Hunting

Yesterday I posted a link to a clip from the show Meat Eater.

I left a comment to the story and video at the Huffington Post.

"If you are opposed to hunting I would strongly advise you to watch an episode of his show: Meat Eater.

If you watch one episode I'll bet that you would understand hunting better and be less opposed to it."

I got this response:

Rumzee

Would I have a better feeling for baying dogs at midnight leading a group of drunken trespassing gun-totting good old boys roaming around in my backyard? Maybe if I saw his film I would understand how to better accept these guys' cursing me for telling them to leave my woods.

Does the film include how to shoot a raccoon out of a tree surrounded by baying dogs and men with bright searchlights freezing the prey in the top of a tree?

Does the film explain the skill involved in shooting a deer from a deer stand when the deer walk to the base of the tree to eat corn that has been placed there for weeks before hunting season began?

I think those great hunting moments would be missing from the film.

My reply:

You'd know if you watched it.

I have personally spent thousands of dollars and thousands of hours improving land and growing food and planting trees in order to give the deer on my property more food more cover and a generally better place to live.

May I ask how many trees you have planted? Or the amount of time you have spent trying to improve the habitat of any wild animal?

In exchange for my effort to improve the lives of deer I harvest 2 a year. These deer end life painlessly and provide food for my family and food for the poor when I donate the meat.

May I ask how much food you donated to the poor?

If you think that shooting a deer is easy, then I would suggest that you have never tried it. (Corn doesn't last for weeks in deer country. More like hours. Have you feed the animals near you?)

Harvesting animals is a necessary aspect of life. Animals are born and animals die. They have been for all of humans' existence. They provide food and clothing for us.

Would you ask wolves to not hunt anymore? Would you ask alligators to go vegan?

Hunting is an important part of life. Any day, any time I would be happy to compare my knowledge and compassion for these animals to yours. 

Rumzee

I thank you for your good works. I truly appreciate them. And let me say in this case, for this conversation, I am not put-off much by your making them public. I do feel your challenging me to a "who does more good deeds?" is trite. Unlike you I have not yet posted a list of my top ten good works. It is unlikely that I ever will, though most of my life has been devoted to contributing to the welfare of life on this planet.

I grimace at the term "harvest/harvesting" when what is meant is killing animals. Just another hunters' propaganda word.

"Harvesting animals is a necessary aspect of life." ---Planned animal killing is not necessary for most people in this country. You and others who get all dressed up to stalk defenseless animals want to believe you are doing something noble, more than just using your shiny killing toys for pleasure.

You say: "If you think that shooting a deer is easy, then I would suggest that you have never tried it." ---You are correct, I have never attempted to kill. But high-powered rifles with range-finding scopes must ease the difficulty of killing something. Like the scope ad reads, "Just Range, Aim, and Fire.

You say: "They provide food and clothing for us." --- If purposely planning an animal's death is what you prefer, but that is unnecessary; you have a choice. 

Me:

I wasn't trying to post my top 10 act of good work, only those that come from hunting and would not have occurred without hunting.

Do you call abortion "killing babies" too?

(Shiny toys make killing animals more difficult, because the animals can see them better.)

Getting to the point where you can pull the trigger is easier with a rifle. That is an easier part of hunting, the hard parts are the waiting, finding where the animals are, and raising your weapon without the animal seeing you and running away. And it still takes great skill to shoot an animal with a rifle, or a bow.

May I ask if you have totally abstained from all animal products?

Hunting is a natural part of life.

Do you object when people "purposely plan" a plant's death? Why is there opposition to killing animals and not plants?

Please do us both a favor. Find one episode of his show, Meat Eater, and watch it.

I still think that you will be less opposed to hunting after watching just one half hour of it.