Are game farms ethical?

[Dan Andrews]

I recently talked to a friend who has a Rams head on his garage wall. When I asked him about it he said "oh that, it was a mistake". He went on to explain he was invited to hunt on a game farm in the US. It was 100 acres of "sitting ducks" and he said some guys were handing in their credit cards at the gates and going in and just killing everything in site. You pay for what ever you shoot.

Personally I think this ia a cop out for guys who can't really hunt. I myself will be proud of my first kill no matter how small it is. As long as it is meat for the family I may even mount the first one. Some guys however go to these farms loaded (stocked) with huge trophy animals and they're actually proud of their kills because of the size and shape of the animals.

EG. Deer Video on Google

What do you think? Is this even ethical? If we had a game farm near here would you try out hunting? Are pheasants or rabbits any different?

If this is OK then I'm handing in my credit card the next time I go to the zoo.

[Tom Chopin]

Good Question Chilli? I'm not a hunter but have nothing against it. My thoughts are if the animals have to be tracked and actually hunted with the chance that you may get nothing then that would be o.k. to me. The acreage would have to be big enough to give the animals a chance and chances are these animals would have been farmed raised and not trapped from the wild. Not much different than stocking the quarry at sherkston. Pay for Play.

[Tony Scavo]

Chilli,

Yes i would ! Why because i had the pleasure of hunting on one of these hunting preserves just before it was banned in Ontario for wild boar. The game farm i hunted on was a huge enclosure. I found it was very challenging and not as easy as it seems. Trust me unless you actually experience a hunt on one of these preserves it's hard to make that call. I had to track a wounded animal for several hours over mountainous terrain water obstacles etc. ( Just like being in a forest up North) that's the type of game farm i experienced. And i would do it again.

T>Scavo

[dr_feelgood]

I am not a hunter, but I have no issue with game farms. IMO there is no difference then livestock being raised for the slaughter house. Game farm animals are raised to be bigger for "hunters" to shoot. Do I consider it a sport.....NO. Is a trophy a sure thing....NO.

I would like to know how many "trophies" actually get eaten form a game farm.

[smerchly]

Not much difference than asking a farmer if you can hunt his land and bag a fat deer or two.......share your kill with him or shoot him a $20 bill for the privelige . In the future as the wilderness decreases and filled with neighbourhoods & shopping malls , we may have more of these "game farms" . I would rather see the farms than the asphalt ......

do they have shoot & release farms ? ........only kidding....but this type of hunting is like looking for Easter eggs , you know they're there ......I have walked at least 20 miles in dense bush in the far north and not seen a deer or moose . We had to do a lot of hunting before we saw anything , and the fence was miles away

[Guest cplummer]

personally being a hunter since the age of 15 i feel these caged animals is by no means a challenge nor is it morally correct...it's like going to marineland for a buffalo hunt or maybe a deer hunt..these operations should be shut down ...If you can't hunt properly then DON'T.. it's like hitler caging humans then killing them for sport? gimme a break...tis is not hunting it's killing!!!!'cliff...

[smerchly]

Personally , I'm with you Cliff .......I wouldn't hunt on a game farm if it was free . It is not the same . I believe these game farms started years ago with pheasants and partridge . And I have seen changes to hunting methods over the years....like moose hunting using quads running the trails and going places where walking would be tough going .........We have many more tools at our disposal even in the wilderness.

[Dan Andrews]

Wow quite a mixed bag of replies. And not the answers I had anticipated. Everyones got a good reason for their oppinion and here's mine. Hopefully I won't come of as harsh as Cliffy (you old pirate).

Tony I think the farm you hunted was larger then most. There are pheasant farms near here but I'm not sure if they clip their wings or if they can escape. Most likely they are farely tame due to being raised by humans. I had to chase one this summer that we released earlier in the year. I could have grabbed it a strangled it.

I would rather hunt a 100 acre wood lot for deer than a 100 acre game farm. Everyone knows deer have a home range of 1 mile. The difference is on a game farm they can't leave that 1 mile to escape. I feel that if an animal outsmarts you it deserves not to be harvested. Also this is also a more likley place to find Chronic Wasting Disease. These enclosures are a danger to our wild herds. In the States CWD was primarily found on wild game farms and hunting enclosures but it has now spread to the wild herds. Last I heard it was thought to be spreading by saliva, mucas and even breath. They've got a real mess down there.

I also don't care for extreme distance hunting like the guns that can take an animal over 700 yards. Just doesn't seem fair. I will begin hunting next year with a bow. I may hunt duck which will require a shot gun but for deer, rabbit and turkey I'll hunt bow. Did you see all the deer they filmed in that video? The only thing that made that a sport is they picked a deer and waited for that one instead of taking a shot at the first one that passed them.

