Hunting...yes or no?

Magan - posted on 12/05/2012

" There is a HUGE difference between killing the animal, gutting it and eating it then buying whats at the store."



You have NO idea about meat factories, do you? Do you think the cow goes skipping and singing into the slaughterhouse? No, the cows are killed SLOWER THAN A DEER - terrified and in INCREDIBLE PAIN.



So you're okay with your daughter/family eating the meat of a living thing that was killed in the most greusome way possible, but against us bowhunters (yes, I hunt too) going out and providing OUR familes with HEALTHIER, LEANER meat that was taken in a more humane way?



You must be from up North. Bless your heart.



By the way, I also volunteer my time at Humane Societies and any other animal shelter that needs assistance. I give thousands of dollars a year to the ASPCA, WWF, and even PETA. I also donate heavily to the MANY associations ran by hunters to preserve and protect wildlife. We already have four dogs of our own but also welcome two additional dogs at a time to foster, so they know what a loving home is.

Sally - posted on 09/19/2012

How hypocritical. It's wrong to kill our own food, but perfectly okay for someone else to do it for us so we can pretend it's not really a dead animal. Why would your child think it was okay to kill the family dog unless your family eats dog? That doesn't even pretend to be logic. The fact that the meat is healthier and we're protecting wild animals from the starvation and disease overpopulation causes are just bonuses to the more important function of my children learning self sufficiency and the circle of life.

The first day of deer season may as well have been a holiday where I grew up. I was never interested in sitting on a rock in November, but as we also had a farm, I butchered domestic animals all the time. Doing it yourself is a lot cleaner and healthier than trusting the factory slaughterhouse. From what I've seen in the news, it's the city kids whose parents are afraid of guns who grow up to be mass murderers.

Marcus - posted on 09/17/2012

Betty, I think it is important for everyone to understand where their food comes from. Humans are required to kill ALL animals for their meat. It may be done at a slaughter house, or it may be done at your home, but all animals have to go through it; regardless of which year we are currently in. I am a hunter, and I am teaching my 4 children to hunt. Many times it has taught them more about conservation of nature and its resources than it has to be cold blooded killers. It also teaches them that it can be tough to get food if that was the only way to do it! So a good dose of respect and being grateful for what we have comes with it.



Don't be so quick to think something is completely wrong with another's way of doing it. Some of us just want to keep doing for ourselves by our own skills instead of turning into complete consumers and requiring that money keep us alive, fed, and clothed.

Teresa - posted on 12/01/2011

Most kids I know that are taught hunting (which here is most) know better than to kill the family pet. They know the difference. Unless you're my husband's family who gave him a pet CALF! Just beig funny. We live on a farm in the country and hunting is a way of life, but he did have a pet calf. I still shake my head.

Krista - posted on 11/26/2011

Plus, by all accounts, carnivores tend to taste like what they eat. So a lot of carnivores are just nasty-tasting.

Minnie - posted on 11/26/2011

We are predators. We have canine teeth and a big brain that's good for hunting. We must gain much of our nutrition from animal sources. It's basic biochemistry.



So yes, my children know that we must kill things to live.



Heck, even if you call yourself a rainbow and butterflies vegan you're killing things. You think that loads of cute fuzzies aren't chopped up in the combines of the soy fields the tofu comes from?



I agree with Sara- don't be against hunting, be against factory industrial farming. Hunting is humane and it's what our species has done for as long as we have been considered homo sapiens. I so wish I could learn to shoot and get a hunting license and teach my daughters.



What happens when a child kills the family dog at 5 or 6 because she doesn't know any better?



I'd say that my own five year old should be given a whole lot more credit intelligence-wise. She's not naive as to which animals are killed for us to eat and which aren't. Her intelligence might surprise you- first she would say that we wouldn't eat Zander (our cat) because he's her best friend and she loves him more than anything and secondly, she would tell you that we don't consume other predators (she knows the definition of the word) because of how toxins build up along the food chain.

Amy - posted on 11/26/2011

I only read original post.

No, it isn't 1900. But in case something happens in the world, I want my children to survive. We cannot afford meat from the store, not to mention most meats are pumped full of chemicals, dye and hormones. If you don't want to kill ANYTHING - don't eat other meats. I think it's more "compassionate" to kill the animal quickly and not raise it to be taken to slaughter. My husband has taken my 5 year old daughter hunting. They hunt with bow and arrow. Every meal when we say our prayers we say "thank you God and thank you Bambi [yeah, my kids say that. - they thank god and the deer that we aren't starving.]. This year we are much better off financially. There were some years where we'd have starved if my husband didn't hunt.

