Another "What the Hell is Wrong with People?" Post

[K Frame]

Personally, I'd be willing to show mercy and reduce the sentence to 3 months.

But they have to spend all three months with the balls wired to a 50,000 volt jock strap that hits them at least 100 times a day, at random intervals.

[HankB]

If all they did was kill the cat (quickly), I wouldn't have much to say about it.  Dragging it behind a car deliberately is pretty cruel.

Right. When killing an animal, it should be quick. Slow torture is really warped.

[KD5NRH]

When killing an animal, it should be quick.

This.  I've put a cat down with a 12ga before, just to make sure it didn't feel a thing.  (Other than it was already feeling from having its lumbar spine and back legs crushed by a car, that is.)

[HeroHog]

I have had to dispatch several various animals in my 60 years and hated doing each and every one BUT it was the right thing to do. That doesn't include those I hunted for food. Those were killed for food and as quickly and humanely as possible. I despise "trophy hunters" with a Purple passion! You hunt for food, herd size control (and don't waste the meat if it's edible!), and to eliminate rogue animals.

[cordex]

I have had to dispatch several various animals in my 60 years and hated doing each and every one BUT it was the right thing to do. That doesn't include those I hunted for food. Those were killed for food and as quickly and humanely as possible. I despise "trophy hunters" with a Purple passion! You hunt for food, herd size control (and don't waste the meat if it's edible!), and to eliminate rogue animals.

Have you ever enjoyed hunting?  If you're eating the animal, does that make enjoyment of the killing okay?

[K Frame]

Have you ever enjoyed hunting?  If you're eating the animal, does that make enjoyment of the killing okay?

There is, and should be, a very distinct difference between enjoying the activity of hunting and enjoying killing.

I enjoyed hunting very much. Getting out into the woods, being alone, etc.

But I never enjoyed killing. If you enjoy the killing aspect of it, you need help.

In fact, it finally came to the point where I quit hunting altogether. I could go into the woods any time I wanted, and there was no real reason, need, or desire for me to harvest an animal.

Yes, I eat meat. No, I have no problems with people hunting, as long as they hunt ethically, don't waste the meat, etc. I even enjoy meat harvested by friends who do hunt.

And I, too, absolute hate the concept of trophy hunting. But I also recognize that it has a very important role in the preservation of some endangered species, and that banning all trophy hunting would likely push those animals over the brink in short order.

[HeroHog]

I wouldn't say I hunted for "enjoyment of killing" so much as just getting out in the woods and, if I was fortunate, bagging some game. Yes, it can be exciting, no doubt, but it is also an expensive PITA (most of the time) these days. Cold, wet, lots of trying to walk quietly, sitting quietly in a frozen cold blind for hours but in the end you used to get meat that you couldn't get in the stores AND you got it yourself AND it tastes great and unlike most meat you could buy (in most types of game) you didn't buy it all preprocessed and packaged.

[HeroHog]

"Trophy hunting," when the herd NEEDS thinning, an animal went rogue or is sick, I am OK with. If the meat is edible, it should be used. I would say I don't get "trophy hunting" a lion or tiger even under the conditions above BUT, I used to race cars and motorcycles at a high level so I don't have a leg to stand on regarding thrill seeking to a possibly life threatening degree do I?

[230RN]

Except for thinning out prairie rats for the local farmers, I pretty much quit hunting by about 1980.  Oh, I'd go squirrel hunting, using my skills to tempt a tree rat around to my side of the tree, then pick out a pine cone near my "quarry" and shoot that.  Scare the heck out of the bushytail and it would scurry away.

Nyah, nyah, I "won."

The woods hereabouts ended up with a whole lot of smart squirrels over the years.

[Ben]

There is, and should be, a very distinct difference between enjoying the activity of hunting and enjoying killing.

I enjoyed hunting very much. Getting out into the woods, being alone, etc.

But I never enjoyed killing. If you enjoy the killing aspect of it, you need help.

