Seems like a relatively common thing to say and I find myself going out of way to say it as well.

"Well hunting is okay as long as you eat the animal"

or

"Yes we ate the _______"


Why can't it be okay just to go hunting. Isn't utilizying the hide for decoration or utility a legitimate reason to hunt (and it lasts much longer then a meal in any event).

Nothing ever goes to waste in the wild (unless you bury it) so it always benefits something.

I dunno, maybe I am just getting tired of being PC

It makes the death of the animal easily justifiable. Even those less than enthusiastic about hunting have eventually said OK as long as the meat is consumed. I was speaking to a friend today who just couldn't believe people eat elephant. I assured her in third world countries they don't much care where the meat comes from.

Brett

We don't and I won't.

Certainly I do retain and consume the meat when appropriate. None of my moose has ever been wasted. I've been eating wild fowl for a week now.

I can't justify my love of hunting with the consumption of the meat. It isn't economical. Beef and chicken cost far less than wild game does for me and I have no doubt in todays day and age I can buy equally healthy protien products as compared to venison.

I hunt because I love to, the same as others love to golf, collect baseball cards, play basketball, and watch NASCAR. Hunting is my passion and as it is proven to be healthy for both myself and wildlife needs no justification.

.... because my grandpa and great grandfather taught me this when I was young.

quote:

I was speaking to a friend today who just couldn't believe people eat elephant.

Elephant (especially cow elephant) grilled over an open fire to medium rare and then sprinkled with salt is one life's great pleasures. Best when accompanied by a cold beer and a very good cigar.

Ussually served around 8:00 or maybe 10:00AM while recovering your elephant shot the evening before.

Regarding eating what is shot, there is some wastage that is unavoidable, but it ought to be limited as best as possible. Protien is No2 for food scarcity after fats and oils. Many make do with less than ideal and certainly less than they would prefer.

Good to see Hunters for the Hungry, the African locals at an elephant kill sight, or the Argentine villagers at the boat landing waiting patiently for a duck or two... The doorman at one of my clubs appreciates a deer for his family every year as well.

I love cooking and eating wild game, here or elsewhere, but for home consumption, I can and do shoot more than we will eat in a year. So, some game feasts, some roasts for the hunt club, some to Hunters for the hHngry or another local charity and all is well.

JPK

John

The taking of life seems to need some justification. In the case of things you might not want to eat, the need may have been to protect one's lifestock, family and so on. Simply to want a trophy to admire probably won't convince those who can't imagine what that is like. For me, if I want to hunt it there ought to be a way to "remember" the experience visually long after the experience has faded in memory. I don't hunt for wall decorations, any more than for need of food. Eating from the successfully hunted (and expertly cared for) animal adds another sensory dimension. Sorta like full participation for me, even if the whole thing doesn't go to my larder.

The contrast to "eat what you shoot" is when someone just wastes the animal after you killed it. That is very wrong to me, but skins for the floor/wall is just as good a reason to take a trophy. People do eat zebra, bear, lion, etc. but I couldn't shoot one for just the meat.

2 cents

For me it comes around to the fact I do NOT need to hunt, in any way shape or form. However, I do enjoy the hell out of it: the chase, a good shot, camaraderie and adding chapters to a life that hopefully when the book is written, will be worth reading.
Since I choose to hunt, realizing I am killing things when I do not have to, I think the only respectful thing to do is to utilize it as much as possible as to not be a waster. Just as I hate to watch those knife-selling shows where they chop up onions, tomatoes, fish and bricks to show you how good the knives are, then toss all that perfectly good food in the trash, I hate to see a lost bird, or a deer with just its head cut off or a double-limit of anything. Waste is waste and to me, that's a much more important thing NOT to do than whether an animal was eaten after it was killed. To kill without wasting necessarily means the animal is used to the fullest extent. Maybe in the future if someone asks me if I eat what I kill, I'll just tell them I don't waste and let them chew on that.

You don't have to eat it, but please do not be offended if I enjoy a great meal!

quote:

Originally posted by JohnHunt:
Seems like a relatively common thing to say and I find myself going out of way to say it as well.

