Is anyone else burned out on people passing judgment on killing varmints?

I get into it all the time on Reddit about varminting. So many people are fools and idiots about perfectly legitimate hunting outlets that it gets frustrating.

My deer/partridge hunter friend can't understand some of my varminting and how I operate in closer quarters. He is used to the woods, I am having to get him to do a paradigm shift.

Reading this, makes me think of the movie The Green Mile. The part of the movie when the guy didn’t wet the sponge. Made for a nasty and definitely not humane execution. But when the supervisor asked What the hell was that? Tom Hanks, can’t remember the characters name, stated an execution. Point being. That at the end he died all the same. The same goes for pest. The placement of the shot may not go as planned but as long as it’s ends in death. It’s all the same. If that bothers you then don’t watch or comment. It’s that simple.

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This is the point youre not getting. The method and means of death and the suffering caused does matter. It's a matter of ethics. The American standard for ethical hunting/pesting seems to just be "well its dead so what's the problem". That's not much of a standard and we should strive to do better and cause the least suffering. 

Ethics is such a bad word to use.... AS EVERYBODIES ETHICS ARE DIFFERENT! That is the point Flint is trying to make I believe. What you think is horrible and bad, that is on you and nobody else. If YOU don't want to take the shot, then don't, but stop with the sanctimonious speeches about how people are horrible and bad for taking a shot you FEEL is bad.



As stated you don't like it, then don't comment. Vermin and pest are shoot on sight in my area as well. Wounded they will still die and thus cause no more pain and suffering for the farmers who loose thousands of dollars a year because of these animals. You know how upset a farmer gets when groundhogs ( gophers, squirrels, etc ) tear up a field and cattle or horses start breaking legs?

This is an open forum. You have every right to say what you wish to say and SO DO I and so does any one else who chooses to post. Within the limits of what the owner/ moderator judges appropriate.
Sanctimonious? I agree. The ONLY thing I disagree with is the separation of pest and non pest.
Instead of getting pissed off why doesn’t some one tell me why a prairie dog doesn’t deserve the same consideration as a deer or a bear? Which also can be pests . Agree? Is it less intelligent, uglier, have evil intentions. 
Particularly address prairie dogs and groundhogs and feral hogs which all seem pretty intelligent to me. AND they in one forum or another are pets for some. Dogs and cats can and are pests at times and in some locations . If and when you would out of necessity have to reduce their numbers do you owe them humane treatment? DO YOU SEE MY POINT? 

Two big words. Sanctimonious and introspective. Instead of attacking try being introspective and I’ll be less sanctimonious. 

Mike. Is telling you that I think you are wrong thinking be judgmental? Perhaps . Is that not allowed.? I have talked to ranchers and the local farmers and I get it. They love me for killing the groundhogs. This has gotten personal and I regret that . In central PA deer are pests and the farmers kill them as needed. They are then pests? Does that change the concern for a humane kill? 
This is a mind game I tell you.

My first thought was WTF are you looking under HUNTING if you don't want to see It?

The quote above is a bull’s-eye. Why in the world would you go and look under hunting, if you don’t like the fact that people kill stuff?

Why do you have to bust into one of our threads and make it known that you think that killing things is wrong?

it’s a freaking hunting channel. People show things that were killed. Involves blood and guts and gore. It involves killing things that you may not agree with.

The only possible reason I can think of, is that you want to mess up our posts. How about just keeping out of our posts? How about not going where you don’t like to go?

If there is a bad neighborhood on your way to work, and another route helps you avoid it…Do you take the bad route every day, and complain about it?

mike

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Flintsack, you got my vote. When some of my holy then thou friends as me why i pest and i show them a photo like this and ask what happen here. With a stupid look on their face they say thats food. All that nice meat you eat was a live animal at one time. Killing is killing. Gone pesting!!!!!!

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LOL!

This remind me of a newspaper clipping that I saw in a butcher shop once. There was a big article about hunting in it, which the author was opposed to. They go on about this and that, talking about animals suffering However, to best part of the article is where they made a quote stating that if people were hunting just for the meat, "Why don’t they just go to the grocery store, were no animals were harmed". 

This is a "special" kind of person.

