like saying that I raise my own chickens just so that I can "enjoy" killing them myself. [&:]
 
I've been on enough hunts to know that I have zero taste for killing. Deer are beautiful. I love them. I leave out alfalfa hay for them in my yard, and corn, I talk to them while they come to drink from my creek...I hate the thought of killing one. When I'm sitting there on a hunt, waiting for whoever I'm with to wait for that gorgeous deer to get in the exact right position to make the shot, I don't feel thrill...I feel nausea. I HATE the idea of taking the life of such a beautiful animal. I've been in tears from it more than once. And why haven't I gone out and killed a deer myself? Because I don't feel that I'm a good enough shot yet...and I'm not going to actually do the shooting until I KNOW that whatever I shoot at is going down instantly.
 
I love my chickens. When I have to kill one, it takes me a good day or so to psych myself up for it. To be honest, I usually have to have a drink or two before I can actually carry it out. I enjoy NOTHING about killing....so why do I do it? Because I feel a responsibility. I believe that if you are going to eat the flesh of another living thing....that if something is going to die, so that YOU can eat....you should be responsible for that animal's death. I take life VERY seriously...ALL life, and while I'm not big on the idea of moral "sins," and while I feel that morality is relative...I believe that being too cowardly to kill what you eat, while still gorging yourself on the dead bodies of animals that OTHERS have killed...is about as close to sinning as you can get. I know that not everyone feels that way, and I'm not saying that I'm "right"...but I'm saying that that is MY belief and the reason I participate in hunts, and will one day hunt myself.
 
So, to say that all hunters hunt for the "thrill of the kill," is completely wrong...I find killing to be comppletely disgusting and horrible, but a sad reality of life.
 
We have a BIG problem with feral hogs around here- they get huge and are terribly destructive. I like pork alot better than venison, and there is alot more meat on a large wild hog than your average deer- which means I can get more meat and kill FEWER animals. Coincidentally, my favorite breeds- pits, american bulldogs, etc- are commonly used for hunting hogs. It's dangerous, but I would LOVE to one day go hog hunting with the couple of rescued pitties I plan on getting once I get a farm. Why? Not so I can go out and massacre pigs- but so that I can hunt as a pack with my dogs, and we can work together to feed our family. To me, that is MUCH more fulfilling- spiritually, and physically- than buying impersonal little squares of meat at the grocery store, and letting someone else do all of the dirty work so that I don't have to think about it and offend my delicate sensibilities.
 
So no...I have no taste for killing, and I would never look for "the biggest and best trophy animal." I would be out to get meat for my family- in a way that I personally find the LEAST morally reprehensible.

Moderator here,
 
Is this still a dog related thread?
It was at the beginning at least a bit.
 
If we're going to discuss the hunting and such please continue to do so respectfully.
I will move this topic after a bit, as it seems to have left the arena of dogs eating game and moved onto hunting.

When faced with a direct contradiction to my view, I have no problem changing or adjusting my view from all to most or some or even a few, providing what is presented is compelling.

DakotaSpirit, at the start of the hunt you make a mental justification of having a tag and that is your approval to proceed and also justification to make 'things' better.  At the end of the hunt you end by honoring the animal and praise the creator.  But in between what are you feeling.  When you raise the gun, aim, fire, hit the target, and the animal falls, what are you feeling at that moment?  I totally understand your description and justifications for a lame, wounded, sick animal.  I think that is a different circumstance from when the animal is strong and healthy.  I think you stated you were an oddball and I think that may be in reference to the fact that you consider yourself different from the other hunters.  If that is the case then by defacto are you agreeing with me?

Ratsickles, your post was very respectful and I do understand your conflict.  If it was me I would have worked long ago at getting rid of the conflict rather than continue to suffer.

Working Dogs hunt like my Lady in my avatar.  The hunt is from instinct but her whole well being is surrounded by the fact that the dog needs to hunt.  Do you think this instinct exist in humans and that is why there is pleasure in the kill?

I have a neighbor who is against hunting (mind; she moved to rural PA where the first day of the season ought to be a holiday for the number of folks that call in sick).  Of course she's not a vegetarian, and she owns meat eating animals.  I guess some folks are more comfortable believing their meat comes off a chicken tree, or a cow vine. I don't hunt, but my neighbors do. I think a bullet is better than a stun bolt after a life on a factory farm. I eat meat, my dogs eat meat, and my cats eat raw (NV). If I could raise my own poultry I would do that in a minute.

JMO
YMMV
Paula

I am not personally interested in hunting, I hate the idea of being involved in that.  But yes, I do eat meat so I know someone has to do it.  I really admire what Ratsicles wrote because I think it's very brave and honest.  I think I would feel the same way if I had to kill my own food (except fish, I am OK with catching fish), so I avoid it and I just buy my meat at the store and try not to think too hard about it.  I think a lot of Americans are like that. 
 
I am not against hunting for other people, though, as long as they make productive use of what they kill.  If they eat what they take, I am OK with that.  Here in Alaska, there are still lots of people, especially Native Alaskans, who live primarily on what they can catch.  People hunt for moose and fish for salmon because that is how they survive and how they have survived for many, many generations back.  I don't see anything wrong with that at all.
 
Hunting for pure sport is different. I am not OK with that.  Killing for fun is not OK to me.  But if you are killing for food, I don't have any issue (even if you enjoy the process).