I don't understand how it's benefiting any animals to be raised in small stalls/barns/packed together in milk houses......all that's fine and dandy. And tons of chickens unable to roam or too fat to even walk....That's fine and dandy, but teaching your children to value an animal's life that they should also be free and then thank them for the food that they have...how does that lack compassion? There may come a point where we need to kill our own food. Bake our own bread. Churn our own butter. My children already know how to weed, pick and help us can our food. Do yours? Can they survive without a store?

ok. if time lets me, i'll read others' responses now. [ironically, my husband came home from deer hunting this morning. lol]

Good Day! - posted on 11/26/2011

Okay, I read the responses. Did someone delete a post? Anyway, as far as explaining to a young child where food came from, kids are smarter than we give them credit for. I've taken my 3 year old to the farm where we get our beef, the dairy farm, and the chicken/egg farm. We've seen the calves and chickens that we eat. When we sit down to eat, we talk about it. She knows the ground meat in her spaghetti is cow. She's fine. She's not out killing random pets. She's not scared for life. She accepts it. I'm proud that she understands where food comes from.

Good Day! - posted on 11/26/2011

Without reading any of the responses I just want to address one thing:

"And no I do not eat meat, but am not against my daughter or others eating it. There is a HUGE difference between killing the animal, gutting it and eating it then buying whats at the store. Yes, it has already been killed, gutted, etc, but this isn't 1900, were in 2011, we no longer need to kill for our food now a days."

If you had any idea how those animals that end up in the grocery store were raised, you'd be 100% for hunting. The animals that are raised for slaughter and go to the grocery store live in horrible conditions; piled on top of each other, living in their own poo, sitting next to a dead animal that couldn't survive the conditions. Not only is it cruel, it is unhealthy for us to consume.

I'm not going to debate if we should eat meat or not, but there is evidence that humans should be meat eaters. So, if you chose to eat meat the ethical and logical choice is to hunt or slaughter animals that were raised in natural conditions. Those animals live happy lives and don't suffer before they die. It's also healthier for humans to eat animals that were raised or lived naturally.

Aniesha - posted on 11/25/2011

I personally think it's more humane to hunt your own food than it is to buy it. I went hunting as a child, and I know those animals were treated much better than what they are when they are being mass slaughtered for our consumption. I'm a vegan now, and I'm not sure if I could go back to hunting again, but i know if I were to eat meat, I would want to know exactly where it came from rather than just buying it at the shop.

Teresa - posted on 11/25/2011

I guess it really depends on your outlook of hunting overall. We eat meat in this house and living in the country, my son knows where meat comes from. Fresh deer meat is the best you can get and you have to kill it first. My son knew the differnce between his dog dying and going huntung, but he grew up knowing the difference. We don't eat dog but ham is good and yes those pigs are going to be bacon and a ham or two when all's done with. Killing people, now that's bad. Killing animals for food, that is a given, at least here it is.

Sherri - posted on 11/25/2011

I don't know Emma but I have to say we only practice catch and release here. So fishing is more a sport for most people around here.

Lady Heather - posted on 11/25/2011

I am 100% for hunting for food and would prefer that my family only ate hunted meat. I would be totally cool with my daughters tagging along on hunting trips and learning how to be self sufficient. Personally I think there is value in this and not much value in going to store and picking up pieces of dead animals with little thought as to where they came from or how the animal lived. I realize not everyone buys meat with that mindset, but most do I bet.

How about a friend of mine who keeps meat rabbits in her backyard? Is that okay because it's "farming", or not okay because she kills them herself with the kids sometimes present?

Jenny - posted on 11/24/2011

I went hunting with my Dad from the age of 6 and shot my first rifle. He taught me to appreciate where my food comes from. He taught me to be self-sufficient so I could provide for my family, even in extreme circumstances. These are fundamental skills we should all be teaching our children. I have a great respect for life and my place within the food chain. My children will be taught the same.

Johnny - posted on 11/23/2011

"There is a HUGE difference between killing the animal, gutting it and eating it then buying whats at the store."

Yes, in one case you do the work and you get the appreciation of what the animal went through to provide you with nourishment. In the other case you plop your meat out of a styrofoam pack with little or no appreciation of what had to happen to get it onto your stove.

