Are we cruel?

[HH~]

Yer
Earth Muffins, Bark Biters, Pecka Gnats, Wokarista’s and general uniformed monkees all gonna say that. When a wolf ham strings a cow elk and feeds on her while she’s alive seem cruel?
How about a big cat that brings down big Brahma Bull then moves up to his throat and clamps down on his wind pipe till dead?

Most of us wouldn't be around if we listened to the folks talking that kind nonsense. You get shot with a 25lb selfbow with a 125 Ace on it see how long ya last. Maybe cruel couple mins. Laying on gurney dying of Chine Virus is hella lot worse. Guess it all perspective.

HH~

[mmattockx]

Earth Muffins, Bark Biters, Pecka Gnats, Wokarista’s and general uniformed monkees all gonna say that.

You forgot the granola munchers, but I agree.

Most of us wouldn't be around if we listened to the folks talking that kind nonsense.

Yep. Too much prosperity for too long has made an awful lot of soft, disconnected people who have little idea of the realities of the world and how we got to this standard of living in the first place.


Mark

[Fox]

Lots of good point of views here… my first time killing a animal (bigger then an insect) was a few years ago, it was supposed to be with a rifle from about 120 yards… I was well practiced and had been shooting quite a lot before I was taken out hunting. But even still nerves and lack of experience got the better of me and I shot the deer threw both front legs…. That, that is cruel… tracked the deer down the holler and slit its throat…… that was a life changing hunt….. (14 at the time) ….


 next year much better luck perfect shot the deer only went 15 yards. That deer was close maybe 30 yards out….. still rifles are truly brutal…. Nothing gentle, just horrific the damage they do.

Now…. Something I feel really really bad about… I was squirrel hunting with a bow, I was using blunts cause that’s what I was told to use on squirrels… I shot this squirrel in the back leg and certainly broke bones…. But I wasn’t fast enough to get another arrow in it before it was gone…     I’ll regret that likely forever…. And probably am going to stay away from squirrel hunting from now on…. Or maybe if I do I’ll use broad heads.


But nature is cruel, people are cruel, this world is often cruel. There is no escaping that, if you eat meat, you will be taking a life. Whether you take part in that and give respect to the animal by doing it yourself is your choice. But oh boy when someone tries to tell me how cruel hunting is I just tell them to not forget where that bacon covered in chemicals and wrapped in plastic REALLY comes from.


This fall I hope to hunt with primitive archery tackle, I hope I’ll be able to get my gear and skills up to par in time.

[BowEd]

Being raised on the farm knowing all life is precious and death is soon understood as a part of life.Hunting is a part of harvest from a replenishable resource.

[boomhowzer]

Fox, I wouldn’t hold on to your mistakes too long. I have done the same thing. Shot a bunny with a blunt, everything I read said shoot them with blunts. I hit him right in the sweet spot, right behind the shoulder and he ran away. Now I only shoot broadheads unless it’s summertime and I’m after red squirrels or 13 striped ground squirrels.

Had a similar experience my first deer hunting season as well (last year). I had a bow but I missed 3 deer over their backs. I call them ‘free lessons’ because I was lucky enough to be so bad I didn’t injure any, but I was clearly unprepared and shooting out of my range.

Next year I also hope to be out there with my own hunting tackle, lots of practice, and a fresh perspective..

[paulc]

I decided to look cruel up in a dictionary...

"cru·el
/ˈkro͞o(ə)l/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
willfully causing pain or suffering to others, or feeling no concern about it."

Certainly by the first half of definition hunting is cruel, but then that isn't considering the full definition.

Paul

[Del the cat]

Nope, not cruel and a sharp arrow is less painful than a bullet (as testified by people who have managed to get themselves shot!)
No chance to hunt with bow and arrow here in the UK, but was a real pleasure to have Pappy take a deer with one of my bows a few years back.
I recently got hounded off a facebook group "Primitive Bowmaking" because I thought it was just about bowmaking... I got all sorts of schoolyard abuse from people who insisted I was some sort of vegan snowflake whinger and couldn't understand that I was actually pro-hunting... but wanted the group to stay on track and be about making. I did try to have a reasoned discussion but found it impossible, it saddened me as I've only ever met folk who were great when face to face, and I feel those on the FB group were letting down the whole hunting fraternity.
That's the beauty of this forum... I can come and read and talk about hunting on this area, or stick to the bow making it I want without people jumping to conclusions!
Even this "is it cruel" discussion is courteous.
Kudos to everyone here
Del

[HH~]

There’s Iron in yer words of life and so in yer words of death. It will be life.

Boot leather is tough on the gut. Do plants feel pain? Either way i kill a lot of those and meat bearers and fur bearers. Gut has no problems with em. When im digging potatoes i often wonder what yhem spuds, tubers are thinkin?

Hedge~

[Digital Caveman]

I wonder if a field tip would be effective on small game?

[HH~]

FB is the Devil himself presented as digits thru the Net.

FB monkees make the Banderlog look important.

HH~

[boomhowzer]

A field tip might be effective on a red squirrel or ground squirrel, but I’ve shot a rabbit with a razor sharp Zwickey straight through the shoulder and out it’s gut and it still hopped off, so I only shoot broadheads now. Those little critters are tougher than you think.

[Pappy]

Broad heads for me unless I am shooting at stumps. 
 Pappy

[Allyn T]

I wonder if a field tip would be effective on small game?

Nope been there with a compound twice, both I had to finish with a knife.squirrels are vicious when pinned to a tree by a field point and it makes you feel horrible.

I've only been hunting deer for 5 seasons. Killed 2 with a bow(compound) both ran about 70 yards full sprint and then keeled over. Killed 4 with a rifle, 3 were shot well and all 3 ran about 30-40 yards and dropped. The fourth one I hit a little back( misjudged the quartering angle) he trotted 20 yards and laid down, before I decided if I should shoot him again he rolled over and started kicking (got the liver) didn't take long at all.  So in my limited experience a gun really isn't any faster than a bow for death, oh and I shoot a 300 win mag with a 165 grain bullet.

[Pappy]

I have tracked deer for many years with out a dog early on and with one for the last 15/20 years and some of the worst tracks I have been on is gun shot deer, especially muzzle loaders , but that being said none were intentional so to me that's not cruel, do you hate it,  for sure you do but still not cruel. Would you take the shot back if you could, of course you would, at least I would but again still not cruel.  I am really tenderhearted when it comes to any animal and only hunt what I plan on eating or use so I work hard on my shooting and try to only take really good shots that I know I can make, but things still happen no matter how hard you try so if you want to do this you have to be prepared to mess up from time to time no matter how hard you try and except the consequences for your action, not for every body, some would just rather get it at the market and not see how it got there. 
 Pappy

[StickMark]

Agree with broadheads for small game. Velocity w stickbow is too low for a judo point to be reliable.

Your neighbor doesn't understand that people with primitive gear shoot much closer. Most modern people seem to avoid stalking up close. That is a weakness, and I am getting to despise seeing it in other hunters, and admire the trait in those who attempt stalking in on game.

Consider getting Meditations on Hunting, by Ortega Y Gasset. He is a deceased Spanish philosopher who wrote a eulogy for a friend of his, a wealthy big game hunter. Wikipedia makes him sound like the typical early 20th century socialist, but his book still applies. (As well, with anti-hunters, I first ask if they have seen a feed lot, dairy farm, hog farm, or chicken farm. Second, I ask if they ever tried being primarily plant based in diet. I have and do primarily plant based (better for my genotype), bur most modern anti's chow away and never saw modern agriculture).

one more month till AZ summer velvet season....