Recreational Fishing-Hunting - Do You and What's Your View on It ?

[GetLeft]

I will never willingly kill any animal. It would haunt me for the rest of my life.

When I was a kid I remember foolishly walking around the edge of a pond, encouraged by a buddy, and slamming frogs with a stick. I also remember shooting a grackle with a bb-gun and actually hitting it (feathers flying, bird cawing). As I got older, I had some successful fishing experiences, but never fetl quite right about killing and filleting the things. These experiences and others marked me. I still feel badly about them. Been a vegetarian (won't eat anything I wouldn't kill, well, in the animal kingdom anyway, which is a whole complicated matter of its own). Don't mind others hunting and fishing at all. I just know that I'm not genetically programmed for it.

Nice topic! Come to learn about vaping and in the process get in touch your true inner self! Thanks!

 

[VAPEHUNTER]

I think by my name and avatar you can tell I am a hunter. I'm only a bird hunter, I've never hunted big game and I also enjoy a little fishing on the side. Let me state clearly I eat what I kill. Someone who kills for trophy or just to kill something IS POACHING in my eyes and that makes them the lowest of the low!
Also, I will keep most of my Pro-hunting opinions to myself because I like all of you too much and would hate to offend, upset, and/or anger anyone here.

I have had many conversations with people who object to hunting throughout the years and what I seem to notice, when people think about hunting, all they think about is "The Killing".

Hunting to me is.......

Like father....

Like sons.

Volunteering to build "Wood duck boxes" to help the declining Wood duck population.

Wood Duck boxes in use

And a little fishing

I guess to sum it up Hunting to me is all about family, memories and some really good (non-GMO) eating!

Much love and respect to you all, and Happy Vaping!

 

[Jethro]

Excellent post Vapehunter! I was about to post in here saying I should probably stay out of this thread, but then you explained it all nicely. A good outdoorsman is a first class steward of the environment as a whole. That means caring for the ecology AND biology a whole bunch. I fish on average 20 hours a week winter and summer. I hold hunting and fishing licenses in 4 states- NH, ME, MA and VT. The fish I keep, which is very, very few, I eat or someone eats. I do some deer and bear hunting as well, but I mostly fish. I just love being on or near the water.

 

[killick]

This is an awesome thread! I've not really gone hunting for many years now - I went out a couple of times, but it was mostly day hiking with guns. Bird hunting is new to me, having gone out the first time just a couple of years ago. And even then I managed to get 20 or 30 pictures of the sun coming up across the prairies, painting the Rocky Mountains at the same time.

For me it's mainly an excuse to get outdoors. I have hunting and fishing permits, but mostly to justify keeping the gear handy these days...

 

[VAPEHUNTER]

What really ticks me off in regards to hunting, and especially bow hunting, are those hunters who are too fucking lazy to track down an animal that they've wounded.

This!↑ Cuts me right down to the core and gives all hunters a bad name. Before getting a dog, my brother and I would spent countless hours trying to find a dropped bird only to come across feathers. When this happens we mark the spot and make it a point to look again at least a couple times before we call it a day.

Early on I remember being consumed with how did we do or how many did we get? These days I don't base how good a trip was with how many birds we got. These days any trip where we all make it back safe and everyone had fun IS a great trip. Yes, the main reason to go out is to get birds, but my family won't starve if I don't bring any home.

One of our many rules is "pass on a shot if it looks like there is a chance the downed bird will get lost in the tall grass". It's just not worth taking a bird that cannot be retrieved. That is just senseless killing.

Not much for me can top hiking to a mountain lake and catching trout underneath snowcapped peaks in crystal clear fresh water....

Now that sounds like quite the trip.

A good outdoorsman is a first class steward of the environment as a whole. That means caring for the ecology AND biology a whole bunch.

Very very well said!

........I managed to get 20 or 30 pictures of the sun coming up across the prairies, painting the Rocky Mountains...... For me it's mainly an excuse to get outdoors. I have hunting and fishing permits, but mostly to justify keeping the gear handy these days...

Now that's what I'm talking about! Go for the experience and possibly get a meal too.

 

[killick]

I always carry a camera, and know if we don't get anything we won't starve. But a couple of Christmases ago we had an awesome roast goose with wild blueberry reduction that I'll look forward to making again some day

 

[t-dub]

I do some deer and bear hunting as well . . .

So when you kill that bear who eats it? I have had bear and it is greasy and very strong tasting. Not to my liking at all.

 

[lwien]

So when you kill that bear who eats it?

Yeah, I was kinda wondering the same thing myself.

