All Hunting Is Bad? Now That's A Misconception

                I’m not usually one to raise my fist at people who hate on hunting, but lately I’ve been thinking about how stupid this really is if you eat any meat from a store. Now I’m not talking about trophy hunting, I absolutely do not condone trophy hunting. If you’re killing a lion just to put on your wall, you should feel disgusting, because you are. Regardless of the people who are like “Well ya know the money from that hunt is going to feed a small village”, I say bullshit. Even if that was true, who gives the right that if the hunter pays a lump sum of money, he gets to kill an animal for nothing but fun. Pretty sure the lion didn’t sign up for that, and if the hunter wanted to help the village that bad, he could just give the money straight to them. Just remember one day when you're talking to your great grand kids and you can only show them pictures of what a lion is, or an elephant, or a rhinoceros, because humans wiped them all out for absolutely no reason at all, what that’ll feel like. Whether you want to agree or not, and I see this argument a lot online, animals ARE just as important as humans. For some reason humans seem to think they are above everything, when half of them aren’t any more valuable than a cockroach. Any who I didn’t make this one to condemn trophy hunting, but to inform people about real hunters, the ones who hunt for food.

              

                If you don’t like any hunting in general, that’s fine. I don’t really hunt that much either. In fact I hadn’t hunted in years, but this past spring, I decided to go out turkey hunting a few times with my dad. I come from a family of hunters, so I do feel confident that my opinion is somewhat valid here. You don’t have to like something, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate everything about it, or not understand it. For example I don’t watch any sports really. But that doesn’t mean I hate them, and can’t see why others do like it. I don’t go out and hate on people who like different things than me, just because it’s not my cup of tea. Unless you are a vegetarian, or a vegan, there’s a good chance you might be a giant hypocrite. If you think hunting for food is wrong, just think where that meat comes from that you buy from a store or eat at a restaurant.  It’s very far from natural, and those animals were probably treated worse than you could possibly imagine. Now if you know the meat you buy is local, or you raise your own, that's a different story. I know talking about this is like talking about your parents having sex; we like to believe it’s not real. But the fact is it is real. I’m no saint, I buy meat from the grocery store, I go to restaurants, I eat fast food. But the difference is I’m not ignorant to it. Does that make it better? Not really, but at the very least I don’t hate on guys who have the determination to go out and kill their food the most natural way.

                 

                 One thing you should remember is humans are natural born predators. There’s a reason certain meats are good for us, because we were meant to eat it. It’s called the circle of life, you don’t get angry when a fox kills a baby rabbit and maybe even toys with it before killing it, do you? It’s a sad sight to watch, but it’s a part of life. A good respectable law abiding hunter, goes by morals at least. A hunter isn’t allowed to just kill anything anytime of the year. There are certain times of the year for hunting certain things. For example deer hunting is in the fall/early winter, then there’s spring turkey hunting that starts in May. Honestly I couldn’t tell you every season’s animals, because there’s a time for rabbit, duck, squirrel etc. I just haven’t researched when they are. But there definitely are nasty hunters who will indeed just shoot anything when they go out no matter when, and no they don’t deserve the same respect. There’s a reason we have a DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation), and there’s a reason that there are a certain amount of tags given out to hunters, to keep tabs and control the amount of animals being hauled in each year and be aware of how many is too many. Now I’m talking NY State with the laws I’m talking about, I’m sure it’s very similar in other places, but your state could differ.  Unfortunately there is also a thing called population control as well. I wish we had this for stupid people, but unfortunately it’s only for animals. If there is a surplus of a certain animal, and it’s affecting the population of other animals, they have to be removed. Maybe I don’t totally understand it, but I kind of have mixed feelings about it. I don’t see why humans need to interfere with this, but it’s probably due to humans screwing things up in the first place. We now have to control the ecosystem I guess.  But like I said not really something I’ve looked into.

               

                 Also I have seen people say before that only poor people hunt because they can’t afford to just buy food, and that it’s sad. THIS has to be one of the biggest misconceptions. It is a very expensive sport if you are doing it right. You have to think, to buy all of your licenses, all of the gear to wear, and just the weapon of choice in general, it’s very high in price. A standard 12 gauge shotgun can run up to $300 alone (can definitely be more too). Not to mention the ammo, the stocks and barrels, scopes, and all sorts of additions and upgrades you can add to your gun. I know from experience the gear isn’t cheap, I spent nearly $100 on some camouflage gear this past spring; just the hat was $17! Go into any store that sells this type of gear, and tell me it isn’t expensive.  You may not agree with guns, even though that’s a whole separate issue; however this is their best purpose. I know people are like “Well if you’re so tough you gotta shoot an animal, go out there with your bare hands and kill it”, but why? We are more evolved than other species for a reason; we rely on our brains and intelligence. This is how a human hunts, back in the day maybe they didn’t have guns, but I can assure you there’s a 99% chance they weren’t using their hands. Maybe a variation of a bow and arrow, or a spear, either way same idea, a weapon made to hunt with.