In fact, it finally came to the point where I quit hunting altogether. I could go into the woods any time I wanted, and there was no real reason, need, or desire for me to harvest an animal.

Yes, I eat meat. No, I have no problems with people hunting, as long as they hunt ethically, don't waste the meat, etc. I even enjoy meat harvested by friends who do hunt.

And I, too, absolute hate the concept of trophy hunting. But I also recognize that it has a very important role in the preservation of some endangered species, and that banning all trophy hunting would likely push those animals over the brink in short order.

This is very close to where I am these days. I haven't big game hunted in years. I've still gone out every year with the shotgun for birds, though I gave that up for now since old Romy passed. 90% of the pleasure I got out of bird hunting was me and my hunting buddy being in the field together, whether we harvested anything or not. It doesn't mean I won't go again, but I'm likely going to be going a lot less than I did in my youth.

I'm also not big on trophy hunting, though I understand how much it helps the animals and the communities in a lot of poor countries. A $50,000 trophy fee goes a long way in many parts of Africa. I've never been into it for myself though, minus a couple of 30 year old mounted pheasants I have. If I were to go on say a bighorn hunt, I might not be opposed to mounting the head as long as I was able to harvest the meat. For myself, I could never kill a mammal just for the mount.

[cordex]

But I never enjoyed killing. If you enjoy the killing aspect of it, you need help.

In your opinion, there is (or should be) no thrill in the kill at all?  I don't think I agree, but it may be a matter of definitions.

I admit that the excitement has softened over the years but my heart still pounds when I'm lining up a shot and I still get a charge when I make a good hit and a clean kill.  There's no hatred in it, nor independent joy in the fact that a life was taken, but even so there is definitely a powerful sensation of victory and accomplishment.  While I enjoy sitting alone in the woods and the meat is delicious, as you note I could sit in the woods without hunting and good meat is available from a number of sources.  That tells me that there is something more to hunting than merely enjoying a day in nature or acquiring calories.

Maybe it's not the killing per se, as slaughtering chickens gives no such exhilaration, but to say that that anyone who enjoys the climax of a hunt "needs help" doesn't strike me as reasonable.

[KD5NRH]

Except for thinning out prairie rats for the local farmers, I pretty much quit hunting by about 1980.  Oh, I'd go squirrel hunting, using my skills to tempt a tree rat around to my side of the tree, then pick out a pine cone near my "quarry" and shoot that.  Scare the heck out of the bushytail and it would scurry away.

The squirrel herd around here needs frequent thinning.  Same for pigs.  Deer, OTOH, if I don't feel like dressing it out, hauling it back to a vehicle butchering it, etc.  I just go out with a camera and a tennis ball.  Maybe getting squarely pegged with that will give some of them enough fear of humans to get them through the season.

[K Frame]

"In your opinion, there is (or should be) no thrill in the kill at all?  I don't think I agree, but it may be a matter of definitions."

Thrill, based on accomplishment (yes, a successful hunt is an accomplishment), is far different than visceral pleasure at actually ending a creature's life.

The first derives from personal accomplishment.

The second is an indication of a something darker and more disturbing.

[cordex]

Thrill, based on accomplishment (yes, a successful hunt is an accomplishment), is far different than visceral pleasure at actually ending a creature's life.

I think that's fair.

[K Frame]

Huh. I figured it was the mirror that did that to you.

Nah, the picture of you and your Mom I keep in my wallet. Team Cordex!

[cordex]

Nah, the picture of you and your Mom I keep in my wallet. Team Cordex!

[230RN]

It wasn't the killing that was awful.  That's pretty much how we got to the top of the food chain.  It's the prolonged deliberate torture that repels me.  If you're going to kill an animal, do it as quicky as possible.

And as far as apportioning the guilt goes, I view it as one would deal with a murderer's accomplice.  Murder by each party regardless of who "pulled the trigger." Same possible punishment for each of them.