 

[killick]

I tried a grizzly roast when I was a kid. My uncle shoot one that was bothering the cattle.

I remember thinking it was chewy and greasy and I'd get a backhand if I complained. So I chewed. And chewed. And we never spoke of it again. 67 ish, North Saskatchewan

 

[t-dub]

Yeah, I was kinda wondering the same thing myself.

I know bow hunters who take bear but they eat it. They gave me some sausage and even heavily spiced I still couldn't take it.

 

[capcoho]

I believe some bear meat is better then others based on the season, the age, and the feed. Around here the black bears are mainly herbivores gorging on berries, grasses and shoots.

 

[VAPEHUNTER]

Stop me if you heard this one.....
Guy #1: Do you know the best way to cook a duck?
Guy #2 Yup. You cook them on a hickory board in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees, pull it out, throw away the Duck and eat the board!!!!
Yeah, I've heard that joke so many times I can't even fake laugh at it anymore.

Once someone finds out that I duck hunt the first question always asked is "Do you eat them, I hear they are greasy?"
Well that used to be the first question, the first question now is "Do you watch Duck Dynasty?"
I hate that question. But I digress. Some ducks can taste very gamey, and some people like that, but just like @capcoho stated, taste depends on a few things like the species of the duck or the ducks diet.

My brother was always a great cook so every time we go out I know I am going to be dining like a king! But once in a while we get a bird that for some reason is just gamey. There are tricks like soaking it in salt water or milk. But when it comes down to it if you wanna eat you just have to add more sauce and choke it down.
As strange as it is one of my neighbors was from Minnesota and he preferred the flavor of a gamey duck vs a non-gamey duck. Said it reminds him of the ducks his dad would bring home for dinner when he was a kid.
He loved late season when diver ducks are more prominent, divers are more gamey than puddler ducks.

I have never eaten bear but if it was offered I don't think I would turn it down, especially after reading this quote↓.

This is a quote taken from a bear hunting web site:
"When properly cared for and prepared, bear meat is delicious. It is not, as many hunters mistakenly believe, inferior in quality in any way."

Happy Vaping!!!

 

[VegNVape]

Attack & I'll fight like a bastard, but personally, I do not have the desire nor do I feel that I have the right and certainly not the need to take the life of any living, breathing creature.

I truly find it difficult to understand the murderous world in which we live and it seriously troubles me.

Other than for protection, I do not understand why anyone would do something to another living thing that they would not want done to themselves or someone they love.

I feel bad for the bugs on my windscreen.

But that's just me.


Respect ya'll

 

[killick]

I could never be a true vegetarian. But I dabble with the concept every now and then. I take a mindful approach to it, and try to be ethical with my purchases. I don't mind spending more on locally raised and processed things. I'm just glad we don't have to flip a coin between KD and an apple at the store! But that's another thing.

 

[grokit]

I feel like we're the only species that really has a choice whether to eat other animals or not, and without a catastrophic reduction in world population we will inevitably have to switch to a plant-based diet to survive our shared future. Mainly because an acre of land can support 10 times as many people if they are on a plant-based diet, with much less generated waste/pollutants. But I'm sure there will be many insect-based products for the late-to-convert carnivores, also factory-cloned meat-like products so everybody wins.

 

[Breathemetal]

If you intend to kill it you better intend to harvest and use as much as possible. Its common sense to not waste a resource.

Anti hunters can seriously fuck off. We were intended to kill, harvest, gather for food.

"oh no poor defenseless deer"
"how is it fair when you have a rifle and the deer is just standing there defenseless? "

My response? Fuck off you vegetable head. Mmm bacon

 

[killick]

Nobody wins at factory-cloned meat...

But were gonna try a couple of chickens for the egg production, which could be a fun experiment. Apparently Icelandic chickens are great layers. Tough, independent, and good at attacking predators make them great free rangers. Apparently. I read these things that make sense, and I'm kind smacked tonight

 

[Mr. Gweilo 420]

Personally I find fishing a lot more acceptable than hunting although I'm not against people hunting in a responsible manner. Depending where you grew up hunting may be completely foreign or completely natural.

I'm a vegetarian so I don't hunt but I must admit that I murdered an emu with a rifle many years ago in the Australian outback. It was my first time using a real gun and I thought I would miss as it was a long way away.

Playing golf a couple of years ago I also managed to kill 3 birds with one shot (I kid you not!!). Honestly, I was pretty traumatised by it as I tend to like animals more than people

 

[pakalolo]

If you intend to kill it you better intend to harvest and use as much as possible. Its common sense to not waste a resource.

