To take exception to the gentelmen who you intraviewed on the beginning of your show. The Passenger Pidgeon was not shot off but it was the clearing of the forest that really did in the pidgeon. But yes many of them were shot for the market.

I have hunted for over sixty years, and have shot very many deer, all were eaten and enjoyed.

My self and five of my neaibors have presurved 705 acres agaisnt development throug the forsty legacy program. this program is adminstered by the US Forestry dept.

Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan has allowed hunting on its property after the population exploded from 14 deer in 2001 to 130 now. Officials say the population could exceed 500 if something isn’t done.

In short, they are destroying the nature center.

Traditionally they are large dogs like Wolfhounds and Foxhounds.

I own a Lab Pointer mix and he loves to track small animals.

Killed every mole in our backyard within a week of moving to a new house a few years ago. He would track them as they moved underground, fascinating to watch.

I’m guess the HSUS you are talking about is the animal rights group that is almost terriost like. Their experts will not help the animals in any way. It will actually hurt them. Too many of one specie can be bad for that animal (loss of food, sickness (chronic waste diease in deer for example) An example of this is the Canada goose and Snow Goose. There has been dieases because of the Canada goose poop in some area lakes around where I live in Minnesota that is harmful to people. Hunting seasons here haven’t even controled the numbers of them. Snow geese have destroyed farm land. The hundreds of them have cost farmers money. They have a spring season on them with no limits on trying to control the numbers.

I bet most people who haven’t hunted or anti’s (people who are agaisnt anything done with animals) don’t know the hours in getting ready for a day of hunting. I’m a waterfowler. We spend a lot of time and money scouting during the off season. Bringing in a lot of money in the area’s economy. People bring millions of dollars in the states economy.

If you knew the work on just shooting animal, you would know why we hunters are happy about it. It’s not that we are disrespectful to the game we are hunting.

Hunting and being in the outdoors (hiking, camping, fishing, etc) is a lot more healthier for kids then having them playing video games for hours on the couch eating junk foods.

People who hunt provide for their families not only food, but happiness through the year.

A deeply sad (to me) fact of life is that living beings have evolved as predator and prey. All sorts of things flow from this, such as aggression and various forms of violence, but that is an issue for another day. The only omnivore that has the capability of refraining from using other animals for food is the human. Since all killing of animals for food, whether in agriculture or hunting, involves violence and terror, many find the humane answer in vegetarianism.

Most urbanized people find hunting repugnant (apart from those who are really dependent on hunting for food) because, at its base, is the “thrill of the kill.” I never met a hunter who didn’t enjoy the actual killing and its attendant display. For all the talk about being one with nature, etc., that is what it’s fundamentally about. Hunters generally dismiss people who recoil from such blood pleasure as naive and wimpy, not able to face the fundamentals of existence.

A final word: to label animals as “resources,” like trees, copper, and other non-animate resources, is akin to dehumanizing the enemy, a typical desensitization tactic for populations at war. Wild animals are just as much individuals as dogs and cats, with unique intelligences and emotions, if we only had eyes to see and minds to understand. But we need have no qualms if they are just “resources” for our enjoyment and use.

All that in order to make females swoon.
JNagarya

JNagarya I hope your a vegetarian, if not you should think before making such nasty comments.

If you love the deer so much why not move to a rural area and set up a deer farm. Spend all your hard earned money on feeding them. While your at it try growing your own food and I hope your smart enough to figure out how to keep the deer out of your garden.

The deer population needs to be culled, it’s necessary and prudent.

You bleeding hearts are to much, you go on about the deer because some childhood memory of Bambi or some other misguided BS.

I used to live in Vermont, in some parts of the state, such as the Northeast Kingdom there are plenty of women who hunt. Some people do it to survive. Again JNagarya if you eat as much as an egg bought in the supermarket your hypocrite when you criticize people who hunt for their food.

“I think if most people opposed to hunting knew the reality of it (at least as I’ve experienced it), they would be much less opposed: That you sit in the freezing cold in the woods for days hoping to even glimpse a deer, that half the time, or better, you go home empty handed, and that often times a doe that will freeze the filler is just as great of a catch as a buck with a huge rack.”
_____

Right: We should be more concerned with the discomfort of the hunter, poor baby. Even though he more often than not goes home empty-hand, and usually alive, he also as often doesn’t get the payback of shooting an animal to death as excuse to pound his chest in proof that he is male and masculine, the entire raison d’etre for which latter is opportunity to pound one’s chest.

