To want a total ban on 'recreational' hunting?

[Railgunner1]

Especially importing trophies from abroad.
Makes me sick everytime i see some smug bastard smiling with corpses of murdered endangered species.
Sick and perverse.

LockHart Spot on.
my DH and FIL got to SMIL's parents' in Scotland every year for a stalk...keeps my freezer stocked for a good couple of months when they come back! I would rather eat a deer that's been worked for and killed with a single shot, quickly, than give my money to supermarkets and eat their miserable factory farmed pigs/chickens

YANBU.

There's no question about hunting endangered species; that should not be allowed. It is simply common sense.

With other animals, there need to be stricter rules, and they need to be enforced by a central authority where any preferential treatment of friends and relatives is prevented.

If someone hunts boars wrong then there's actually more of them the next year than there'd be without the hunting, which is great for the hunter, assuming he wants more prey, but bad for nearby farmers.

Trophy-hunters who will shoot the most majestic male deer and spare those with deformed antlers because they don't make good trophies, are also not doing the wildlife a favour.

This is all well known (and I know it because I read books written by professional hunters) but I have heard stories about people who managed to get a hunting permit despite being total bonkers. So clearly, there is a problem that needs to be adressed.

Considering that hunting requires a weapon, the laws should be tightened, anyway.

Vestal I believe that also affects future breeding prospects of the deer (a herd?) because the stag with the "most majestic antlers" will assert himself as the dominate male and be the mate of choice for the does. Once he is gone, the other males fight for dominance and can potentially miss out on a whole breeding season. Ergo: no baby deer.

To me there's a world of difference between hunting that's about trophies and exotic animals, and hunting animals that need to be culled, or are hunted to be eaten.

I've hunted wild boar. It's a cultural tradition in Italy and an ecological necessity. Also, the entire community gets together to share and cook the meat. What's the problem here?

I have a friend who goes out deer hunting pretty regularly. This is in NZ where, strictly speaking, deer are a pest (as are cats) and ought to be eradicated. He eats what he shoots, and quite often gives me some too.

I don't give shit if he wants to stick a trophy on his wall tbh. Far more important things in life to worry about.

The World Wildlife Federation supports big game hunting for conservation. The info is on their website. There's a great episode of Adam Ruins Everything about it. I don't remember all the info, but basically the hunters pay a lot of money to hunt, which helps the area where the animals live and incentivises the locals to support anti-poaching initiatives. The hunters are then told which animals they can hunt. Frequently they're animals that are too old to breed or are disrupting the herd in some way. They hunt with guides, so they kill the "right" animals. And yes, the meat goes to the locals for food - even big cats. It's good for their economy and for conservation of the animals themselves. The ecosystems don't have to support animals that are detrimental to the health of the herds.

Railgunner1 Wanting to ban something because you don't like it makes you an unpleasant person.
this BBC article agrees that, in some areas, big game hunting supports wildlife conservation, so it can be a good thing.
It depends on the area and the species.

Don't confuse the World Wildlife Federation (a religious organisation) with the World Wildlife Fund/ Worldwide Fund for Nature (which are the European/American branches of a conservation charity - the one with the panda logo). The conservation charity does not advocate big game hunting.

Railgunner1 Sun 26-Mar-17 11:00:26
"Let me guess, predators have been exterminated already in those areas? Wolf, bear, lynx -- driven into extinction in many areas"

A lynx can hardly take down an elk. There are still wolves and bears, but not perhaps in sufficient numbers (and tbh it would be difficult to have very large numbers of bears and wolves in built-up areas and on farmland).

Besides, man is one of the traditional predators and has been for many millennia.

Railgunner1 Wanting to ban something because you don't like it makes you an unpleasant person.
So fucking what? I find hunters bloody revolting. Do they care?

I would somewhat agree with hunting for food. However... it is historically a thing of privileged classes, therefore "sports" and hardly a neccessity to put food on the table.

Culling... Very problematic. While population control might be necessery in some cases (where humans fucked up the environment so much that nature can't handle itself anymore) otherwise it becomes just an excuse. Seals scratch fishing nets, birds of prey catch hare and pheasants which are supposedly 'meant' for hunters... And hello... badgers?

I will not even go into big cats or elephants.

Railgunner and Barbarianmum The WWF doe support trophy hunting in certain circumstances. link
So your dislike of people's behaviour damages wildlife - glad you are not in charge.

Railgunner1 Wanting to ban something because you don't like it makes you an unpleasant person

Oh yes ofcourse it does
I'll. e an unpleasant person with you op.

You are very shouty about how awful they are. Anonymously on the internet.

You have not said a single thing about what you are doing in real life to stop it. Or could do.

You show no sign of having thought about the socioeconomics that support such trophy hunting in different settings around the world. How could we change the underlying problems or preferences to change the behaviours?

Someone else's job to actually do something is it?

Yeah, you are a warrior. Yawn. Keep shouting in the echo chamber. That'll change the third world's problems.

Let me guess, predators have been exterminated already in those areas? Wolf, bear, lynx -- driven into extinction in many areas

Where I live we have bear, coyotes, bobcats, and dogs all of which kill deer/moose.

We also have fast-moving vehicles and very long cold winters, both of which kill a lot of deer/moose.

We also have humans who can hunt by permit only, and may kill one deer a year.

It's tough to be a deer (or a moose) round here...

I would somewhat agree with hunting for food. However... it is historically a thing of privileged classes, therefore "sports" and hardly a neccessity to put food on the table.

In the UK maybe. Where I live in the US, it's the opposite way around. Hunting is more of a lower class occupation, and everyone either keeps the food to eat, or donates it to a food bank.

Railgunner1 Mon 27-Mar-17 09:38:19

"I would somewhat agree with hunting for food. However... it is historically a thing of privileged classes, therefore "sports" and hardly a neccessity to put food on the table."

As pp said, that depends on the locality. Even in the UK, I imagine there are quite a few rabbit-shooting farmers who are not over-loaded. (and rabbit with dumplings is very sustaining indeed)

In northern Europe, it is a pretty class-less pursuit. Our neighbour was a lumberjack, his wife worked on the assembly line, he hunted every autumn. Most of the food is shared out among the hunters' families but some ends up in the shops.

Fishing pretty much the same. None gets wasted. We caught a dozen mackerels on a sailing trip last summer: every scrap of meat got eaten. And it does far less damage to the environment than professional trawling.