Octang Frye

I don't think I'd ever hunt a bear. Or a big shark. I'd like to see them up close, for sure.

But it seems a shame to take a big animal that's spent a while getting that big.
I don't know. Maybe I sound like a hypocrite.

kimilseung

Yes you do sound like a hypocrite, but perhaps thats getting to the truth.
We are all a mush of desires and expectations. We want to beat nature, we want to live in harmony with nature, we want to control it and have this romantic vision of nature. We want our steak on a plate, and our hands clean (well not you OF, but most of us).

hamlrt

Hello there
No not a hipocrate at all , if you have never been in the situation to hunt or shoot , its a scary thought .
But i must say you have to remember where that nice Sunday Roast came from .
However without me being harsh here many people cannot equate that pretty lump of flesh in the supermarket to a once living breathing animal .
But sadly i dont want to discuss the rights and wrongs of meat eating , i am just looking forward to owning some nice Civil war guns (without the BS laws of the UK) and being able to go hunting .
One incident that does spring to mind though is.....
A couple of years ago i flew into the U.S to Baltimore as part of my re-enacting society to do the re-enactment of Gettysburg , our guns fly first class we fly cattle class , so i go pick up my gun . And a little hitlerite Tsa guy says to me whats in the gun case ...
i reply my civil war musket , Got a licence for it he asks , Yes of course i do i reply (show him my licence) , Have you a american licence ? no i reply
so he says why not , so i tell him you dont need one for black powder , how do you know that he says , so i reply because i have been before.
so now he asks me for my gunpowder licence (show licence) same as before
have you a american licence , same answer as before
Where will you get the gunpowder he asks , i tell him i will go to the Sutlers(on camp traders) pay my money and get gunpowder .
He then demands to know how much money i have on me as i might be breaking the vagrancy laws , i show him my cash and credit cards .
and off he trots happy in the knowledge he has hassled another poor sod .
sad git .

john

drop step

Well we built up to it...

Yorkieabroad

I don't think its hypocritical.....I'd say those are straying more into the "trophy" category....OK, you might have the odd shark steak, maybe sharksfin soup (), but they are not in the regular food category that most people (round here at least) go hunting for. If you're taking duck, pheasant, dove, wild hog, deer etc for food, I'd see that as different to taking a bear or a shark just because you can.

Yorkieabroad

The anti-hunting movement in the UK really focused around fox hunting with hounds didn't it? There used to be a lot of pheasant/grouse/duck shoots around us, and I don't recall them being disrupted? And although I knew a lot of people who went shooting, I don't know any who went after deer, wild pigs or the like - I just don't think there are the same populations over there as there are over here, certainly in the areas I lived. Maybe more deer up in Scotland?

kimilseung

Lots of deer in Scotland. My biggest problem with hunting is that you can not go walking in lots of places during the season, unless you want to risk being shot at. (by hunters but more like by angry gillies )

Yorkieabroad

Actually that brings me on to one thing I have never understood about hunting, and have never asked a hunter for fear of looking a total idiot - somewhat less worrying online!

Why do they dress up in all the camo gear, boots, trousers, jackets, gloves, caps, face paint so they are totally invisible, then stick a bright dayglo orange bib on top of it? I realise thats to stop being shot by their mates (unless they're out with Cheney), but what about the quarry - are they color blind to orange? Or does the camo confuse them so they think there's just a harmless orange vest floating around in the forest? The 2 seem totally contradictory...

kimilseung

Someone mentioned this a few days ago, they say deer can not recognise orange (I have no knowledge on the matter beyond the post)
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...4&postcount=22

Yorkieabroad

I'm calling bullcrap on that

orangemirror

Yeah I've been wondering that myself all these years but didn't like to ask. I'd quite like to go hunting myself but have this nagging feeling that i'd just embarrass myself by bottling out of shooting the damn thing at the last second.

Cape Blue

Really? - an essential life skill in 2010 to be able to shoot, gut, dress, prepare etc?

With an urbanising population I think they are skills that are more on the non-essential, hobby and interest, side.

Octang Frye

Yes, indeed. Morlock or Eloi? That's your choice. If there's a tsunami, an earthquake, a hurricane - what do you do?
These are essential survival skills.

cindyabs

me personally I don't like hunting with dogs.

Yorkieabroad

Me neither...and I can see why the anti-hunting lobby rallied around this one in the UK. To my mind there's a world of difference between having a pack of hounds run down a fox and kill it and shooting a deer to take home and eat.