"Well hunting is okay as long as you eat the animal"

or

"Yes we ate the _______"


Why can't it be okay just to go hunting. Isn't utilizying the hide for decoration or utility a legitimate reason to hunt (and it lasts much longer then a meal in any event).

Nothing ever goes to waste in the wild (unless you bury it) so it always benefits something.

I dunno, maybe I am just getting tired of being PC

Simple:

because

THEY

outnumber

US


and their numbers are ever growing
as is their funding and political and media presence.

After all---in their minds might makes right.
(or RIGHTS as the case may be.)

Expect an --Animal Bill of Rights
in Congress very soon.

Never mind that we ignore the current human oriented one.

I don't always eat the meat. But if I don't, I find someone who will and I donate the meat to them. In Africa it's simple, the meat gets sold or it gets taken by or donated to the communal areas, with some of the choicer pieces eaten by the hunter.

There must be a purpose to hunting beyond enjoying the kill, otherwise one could just volunteer at the abattoir. IMO, If we are taking life of higher animals, we should take effort to insure that we had a decent reason to kill (even if just to enjoy the hunt) and that some benefit is gained from their death other than just feeding scavengers and worms.

I hunt because of love the experience, not only shooting an animal but the total experience of getting out into nature, whether or not I ever pull a trigger. I would never kill for no reason but I also may not eat what I kill but will give it to someone else in need who wants it.

The high point of my elephat hunt was seeing the meat drying in the sun at all of the villages in the area.

Or maybe it was sharing the roasted meat with the 30 or so folks, that spent hours walking to thank us for the gift of meat from the elephant.

First the passing of water to wash, then the meat. Nice folks, they brought Shake-Shake with them.

For myself it is the love of the hunt more than anything else. I dont have to harvest anything to have a good hunt and many times my boys and I have just taken pictures or video and walked away happy for the encounter. I enjoy the meat of the deer and wild pigs that I have taken, but as far as the exotic sheep and goats are concerned the meat is pretty rank. The last Spanish goat I harvested I tried to give to my dog and she just sniffed and walked away.

Maybe off subject, but as a farmer, I dispatch far more pests than game animals. Skunks, 'coons, and what all that might be carrying rabies and drink out of my dog's bowl or lick it's food dish. If someone expects me to eat them it will be after the gun fight.

I enjoy eating the meat from most game animals, but I hunt because I must and I will continue to hunt until I cannot.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:
I enjoy eating the meat from most game animals, but I hunt because I must and I will continue to hunt until I cannot.

Bill Quimby

Exactly.

On an individual basis I do not believe modern hunting is about game management or subsistence. If I am wrong than it can be assumed the modern hunter upon standing over the recently fallen game target revels in not the shot, the chase or the hunt but in the herd health or the about to be full freezer.

A list of african game animals not usually consumed can be easily viewed on any safari operators website. Who here has ever eaten baboon? In North America I believe wolf, brown bear, coyote, any mature bull caribou taken after October 10th, and groundhog are a short list of game animals not consumed.

Certainly there are some, (and I am one at times,) hunters that discharge their weapons from a subsistence imperative. I believe the large majority discharge their weapons for sporting purposes primarily.

..........

quote:

and groundhog are a short list of game animals not consumed.

Never been to Virginia, have ya?

Crock pots and hot sauce man, crock pots and hot sauce.

I do eat all I hunt and I teach classes to others to show them how to do the same.

The flip side of the argument is that nature never wasts anything and because nature doesn't have a conscience it doesn't matter if we eat the animal or not.

In fact we could make the argument that it's wrong to take the food resource from the ecosystem that it was raised in. Doing so deprives the local animals of food that would eventually become available when the animal died of normal/natural causes. In that case trophy hunting shouldn't be looked down on as it is.

the chef

There is a place right next to the mashed potato alongside the beans which needs filling

Q: Why do we have to eat the animal to make it okay to shoot it?

A: Because it's very difficult to make the animal okay to eat before shooting it!

I hunt for sport. Not for subsistance.

I make no excuses to anybody for why I kill animals during my sport hunting persuits. It is fun and entertaining. That being said, I do eat some of the game I kill. However most of the feral hogs get dragged out to the back pasture to feed the buzzards.

All of the animals that I have sport hunted in Africa were minding their own business, living happily on a well managed piece of property and I shot them for my own enjoyment and entertainment or simply to possess their bueatiful horns.

