Off-Road Ranger I
Any Hunters Among Us?
- Thread starter MA_Trooper
- Start date
I have the same question long time ago until my buddy introduce me to hunting and that changed my perspective.
We have hunting and fishing season to control the population and we do help to preserve it in the freezer bag [emoji1] ........Peace.
Maybe you’re on the wrong forum questioning a real outdoorsman. Real outdoorsman - do you even know what that takes? Are you basing your opinion of hunters and outdoorsman on what you hear about poachers? Do you understand that hunting is a highly regulated and necessary component to wildlife population control and environmental factors? Probably not based on your idiotic comments. Do you understand that outdoorsman and hunters contribute millions of dollars to preserve wildlife and the parks systems? Again it doesn’t seem so based on your uninformed comments. That’s all I have to say. I must now go to the grocery store and buy my meat.
We hunt in order to provide healthy, organic, and sustainable meat to our family. For many years my wife was a vegetarian, after years of health issues and contemplation, she eats meat that we grow or harvest ourselves. I understand the draw of watching wildlife, I've spent more time watching wildlife than I can shake a stick at, but hunting is a very small amount of the game that is killed each year, and in fact it is rare for a hunter to actually harvest an animal. According to the Parks and Wildlife here in Colorado, on average a hunter will only harvest an elk once every 6 years.
We hunt to know that the meat that we eat had a good life. So we know that nothing goes to waste. So we know it was ethically killed. We hunt because we have a strong belief that if you are going to eat meat, you have a responsibility to particitpate in the taking of that life as a matter of respect for the animal. We hunt so our children understand that a life was given for them to have meat on their table. So they understand the process and work that goes into butchering and preserving an anialmal. We hunt so that food that was grown on farms is not fed to domestic livestock to grow meat, in an increbily inefficient process that turns thousand of calories into a few calories, and a lot of methane and animal waste instead of being given to the needy. We hunt so that we dont contribute to the factory farms that polute the air and water that we breath and drink and that support that same wildlife you like to photograph.
I can not say the same things of any meat I buy in a store. Our impact on the wildlife herds are a fraction compared to wildlife/vehicle conflicts. On any given day there will be one or two new carcasses just on our 20 mile drive into work. We don't trophy hunt, but after having spent years of our lives (in fact my whole childhood and adult life) watching and appreciating these animals in their native habitabt, I can also appreciate a nice bull/buck when someone is lucky enough to harvest one.
Since humans have upset the natural balance of animals in a nature, hunting habs become a necessary way to cull herds, as the natural preditors are no longer present.
We don't ask that you join us in hunting, or even that you share the same belief that we do. We only ask that you consider there may be legitimate evironmental and moral reasons for hunting beyond the desire for a trophy.
Enthusiast III
I don't want to get into a big debate about it because nothing will be resolved. I have friends and family that enjoy hunting and they are good people, but it doesn't mean that I don't give them grief about it and try to get them to try hunting and shooting with cameras instead of guns. I just like exploring wilderness areas across the country and get really frustrated when I see so much flora and so little if any fauna...that's all. The lack of fauna isn't the fault of only hunters...its the fault of humans as a whole (me included) and our lack of commitment to preserving what we have for us to enjoy and future generations to enjoy as well.
Hunters are the most vested in the conservation of wildlife. We have paid for most of it in this country. I love the animals and respect them, but know hunting them is necessary. If done correctly, as it is in this country, hunting is helping animals. And, it feeds me well.
Can't hardly get my pup to pose for a picture. But yea I got into offroading mainly because I got tired of getting stuck going out to hunting and fishing spots. Well that turned into a rabbit hole of jeeping adventures.
Enthusiast III
Sorry dude but you have 0 understanding of why there are still animals left or conservation in general. It’s ****ed up but the reason animals aren’t extinct in this country is because hunters pay for the management of the populations.I’ve been hunting 5 years, have put tons of time and money into gear (which benefits wildlife btw) and tags and haven’t killed any big game yet, and most people don’t any given year. It extremely hard to hunt in the west. Mountain bikers, hikers, most off-roaders/overlanders don’t contribute to anything but a camp site. Hunting pays the way to having massive populations of wildlife that we nearly killed off when we first colonized. I spend a month out of the year trying to kill elk and deer, sometimes a bear. It’s going to bum me out hard core when I finally get one, I’m a huge animal person but guess what? I eat meat, so I should have to experience the death involved in eating it. Sending an arrow through the heart of an animal is far more humane that what they do to get your grocery store steak to you.
Life eats life in case you haven’t heard. If you turn a blind eye to it that’s fine, but don’t look down on people who own up to reality. You can not live without killing something.
Enthusiast III
And a deer I shot with a camera and not an arrow outside of hunting season, for those that think hunters are just murderous monsters who want to do nothing but kill things.
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I've been hunting the elusive North American Split-Tail Beaver for decades. With mixed success. It's great exercise, good mental stimulation, and it's a renewable resource!
Oh, and I put a deer in the freezer every so often.... ;-)
Oh, and I put a deer in the freezer every so often.... ;-)
Influencer I
I like hunting them too. It takes great skill!! More expensive than hunting the normal stuff though haha
Regulated hunting in North America saved the whitetail deer population. Period. Without laws, people aren’t going to stop at their state limit. They aren’t going to abide by the laws in place that distinguish “hunting” from “poaching”. There’s a difference. One is vital to a healthy game population. One destroys it.
There’s not a single cow or pig or chicken that has had a more free range, human free, chemical free life than the game that falls to a hunter’s rifle or shotgun.
There’s not a single cow or pig or chicken that has had a more free range, human free, chemical free life than the game that falls to a hunter’s rifle or shotgun.
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I’m in Texas where 90% of the land is privately owned so my best option for hunting is to get on a hunting lease. Definitely not cheap, and not exactly hunting since we feed our deer population, but that’s how they do it down here. It’s a managed deer lease so a naturalist comes in twice a year to check the deer population. Then they tell us how many does n bucks to harvest in order to keep the population healthy. We’re very strict on what can and can’t be taken to ensure the deer thrive. I always lug my camera equipment with me to take photos of the bucks that are too young to shoot as well as all the other critters running around.
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Influencer I
Exactly!! Its as organic as they come! And you dont have to pay that organic premium at the store for fancy plastic wrap!
Depends on where and how you hunt and process. Up in S. Dakota we hunted because it was a cheap way to get good meat. Down here it’s way different, I don’t want to think of how much it’s actually costing me compared to store bought. But knowing exactly where it came from and the overall experience is worth the price for me.
That's an awesome buck ! Love watching mule deer !
Out at the deer lease now, shot a cull buck and a doe this morning. [emoji1360] I’ve got one more buck and another doe to shoot this year. Keeping the herd thriving, keeping the freezer full.
This was my first morning out. Happy for nature's gifts. 
