10 replies to this topic

[ninepointer]

The "anti's" letter:
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article....aspx?e=2550853

The response letter:
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/Article....aspx?e=2558432

OK, here's the challenge to every hunter on this board. Make a commitment to do at least one thing per year to assert and protect your right to hunt and the rights of the next generation of hunters. For example, write a letter or email to the newspaper, your MPP, your municipality, speak or submit written comments at a public meeting, whatever. Once per year, that's all. Just do it!

[chilli]

Derek you have some good responses to your letter also.

Good job and thank you for keeping it respectable. Rebuttals ofetn have such an angry tone but your was pure fact and info.

[Flywire]

Awesome letter, the sad part is that alone should be enough to convince people but they're so blind to the reality of the world around them

[chilli]

Cavemen were obviously allot smarter than today's society too. They knew that letting their knowledge and skills slip the next generation would surely mean a pathetic death. Survival skills are passed down, learned and sharpened. The letter writer is naive to think the dirty 30's could not return and with today's world population, only the best hunters and knowledgeable outdoors men will survive - but then again there's always the deli......

[Ollie]

What an idiot. I wish people would think before they speak. (ok sometimes I'm guilty too), but does he really think that cows and pigs on a farm raised for slaughter have a better life than the deer in the forest that may get shot in the fall?

And when did the deli start carrying venison anyway? And to suggest the hunter has no respect for the animals? I bet we have more respect for them than he has!

Granted there are idiots out there who poach and don't respect the resource, but generally, the hunter is nature's best friend!

But what do I know? I guess my brain has just degraded to be more primitive than a caveman.....what an idiot!

[davincan]

I have never hunted. I think the reason I have never hunted is because my father never hunted hence, I was never taught to hunt and the sport never took root within me.

But I have always respected the hunter’s important role in the conservation and population control of wildlife. I am not sure I could ever pull the trigger of a rifle aimed at a deer, or a moose or a bear or any other mammal. I have come to appreciate photographing them instead and as strange as this may sound I would almost feel like I was betraying the animal if I used my 'stalking techniques' honed for taking pictures to actually kill one instead. Regardless, I am glad others hunt since someone has to do it.

That said, the one and only thing about hunting that rubs me the wrong way is Trophy hunting. I wholeheartedly agree with hunting as a means to cull the animal’s numbers and keep them under control; while at the same time providing valuable revenue that can be directed at conservation and additional revenue to our tourism industry. But some hunters seem to seek out only the biggest and strongest since these animals make the best photos and garner the best bragging rights. I just don't think that a true hunter should care how many points the buck's antlers have, or how much the animal weighs. In my perfect world the hunter would take down the weak, the inferior, and the slow; leaving the largest and strongest to pass on their genes to the next generation. When we fish we love to catch the largest, the strongest, and the most visually stunning specimens...but more and more we are coming to understand that it is better for the species and the industry if we let these ones go after a few photos; in favour of keeping the smaller more common sized fish to eat. But of course with a rifle as the tool there's not much of an opportunity for catch and release now is there?

Just my 2 cents. (With respect)

[I'm_A_Drifter]

I don't hunt either. If I did it would be for wild turkey....illmatter, I still respect the ethical hunters out there. It just not my thing.

And on a final thought....who else but the hunters and fishers take part in preserving all things nature. Who better understands the ecology involved than those who are interactive with the environment.

City folk who only get dirty by the smudges of newsprint do not and should speak of those in which they do not understand.

[Flywire]

As much as Ted Nugent is crazy......

[fishkid]

I've always fished. Since I was in a stroller. But I never became a hunter until about a year ago. My dad and grandfather always hunted before I was born, but both stopped a long time ago. They never talked much about it to me or my family because they didn't want to press the idea onto anyone. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But me, being as obsessed with wildlife as I am, took it upon myself to start on my own. I always knew that hunters were very passionate about conservation and preserving what we had, but I never really got the idea completely until I became one myself. Ever since then, I have felt it to be almost a duty to defend the activities that we enjoy so much to all of the ignorants in society that are so tuned out of it that they think driving a moped will save the earth, and that eating broccoli will keep an animal alive. Nope. Sorry yuppie, but nope. I think that the only way to make people understand is to get them out and experience what we do, but unfortunately for us and for our sport, the majority of these people are followers and made their decision before doing their homework.

[ninepointer]

fishkid, on May 2 2010, 10:45 AM, said:

I have felt it to be almost a duty to defend the activities that we enjoy so much

Good on ya, Fishkid! We need more like you willing to act on that sense of duty and conservation.

[M K]

take the anti hunter for s drive down in the states, let's say buffalo, to Pittsburgh. let them see all the dead deer on the side of the road, and those are the lucky ones, once they see the deer burger sprayed all over the highway, from getting clobbered by a loaded big rig, they might have a clue why hunting is important. the last time i drove that way i counted 27 deer, on the side of the road, and 5 were nuttin but bloody stains of deerburger smeared all over the place.