That is all.

quote:

Originally posted by Muletrain:
I hunt for sport. Not for subsistance.

I make no excuses to anybody for why I kill animals during my sport hunting persuits. It is fun and entertaining. That being said, I do eat some of the game I kill. However most of the feral hogs get dragged out to the back pasture to feed the buzzards.

All of the animals that I have sport hunted in Africa were minding their own business, living happily on a well managed piece of property and I shot them for my own enjoyment and entertainment or simply to possess their bueatiful horns.

That is all.

that is a perfect answer

you could say "more than seventy people will have meat with their meal the next few days from the Cape Buffalo I shot...? Non hunter people think I'm a hero. Especially after I ask them if they have contributed to world hunger programs.

Rich

I see no reason that we have to eat what we kill or justify the kill by eating it. I do eat game and in several cases prefer it to beef, pork etc. but once you pay the license fee/trophy fee I feel you own the animal and you can do with it as you please. Game laws often disagree with this and personally I feel the meat should be retreive when at all possible but I don't think its right to say you HAVE to do it.

It is a lot easier for non trophy hunters and non hunters to accept the taking of an animal if the meat is utilized and I think that is why game laws are so strict in this regard so making them happy benefits the trophy hunter in the long run.

Personally I hunt for the total adventure. The meat is not my motivation but a very secondary benefit.

Mark

Calgary Chef i also eat all i shoot but you hit the nail on the head because in real life nothing goes to waist. Any meat and bones left behind is consumed. Good Point. Dan

calgarychef1 ----- That is exactly how the Aleuts on the Alaskan Peninsula look at eating or not eating game killed in the field. They say that anything removed from the field impacts the food chain. They consider themselves a part of that food chain. The fact that outsiders come in and remove a carcass from the ecosystem causes an imbalance. I asked where outsider hunters came in, they said every so often one must be left behind. Go figure. Good shooting.

I totally agree with Mark Young. It should be your choice to recover and eat the meat if you choose. There are parts of the animal that are truly a waist of energy to pack out, but AK G&F makes you do it. I do recover and eat most all of what I shoot. I enjoy eating some of the most expensive meat on earth.

My best examples are prairie dogs (granted not a game animal but still killed for sport) and doves. Both are too much fun to shoot. I can’t stand to (or won’t) eat either of them. So am I a bad hunter for not eating the thousands of prairie dogs that I have shot? The hawks, owls, fox and coyotes seem to enjoy them…
Arizona cracks me up. We pay for a Dove habitat stamp. Show me the habitat they are building to support Doves with that money... We have a limit on doves in the US... Go a few hundred miles South and they shoot them by the thousands per day.

Next time someone reads you the riot act about hunting/killing/eating the meat/etc, take a look at their belt and shoes. If you see leather in either location, ask if it is "No kill leather" or if they ate the cow that died so those shoes/belt could be made. This, friends, is the great equalizer when dealing with some of these nut cases.

It's amazing how many antis wear leather shoes!

Here it goes fellas-from a woman hunter-

The first question that my husband and I get asked 80% of the time from fellow hunters when we talk about Africa is: "How do you bring the meat back?" We smile and tell them exactly what all of you have said in the posts above about giving the meat to local people or selling it as part of the game ranch operation, and then we describe the hunt.

My first time to hunt in Africa was a thrill of a lifetime-spotting the animal that is desired to be taken, stalking up within shooting range without getting busted, and the thrill of making the killing shot. I don't have the words to fully describe it but you all know what I'm talking about; it is more intoxicating than any drug or alcoholic beverage! It's a natural high that makes you feel like you are floating instead of walking.

I have fallen in love with hunting because of what it is not because I love eating game meat; some great, some ok, some...

I agree with safari-lawyer "it's amazing how many antis wear leather shoes!"

Happy Hunting Friends!!

Meat is just a byproduct of an expanding trophy room.

The remark was common when I was a boy (I'm 79) and, at the time simply referred to not wasting game meat. (Vermin were the exception to the rule)

Gerrypeters375's comment was heard by me but the one told to me by my grandfather was simply "Never point your gun at anthing you don't intend killing!" Nothing was said about eating the meat, that was a given in our case with meat rationing for the war effort in effect.

