Do you aprove of Big Game Hunting?

[archonforest]

Like animals are hunting also but only for food/survival. They will not go to kill another one for fun...

[Hannes]

Definitely no!
Population control is something different, and I'm aware, that, if I want to eat a steak, an animal has to be killed.
But calling this a sport is ridiculous. I never heard the expression Big Game Hunting before. Game? What is the game factor here?

In Germany we have some hunters here as well, but they all have to have a license. You are not allowed to go into the forest and shoot whatever you want. You are not even allowed to have a gun, unless you have a license, and it's not easy to get. Thank god!
Most of the hunters take care of the population control, but there is a big amount of very traditional, ceremonial (and questionable) "rites". So they have a certain dresscode, they have special horn signals depending which animal they have just shot, they are shooting "wonderful" photos of the carcasses with the aroused smiling huntsmen in the background, and they even have their own words especially for some bodyparts of the animals. I have no idea why for example the official huntsmen language term for (animal's) testicles is "rut balls" (direct translation) and not testicles. I have to explain that noone else says "balls" for testicles in german (we say "eggs"! ). And the tail of the rabbit is called "lamp"  ()
Some might think, the longer the gun, the shorter their...


nose.



I think everything except population control and killing for food supply is perverted and abhorrent to nature. The lack of species-appropriate husbandry in the meat industry is another problem, but I don't think it belongs to this topic.

[archonforest]

Score: 9:1 

[Hannes]

This image of James Hetfield says it all:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1496228330590977&set=a.1496215653925578.1073741828.1496196227260854&type=1&relevant_count=1
I like the comment of Daphne Cavanah below.

[zaxxon]

Brings to mind the famous quote from Oscar Wilde describing fox hunting: " The Unspeakable in pursuit of the Inedible".  I've known a number of "Big Game Hunters" over the years. Almost all were pretty wealthy folks; takes loads of money to jet to Nepal to 'bag' a wild high mountain ram, plus the expensive permits, guides, etc. But, just because it benefits a local economy, and a few individuals doesn't justify the activity in my opinion. The World's wildlife 'Big Game' population can not be so great that wealthy people can just pay to kill at their whim, even if their wealth helps support those very populations (think migratory bird hunting over special interest sponsored 'wetlands'). Poachers obviously are a greater problem, but once again that's driven by poverty more than the desire to kill: people need the money to survive. The worst class is the fanatics who believe that stuff like tiger genitals makes old men virile and employ the poor locals to harvest the gore. Or, ever see a Bull Fight? It may be someone's 'Cultural Tradition', but watching the dying agony of the animal, spurting blood thru it's nostrils can hardly be called entertainment. All of the above are pretty much "Big Game Hunting" in my estimation as they entail wanton slaughter. The 'Food Chain' has a certain brutal elegance, protein acquisition is distributed thru the ecosystem and 'morality' is difficult to consider (read John Stenibeck). However killing for the sake of killing, without the necessity towards survival is "Unspeakable".  That's my rant  , I vote "NO!"

[archonforest]

I like the comment of Daphne Cavanah below.

Yeah....that is a good one. Agree with Daphne hehehe....

[PabloMack]

I didn't vote because there was no button for "Under Certain Conditions". I am all for population control and even using sports hunters for this purpose since it is an additional source of revenue to be used for wildlife management. It doesn't matter to me what goes on in the mind of the killer as long as they take animals that are expendable under the guidelines laid out by sound population management practices. The problem with it is that hunters want to kill the biggest and healthiest animals. They do not have the same effect as natural predators which take mostly the weak and dying. Hunters put an end to the genetic lines of the animals that should have propagated and leaves the weak and dying to pass on their genes to the next generation. A hunter friend of mine says they do "management" meaning that officials try to make up for the best animals lost but I know that the bucks they use to repopulate are few and this leads to a lot of in-breeding which is also not good.

One of my pet peeves is so many people who say you should kill an animal only for food. Many think they are speaking great wisdom and they are not. The problem with this is that you are not managing the populations for THEIR needs but simply using them for YOUR human needs. This is the worst kind of (even lack of) management because it doesn't consider the needs of the population we are trying to help. In the worst scenario, ALL of the animals would be killed because there are so many hungry people or even diners who simply have a taste for wild meat. I think this mind-set leads to negligence.

[fleetwood]

Collecting animal trophies has some strange primitive aspects that might be better kept in check. This incident happened recently in my state where hunting Mountain Lions is prohibited. The hunters first tried to fake the excuse of self defense.





""Our investigation and other evidence we have ... tells us that at no time, at no point, was there ever, ever anyone's life in danger. Never," said Mike Hammill, a conservation officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Hammill added that after the cougar was dead, the father and son cooked and ate the feline's heart."