I am not a hunter. I have never killed an animal for my food. But as long as people are killing the animal to eat and using it all, I have nothing but respect for them. I can not tell you how off base I think you are on this issue in so many ways.

If you don't want to eat meat, fine, great. If it troubles you that others do so, I can also understand that. I know many people who feel that meat eating is wrong, either morally, ethically, due to a great compassion for animals, for health reasons, or for all or a few of the above. But I find suggesting that getting meat from a store is somehow more ethical or teaches a kid better morals is quite illogical.

Stifler's - posted on 11/23/2011

I hate it when I see on fishing shows they catch this big fish and all this but throw it back. Doesn't it HURT to havve a hook through your mouth?

Jodi - posted on 11/23/2011

A 5 or 6 year old who is confused by the difference of hunting an animal and killing it for meat and killing the family dog? I'm not sure what 5 or 6 year old you are talking about, but I think you have to give credit where credit is due - 5 and 6 year olds are more intelligent than that.

Having said that, personally I HATE guns, and wouldn't hunt, and have no interest in killing an animal myself, but I'm not against other people doing it if they do it to use the meat. It's when it is senseless killing for the sake of it that I have a problem.

Keli - posted on 11/23/2011

amusing that betty hasnt replied yet lol

Sherri - posted on 11/23/2011

I am not a hunter and will never be and won't even pretend to understand how people can do it. But I do think your assumptions are quite off the mark. Usually children who hunt or children of hunters are far better at respecting animals and guns then the avg. person is.

Brittany - posted on 11/23/2011

I'd rather have my child know where their food is coming from. For me it is the guns more than the actual hunting. As long as the animal is being used for food and most of the animal (if not all) is being used in some way I'm fine with it. 5 seems a bit young, they don't have a good attention span and the last thing you would want is for them to go running out in front of you as you pull the trigger (not to say that all 5 year old are that way).

I fully expect that my husband's friend will be taking my kids and my husband out hunting or fishing at some point. But I feel pretty good about that. They are both Eagal Scouts, not to worried about the safety part. If one of the children were to get hurt both men are certified to take care of most injuries. My son will most likely learn about guns, bows, and knives at scout camp anyway. I'd rather have them learn to be safe around such things. After all cars are just as dangerous (if not more so, just for the fact that there are more of them).

September - posted on 11/23/2011

I don't think that hunting to eat the food you hunt is teaching a child it's ok to kill; I mean that's just silly. Sure we don't need to kill to eat but some people enjoy eating fresh food that they kill. I personally am not a hunter however almost every man in my family is. My Dad took my little brother (who is an animal lover as well, believe it or not you can still be an animal lover while hunting some of them for consumption) hunting for deer every year during dear season. He is a very loving well rounded 19 year old now. Sorry but I totally disagree with you. I grew up fishing with my Dad and still go fishing from time to time. IMO there is nothing like eating a fresh fish that was caught that very day. Yum!

Tamara - posted on 11/22/2011

I personally don't hunt, nor does anyone in my family. It is just not something we have had to do. If we were in the situation where we needed to in order to eat I am sure we would.

I do think that those who do hunt for what ever reason they choose and are taking their children with them are doing it responsibily and teaching their children the proper way to do it and why. Me since I don't know how I would go and learn first and do it for at least a season before taking my children with me. Killing an animal to eat it is part of the cycle as already stated I do believe that shooting a deer bird or what not then skinning it and what ever else they do is far more better then what they do in the farms and what not that they mass produce the cows and what not for the meat we buy in the store.

You (the OP) says there is no longer the need for hunting, for many families especially in the economic state that we are in that Yes there is a need to put meat on the table. They are struggling to make ends meet and if cutting out meat out of their food bill is huge especially with a larger family. Many people still today in 2011 farm, hunt and fish for their food as a means of survival. for various reasons.

I honestly believe that one can be compasionate to animals and all living creatures and understand that hunting is also necessary and part of life.

Medic - posted on 11/22/2011

I hunt, have hunted since I was a kid( 8or9). My 5 year old will get to go next year. I would rather my kids know where their food comes from and respect that than live in never never land where the food just magically appears in the store. At least I know the animals we kill for food are organic. My 5 year old knows that the pig he showed last year was the bacon and pork chops and much more on our plates this year. He also knows that we NEVER point guns or bows at anyone, and that we ONLY kill what we intend to eat and use. He never plays shooting games with his friends, he respects guns and bows. Last time I checked neither myself or my brothers have murdered anyone to date. I think your little assumption that kids are going to kill the family dog because they do not know better is a little far fetched and basically reaching for straws here. We have pets and my kids love them and understand that we are NOT going to eat Scooby....he wouldn't taste good anywho, who wants to eat german sheapard.

