I'll miss you buddy :( My Bender passed away.

[nfpgasmask]

I was raised on a farm too. Only horses (and MAYBE a cow) got Vet care. I've yet to use a gun on any animal. Saw way too much of that growing up. I'm all for hunting the hunters. Way more sporting when your target is armed

x2. I thought I was the only one who felt this way...

Aside from last resort, starving in the middle of nowhere, the only thing I will be found shooting an animal with is my Nikon...

Bart

[Ldub]

I was raised on a farm too. Only horses (and MAYBE a cow) got Vet care. I've yet to use a gun on any animal. Saw way too much of that growing up. I'm all for hunting the hunters. Way more sporting when your target is armed

x2. I thought I was the only one who felt this way...

Aside from last resort, starving in the middle of nowhere, the only thing I will be found shooting an animal with is my Nikon...

Bart

x3...I always thought that having a high powered weapon was a MAJOR unfair advantage. I only know one person who IMO, hunts "right". That's my cousin.
He makes all of his own arrow heads & spear points from flint, makes his own long bows & flint knives, etc. Doesn't use bait, salt licks or cameras, just goes out with what he made & brings home food. I've always admired him for that...

[nfpgasmask]

x3...I always thought that having a high powered weapon was a MAJOR unfair advantage. I only know one person who IMO, hunts "right". That's my cousin.
He makes all of his own arrow heads & spear points from flint, makes his own long bows & flint knives, etc. Doesn't use bait, salt licks or cameras, just goes out with what he made & brings home food. I've always admired him for that...

Yeah, hunting really is no "sport", imo. Personally, I think you should go hunting naked, and if you can take a deer with your bare hands, by all means, its yours!

Bart

[kodiak]

Yeah I’ve never had to put a family pet down before. I couldn’t imagine seeing what you did Justine. That must have been very traumatic.

[taylorRichie]

It was pretty traumatic at the time but I got over it after awhile. From growing up in Texas, dove hunting, and then moving to Wyoming with my dad, I was always around hunting. Guns and animals just fit now, I guess. Even a couple of months ago, my uncle took his old dying horse up in the mountains one last time, shot him, and left him up there somewhere. He never said anything about it or mentioned he was going to do it. Nobody questioned his actions because everyone could relate to leaving your hunting horse in it's element. I don't know what to say about hunting - it's a way of life that works for many people just like religion works for some and disgusts others. My dad gets all his meat for the year from the elk and deer he kills. It is a leaner, healthier food and just like eating a meal you have prepared for yourself gives you a certain pride; well hunting, killing, and dressing the animal you are going to eat increases that experience. The big horn sheep I took down after high school provided the greatest meals I had during college and was an awesome bonding experience with my dad. Riding horseback 20 miles into Wyoming high country, navigating fully loaded horses with packs through a washed out mountainside trail, surviving unpredictable mountain snow storms, camping with minimal essentials for 2 weeks, taking in everything around you, then taking down a big horn sheep when you are down to your last scraps allowing you to stay another day... I don't think anyone can say anything about "the sport of it" until they themselves have been a part of it. Besides, the animals we have killed died much more humanely than the burger you just bought at the store. Like I said, it's simply just a way of life, it works for some of us and doesn't harm anyone else.

x2

I've never hunted in my life, but I work with hunters... primarily bow hunters. And I enjoy the jerky and meat that I've been given.

I'm going to buy the book now.

[Chopper]

Hey Zeus....tell Pop, he'd better be real careful taking Elk and deer. Deer in particular. There's a "wasting" disease working it's way thru their population. It appears to be related to Spongiform encephalopathy....the brain dissolving Mad Cow Disease. It's a Prion disease, not a virus, and apparently untreatable. No one is sure if it will move to humans or not, but there are warnings issued here every year for the last four or five. It has been moving steadily North and west. I've eaten Elk...it is excellent....but I'm not trading my brain for it. Of course, we roll the dice every time we eat any meat, I guess. Worrying times for us carnivores

[Chopper]

How did you know I call him "Pop"?! Yeah, we have heard about that and apparently they did find a case or two in ranch deer somewhere, if I remember correctly. My dad always goes waaaaay into wilderness so hopefully those critters will be alright for a while. As for brain dissolving... my dad and I don't have too much to worry about there!

