My thoughts on hunting? Well I'm a bit torn morally I guess. My belief system really lies in Buddhism so really I should be practicing kindness to all living things and causing no harm. I don't really practice Buddhism though, I just believe in all of the theory behind it if that makes any sense. As another example, Buddhists are also supposed to avoid consciousness-diminishing or altering substances -- i.e. alcohol or drugs. Well, I drink almost every day now.
So back to hunting. Typically people think of humans as the top of the food chain. Depending on how you look at things, that may be true or untrue. Not very many humans are killed by other animals. However, without all of our tools for hunting and protection from other animal species, this would not be true. It would be difficult to co-exist with say lions or grizzly bears out in the wild with no supplies. We would not be at the top of the food chain under those circumstances. So maybe we're cheating. Or maybe our ability to think, reason, and construct are natural assets that rightly put us at the top of the food chain the same way lions and grizzly bears are naturally fast, and have large sharp teeth and claws which are assets that put them near the top of the food chain.
Depending on how you look at it hunting may seem unfair. Perhaps if we wanted to kill a deer we should run around in the woods with no weapons and if we so happened to catch one (unlikely) we should try to kill them using only our bare hands. If that were the case for all animals, it seems people would be mainly vegetarians. Cows are slow and dumb, but even if you could catch one, how would you kill it? And if you did manage to catch a cow and somehow beat it to death it would suffer more than being swiftly slaughtered. Okay I know that sounds strange and mean, but these are the facts of life. If we wanted to play fair with other animals we would likely have no beef, no meat. It would be possible, though much more difficult to get enough protein in our diet. We would actually be very low on the food chain if we lived in the wild with no tools or weapons.
Okay, I bet you've never broken down the topic of hunting and killing animals to that extent, but that is naturally how my mind works. It sometimes drives me crazy, but I break down and analyze pretty much every aspect of life.
So back to hunting again. Okay, I admit that hunting gophers probably isn't very moral since we don't use any part of the animal for anything. It's been forever since I've hunted gophers anyway, and I'm not sure I would want to anymore. I don't mind hunting for food supply though, and everything else I kill I utilize the meat. So deer hunting? Buddha would probably disapprove, but then again, I don't really practice Buddhism, I just believe in it. I really don't have any other moral objections to it, but I think you should be a good shot with an appropriate firearm to minimize suffering of the animal. I have shot three deer and so far have dropped them all in one shot. I use a .243 Remington 700 series in Mossy Oak camo for any of you who know about firearms and were wondering.
So like I said, hunting is kind of a big thing in our family and I think it's fun. This year I shot a buck that was barely a 2 point. I have yet to shoot a trophy buck, but that's fine with me. Next year I might try elk hunting. Speaking of elk, not long ago there was an entire herd of elk swimming across the lake. It was quite a sight seeing about 25 elk heads just cruising through the water. Just a little side note there. This year we saw a beautiful (and cute) brown bear that we could have shot, but neither my husband or I had a bear tag. He was awfully cute to shoot anyway, but it was fun to see one.
So there are my ramblings on the subject of hunting, and here is a picture of the buck I shot this year:
Good times in the usually boring state of Montana :)
So back to hunting. Typically people think of humans as the top of the food chain. Depending on how you look at things, that may be true or untrue. Not very many humans are killed by other animals. However, without all of our tools for hunting and protection from other animal species, this would not be true. It would be difficult to co-exist with say lions or grizzly bears out in the wild with no supplies. We would not be at the top of the food chain under those circumstances. So maybe we're cheating. Or maybe our ability to think, reason, and construct are natural assets that rightly put us at the top of the food chain the same way lions and grizzly bears are naturally fast, and have large sharp teeth and claws which are assets that put them near the top of the food chain.
Depending on how you look at it hunting may seem unfair. Perhaps if we wanted to kill a deer we should run around in the woods with no weapons and if we so happened to catch one (unlikely) we should try to kill them using only our bare hands. If that were the case for all animals, it seems people would be mainly vegetarians. Cows are slow and dumb, but even if you could catch one, how would you kill it? And if you did manage to catch a cow and somehow beat it to death it would suffer more than being swiftly slaughtered. Okay I know that sounds strange and mean, but these are the facts of life. If we wanted to play fair with other animals we would likely have no beef, no meat. It would be possible, though much more difficult to get enough protein in our diet. We would actually be very low on the food chain if we lived in the wild with no tools or weapons.
Okay, I bet you've never broken down the topic of hunting and killing animals to that extent, but that is naturally how my mind works. It sometimes drives me crazy, but I break down and analyze pretty much every aspect of life.
So back to hunting again. Okay, I admit that hunting gophers probably isn't very moral since we don't use any part of the animal for anything. It's been forever since I've hunted gophers anyway, and I'm not sure I would want to anymore. I don't mind hunting for food supply though, and everything else I kill I utilize the meat. So deer hunting? Buddha would probably disapprove, but then again, I don't really practice Buddhism, I just believe in it. I really don't have any other moral objections to it, but I think you should be a good shot with an appropriate firearm to minimize suffering of the animal. I have shot three deer and so far have dropped them all in one shot. I use a .243 Remington 700 series in Mossy Oak camo for any of you who know about firearms and were wondering.
So like I said, hunting is kind of a big thing in our family and I think it's fun. This year I shot a buck that was barely a 2 point. I have yet to shoot a trophy buck, but that's fine with me. Next year I might try elk hunting. Speaking of elk, not long ago there was an entire herd of elk swimming across the lake. It was quite a sight seeing about 25 elk heads just cruising through the water. Just a little side note there. This year we saw a beautiful (and cute) brown bear that we could have shot, but neither my husband or I had a bear tag. He was awfully cute to shoot anyway, but it was fun to see one.
So there are my ramblings on the subject of hunting, and here is a picture of the buck I shot this year:
Good times in the usually boring state of Montana :)
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