Katie - posted on 11/22/2011

I am also curious as to whether you consume any animal products. Animals need to be killed for people to eat meat, and unless you are a vegan or at the very least a pretty strict vegetarian you are contributing to that killing. I would much rather that my sons learn to respect animals, respect guns, and respect where their food comes from. Better that then having no concept of what their hamburgers are made of. Also, If I were an animal I feel like I would prefer to face a quick end by way of a bullet, while in my natural habitat, eating what I am meant to eat and living in peace, rather than a lifetime of being crowded, force fed and over medicated. It isn't the 1900's, but in some aspects ( a big part of the food industry included) 2011's methods are nothing to brag about.

Megan - posted on 11/22/2011

I agree with Marina

Keli - posted on 11/22/2011

i dont like hunting.or seeing animals being killed,i know there is a purpose for it but i dont like it personally...I do not think if your taught to hunt at a young age that your going too move on to killing people. that is just crazy.Alot of the psycho;s out there that are killing people probably have never hunted for animals,If your kid is torturing animals,or something than ya i would have that checked out but not if the child is off hunting with his father or whoever.he is just being shown the circle of life.

~♥Little Miss - posted on 11/22/2011

You "GUARENTEE that!!!!!!! " huh?? I would love to see where your guarantee comes from.

I have been a vegetarian for almost 18 years. I have also been a vegan, and I do not like wearing leather, and I try not to purchase products with leather in them. For myself.

I do not agree with children hunting because of guns. I understand the need to hunt, but I do not agree with it as "sport". In my eyes if it was a real sport, the animals would have a weapon to. Anyhow, I do not agree with hunting, and have known a lot of people that hunt, and include their kids...or grew up hunting themselves. Nope. No mass murderers.

Krista - posted on 11/22/2011

Yeah, that last assumption of yours is beyond absurd. I know PLENTY of people who have hunted at a young age, but the last time I checked, none of them have become mass murderers.

So your "guarantee" is nothing more than you hauling a silly, uninformed assumption out of your ass.

Like the others said, are you vegan? Do you refuse any and all animal products? Because if you or your kids are eating any meat at all, then guess what? You ARE killing. You're just contracting it out, instead of doing it yourselves.

Hunting, when done responsibly and ethically, is MUCH more humane than eating meat from half of the factory farms out there. At least with hunting, the animal has a free life, and can roam where they wish, does not suffer, and is then killed quickly and cleanly. Any hunter who tortures an animal finds himself very quickly ostracized and condemned by the hunting community. If you have as much compassion for animals as you say, and you eat meat that was not hunted, or grown at a small, local farm, then I'm afraid you're being a bit of a hypocrite.

Teresa - posted on 11/22/2011

My ex was killing, cleaning, and cooking his own deer at 10. He's 34 now and never killed anyone yet....

Granted, I AM anti-hunting (cuz I'm too much of a sap), but making the leap from killing an animal for food up to killing people is quite an absurd assumption.

Amy - posted on 11/22/2011

Besides the reason there is hunting season is to keep the population in check otherwise those deer would end up starving to death in the winter when they can't find food.

Amy - posted on 11/22/2011

My son has gone hunting and fishing with his father and grandfather. It teaches him where food comes from, he has never shot an animal but I'm sure in the future he will. He has been taught that we don't point the gun at people and we don't just kill animals for fun. He has helped his father gut fish that he's caught, same idea but he always eats them for dinner.

Stifler's - posted on 11/22/2011

So if you're eating chicken/fish etc. but not personally hunting it it's not killing? Are you a vegan?

Christy - posted on 11/22/2011

Hey now, you are entitled to your opinion. However, I come from a family of hunters. I hunted as a child (age 8 moving forward). I think anything younger than 8-10 is too young. Think of it this way (unless you are vegan), all the meat you eat gets killed in some manner and ends up on your kitchen table. How do you explain that to a small child?

As far as hunters moving onto people, that's not true. It's kids that torture and mutilate animals that tend to become killers of people later in life.

Stifler's - posted on 11/22/2011

I disagree. If you're hunting for food (venison etc.) then you're teaching your kids where food comes from.