14-02-2019, 10:06 PM
31
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
Originally Posted by marmaduke
->
I too enjoy my shooting , 99% on the range but non the less maybe the odd rabbit or pheasant for the pot ... but then whilst hunters get a bad name let’s look at realities .... take a pheasant shoot ( my brother actually runs a pheasant shoot so I could get actual figures ) and they buy a few thousand poults in the spring , manage the land all year usually by sowing sunflowers , they feed them all summer .... then they shoot them .... argh !!!!!Only the other week we were chatting and I asked how many they shot last season .... about 80 I guess he replied so that’s a few thousand wild pheasants running free that otherwise would never have even been born , indeed most of the wild pheasants you see are probably down to shoots as left to nature the pheasant would possibly be on the endangered species list years ago ..
Then there’s rabbits , I have a good farmer friend who begs us to shoot on his land as it’s over run with the things ( I could shoot there 24/7 for a year and not even put a dent in the rabbit population) making many of his fields useless for horses etc ( they fall in rabbit holes /break legs) ... and then there’s rabbit life expectancy itself , how many rabbit skeletons do you see when out and about? Do you see retired rabbits sat on the roadside reading the paper ? No of course not as in the wild very very few things ever live to die of old age as everything , rabbit pigeon pheasant mice EVERYTHING gets zapped as soon as it’s just that second too slow so a hunter taking the odd rabbit ? It’s nothing especially as I don’t know anyone who shoots who if he couldn’t get a 100% clear head shot instant kill would even pull the trigger and I’d go as far as too say whilst I’ve seen many misses on a range ( shooting far great distances ) I’ve never ever seen anyone miss a rabbit , that is how certain one is before pulling the trigger ..
Then there’s vermin , rats , squirrel etc ... I don’t bother but many do go shooting vermin and looking at the damage they cause possibly in some locations their hobby keeps disruption down and you don’t even realise it .
I own a small fast fishing boat and whilst I don’t get out half as much as I’d like I’d say apart from makeral and cod anything and everything else we catch is released unharmed ... my passion is fly fishing yet I dislike the taste of trout ... you guessed it ... back in the water ...
Personally I don’t give a monkeys what your views are on hunting in the uk but whilst you tuck in to your Greg’s sausage roll or McDonald’s chicken nugget remember the guy who takes the odd dinner from the wild is taking an animal that had a far better life than your factory produced ‘thing’
Oooohhhh - sacrilege !!! - Grilled Trout cooked in a delightful Red wine sauce is gorgeous!!!
14-02-2019, 10:22 PM
32
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
I just don’t enjoy the trout thing yet I love seafood in any form , however fly fishing even just for a 1lb rainbow can give such fun and I love a summers evening for that rise ... but on the rare occasion I catch one then I throw it back ..Pike fishing on Windermere ... now where talking especially if using lures but straight back in the water ...rays tope bass anything and everything apart from makeral , cod , ( pollock if super lucky ) stay onboard but only if going in the freezer otherwise they too go back in the sea
14-02-2019, 10:52 PM
33
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
Originally Posted by marmaduke
->
I too enjoy my shooting , 99% on the range but non the less maybe the odd rabbit or pheasant for the pot ... but then whilst hunters get a bad name let’s look at realities .... take a pheasant shoot ( my brother actually runs a pheasant shoot so I could get actual figures ) and they buy a few thousand poults in the spring , manage the land all year usually by sowing sunflowers , they feed them all summer .... then they shoot them .... argh !!!!!Only the other week we were chatting and I asked how many they shot last season .... about 80 I guess he replied so that’s a few thousand wild pheasants running free that otherwise would never have even been born , indeed most of the wild pheasants you see are probably down to shoots as left to nature the pheasant would possibly be on the endangered species list years ago ..
Then there’s rabbits , I have a good farmer friend who begs us to shoot on his land as it’s over run with the things ( I could shoot there 24/7 for a year and not even put a dent in the rabbit population) making many of his fields useless for horses etc ( they fall in rabbit holes /break legs) ... and then there’s rabbit life expectancy itself , how many rabbit skeletons do you see when out and about? Do you see retired rabbits sat on the roadside reading the paper ? No of course not as in the wild very very few things ever live to die of old age as everything , rabbit pigeon pheasant mice EVERYTHING gets zapped as soon as it’s just that second too slow so a hunter taking the odd rabbit ? It’s nothing especially as I don’t know anyone who shoots who if he couldn’t get a 100% clear head shot instant kill would even pull the trigger and I’d go as far as too say whilst I’ve seen many misses on a range ( shooting far great distances ) I’ve never ever seen anyone miss a rabbit , that is how certain one is before pulling the trigger ..
