Ethics of Hunting

[buckytom]

we had a lot of beer...

seriously, we used a buddy's sister's professional hair and beard trimmer. then a little aftershave, and a hot towel.
ok, only kidding about the last 2, but we did use a trimmer. i was tempted to give it a mowhawk. ya know, make it look tough like a razorback, but then i figured no one would eat it.

 

[ronjohn55]

Note to self... Never go hunting with BT...

John

 

[pdswife]

IMHO... if you shoot it you should eat it or give it to someone else to eat.

 

[SierraCook]

constance, eating crows is kinda nasty, but we went hunting for them to protect a corn field, and for fun (hey, i was very young), and all of us were adamant about not wasting an animal for sport, so we bbq'd them to make them edible.

Bucky, I agree that animals should be taken to put food on the table. I have several friends that hunt and that is how they supplement their food for the year.

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie,
When the pie was openeed the birds began to sing,
Oh, wasn't t hat a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey,
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!​

 

[mudbug]

You shoot it, you eat it. That's the rule. End of discussion for me.

 

[GB]

Well this brings up an interesting question (and if this is hijacking the thread then let me know and I will split it off into a new thread). If the rule is "you shoot it you eat it" then what about killing insects. Now I know nobody is shooting them (well unless you are a very impressive shot), but the idea is the same. You are killing a living being. For those that believe you should eat what you kill do you apply that to insects as well and if not then why not.

For me I would never hunt something and not use the meat for food. I think hunting just for hunting sake or for a trophy is wrong. I am a hypocrite though because I have no problem killing insects and I really don't know what the difference is between the two is.

 

[ronjohn55]

Well, for me, killing insects is usually a case of self defense - a lot of those suckers BITE!

Especially those black flies up north...

Seriously though, I do think there is a bit of a difference between a misquito buzzing around your head on the patio, and purposefully going out in the woods to shoot something.

John

 

[GB]

What about the mosquito that is not buzzing around your head, but the one that landed on the table next to you and is not doing anything to you (yet) or the ant on the sidewalk or the spider in the corner of your room (yes I know spiders are not insects, but you know what I am saying)?

 

[ronjohn55]

What about the mosquito that is not buzzing around your head, but the one that landed on the table next to you and is not doing anything to you (yet) or the ant on the sidewalk or the spider in the corner of your room (yes I know spiders are not insects, but you know what I am saying)?

Absolutely. But how about this? There's really no trophy to be had, and there really isn't anything there to eat after you squish it. So it kind of takes the hunting for a trophy versus hunting for food argument away, since you really aren't able to eat those tiny critters. (I guess some people might try, and there are probably people who would collect and show off the dead ones, too)

John

 

[GB]

Ok in that case, what about roaches. Those are eaten in some parts of the world right? Ants too.

 

[ronjohn55]

I can honestly say I don't think I've ever killed a roach. Never had them around. Ants, well... Having been "introduced" to fire ants, Yeah, I whacked a whole bunch of them when I lived down south. Here in Michigan - as long as they aren't trespassing in the house, they are left alone outside.

(And I think we're starting to tread very closely to the "What won't you eat" thread! )

John

 

[Constance]

Ugh! Ewwwww! Roaches give me the creeps worse than anything else. When my kids were little, we lived in an old house that had them IN THE WALLS!
I kept my house very clean, and sprayed all the time, but everytime I went in the kitchen and turned the light on, they'd go running. Finally, my mother paid for an exterminator, who finally got rid of them after 3 trips.

When my husband and I were building our new house, his pop, who lived in Florida, sent me a box of bare-root plants and cuttings wrapped in Spanish moss. The box included a few hitch-hikers...Palmetto Bugs. We're talking GIANT cockroaches. Totally freaked me out when I saw one crawling across the ceiling over my bed.

But roaches were here before we were, and will probably be here when we are gone. I saw an article in National Geographic years ago, when they first returned to Bikini, where the nuclear testing was done. It was still inhabited by rats and roaches.