Ok mike. There are no hard feelings on my part held towards anyone. I just think we need to consider what we do. And not develop a hardened heart towards any animal. This may seem ridiculous but I kill groundhogs but I actually like them. Maybe that says something about me and my character. I have time on my hands and I think about this stuff. Animals are poorly treated in the food industry (different subject). Maybe my fear is in the next life I’ll come back as a groundhog? LOL There are people that believe that . I assume they are all vegetarian 

I get it, you hate America. Another person that thinks talk crap about America makes them a good person for some dumb reason. If you think that un-ethical hunting is limited to America or more prominent, then you are naive. Maybe travel more or actually be the enlightened person you pretend to be. Do better in the future and not lump a nation into a category that all other nations have people doing the same thing.

I for one agree that as Mike presented the situation that’s fine. I plan to try to nail a groundhog out as far as I can. BUT here is the difference. I work many hours a week to try to get my rifles and myself tuned to attempt it. Today that’s about all I did. I’m able to hit a six inch plate at will at 420 yards. That’s good but I’m not satisfied and hope to be able to reduce that plate to 3 inches maybe better. It’s a hobby and it borders on an obsession. My goal is a kill at at least 600 yards. To do that I have to make significant progress in my shooting I’m talking to a couple world class benchrest shooters who are giving me tips. What I’ve seen on the opposite side of this is a group of deer hunters ( no objection to hunting deer) decide to lob a few at the prairie dogs. Usually at relatively close range. Pretty hard to handle the recoil so usually they give up maybe hitting one or two. What I found distasteful is in this was it was just a whim and one of the guys hit one and it crawled towards its hole. The laughter was unending. I may be in the very small minority on this but I don’t think that’s the least bit funny. HOWEVER I’ve had it happen. Now some one certainly is going to say why does it matter or so what it’s “just” a prairie dog. We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that. The anti- hunters and anti/ gun folks care . On that basis alone ya better consider this. There have been discussions for decades about putting PD’s on the endanger list. Let’s set a good example and see if we can reduce the poisoning Careful what you do or say at the very least that is public info 

Why would people take the time to come to a hunting forum and shame people? I think the shaming comes down to another form of bullying. I don’t like bullies, but I know what they like. Rivaling in the fact that they got a rise out of somebody. Shaming so they can feel righteous. So they feel better about themselves. If you don’t like hunting, varmiting, pesting, seeing or hearing that sort of thing why visit a hunting forum for any other reason?

As for showing off your kills, if I could nail a Prairie dog at 275 yrds or more with an air rifle I would be pretty proud of my skills too! And, I would want to show that to others who enjoy the same. I’m proud of my skills as a hunter and I enjoy it. If it’s not your cup of tea that’s great I’m not going to stomp on you because you can’t figure out if you should dress like a guy or a woman in the morning. I’m just going to ignore you, mind my own business. Buy my groceries go home and go about my business. Because deep down I know that what you do doesn’t effect me unless I let it. I’m not going to let someone rent space in my head or waste my time. 

The only flack I get is from relatives, and people who eavesdrop on private conversations in real life. Anytime one of them chirps up I have plenty of answers:

Growing up my beagle was sprayed by skunks living under our shed more times than I can even count. I remember it being on the order of once or ( sometimes twice) a month in the spring summer and fall. For 6 years! Nothing like letting her in the house and as she runs to the living and you gasp as your eyes water as you get a whiff. Then before she touched try to grab her and wrestle her to the bathtub (she HATED baths). Scrub her with the enzyme that helps but doesn’t completely remove the stench as she whimpered. She almost constantly had a faint oder of skunk. We tried a few different methods of getting rid of them until I had enough and started shooting them. That worked, just make sure you don’t wound them so they die under the shed, finish it quickly and as humanely as possible. “Oh poor skunk what did it do to you?” Ha come give my dog a bath and buy us a new living room rug or couch!

“But squirrels are so cute!” Sure they are, go feed them peanuts at the park! They’re cute until one gets into the garage or shed and starts pissing and pooping all over everything. Good god that stuff doesn’t come off, I had to throw away a ton of my belongings that got covered before I found out about it.

“Oh my gosh you shot a bunny in your yard?” Yup! Dug under the fence and ate most of the vegetables we planted after eating most of flowers my wife planted and some her whatever bushes she likes and spends time to care for. Sorry bunny you’re now rabbit stew. Wifey grew up on a farm, family recipe.

Chipmunks dig under our stone walls. Any idea how much work it is to build one??? I do! Any idea what it costs if you wanted to hire someone to build or reconstruct a stone wall? A lot more than a tin of pellets. 

Ground hogs. Ever had one mess up a patio you laid down for your fire pit out behind the yard? Like the bunnies had them eat your vegetable garden, your lawn, flowers? Yeah, they do a number on things I’ve worked hard on. “Did you have to shoot it?” Well there’s other ways to deal with them but I was worried if I trapped and dumped it in your yard it would come back.