Anti hunters can seriously fuck off. We were intended to kill, harvest, gather for food.

"oh no poor defenseless deer"
"how is it fair when you have a rifle and the deer is just standing there defenseless? "

My response? Fuck off you vegetable head. Mmm bacon

Your hostility is over the line. The thread clearly invites both hunters and non-hunters to express their views, and telling one side of the topic to "fuck off" is both against the spirit of the thread and a violation of our Be Nice rule. Please tone it down or get a warning point.

 

[JCat]

Just curious ... everyone that says they "would never kill an animal" ... I assume you are vegetarian? (In which case I wholeheartedly support your resolve to your ideals ... otherwise ... not sure how the logic plays out ...)

I'm in the same club as a lot of those that posted on here ... love fishing and eat what I catch ... throw back the big ones because they're the breeders, only keep the mid-size ones that are good eating and not the big breeders (I want fish left in the lakes for my children). I do hunt partridge, and have hunted duck and geese, and have nothing against deer or moose hunting or other, as long as you eat what you kill and as long as you do your best to take part in conservation efforts. (I've actually generally found the biggest advocates around the environment and conservation are those who fish and hunt)

Good example, a while back they introduced a really silly "slot size" for pickerel (walleye), that fortunately didn't last. This slot size was introduced/regulated by people who live down south in the more populated areas and have no clue. The net result is that when you'd go fishing, you'd throw back at least 4 out of 5 fish (sometimes you'd catch a dozen and not get to keep a single one ... if caught with one outside the slot size the penalties were severe). To make things worse, think about this in the winter ... you pull the fish out of the hole to unhook it, in -20C weather, throw it back in the hole (because you have to), and of course it dies because it can't take the exposure. Result is at the end of the day you've killed a dozen fish and you don't bring home one!!!! The "environmentalists" from down South introduced this rule to help keep the pickerel stocks healthy ... what a joke!

Thank goodness they have since introduced a more reasonable slot size that I strongly support and that doesn't result in this ridiculous waste.

And don't get me started on the long gun registry fiasco in Canada that was sold under the pretense of making streets safer (because all criminals have registered guns ... sheesh ...!).

 

[His_Highness]

I forget where this came from....

Other than cancer, can you name an organism that destroys the host it is dependent upon? The answer of course is 'Humans'. I mention this because I think it is in our DNA to hunt, fish and to dominate our surroundings for the biological imperative of propagating the species and passing on our genetic traits. I consider myself a forward thinking, somewhat enlightened individual...but...I was never a fisherman until I came to Florida. I can tell you that it became an obsession driven by some innate, inner need to feel that I could learn to provide for my family and myself 'naturally' if the need arose. Nobody I had come in contact before this was into hunting or fishing. When I caught that first keeper red-fish it wasn't easy holding back the need to beat my chest, growl and howl at the top of my lungs in the middle of that creek

I think you can make the case that humans can and should be enlightened, socialized and intellectualized.... but there will always be some small corner of human nature lying dormant that can be called upon if it all goes to shit so we survive.

 

[Derrrpp]

Personally I find fishing a lot more acceptable than hunting...

I'm curious, why do you feel that way? I can understand not liking hunting, especially as you're a vegetarian. I totally respect that. But I don't see how the killing of a fish would be more acceptable than the killing of a land-dwelling animal. I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from.

Oh and as for your golf story... I've heard the phrase "kill two birds with one stone" but killing three birds with one golf ball... That's both impressive and horrible all at the same time lol

 

[lwien]

I forget where this came from....

Other than cancer, can you name an organism that destroys the host it is dependent upon? The answer of course is 'Humans'. I mention this because I think it is in our DNA to hunt, fish and to dominate our surroundings for the biological imperative of propagating the species and passing on our genetic traits. I consider myself a forward thinking, somewhat enlightened individual...but...I was never a fisherman until I came to Florida. I can tell you that it became an obsession driven by some innate, inner need to feel that I could learn to provide for my family and myself 'naturally' if the need arose. Nobody I had come in contact before this was into hunting or fishing. When I caught that first keeper red-fish it wasn't easy holding back the need to beat my chest, growl and howl at the top of my lungs in the middle of that creek

I think you can make the case that humans can and should be enlightened, socialized and intellectualized.... but there will always be some small corner of human nature lying dormant that can be called upon if it all goes to shit so we survive.