I'm thinking, when the time comes...I'd be mighty fine to go out that way, and get really timbered up, and slip out from there. Let the animals and all, have at the remains and get recycled that way...I'm just worried about the horse getting back. Even up into the big empty in Idaho. I miss living in the mountains.

[Scott Harness]

I'm thinking, when the time comes...I'd be mighty fine to go out that way, and get really timbered up, and slip out from there. Let the animals and all, have at the remains and get recycled that way...I'm just worried about the horse getting back. Even up into the big empty in Idaho. I miss living in the mountains.

I totally hear ya! I could never put my dad in a home, it would kill him. The older he gets the more he talks about dying. He told me he doesn't want to be buried next to his mom, even though there is a spot for him. He wants me to take him up into the mountains in a casket (no embalming) and let "the bears sh it him all over the woods". You might be onto something though, he just might take himself up there early to make that happen if he were to know it was already coming. He wouldn't want a funeral cuz he's never liked big groups.

Great Minds think alike!! I'm totally recycling my body. Give back just a little.

[Scott Harness]

x3...I always thought that having a high powered weapon was a MAJOR unfair advantage. I only know one person who IMO, hunts "right". That's my cousin.
He makes all of his own arrow heads & spear points from flint, makes his own long bows & flint knives, etc. Doesn't use bait, salt licks or cameras, just goes out with what he made & brings home food. I've always admired him for that...

The only negative thing about that type of hunting,if your a bad shot, is the animal wanders around with an arrow stuck in it. Eventually dying from starvation or infection. The same can happen with a rifle,but chances are alot slimmer because you can get a second shot fairly quickly.
Look up Ted Kerasote,if you like to read,He has written alot on ethical hunting. He also wrote Merle's Door-Lessons from a Freethinking Dog,FANTASTIC BOOK everybody I've turned it on to has bought several copies for friends. www.MerlesDoor.com

[Scott Harness]

More writings:
www.Kerasote.com/books.html
especially Bloodties-Nature,Culture and the Hunt. Read the reviews. Sounds like he has a really good perspective.

[Ldub]

Look up Ted Kerasote,if you like to read,He has written alot on ethical hunting. He also wrote Merle's Door-Lessons from a Freethinking Dog,FANTASTIC BOOK everybody I've turned it on to has bought several copies for friends. www.MerlesDoor.com

Just reading the excerpt made me want to go out & buy this book...well, that & your recommendation...
I do believe a trip to Barnes & Noble may be in order this afternoon...if I can convince myself to brave the 14 deg weather...

[Scott Harness]

Be Brave, lol Yea I'm going to buy Bloodties

[Scott Harness]

What's funny is he finds Merle just outside Moab,after eating pizza.Gotta be Zaks or Jays Pasta House.

[Ldub]

What's funny is he finds Merle just outside Moab,after eating pizza.Gotta be Zaks or Jays Pasta House.

That, & the description of his companions & new friend (Merle) is what put the hook in me.

[taylorRichie]

The only negative thing about that type of hunting,if your a bad shot, is the animal wanders around with an arrow stuck in it. Eventually dying from starvation or infection. The same can happen with a rifle,but chances are alot slimmer because you can get a second shot fairly quickly.
Look up Ted Kerasote,if you like to read,He has written alot on ethical hunting. He also wrote Merle's Door-Lessons from a Freethinking Dog,FANTASTIC BOOK everybody I've turned it on to has bought several copies for friends. www.MerlesDoor.com

Thank you for the recommendation... I just finished reading it[Merle's door]... I look forward to reading more of his works, though I can't see them quite measuring up to this one.

Thanks again...