 

[Alix]

My SIL and her family live in Africa and have eaten some bugs. Still pretty high on the ICK scale for me though.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

There are a whole group of people that hunt and display trophy insects, and in prominant display cases. These are those that collect butterflies. They catch them, kill them, and pin them into display cases as beautiful decorations. I think that artificial butterflies could be made that are jsut as beautiful. I know that there are artificial fishing flies that require phenominal skill, and are considered artwork, and that sell for thousands of dollars.

Again, why is it necessary to kill for a trophy?

Many would think I'm absurd, talking about such things. But as was said by others, where do you draw the line between what we consider to be valuable life, and what is not. And should all life be respected?

I belief all life must be respectred, even the mosquito. And yes, I tend to swat petentially biting bugs like most people do. But I try to recue spiders and set them free outsid my home, rather than kill them just because they co-exist with me on this planet. I also leave hornet, wasp, and bee nests alone, so long as they aren't in a rediculously absurd place, like under my porch. And even then, I destroy the nest as many times as it takes to get them to move, rather than spray an insecticide that will kill them. I know how valuable they truly are in nature. Without hornets and wasps, other, disease causing, and crop destroying pests would overun this little world. They are great hunters and use the other insects as food.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[buckytom]

ok, this discussion gets even better.

when i was a kid, we used to catch yellow jackets (very carefully), shake them up in our cupped hands to stun them, then tied a thread around the body segments and walked/flied them around. when mom called you in for dinner, you just tightened the knot.

my first job in nyc, when i was about 19, was for the associated press fixing modems, teletypes, and laser photo printers. our shop was 3 floors below ground. it was even below the subway running past the building. so, we used to get HUGE roaches, like a palmetto bug on steroids. i used to keep a squirt gun full of denatured alcohol on my desk so when one ran by, you squirted a puddle around it, then tossed on a match. the little things would actually survive the fire, limping away on whatever appendages were left.
so, there's no need to worry about killing a bug. there are thousands of them, just waiting to take it's place. and they're watching you, waiting for you to go to sleep...

 

[Alix]

OK, still breathless with laughter. Buckytom, you are one um...creative cookie! I am sure you had fun with magnifying glasses as a kid too. I know Ken did.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Speaking of cockroaches, one night, while working the 11pm to 7pm shift (young and foolish sailor time of my life), I and a shipmate noticed a cockroach scurrying accross the deck (floor for you landlubbers). We caught it and put it into a plastic vial. We then proceeded to experiment with it by rolling it down the hallway and observing its actions when released. Rolling it did nothing whatsoever. So we upped the ante. We taped the vial to the chuck of a Dremmel drill press. Now you have to understand that this thing would spin at 20,000 rpm. We started with 30 rpm, cockroach in vial, and slowly increased the speed to about 2000 rpm. We released the roach. It had been affected, but soon was back to normal. We continued increasing the speed to see how it affected the bug. When we reached about 15-K, it succumbed to inertial and kinda seperated, parts splattering the inside of the vial.

The moral of the story, cockroaches are not indestructable. They can die. So Bucky, you just have to get yourself a high speed Dremel tool and get to work.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[buckytom]

rofl, that's a great story goodweed!! hmmm, i have a dremel tool, now all i need it a test subject.

i'm sure the last thing that you heard from that cockroack was "WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

 

[pdswife]

Boy.. you two are mean! But, oh so funny.
When we go to Greece David catches scorpians and puts them in bottles with other icky bugs. He watches them battle to the death. So far, the scorpians have won every match.

 

[buckytom]

lol pdswife. that would be cool to watch. like a japanese monster movie from the 60's, but in miniature.

ya know, i guess it's just a guy thing.


goodweed, i think the dremel tool experiment will require some bugs with "the right stuff".

i'm picturing 7 little bugs, walking in slo-mo in a single line, holding their tiny little helmets, heading for the dremel attached test tube.