Then there’s vermin , rats , squirrel etc ... I don’t bother but many do go shooting vermin and looking at the damage they cause possibly in some locations their hobby keeps disruption down and you don’t even realise it .
I own a small fast fishing boat and whilst I don’t get out half as much as I’d like I’d say apart from makeral and cod anything and everything else we catch is released unharmed ... my passion is fly fishing yet I dislike the taste of trout ... you guessed it ... back in the water ...
Personally I don’t give a monkeys what your views are on hunting in the uk but whilst you tuck in to your Greg’s sausage roll or McDonald’s chicken nugget remember the guy who takes the odd dinner from the wild is taking an animal that had a far better life than your factory produced ‘thing’
14-02-2019, 11:05 PM
34
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
Last year my brother was invited to a deer shoot ( cull) in Norfolk , asked if I fancied it but I didn’t want to shoot bambi so I declined although I understand cull was needed , anyway off he goes for 3 days ... returns and obvious question was how many ? Answer .... ZERO !We saw them , stalked them but there was only certain ones we could shoot and every time I got close enough it turned , it did this , did that ... a tree was just in the way ... that’s 3 days , 3 hotel nights ...5 days off work ... not one shot fired apart from first on a range to prove you can shoot ... because he couldn’t guarantee that 100% kill shot ... so not all hunters are like the Wild West
14-02-2019, 11:13 PM
35
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
Originally Posted by marmaduke
->
I too enjoy my shooting , 99% on the range but non the less maybe the odd rabbit or pheasant for the pot ... but then whilst hunters get a bad name let’s look at realities .... take a pheasant shoot ( my brother actually runs a pheasant shoot so I could get actual figures ) and they buy a few thousand poults in the spring , manage the land all year usually by sowing sunflowers , they feed them all summer .... then they shoot them .... argh !!!!!Only the other week we were chatting and I asked how many they shot last season .... about 80 I guess he replied so that’s a few thousand wild pheasants running free that otherwise would never have even been born , indeed most of the wild pheasants you see are probably down to shoots as left to nature the pheasant would possibly be on the endangered species list years ago ..
Then there’s rabbits , I have a good farmer friend who begs us to shoot on his land as it’s over run with the things ( I could shoot there 24/7 for a year and not even put a dent in the rabbit population) making many of his fields useless for horses etc ( they fall in rabbit holes /break legs) ... and then there’s rabbit life expectancy itself , how many rabbit skeletons do you see when out and about? Do you see retired rabbits sat on the roadside reading the paper ? No of course not as in the wild very very few things ever live to die of old age as everything , rabbit pigeon pheasant mice EVERYTHING gets zapped as soon as it’s just that second too slow so a hunter taking the odd rabbit ? It’s nothing especially as I don’t know anyone who shoots who if he couldn’t get a 100% clear head shot instant kill would even pull the trigger and I’d go as far as too say whilst I’ve seen many misses on a range ( shooting far great distances ) I’ve never ever seen anyone miss a rabbit , that is how certain one is before pulling the trigger ..
Then there’s vermin , rats , squirrel etc ... I don’t bother but many do go shooting vermin and looking at the damage they cause possibly in some locations their hobby keeps disruption down and you don’t even realise it .
I own a small fast fishing boat and whilst I don’t get out half as much as I’d like I’d say apart from makeral and cod anything and everything else we catch is released unharmed ... my passion is fly fishing yet I dislike the taste of trout ... you guessed it ... back in the water ...
Personally I don’t give a monkeys what your views are on hunting in the uk but whilst you tuck in to your Greg’s sausage roll or McDonald’s chicken nugget remember the guy who takes the odd dinner from the wild is taking an animal that had a far better life than your factory produced ‘thing’
My point was, many people condemn shooters as being a bunch of nasties, which is not the case.
I don't have an issue with others shooting vermin and the odd kill for the pot. It's just not something I enjoy doing myself.