Yup, and this is where I take a bit of a issue with the health benefits of being a vegan or vegetarian. It is in our DNA to be omnivorous. Since the beginning of time, we have been hunters and gatherers. Our bodies are designed to consume vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, grains AND meats. What it is NOT designed to consume, however, is processed sugars and that I try to stay very far away from as much as I can, knowing full well that it's in just about everything that we eat.

I said it before in a few posts back. There's nothing quite like eating food that you have either grown your self or hunted/fished yourself for when you consume those foods, there is a primal satisfaction that seems to get lit way down in your very soul (or at least, it does for mine).

 

[VegNVape]

Yup, and this is where I take a bit of a issue with the health benefits of being a vegan or vegetarian. It is in our DNA to be omnivorous. Since the beginning of time, we have been hunters and gatherers. Our bodies are designed to consume vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, grains AND meats.

And that is where I would have to take a bit of an issue with your post if you are presenting it as unequivocal fact.

I think that there is a great deal of belief to the contrary of what you have stated, but who can honestly know with 100% certainty?

- And perhaps any answers to that question should be left for a different thread?



Sorry to veer off track.

However, I totally agree with your other points and with the view that there is nothing that can even come close to tasting as good as food that you can get for yourself, direct from the land.

UG UG!

 

[VAPEHUNTER]

Attack & I'll fight like a bastard, but personally, I do not have the desire nor do I feel that I have the right and certainly not the need to take the life of any living, breathing creature.

I truly find it difficult to understand the murderous world in which we live and it seriously troubles me.

Other than for protection, I do not understand why anyone would do something to another living thing that they would not want done to themselves or someone they love.

I feel bad for the bugs on my windscreen.

But that's just me.


Respect ya'll

I hear ya friend, I can relate your argument for I too am an animal lover. And if someone were to kill one of my pets for food I would have a serious issue with that. And yet for some reason I feel it's okay to take a wild animals life for my own consumption, for some reason I just don't see it as murder. Maybe it's just my upbringing.

Do I feel a wild animals life has any less meaning than my pets life does? No.
Is it a double standard? You bet it is.
Because I value life in general I do feel bad for the animals I have harvested and those I will harvest in the future, but it is my choice and that choice is something I will have to answer for when I meet my maker.

Feeling bad for the bugs on your windscreen might be taking it a little to much to the extreme for me.
If it was possible to eradicate one life form, without destroying the whole food chain and ecosystem, I would have to get rid of mosquitoes. I fuckin' Hate those disease caring blood suckers!

I know I can't change your mind so I won't try. Respectfully, I say let's just agree to disagree.

....an acre of land can support 10 times as many people if they are on a plant-based diet, with much less generated waste/pollutants.

Can we please clarify something because I hear this a lot about "how bad meat eaters hurt the land to produce the meat they eat". I do understand where you are coming from. But the land that I hunt and where the animals I hunt live and breed are grassy marsh lands.

"Marshes improve water quality by acting as a sink to filter pollutants and sediment from the water that flows through them. Marshes (and other wetlands) are able to absorb water during periods of heavy rainfall and slowly release it into waterways and therefore reduce the magnitude of flooding." - stolen from Wikipedia.

Again, I understand where you are coming from and much respect.

If you intend to kill it you better intend to harvest and use as much as possible. Its common sense to not waste a resource.

Anti hunters can seriously fuck off. We were intended to kill, harvest, gather for food.

"oh no poor defenseless deer"
"how is it fair when you have a rifle and the deer is just standing there defenseless? "

My response? Fuck off you vegetable head. Mmm bacon

Whoa. Easy big guy...while I do appreciate your passion and enthusiasm your bed side manners Sux!
Let's keep it friendly in here. This is a good opportunity to show others that hunters are not just mindless killing machines. @Breathemetal lets face it, we (hunters) are the minority. And on top of that our kind are slowly fading away.

For a long time I had a similar attitude, anti-hunters can fuck off, but then I realized something.
The people I would be fighting with feel just as passionate about their views as I feel about mine. We just had to accept the fact neither of us are going to change our mind. After all parties accept that fact the arguments turned into well thought out conversations with good points coming from both sides.
I found in the end some people just want to get their point across and be heard. Luckily I am a good listener.

...I've actually generally found the biggest advocates around the environment and conservation are those who fish and hunt.

Good point!

...And don't get me started on the long gun registry fiasco in Canada that was sold under the pretense of making streets safer because all criminals have registered guns ... sheesh ...!.

This reminds me of one of my favorite Clint Eastwood Quotes
"Participating in a gun buyback program because you think that criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids." -Clint

Happy Vaping!