For those who haven't been exposed to true Long Range Hunting as presented by Lynn and others........
Dan Lilja has a nice explanation of the sport of long-range hunting here ((
http://www.riflebarrels.com/articles/long_range_shooting.htm )) and from reading it you'll see that done CORRECTLY it's as ethical as any form of hunting, just a LOT more expensive than most to get set up!
I feel that no matter HOW we choose to hunt we must present our case well and with no apology. We American hunters DO pay for our game management programs with our hard-earned cash. I further believe that it is incumbent upon us to make every attempt to harvest (kill) cleanly and with little waste.
Now, when I meet someone who's a true vegan, someone who neither eats meat nor indulges in ANY practice which includes the killing of animals then I give him more credence than most. If a person is truly convinced that the "harvesting of animals" is wrong, if they don't eat chicken or fish, if they don't wear leather or use animal glues or accept medicine which is the result of animal testing..............if they don't use soaps and shampoos from the common market but are convicted to buy only plant-based supplies and clothing.......then I'm forced to concede that their stance is tenable. I respect their beliefs. What bothers me is the innate hypocrisy and ignorance exhibited by MOST "non-hunters". My job is to gently and firmly try to show them the error of their ways, generally while working from their upwind side as they most often SMELL like barbarians.......
......and yes I've met a lot of them. I live in an affluent area of the country where most of the so-called "Sporting Goods Stores" no longer carry guns. I don't get all up in people's faces until THEY try to condemn ME, then once the ice is broken and we've made some respective points and established a rapport I try to get them to find their moral high ground. There's no better argument than the one made by someone TRYING to prove their case and failing.
On the subject of the animals themselves, I'm not much of a pet person..........not because I hate animals but because I feel that a pet deserves our care and respect and must be trained and treated "like a child". NO I don't mean to give animals the same worth as people, but IMO any pet from a lizard to a dog must be treated as family and for ME I've got my hands full with my kids!
I can't or won't dedicate proper time and attention to a pet. My wife and I both laugh at the idea but we agree that when our kids/grandkids are gone we'll probably have to adopt some yappy little mongrel to fill the void.
Many anti-hunters I find to be pet-people and their main beef is that "because I love my pet (and all other animals) I can't see how you can kill them"..... A nice conversation goes a long way toward making them understand that no one in their right mind hunts because they enjoy killing, this defines a psychopath. We're meat eaters. Even varmint hunting though serves a purpose, the farmers where I hunt squirrels and badgers are losing revenue (or, more bluntly they're losing my FAVORITE meat, COW!!!) due to ecosystem's being destroyed by the little pests. They find it weird that we'll drive long distances to shoot the liddle fuzzy critters at our own expense but they'd much rather that than have to pay a government control agent to poison the buggers.
We respect the animals that we hunt, most anti-hunters don't realize this. And on the subject of respect and ethics, having hunted "conventionally" with a rifle as well as with a bow and using long-range techniques I personally have experienced MUCH more "slob-hunting" amongst the traditional rifle hunting crowd.
Now, Alan........
........regarding the reference to primal instinct VS civilised behavior. I used the term MAN. This term has been bent, spindled, mutilated and androgynized (I just made that one up
) to where we civilized men cower just a little at the term, we back down from "admitting" that we're men......... We're so intent on proving that we're NOT drunken wife-beating rednecks that we forget to be MEN! Society has so convinced us that being a man is "wrong" that if we see a kid get into a car with an adult male we look askance! In fact, I was just watching "Bridge To Terebithia" the movie with my kids and there's a scene where a WOMAN teacher takes a young teenage boy to a museum........a beautifully played scene, loving and sensitive.......a portrayal of a fine teacher going over and above to help out a teenage boy.......and we adults ALL waited for the "bad thing" to happen!
It didn't.
LOOK AROUND!!! There are fine MEN and WOMEN all around us. In fact it's SAFER now to let your kid roam around the backroads than it EVER was when we were kids but we've been convinced that there are molesters and kidnappers around every corner. The whole milk carton campaign of the 80's about "missing children" was a politically motivated farce. There has never really been a "market" for little kids! And if there ARE perverts around then it's up to MEN to take the problem in hand.........and if there ARE "hunters" who're being unethical, no matter how they're doing it it's up to MEN to teach them a better way! I've had many (hundreds?) of adults leave our Hunter Ed classes, many of them having just set through waiting for their kids who're taking the class, that come around shaking our hands and shaking their heads because they've been shown that the hunting methods that they've been raised with were unsportsmanlike.
EDUCATION is the key.............and a concerted, united and unapologetic stance regarding sportsmanship and hunting.
And it ain't all about hunting. I watched Pat Belichick of the New England Patriots storm off the field today and was glad that my kids aren't sportsfans.....what a steenking sore loser! Dude needs to sit through and PASS a Hunter Education course!
Good nite all.....
al