15-02-2019, 12:57 AM
37
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
Originally Posted by marmaduke
->
I too enjoy my shooting , 99% on the range but non the less maybe the odd rabbit or pheasant for the pot ... but then whilst hunters get a bad name let’s look at realities .... take a pheasant shoot ( my brother actually runs a pheasant shoot so I could get actual figures ) and they buy a few thousand poults in the spring , manage the land all year usually by sowing sunflowers , they feed them all summer .... then they shoot them .... argh !!!!!Only the other week we were chatting and I asked how many they shot last season .... about 80 I guess he replied so that’s a few thousand wild pheasants running free that otherwise would never have even been born , indeed most of the wild pheasants you see are probably down to shoots as left to nature the pheasant would possibly be on the endangered species list years ago ..
Then there’s rabbits , I have a good farmer friend who begs us to shoot on his land as it’s over run with the things ( I could shoot there 24/7 for a year and not even put a dent in the rabbit population) making many of his fields useless for horses etc ( they fall in rabbit holes /break legs) ... and then there’s rabbit life expectancy itself , how many rabbit skeletons do you see when out and about? Do you see retired rabbits sat on the roadside reading the paper ? No of course not as in the wild very very few things ever live to die of old age as everything , rabbit pigeon pheasant mice EVERYTHING gets zapped as soon as it’s just that second too slow so a hunter taking the odd rabbit ? It’s nothing especially as I don’t know anyone who shoots who if he couldn’t get a 100% clear head shot instant kill would even pull the trigger and I’d go as far as too say whilst I’ve seen many misses on a range ( shooting far great distances ) I’ve never ever seen anyone miss a rabbit , that is how certain one is before pulling the trigger ..
Then there’s vermin , rats , squirrel etc ... I don’t bother but many do go shooting vermin and looking at the damage they cause possibly in some locations their hobby keeps disruption down and you don’t even realise it .
I own a small fast fishing boat and whilst I don’t get out half as much as I’d like I’d say apart from makeral and cod anything and everything else we catch is released unharmed ... my passion is fly fishing yet I dislike the taste of trout ... you guessed it ... back in the water ...
Personally I don’t give a monkeys what your views are on hunting in the uk but whilst you tuck in to your Greg’s sausage roll or McDonald’s chicken nugget remember the guy who takes the odd dinner from the wild is taking an animal that had a far better life than your factory produced ‘thing’
I think your farmer buddy just wants rid of his rabbits - in a life time of horses I have never heard of one doing so .i used to live in South America where the vast pampas are riddled with armadillo burrows and even there rarely did a horse actually break its legs down them .
However shooting is probaby more humane than mixamatosis -it's sad to see the poor things suffered get a horrible lingering death .
As for pheasants ts it's really pathetic it's practically like shooting chickens . The poults are often imported from Poland they are hand reared in pens and when released just don't know what to do. They are poor flyers and are many are killed on the roads and by the local predators .
15-02-2019, 11:27 AM
38
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
I have killed two creatures to put them out of their misery when they were badly injured, one a frog and the other a baby mouse. Not a pleasant thing to do, but necessary.Like Nicol, I covered them with something and hit them with a rock.
I hit a pheasant with my car once, so I expect I killed it.
It had run across the road, so I thought I would miss it, but then it suddenly turned round and ran straight into me, and despite me braking I just clipped it with my nearside wing. I have killed quite a few flies in the kitchen with a swatter.
I prefer to shoo wasps out of the house. Unlike flies, they aren't germy, and I'm not afraid of them stinging me, but their buzzing gets on my nerves, so out they get shooed.
I expect I have trodden on loads of ants, I know I have trodden on lots of snails, inadvertently. I have also put lots of snails in the bin in the past, but have given up now, as it's a losing battle. I have put slug granules down in the past, too, so have probably poisoned a load.
I have sprayed aphids with killer spray.
I accidentally trod on a largish black beetle once.
I'm starting to feel like a murderer now!
15-02-2019, 05:08 PM
39
Re: Have you killed a living animal?
Certainly I have killed millions of creatures in my lifetime - with bacteria and single-celled organisms filling the top 99.5% of the list.However, I most definitely go out of my way to help creatures live, simply because I am in awe of life and the efforts of every creature to try to sustain itself.
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