Fair or Unfair. Stumped by an anti...

[Stiks-n-Strings]

My wife was somewhat of an anti I guess you could say but before we said I do I told her it was part of who I am and what I do and it ain't gonna change.
 She would make comments come deer season but nothing that would cause a problem, just poking a little. I told her she was intitled to her opinion and I am what I am.

 Well long story short she got to griping about me being gone all deer season and all turkey season and I told her if she wanted to spend some time with me to get some camo and boots on and lets go.
 That was her first trip to the turkey woods and after I called a couple birds into her lap and she made the decision to squeeze the trigger, she's hooked.
 She cries everytime she takes a bird but she still keeps going and she understands why I do what I do. She don't wanna shoot a stick or deer hunt and that's fine but now she knows what it's all about and she'll tell you there ain't no better feeling than putting meat on the table from the field that you harvested yourself.
 
I hunt because I can and I love and cherish every moment in pursuit of game cause that's what I am. Whether I harvest or just sit and watch knowing I could have, It's who I am. I reverence every moment in the woods and every critter that I cross paths with and know that when it's all just right we become a part of the cycle and life ends and life go's on.
 It's who I am and that's the way it is.

[Al Natural]

Justin, if she is an anti-hunter there is not much you can do.  As a hunter the worst thing you can do is wonder and think if the questions she has posed has merit. If she doesn't understand by now your not going to change her mind.  Hunters have done more for the increased population of game in North America than any other group.
Al

[redant 60/65]

Iv'e always felt it was just born in me to hunt, fish and other things in the wild, I don't need to make any excuses for the way I am.  

[Ragnarok Forge]

This one is easy.  Predators in the wild have their incredible sense of smell, speed to run their prey down, strength to kill them with, sharp teeth, fur to keep them warm, etc...   Why not call foul that predators hunt in packs.  Her question is beyond silly.  

The answer is that you and I have all the disadvantages compared to the prey we hunt.  We  increase our odds to ensure that we can make close clean kills. This respects the prey and ensures we make as many clean kills as possible.    

No other answer needed.  

As for offending them.  Let em have it, bunny hugging morons need to know they are silly and wrong.  As well a hypocrites of the worst kind, the self deluded kind!  If they drive cars they kill bugs and animals, if they wear leather they kill animals, etc, etc, etc....  We all kill animals, every last one of us.  If they want to stop killing animals then quit breeding more people!

Human population and urban sprawl is the biggest animal killer of all.  The problem is most bunny huggers don't mind that they cand rive along killing things, wear leather belts and shoes, eat eggs, step on bugs, poison mice, the list here is 1,000 pages long.  Most of them assuage their conscience by hiring other killers to take care of their killing for them.  

Molly coddling or sugar coating this subject is exactly why we are where we are.  Stop the PC stuff and tell them the facts.  When an idiot speaks and no one corrects them, then they think they are right.  Anti's are free to have their feelings and thoughts, what they are not free to do is push them off on you or anyone else.  They are anti's.  The fact that you hunt already offends them, sugar coating it is playing into their game.

[unregistered]

I do not feel that her stance against all hunting has merit, but her opinion that certain tools most hunters take for granted might be a bit unfair was an interesting thought. Certainly has made me question all the things I used to think I needed to kill my food.

[cahaba]

All predators use everything GOD has given them so why shouldn't man use everything available to him/her. You will never win an arguement with a PETA freak. If she believes in GOD ask her why he gave us carnivoir like teeth if he didn't want us to eat meat. If she believes in evoloution scientist claim that the advances that got man out of caves was meat that caused the brain to develop into what it is today. Had she rather live in a cave and have to barter for food with the male hunters?

[homerdave]

uhhh... we aren't wolves  
we use what we have, and some self control so we can keep doing what we do.

massive mono-culture cropland to support vegetarians is far worse for the planet than killing a few critters for the pot.  
leave some and the critters come back, but 500,000 acres of soy is always gonna be just that.

[Steve Kendrot]

We didn't get where we are by molly coddling or sugar coating... we got where we are by refusing to consider another person's viewpoint, assuming they are against us, and treating them like idiots and calling them hypocrites.

[Pluck Yew]

Are you gettin all this killdeer? ( I'm sorry you lured me back in)    

Shawn...

[Sean B]

I've been in the same types of conversations.  I go the route of explaining how delicate the ecology is, and that man in general set it off balance, and now we have to correct it.  I also let them know that this is my way of enjoying the out doors.  I also explain that when you get away from cities, people still rely on hunting for survival. I also explain the Pittman-Robertson Act, and that these supposed Animal Rights Groups don't put a dime into the environment.  Hunting is a billion dollar industry now.  Its good for the economy!

[Ragnarok Forge]

Anti = against.  Anti Hunter = Against Hunting = Against killing of animals.  The hypocrisy is simple and obvious here  Every American in one way or anther kills animals.  Prophesing one thing and living another is hypocrisy. Anti's base their decisions on their feelings and not on the fact of how they live their lives.  

I have yet to hear of a major animal rights group or anti hunting group spending their money for the benefit of wild animals.  Yet millions are freely spend by hunters to enhance the wild animal populations.  Anti's talk a lot and do little to nothing to actually protect anything they claim to love so much.  Another example of hypocrisy.  

It endlessly amazes me how we avoid disagreement in this country.  We have become so PC that we are afraid to offend someone.  They don't like us hunting, hence the Anti hunter title.  