I hunt because the human is a hunter, gatherer by nature! That is all the reason I need to justify my participation in the persuit of game.

In fact it is imposible to waste any part of game killed by a hunter, or even one dieing of OTHER natural causes! Some said the only way to waste an animal shot by a hunter is to bury it! The body is never wasted because unless it is placed in a hermeticlly sealed container, it will revert back to the dust of Earth. Who is to say the feeding of worms or plants is waste!

I do eat the meat of much of what I kill, or I donate it to those who do eat it, or feed their animals with the meat. There is a large cat (Mountain lions, African lions, and Tigers) resque facility near the Dallas/Fort Worth metoplex that uses tons of meat to feed these large cats that can't be released into the wild. I have been looking int the DRSS donateing all or most of the meat we kill on our wild hog hunts. We normally kill anywhere from 15 to 20 hogs on one of these hunts, and that several hundred pounds of meat would feed a lot of big cats. But if not it is still not wasted IMO, and I apologise to nobody for my hunting of wild life.

Every now and again I have a non hunter or even anti hunter dining with me and some or other time the question arises if we trophy hunters eat everything we kill or do we just kill for our perverted pleasures.
The true and immediate reaction would want to be that the piece of steak he or she is stuffing the hole in his or her face with, did not exactly laugh itself to death and fell on the plate.
That one does not end the topic there, because meat, eggs and milk are produced at the supermarket.
Does not matter in what direction you take the conversation, in the end we hunters all have our own set of reasons or excuses to justify our pleasures to kill and that the only real acceptable hunters are those poor poachers that have to kill to feed their fertile families.
The next popular weapon then used is if we hunters eat Leopard, jackal and baboon.
This usually changes the topic right there.
What Leopard meat is concerned I must say it is really good and even a few of my hunting clients admitted that it went down well.
I remember my two older brothers making "biltong" or jerky from jackal and baboon meat, mixed it with kudu biltong and then fed it to the teachers at school who always used to ask us farm boys to bring them some kudu biltong.
They never complained and always asked for more, so I guess it was good eating too.

[/QUOTE]

quote:

Simple: because THEY outnumber US and their numbers are ever growing as is their funding and political and media presence.

After all---in their minds might makes right.
(or RIGHTS as the case may be.)

Expect an --Animal Bill of Rights
in Congress very soon.

Never mind that we ignore the current human oriented one.

DuggaBoye-O
NRA-Life
Whittington-Life
TSRA-Life
DSC

[QUOTE]


DuggaBoye-O

I understand and appreciate your concerns but fear that such pandering to the misconceptions of the PC's is short sighted and certainly only surrenders ground to the AR’s who will exploit any or all animal use against the remaining ones.

If we hunters demand that we eat all we shoot then they will interpret this as an endorsement against those that do not, such as fur trapping, fur farming, varmint shooters etc.

Bottom line is throwing another to the wolves only makes the wolf stronger and more eager for a return visit!

It takes way too much time to explain the whole scheme of nature and sport hunting and conservations part in it for many situations and sometimes simply smiling broad enough to expose your canines is not enough so subsistance or direct partiicipation in the food chain is a nice wave off but posssibly at a huge price in the long haul.

Best regards
Mike O

OK Lets talk about feral hogs. They do not belong in the ecosystem. They are not supposed to be there. They are doing great harm to the areas where they have a free range population.

So is there anything wrong with using them for meat targets? We shoot every one we see but only clean a few of them. The rest go to the back pasture and wind up as buzzard and coyote food. My freezer pretty much stays full of deer and hog meat. So our family does consume some of it.

When I line my cross hairs up on a hog, it is usually for the sole pupose of shooting it for fun. For the sheer pleasure of shooting it. In other words for sport. I feel no more guilt or shame than when I shoot a coyote or a bobcat.

To the "I only kill what I eat crowd": How do cockroaches and flies taste?

Depends on the seasoning.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Q: Why do we have to eat the animal to make it okay to shoot it?

A: Because it's very difficult to make the animal okay to eat before shooting it!

Good for you!

swivelhead,

Your is also a very good one. I'll try my very best to remember and use it!



Andrew McLaren