And then enhance that with boasting about it.

All that in order to make females swoon.

Your friend in Columbia South Carolina & Ex-Air Force Brat

Chip

The problem is many faceted. Urban sprawl; moving into wildlife areas is only a part. Here in MA we have urbanized the landscape. With more housing developments the wildlife is forced into smaller areas. But also with the housing developments comes more people, people who do not want hunting in their town. So we have forced the wildlife into smaller areas and removed the only predators, hunters. This compounds the problem. For years MA hunters traveled to the western parts of the state to avoid the anti-hunting attitude in the east. Due to this the population of deer in the eastern part of the state has exploded.

The coyote population has increased in years as well. There are more prey for these predators to consume. There was a recent coyote attack in MA and the animal had to be put down. Granted those attacks are rare. I’m not going to play that one up, just mentioning it because eliminating hunting and increasing the predators will eventually lead to more attacks on humans and their livestock.

I personally think that MassWildlife does a good job of regulating the populations here in MA. They are the regulators and the hunters are their tools. To eliminate hunting would be disastrous. We would have population explosions which would lead to death from disease and famine. If the prey die off then the predators will need a new food source. If restrictions are needed then they should be implemented. Wildlife biologists have a tough job and my hat is off to them.

The problem we face is now, it is right in front of us. To curb urban sprawl or to prevent human population increases in the future will not resolve the current issue. And I do not think the US would want to do either. How do you prevent human population increases? We could create ‘zones’ for wildlife but w/out fences (and I abhor that idea) the wildlife would wander and roam. With fences you have nothing more than a zoo.

Like it or not hunters are needed. and hunting is a way of life for many Americans. It is a hobby, a recreation activity that many people enjoy. Although there has been an increase in “trophy hunting”, it is not the only hunting people partake in. There is a lot more to hunting than just killing. many hunters spend more time afield than environmentalists and naturalists. Most hunters are environmentalists and naturalists as well. Anti-hunters would do well to realize this. We’re just as concerned with the environment and it’s wildlife. We know when drought strikes and area, we recognize a good or bad mast crop season. We know how weather effects a species. We all research our environment and do our part to help maintain it. labeling us “killers” may make you feel better but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Hunters are Environmentalists.

also, Poaching was mentioned in the segment last night. Poaching is not hunting. Poaching and hunting should not be compared to each other.

I think if most people opposed to hunting knew the reality of it (at least as I’ve experienced it), they would be much less opposed: That you sit in the freezing cold in the woods for days hoping to even glimpse a deer, that half the time, or better, you go home empty handed, and that often times a doe that will freeze the filler is just as great of a catch as a buck with a huge rack.

My one criticism is for pleasure hunting or internet hunting where one can kill animals through a website and mouse-controlled guns. I don’t know how widespread such online hunting sites are, but that to me is a sick concept.

Conclusion: Hunters are a necessary, if imperfect, solution to deer overpopulation. They are our best environmental stewards at this time (particularly game-bird hunters). They are more beneficial than harmful.

And, no, I don’t actually hate everyone.

Jeff
Idaho

One of the best examples of this is the Federal Duck stamp program. This stamp is required for waterfowl hunters and since 1937 has helped to protect the 90+ million acre national wildlife refuge system. Monies from these revenues are used in part by agencies to set aside land for wildlife and public recreation, including hunting. This is just one example of how hunters pay for conservation.

If anything I think we should be introducing more people to hunting today especially young people. There’s actually a theory today called nature deficit disorder. It’s discussed in Richard Luve’s (sp?) book Last Child i n the Woods. To me this is a sad, sad thing. Hunting is a great way for families to spend quality time together in the great outdoors. Many of our nations greatest conservationists early lessons in the outdoors came from hunting. In Walden, Thoreau wrote, “When some of my friends have asked me anxiously, about their boys, whether they should let them hunt, I have answered yes,- remembering that it was one of the best parts of my education.”