I was trained growing up that you call a spade a spade.  Honesty is more important than someones feeling important and right.  Particularly when the don't walk the talk.

[Rick P]

This may have been pointed out......

Best way to shout down a anti is one simple question. Would you rather die in a few seconds from a surgical cut through the heart or be eaten alive by a pack of wolves as you slowly suffocate?(fact wolves kill by suffocation the prey animal is almost always eviscerated while still alive)

Many have pointed out humans cant run 35mph our teeth our insufficient and the question it's self is unfair.

[Steve Kendrot]

Was it Einstein who said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result? It is IMPOSSIBLE to live a live free of hypocrisy. ANY stance can be shown to be incongruous with one's actions if you slice and dice the argument small enough. For those who'd like to develop a more cogent explanation for why you hunt, maybe you can find some ideas here...

 http://www.conservationforce.org/role.html#twoperspect

[Steve Kendrot]

From the essay by Shane Mahoney linked above...

Truth makes a great message; not an easy one! But saving the preciousness of life is never simple. We need remember, however, that if hunters are viewed as dopes, hunting is viewed as a pastime for the dim-witted; if hunters are viewed as slobs, hunting is a wasteful debauchery; if hunters are viewed as juvenile, hunting is deemed delinquent. Only hunters can change such stereotypes. The task at hand is to articulate the relevance of hunting; not its correctness, nor its practical service to human kind. Rationalizing the mythology is both a tactical error and a diminishment of pride. Lies and excuses usually are. - Shane Mahoney.

[Holm-Made]

Wolves in MN reportedly kill 15-20 deer a piece per year.  Bowhunters in MN have about a 30-50% success rate of killing one deer.  Now who is she saying has the unfair advantage over the deer?  


 

[Lenny Stankowitz]

Originally posted by Justin Black:
"Does a Wolf use a tree stand? Or artificial scents and calls? And what about binoculars and camouflage?"

I would have simply said that a treestand is no less fair to a deer than a combine is to corn.

Simply a tool.

[Bush]

Man fights and hunts with superior intelligence and logic.  Man can adapt to any environment or hunting style despite having very limited physical abilities.  We have no hair to survive the arctic, we have no fangs, claws, talons, speed, or fins, but we have conquered every habitat, and can survive, because we have the ability to adapt through behavior, tools, and intellect.

[fido dog]

To me hunting is humane and (in a way) natural.

I haven't had the pleasure...or pain of harvesting an animal with my bow yet. When it happens, friends and family will eat fresh, organic meat that is healthy and prepared well.

I would rather eat a deer or hog that was doing it's natural thing than a cow pushed into a slaughterhouse.

In my younger days I would kill....period. Not anymore. My guns have been cold for some time. I guess it's ethics.

[DngrsDan]

But animal DO use disguising scents! That is why dogs and the lion/tiger kingdom like to roll in other species feces-it hides THEIR predator scent from their prey.
 
Would a wolf use a high point to attack it's prey? A cougar would for sure.

Ancient man used camouflage-often dressing in the skins of the animals they were stalking to get within spear striking range, many species in the animal and insect world have built in camouflage-some even construct their own.

There are MANY species who DO use fake calls and signals to lure in their prey in both the animal and insect world. Snapping turtles have a built in fishing rod and lure in their mouths.

Animals have sharper vision than we do-an eagle can see a mouse on the ground from over a mile high. How quickly did that turkey spot you BLINKING from 100 yards away? We use binoculars to enhance what we can see, but you still need to know HOW to use them to see any animal with them-they ain't a magic wand.

So EVERY one of her arguments fall on their own false premises.    

Don't sweat the tree huggers and anti's-someday, hopefully, they'll wake up.  

[bawana bowman]

I once had a non-hunting friend try and put the same sort of questions to me.

To begin with I don't consider myself on the same level as an animal kingdom predator, any of them.

1. I'm more intelligent than they are.
2. I can choose to use any one or combination of their methods.
3. I am selective as to what I choose to kill.
 
I hunt because I enjoy it, not because I have to hunt to survive. I enjoy the time in the wild, and I also enjoy the kill. Yes, I ENJOY the kill!
I make the decision as to whether I will kill or not, and I'm not driven to do so for survival, I'm not an opportunistic or random killer. I do so by choice. And I feel better when I make that choice. I don't know why, and I don't expect them to understand why. But even my Wife has learned that I am easier to live with when I am able to hunt and much happier and more relaxed after a hunt resulting in a kill.( She is a non-hunter and has noticed this and can't explain it. She is not an anti-hunter)

I have had anti's condemn my actions, then turn around and ask if I could provide a pig for smoking for a July 4th party.

I provided them with the means to get their own pig. They said there was no way they would kill any animal. So being the soft hearted type, I reluctantly went out and shot one myself. Then dropped it off at their house for them to clean and butcher.(that went over real big)
After that they have always bought the pig.

I won't argue with them because you can't win, They just don't seem to understand. You can give them all the facts about urban development, loss of habitat, over population and disease, and where the money for conservation comes from and they don't care. Small minds think small.

Hunt because you want to hunt! Don't think you have to justify your actions to someone that will never agree with them. The day you begin questioning whether your right or wrong, because you can't appease their way of thinking; is the day you need to either quit hunting, (because your beginning to believe their way of thought) or stop trying to rationalize with an irrational way of thinking; And just go hunt.