Subsistence vs Sport Hunting

[WinterBorn]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

Herd management.

If you're worried about herd management then you don't kill the predators.

The trouble with that reasoning is there is no way to control what a predator kills. Yes, deer have no natural predators in many areas. Yes, a predator would help control herd size in a perfect world. However, predators will take the easiest prey. If the choice is deer or people's pets, the pets will often lose. Between cattle and deer, the cattle are much easier to kill.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

 

[Skull Pilot]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

Herd management.

If you're worried about herd management then you don't kill the predators.

Worrying about it is irrelevant, and sometimes it's the predators that need culling.

When prey is scarce the predator population declines

It's been like that since before we people were ever around

 

[Skull Pilot]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

There are a several reasons I can think of, off the top of my head.

I hunt coyotes. But I don't eat them. Since they are non-native species, they are wrecking havoc on the local wildlife populations, and doing the same with local small farmers. So I am removing a predator.

I have hunted other "pest" species. I do not eat them.

Coyotes are not native to North America?

 

[Skull Pilot]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

Herd management.

If you're worried about herd management then you don't kill the predators.

The trouble with that reasoning is there is no way to control what a predator kills. Yes, deer have no natural predators in many areas. Yes, a predator would help control herd size in a perfect world. However, predators will take the easiest prey. If the choice is deer or people's pets, the pets will often lose. Between cattle and deer, the cattle are much easier to kill.

I live in an area with coyotes and other animals that will kill cats and small dogs

I keep my cat inside and don't let my dogs run loose

 

[WinterBorn]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

There are a several reasons I can think of, off the top of my head.

I hunt coyotes. But I don't eat them. Since they are non-native species, they are wrecking havoc on the local wildlife populations, and doing the same with local small farmers. So I am removing a predator.

I have hunted other "pest" species. I do not eat them.

Coyotes are not native to North America?

Sure they are. But they are not native to the southeastern US.

 

[WinterBorn]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

Herd management.

If you're worried about herd management then you don't kill the predators.

The trouble with that reasoning is there is no way to control what a predator kills. Yes, deer have no natural predators in many areas. Yes, a predator would help control herd size in a perfect world. However, predators will take the easiest prey. If the choice is deer or people's pets, the pets will often lose. Between cattle and deer, the cattle are much easier to kill.

I live in an area with coyotes and other animals that will kill cats and small dogs

I keep my cat inside and don't let my dogs run loose

That works sometimes. And sometimes dogs get loose and some people keep dogs outside.

Plus coyote will take foals and calves, or even attack yearlings.

 

[WinterBorn]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

This is a great example. Although, if you take smaller hogs you have some tasty food. But once they get above a certain weight they are not good to eat, especially big boars.

And everyone who hunts should be hunting feral hogs.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

This is a great example. Although, if you take smaller hogs you have some tasty food. But once they get above a certain weight they are not good to eat, especially big boars.

And everyone who hunts should be hunting feral hogs.

I usually dont eat feral pigs of any size,and you definitely want a yearling if you're going to. Less of a chance of them picking up some kinda nastiness at that age.
There's a reason most deer processors wont process em.

 

[WinterBorn]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

This is a great example. Although, if you take smaller hogs you have some tasty food. But once they get above a certain weight they are not good to eat, especially big boars.

And everyone who hunts should be hunting feral hogs.

I usually dont eat feral pigs of any size,and you definitely want a yearling if you're going to. Less of a chance of them picking up some kinda nastiness at that age.
There's a reason most deer processors wont process em.

I know some farmers in south Georgia who will shoot feral hogs and leave them where they fall.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

This is a great example. Although, if you take smaller hogs you have some tasty food. But once they get above a certain weight they are not good to eat, especially big boars.

And everyone who hunts should be hunting feral hogs.

I usually dont eat feral pigs of any size,and you definitely want a yearling if you're going to. Less of a chance of them picking up some kinda nastiness at that age.
There's a reason most deer processors wont process em.

I know some farmers in south Georgia who will shoot feral hogs and leave them where they fall.

I'd scoop em up with the front end loader and dump em over my fence onto the side of the road. The buzzards and coyotes made short work of em.
When the county came through for it's once a year roadside mowing the bones would make a hell of a racket.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

Because sometimes, there are TOO MANY of them and some need to be culled.

I have not condemned culling, but I do blood lust disguised as hunting.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Wildlife of the Desert Southwest- Coyotes

Coyotes are native to the American southwest, yes.

 

[tinydancer]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

Although I've had wild hog many times Awesome meat.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I don't care for sport hunting

If you're not going to eat an animal then why kill it?

To thin them out when they become a problem.
Like feral hogs for example.

Although I've had wild hog many times Awesome meat.

I tend to stay away from it. There's risk involved when you eat feral hogs,I just go down to the hog farm and get one if i'm planning doing a whole pig.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Shooting feral hogs is not sport hunting to me but varmint control.

And, yes, eating a rakestraw rooter can lead to intestinal problems.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Man is as much a natural hunter as a wolf or bear. That's why he's at the top of the food chain. There is no moral difference between subsistence and sport hunting. Or in paying someone else to do your killing for you like most people do most of the time.
The person who killed your hamburger didn't eat what he killed; does that make him a bad person? Do you know anyone who actually eats what they catch in mouse traps or what they kill with bug spray?
Predators? You can't have your cake if something already ate it. An animal is not going to pay a farmer or rancher for what it eats nor are they going to pay attention to game or "endangered species" laws.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Man is as much a natural hunter as a wolf or bear. That's why he's at the top of the food chain. There is no moral difference between subsistence and sport hunting. Or in paying someone else to do your killing for you like most people do most of the time.
The person who killed your hamburger didn't eat what he killed; does that make him a bad person? Do you know anyone who actually eats what they catch in mouse traps or what they kill with bug spray?
Predators? You can't have your cake if something already ate it. An animal is not going to pay a farmer or rancher for what it eats nor are they going to pay attention to game or "endangered species" laws.

Specious.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Man is as much a natural hunter as a wolf or bear. That's why he's at the top of the food chain. There is no moral difference between subsistence and sport hunting. Or in paying someone else to do your killing for you like most people do most of the time.
The person who killed your hamburger didn't eat what he killed; does that make him a bad person? Do you know anyone who actually eats what they catch in mouse traps or what they kill with bug spray?
Predators? You can't have your cake if something already ate it. An animal is not going to pay a farmer or rancher for what it eats nor are they going to pay attention to game or "endangered species" laws.

Specious.

We are talking about sport hunting and not eating the kill. That is not the same as food production, where the purpose is to eat the kill.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Man is as much a natural hunter as a wolf or bear. That's why he's at the top of the food chain. There is no moral difference between subsistence and sport hunting. Or in paying someone else to do your killing for you like most people do most of the time.
The person who killed your hamburger didn't eat what he killed; does that make him a bad person? Do you know anyone who actually eats what they catch in mouse traps or what they kill with bug spray?
Predators? You can't have your cake if something already ate it. An animal is not going to pay a farmer or rancher for what it eats nor are they going to pay attention to game or "endangered species" laws.

Specious.

We are talking about sport hunting and not eating the kill. That is not the same as food production, where the purpose is to eat the kill.

Predator control is a part of food production where the predator is rarely eaten.