Wild turkeys, I have no love for those f**kers! Tore up a 10’ foot of grass 100 feet long down to bare earth. Roots and everything! Nope, not having it! Not in my backyard. Turkey soup, my dad loves it. 

Don’t have problems with wild pigs up here but those things seem vicious and the population out of control in areas. Not to mention they aren’t exactly defenseless even against a person with a riffle of you don’t get a one shot. 

I could go on but y’all get the point. 

Again, I like to hunt. It’s not the kill it’s the skill. I like knowing that I have the skills that we used a long time ago to feed and clothe ourselves long before we became domesticated. It’s an instinct and I’m glad I possess that instinct. I’m proud of my skills and marksmanship. If your not that’s ok. If you like to blast squirrels for fun, great. Sometimes I do too. If you just like shooting paper for accuracy that’s cool. I’m ok with whatever makes other people happy with very few exceptions and in this day and age there’s some whacked out stuff going on. I don’t personally have to agree with it. But it’s not my place to tell others how to live their life nor others mine. And it is DEFINITELY not my place to judge! There’s only one fit for that, and someday I’ll meet them. Until then, to each their own.

Sorry but not sorry for writing a book there…
. 

Ugh for what it's worth, take a 16 0z bottle of hydrogen peroxide one half of a 16 Oz box of baking soda and a tea spoon of dish soap. Mix well put in pump sprayer soak dog , carpet, couch, shoes and yard will kill skunk smell. If is real bad might have to do twice. Just be careful not to get in dog or your eyes. How to tell good from bad information around here or on line in general, sorry clueless.

edenwildfood

Member

United States

Accuracy: +2

Reading this, makes me think of the movie The Green Mile. The part of the movie when the guy didn’t wet the sponge. Made for a nasty and definitely not humane execution. But when the supervisor asked What the hell was that? Tom Hanks, can’t remember the characters name, stated an execution. Point being. That at the end he died all the same. The same goes for pest. The placement of the shot may not go as planned but as long as it’s ends in death. It’s all the same. If that bothers you then don’t watch or comment. It’s that simple.

Click to expand...

This is the point youre not getting. The method and means of death and the suffering caused does matter. It's a matter of ethics. The American standard for ethical hunting/pesting seems to just be "well its dead so what's the problem". That's not much of a standard and we should strive to do better and cause the least suffering. 


Is there ethics in killing? A lot of ppl like using the ethics card when killing. Does killing faster make it more ethical? To me killing is killing. I think that killing it faster makes the person doing it feel better about it. If I’m hunting I will wait for that shot, that one shot that will kill quick. Not because is more ethical but because I want the animal dead. I eat what I hunt. But if it’s pesting I will shoot it when ever I can. As long as I know it’s going to die. There is no ethics in killing. It’s a blood sport that is always messy. If it makes you feel better by telling your self that you are an ethical hunter, by all means keep telling yourself that. But for me. I’m a good hunter and I’m good at what I do. 

edenwildfood

Member

United States

Accuracy: +2

Reading this, makes me think of the movie The Green Mile. The part of the movie when the guy didn’t wet the sponge. Made for a nasty and definitely not humane execution. But when the supervisor asked What the hell was that? Tom Hanks, can’t remember the characters name, stated an execution. Point being. That at the end he died all the same. The same goes for pest. The placement of the shot may not go as planned but as long as it’s ends in death. It’s all the same. If that bothers you then don’t watch or comment. It’s that simple.

Click to expand...

This is the point youre not getting. The method and means of death and the suffering caused does matter. It's a matter of ethics. The American standard for ethical hunting/pesting seems to just be "well its dead so what's the problem". That's not much of a standard and we should strive to do better and cause the least suffering. 


Is there ethics in killing? A lot of ppl like using the ethics card when killing. Does killing faster make it more ethical? To me killing is killing. I think that killing it faster makes the person doing it feel better about it. If I’m hunting I will wait for that shot, that one shot that will kill quick. Not because is more ethical but because I want the animal dead. I eat what I hunt. But if it’s pesting I will shoot it when ever I can. As long as I know it’s going to die. There is no ethics in killing. It’s a blood sport that is always messy. If it makes you feel better by telling your self that you are an ethical hunter, by all means keep telling yourself that. But for me. I’m a good hunter and I’m good at what I do.

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Apparently not. It's not about ethics. It's about respecting innocent lives. Bottom line is you're not good at hunting if you don't have the skills to make a quick, and humane kill.