Oh I know I can’t shoot far with a bow, I have tried lol
But I have a deer stand that’s directly above a trail the deer in the area have followed for years, so they come very close. Great spot for really good photography of birds and baby deer too!
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I used to think that hunting was awful, mean, and savage. Now, however, I have had a change of heart. The deer and turkey populations are boiling over, so to speak, because there are no natural predators. Yes, all those wolves, cougars, bears, and whatever were shot out by hunters, but I still think that if you eat it, and it is a turkey, deer, or otherwise non-endangered animal, especially if it is eating all the wild leeks, then you’re fine. Just keep away from the ivory-billed woodpecker and Nessie.
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As Thomas Malthus first noted some 200 years ago, more organisms are produced than can possibly survive. Hence, many/most organisms are destined to succumb to natural causes without contributing to future generations. In my own work on Pitcher-plant Mosquitoes it was 90%…the population could be reduced to 10% of the original and still have the same population fitness the next generation. The idea of overproduction was a key idea for Darwin is recognizing the operations of natural selection as mechanism for population change.
This overproduction is why many hunting seasons are timed to occur right before resources become limiting and animals start to starve. Fall hunting seasons of deer and elk are way more common than spring seasons for this reason. So, if the goal is to maintain healthy populations through the winter, hunting plays a role. If instead the goal is to minimize suffering of animals starving to death through the winter, then again hunting plays a role. If the goal is to keep populations from increasing out of control and impacting the human built environment (e.g., gardens, roadkill, etc), then hunting plays a role. One may not like the moral implications of killing another organism for one’s own gain, but I would much rather favor humane acute loss of life than chronic suffering of those same organisms somewhere out of sight as they slowly starve to death.
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Modern bow hunting is done with powerful crossbows. They are frightening things, and I am just as afraid to go iNatting in the woods in Vermont during bow-hunting season as I am during regular gun-hunting season.
I’m not opposed to deer-hunting, though. I just could never do it myself.
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Cecil the white lion was wounded with a ‘bow and arrow’
Trophy ? Tick.
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This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. As a member of the general public, I need to know that it’s now a hunting area! As a hunter, you need to know that I know! It’s frustrating for everyone when there is confusion.
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Yes, but . . . . We have also heard the same kind of argument from some hunters. Those wolves are killing our elk (wapiti).
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Humans evolved as omnivores, eating meat (as part of a balanced diet) is natural and healthy (for most people) and I don’t think it’s right to judge people for eating the diet their body is designed to eat, and hunted animals generally suffer less than the animals from which store bought meat comes, so I see no convincing moral argument against hunting as a concept. That said, some regulation is obviously needed for sustainability and safety.
I do think one should not kill for no reason, so I don’t think hunting trophies you don’t plan to eat is good (unless it serves an ecological purpose)
I see a lot of comments about lead pollution, I think this is a significant problem but fixable with non-lead ammo.
I like to fish, but I think there is a significant problem with anglers not knowing how to properly handle fish that they release (whether doing intentional catch and release or simply releasing undersized fish and out of season or protected species) I strongly recommend barbless hooks, they make it easier to remove the hook, make unhooking less painful for the fish and less likely to result in injury to the fish, and have the same benefits if you have to unhook yourself.
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In many cases, you’re supposed to do this. With sunfish in the midwest (and many other species in ponds and lakes) the carrying capacity is expressed in mass. So you can have lots of tiny fish or few big fish. On our pond we always encouraged people to keep (or throw away) all the “undersized” bluegill so the other fish could get larger. My husband kept the little ones and got really good at filleting them quickly. Fried bluegills made a good contribution to breakfasts.
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It sounds like you are saying you are supposed to release undersized fish, but then that you are saying you are supposed to not release undersized fish?
Here you are usually required to release fish under a certain size, so they have time to grow bigger, but in some cases you are also supposed to release the really big ones, so they can reproduce
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In Alaska, people are encouraged to release large halibut because they are most likely females with eggs. Many people do keep large halibut as trophies, though, when it would be better to release them.
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Don’t the large ones taste worse too?
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I’m not sure.
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In other words it’s a significant problem that won’t be fixed or that will only be seriously addressed once it’s already too late.
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With some fish in some situations, releasing undersized fish is good because they will grow – fishing regulations usually make clear if this is the case. With sunfish and many other species in confined ponds and lakes, undersized fish should be removed so others can grow bigger. In some cases, e.g. sturgeon in Oregon and Washington, the biggest fish must be left to breed – again, regulations may this clear. With invasive fish, all should be removed. In some stressed fisheries, only catch-and-release fishing is allowed. I wish this were simple, but it’s not.
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In many of the places where I fish sunfish, the regulation is that anything under 8 inches (which is big for a sunfish) must be released, and the Fish and game dept says this is so they grow bigger
Why do you say that?
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I think where this gets complicated is when people get pushed off their land so trophy hunting reserves can be established, like you see happen sometimes in Tanzania and Kenya. Nothing annoys me so much as people going, “I killed a lion, and I feel good about it because the meat went to the villagers,” when the locals would quite possibly be a good deal happier to be doing their own hunting and farming on their own land.
I’ve fished a bit and have considered getting into hunting. I have nothing against it, in fact, I usually think it’s neutral to beneficial here, except for when it’s done by the many, many people who get a kick out of killing coyotes and crows as sentient target practice. “People” in Morton and Elbe even brag about torturing coyotes.
I’m doing a year of archery classes right now and have considered taking the compound bow line, but we’ll see. The worst thing about hunting is the other hunters.
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Can be true, I suppose. Not the issue at our pond or in many others.
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Indeed.
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For most fish species larger fish are not as good eating as the smaller ones.
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