But now I find I want to stalk, harpoon, and eat a wild sardine. I'm so tired of eating them out of the can. After I eat its heart and brain to acquire its bravery and intelligence I'll mount its head on my wall for all to see...

[TheBadger]

lol.
Really, its just to muchnone sense for me.

As regards our "right to hunt", because our ancestors did it, well two things there. Firstly I don't believe in the concept of "rights" in the first place. "Rights" are an entirely man made concept

I did not say because of my ancestors. My ancestors did not have rights, they were from Europe. The human right to hunt is the right not to starve. And while I do not need to hunt to eat. It is good to know how. And it is my right here whether or not you believe it. Like some other things, you believes do not determine if something exists or not.

I actually don't hunt or fish as much as it may sound, but I am definitely for hunting in general.

"Rights" are an entirely man made concept

so is your morality. Everything you believe is a construct.

However this is all moot since I do make a distinction between Big Game Hunting and hunting for food and survival

That is just picking and choosing based on your own constructed reality. You are saying what you like is fine, and what you don't like should be banned.

And again, I would not hunt an animal like a lion or some exotic animal, or a bear. But there really is no difference. I just think the hypocrisy is self evedent in this thread.

Score: 9:1 

Yeah, I guess that means I must be wrong. Truth and facts are determined by voting you know. By the way, Hitler was very much for animal rights. he agreed with you guys. Does that make him a good person?

And where I live poaching is a very serious crime. So showing images of poached animals is really just cheap. And anyway, big game hunting is a very small part of hunting in the world. But yet again, I will say I am not a big lover of it. I just think that its funny how you guys can be so sure you know whats best, here, but condemn interventionism on behalf of people in other cases.

I have considered learning to hunt myself

Just go fishing. It is essentially the same thing (more or less) and fish are better for you.
Thats a great looking black bear by the way. There are so many here in the great lakes area. They can be real pests.

@Hannes
You need a license here to hunt as well. Its highly regulated. And violations of law in this area are usualy federal level crimes. Hunters here support nearly all of our hunting laws.


Lastly for me,
yet again, ill say Im not really for Big game hunting. But I think it should be allowed under regulated conditions.

[archonforest]

Score: 9:1 

I did not wrote this to make u wrong Badger at all. I was happy to see the standings that;s all as I am against this Big Hunt crap myself.

Well Hitler was an ...hole regardless he liked the animals or not. This will not describe the person. If I want to judge someone I will see both side of the person as IMHO all of us have some good and bad. If the person has more good than bad like if he is more social than antisocial then I would be most probably friendly with him. Liking the animals was probably the only positive in Hitler.

[PabloMack]

What is this Big Game Hunting? exactly?

"Big Game" are large animals, presumably larger than a human. The word "Game" comes from sports hunters who view it as an unnecessary entertainment activity. On my first trip to sub-Saharan Africa I was taken aback by this term. It seemed to me that the 20th Century had not yet reached Southern Africa. My wife and I were there primarily to watch birds along with the tourists who were there to only observe. We did outnumber the hunters where we stayed but most hunters were probably staying at ranches that catered more to their needs and kept their activities away from tourists who might be offended.

Another term some of you may not have heard of is "The Big Five". It basically means Elephant, Rhino (even though there are two species), Hippo, Lion and Leopard. These are the main animals that people want to make sure they see when they come to Africa (or shoot if you are a hunter).

[PabloMack]

But now I find I want to stalk, harpoon, and eat a wild sardine. I'm so tired of eating them out of the can. After I eat its heart and brain to acquire its bravery and intelligence I'll mount its head on my wall for all to see...

Did you know that a "Sardine" is a young Pilchard, a kind of Herring. Since they must be six inches or less in length to be called a Sardine, a trophy would not be much to brag about and its head would probably not be worthy of mounting on your wall. I would like to see your sardine harpoon.

[TheBadger]

Also,
Im not really as passionate as it may sound in this topic. But I was surprised to see how many other topics this one relates to when I started to think about it an make arguments. Also, I kinda like that you guys are all against killing animals but presumably eat meat. Thats pretty entertaining.

[Hannes]

It's not about killing animals (not the rare ones) to eat them. It's about killing animals for fun. As a sport. As a game.
Big Game Hunting may be some kind of traditional, so why not bringing back real gladiator fights into the collosseum?
Or take bullfight in Spain. Hey, what a great tradition! Torturing bulls for fun. 

[N-drju]

Badger, since you are so bent on "Eat or die" idea then I have a proposal that could save you a lot of grief.

Just go to Kwik-e-Mart and buy some pork chops! See? It's faster and easier. No stress connected to death by starvation and you can feed anyone you like! And it's super-savings for you too! No ammo, no expensive hunter license, no rather-expensive rifle required...