To ask what you think about people hunting/shooting

[lorettalemon]

I was with quite a big group of people last night and some of them said that they enjoyed shooting (pheasants). Some of the rest of the group remained quiet and didn't say anything and I think they didn't want to argue. I quickly tried to change the subject because I had nothing polite to say.

I personally think that to blow creatures to bits, not with any intention of eating them (they said they had no idea what happened to them) for fun makes you a certain level of messed up in the head. It's lost on me how it's a sport. If you're intending to eat them, that's one thing, although hunting your own food isn't usually necessary in this day and age. Killing things because you enjoy doing it is absolutely lost on me.

I wanted to ask whether people generally think it's ok or not, because I can't believe that the majority of people can think it's ok!

I have never thought hunting for food is morally worse than farming animals or keeping animals in captivity. But you give me pause for thought as pheasants are kind of farmed/produced in a way, and primarily for sport.

I think they should be hunted and shot. Maybe in a hunger games type scenario.

When you kill an animal yourself, you take responsibility for what you eat, and that you choose to eat meat, in a way that you don't if you buy it wrapped in plastic.

A whole bunch of things come together for a lot of people who shoot: working dogs, being out of doors, game-finding, and eating what you have killed.

In all honesty I don't really care.

DRFT but i mean if i see that a hunter was killed by the lion/elephant/bear he was hunting, i have a giggle. karma and all that!

The amount of roadkill around here is disgusting (rural Devon) We are right in the middle of moor/woodland and it's 98% pheasants that have been bred and fed.I don't agree with hunting for sport but at least you are eating the killed animals or I would bloody hope so. I have seen big hunt holidays abroad advertised. I can't get my head around those - all to mount antlers on your wall.
I'm an meat eater btw.
I have also worked in the butchery trade - there are a lot of disgusting abuse of animals happening in slaughterhouses. I often worried what the right thing to do is, if I give up meat the animal cruelty won't stop. It needs 100% stricter laws and 110% more inspections in farms and in slaughterhouses and massive fines and shut downs to be implemented.

I'm grand with people hunting and shooting. My dad has poached done a bit in the past and it always ends up in the pot. I'm sure if we were a richer family he would enjoy stalking and going on shoots.

Not for fun. But if you are a meat eater and you are hunting for food to feed yourself/ family or maybe because you are selling it as food fine as long as it's not done for enjoyment of just killing a living thing.

My dad is a forester. Part of his job involves maintaining the right level of deer, foxes, squirrels, rabbits etc in the wood.

As a child I hated it, I was a very sensitive child and I never went near the garage as I knew there might be dead animals in there. When I was about 8 he took me shooting with him and I can still remember the smell from the gun and the sight of the fox dead on the floor but still twitching.
I always lied to my friends about what he did for a job.

As I have got older I understand why its important to keep the population under control and the damage to the trees but I still don’t really like what he does.
Though I am a hypocrite as I do like the venison steak he stocks my freezer with.
Everything he shoots gets used in some way and I guess it’s better he does it as I know he is good at it and the animal dies instantly.

I think it's awful. I don't eat animals though.

It is such a tricky subject - I live in the rural community so get the pest control within the farm and land owners.
I also get why people don't eat meat. Totally.

Pheasants aren't wildlife.

Yes, that's what the tobacco companies said when they first wanted to ban cigarette advertising on TV.

Curious comparison given people don’t tend to die from hunting (bar the incredibly rare accident)

Killing any animal is barbaric. They do not exist for us to murder.
I would not be able to be on friendly terms with someone that did this for ‘fun’, I actually think it indicates mental health issues.

Hi,
I live on an estate where pheasants and grouse are reared. To protect the birds, the keepers basically shoot everything that could prey on them and I mean everything, protected species and pets included.
They then bring groups of wealthy men in to stand in a line, while poor buggers aka beaters scare the birds into flying where they then pop at them with rifles. These men are given a lot of alcohol and are in charge of firearms.
The birds DO NOT get eaten but are incinerated. Trust me, I see it year in and year out. It's abhorrent!

I can't make myself care about hunting without hounds. There are things* I do care about, but not hunting-without-dogs or fishing.

Hunting with hounds is too much like torture for the animal that dies, I'm glad it's banned.

*Stuff like climate change & rehabilitation of prisoners & good social care for elderly & other things that don't affect my daily life in any way.

I know pheasants aren't wildlife - they are bred to be shot. 98% of the roadkill are pheasants here, then badgers, foxes, birds, deer etc.

Not to mention the state of someone's mind who would actually find this a jolly good jape! Mind you, they have been shipped off to school when they're about 18 months old and basically raised by an institution. How could they ever end up normal!!!!

Grouse aren’t bred for shoots, just pheasant. And deer.

Look this is always going to be a decisive subject. Yes people shoot for food and money - lots of working class families in the countryside beat for cash - but there is always going to be an element of sport in it.

I’d rather go out and have an excellent day, and eat meat I know had been reared well and kill it myself than pick up a tray of abused chicken breasts in a supermarket.

My cousin and his wife own the largest pheasant farm in the area, I know exactly how well those birds have been hatched and cared for. They have a much, much better life than ‘free range’ chickens. I’m sure plenty of people still buy free range eggs thinking they’re doing a decent thing. I eat vegan 90% of the time, because like I’ve said before if you’re still eating meat and dairy you committing a worse crime than going on a shoot. Those animals truly suffer, but people are happy to bitch at shoots but not give up animal products. Infuriating really.

Grouse are reared for shoots. I see it every year!

My husband shoots, he loves it, personally I stick to Clay's but I do prep and cook the birds he kills and I like having a freezer full of meat

The amount of money that this sport pumps into the countryside is staggering. Lots of areas would be totally lost without the care of gamekeepers and staff working so hard, they're actually doing a great job for the habitat

Hunting for food is fine, I fish myself and would like to go hunting one day (my uncle hunts elk and gave me some of the meat once - fresh is much nicer than frozen shop bought) but hunting just for fun is weird and cruel. I mean it's ok to have fun while hunting, but don't waste the life of the animal.

Can't see the fun in hunting pheasants though, they are really dumb. They are wild where I live and regularly walk across the road in front of cars - must be really easy to kill them.

Shooting sentient beings for fun is twisted and in my book it makes them evil fucking bastards I'd have no interest in spending any time with tbh OP

@Thubten no, they’re really not. Red grouse have never been reared. so I’m not sure what you’ve seen.

Killing things for fun is barbaric.