We have a 100 acre lot close to my home with two more connected. There are too many deer for this areas carrying capacity so some need to be taken. I will track them and get to know where they are when and try to get one in my freezer. That's if I get landowner consent of coarse. I won't have my pick of animals and I won't bait them. If it's only small or ratty looking my first will still go on the wall. Trophies are for athletes. Hunting is for dinner

Hey whatever your oppinion I can live with that. You just owe me a beer if you dissagree

Dan

[knightfisher]

I think if one is going to hunt, he hunts. Going to a game farm knowing that there are animals stocked,

is not really that challanging. You know that the animals are there, and can't get out of the farm. Your chances are increased because of that factor. Years ago up around Barrie, a few of us hiked in the woods

for hours, we didn't know the area at all and the snow in some area's was three feet deep. Saw some deers, but they were out of range.

Got a rabbit though. That was it for me. If your going eat the meat, go for it. But make it fair.

Don't mean to step on anyone's toes, but sitting in a tree for a day reading a book waiting for a deer to come by and pop it.

Give me a break, that's not hunting. Where the hell is challange in that. There is none. If that is the way

one bags an animal, at least have the awareness to know that you are not a hunter.

The root word in hunter is hunt. If you are waiting in a tree instead of hunting.....

Chilli do I get a deer steak because I agree with you

[Guest bigfish1965]

There's a big difference between a canned hunt and a stocked pond. There is the relative stresses encountered for mammals versus fish, the lack of a possible catch and release and a few others I won't get into.

Stocked ponds are great for kids and others who don't have the time or the experience to target less accessible fish.

Canned hunts are rather distasteful to me. The animals have no escape and are often flushed to the fence lines. I've seen videos of canned hunts for lions and other cats. The animals were so tamed they didn't even seem bothered by human presence.

[jwl]

game farm, as in raisng a herd of example ..elk like you would cattle for food, well my opinion that there are too many disease issues possible from over crowding/population in the corralled area, as well as the threat of these farmed raised animals escaping and mingling with local wildlife populations, creating a weaker gene pool, I personally have no issues with eating the animals, I love eating game, and will try just about whatever..the 4 kinds of meat you can buy at the grocery store get a little boring

game farm, as in hunting, well I totally disagree with practices like letting a few turkeys. pheasant go from a box counting to 10 and shooting at them like some places have for all the yahoos with money who want to "hunt" they don't even care what they shoot as long as it looks all perdy close to the mantle.

But if it's a big game preserve/ ranch sort of thing on 100's of acres of land, I don't real;ly think there is much wrong with that, I have read articles and seen a few hunting shows about some big game ranch hunts, these places have a "normal" population of your quarry, and by the things I had read, and seen on TV and pictures, these guys have to "hunt" just as hard as anyone going out into the bush any time.They just have the rach hands as guides that have scoped out all season long the movements of the animals all season and can drive you right over to the herds, but if you went to some of these places, "blind" and went it on your own, you would have to use all of your hunting skills just like anywhere else, as far as the fenced in part goes, these places where so big, you aren;t goping to easily find the fence line let alone drive the animals into it.

I don't agree with the trophy hunting thing though, and the big buck contests with a point system for the biggest rack..tee hee...I said biggest rack ..alot of prime bucks fall pray to that, and I think that alot of genetically strong males get killed.Sad part is, alot of those trophie's aren't even utilized by the guys who shot them, they cut off the head and give the rest away to shelters and stuff.I personally would never intentionally kill anything I wouldn't eat.

[Guest cplummer]

There's a big difference between a canned hunt and a stocked pond. There is the relative stresses encountered for mammals versus fish, the lack of a possible catch and release and a few others I won't get into.

Stocked ponds are great for kids and others who don't have the time or the experience to target less accessible fish.

Canned hunts are rather distasteful to me. The animals have no escape and are often flushed to the fence lines. I've seen videos of canned hunts for lions and other cats. The animals were so tamed they didn't even seem bothered by human presence.

stocked ponds are great for all when the rivers a mud hole and you NEED to get fish and a 10+ lb bow would sure help ... i think thats a different thread though!! i have yet to see a hunter release what he bags so others may enjoy ... oops don't wanna hijack a hunting issue here....

[Dan Andrews]

I knew you had too Cliff

Besides it was relative. Canned hunt or fall salmon at bailies bridge. I don't see the difference.

I guess you can't really form an informed oppinion unless you've been there. By the sounds of it, there are some huge areas out there.

As for the tree thingy Knightfisher, If your hunting from a stand you better here them coming. From what I've read and been told from hunters, if you blink or fart your day in the stand will be in vane. Deer have excellent vision. I myself want to try a drive hunt. One guy on the ground making noise (I'm good at that) and one in the tree.

Now I've come up on deer laying down. They freeze hoping you didn't see them. I'd never shoot them like that. There are many ethics questions related to hunted but don't be too quick to condemm others for their oppinion. Thats the job for the ARA's

Head shot Tommy??