 I’m glad I was introduced to hunting as a kid, because it’s a skill set, and it feels like a natural one. In NY State at least, you are required to take a gun safety course to be able to legally gun hunt, and a bow course to legally bow hunt. I did the gun one long ago, but it’s some handy basic gun knowledge people should know. I know, again, regardless of your views on guns, you should learn how to use one. In the movies they like to make it seem easy  that anyone can just pick up a gun, and use it and have great aim. As someone who’s missed turkeys right in front of him, it’s harder than you think. Especially with a shotgun, not a hand gun, because let me tell you, they can kick hard and it can hurt. My dad had this old ass shotgun when my brother and I were kids, that he had both of us shoot for our first time ever shooting a gun. The older ones kicked a lot harder than the new ones, and that is no joke, it swelled up my shoulder, and I had tears in my eyes afterwards. But the good part is it made every other gun after seem a lot less painful, and I know that’s why he did it. There’s an adrenaline rush when shooting a gun, you’re in the silent woods, and you just have your finger on the trigger. You’re waiting for that huge blast, you can practically hear your heart beating, and it’s pretty intense. There may very well be a day when you need to use a gun, whether you want to or not. This world can’t be trusted; if I were you I’d at least learn the basics. Not like you need to train rigorously day in and day out, just enough to know how to load, unload, aim and shoot.

               I know some people don’t have an issue with hunting, they just don’t like the thought of killing an animal themselves, and I can respect that. I get that, I wish I could quote the guy who said it, but unfortunately I don’t have the information now, but on Facebook awhile back, my brother shared an article from a hunter. He said you should never be celebrating a kill and cheering. You should be happy you got the kill and that you’ll be feeding yourself and your family, but almost a tiny bit of regret. I love that idea; you should be more grateful than happy when you get something. I’m not saying you should cry every time you get a kill, but just think about the fact you took an animals life to feed yourself. That should be more appreciated than celebrated. I said I hate trophy hunting, and I do. But if you mount an animal you killed and consumed on your wall as a way to commemorate the experience I don’t think that’s a bad thing (I’m sure some don’t agree). It’s hard to explain how a real hunter feels about the wilderness and the animals that inhabit it (not that I am one), but my dad and brother for example (biggest hunters I know) there’s a certain connection they have with it. I can see it, but I know anti-hunters just want to think people who hunt are psychopathic killers who kill everything for pleasure. It’s the farthest from the truth.

It also takes an incredible amount of endurance mentally and physically to go out hunting. Think about this, for deer hunting in the fall, you get up at 4 A.M., put on all that heavy gear, lug around a heavy gun on your shoulder(or bow), and go out into the pitch black woods. You find and locate your tree stand (another item of expense); you climb it with all that crap on. For months before this, you have been scoping out where would be the best place, setting up trail cams (ANOTHER item of expense), constantly going out in the woods and searching. It’s about 30 degrees outside; even your gear can’t keep you completely warm. You wait for something to come about. Sure the woods are peaceful; you get to listen to the birds, watch the squirrels, and see the forest come to life as day light approaches. Six hours go by and you’ve seen nothing, you go home, grab a bite to eat, and go back out for five more hours. Again you see nothing, you go home by dark, and do it again the next four weekends.  The whole season you never saw anything. That happens to guys all the time, think about that. All of that work and money spent for a wasted season. But yet these guys get shown no respect from someone eating a big mac every day from a cow who never moved two feet in its life, was just pumped full of garbage and slaughtered. I had a conversation with someone a few years ago about this, and she loved eating out, going to fast food joints, and stuff like that. She was saying how she hated hunting, how mean it is to kill a poor animal. But yet when I brought up if she knew where that meat came from at McDonalds, she got legit mad at me. The ignorance was strong here, how can you just blatantly ignore the fact that that meat was in fact an animal! Just because you took no part in the killing process, you are taking part in the eating process. The animal in the wild has a chance, it’s survival of the fittest for them, with or without humans, because other animals will prey as well.

Well I’ve preached about all I can, if you still think it’s disgusting to hunt for food and yet you eat meat from somewhere else; there really is no way to describe you other than an ignorant fool honestly. Sorry for the honesty but use your head, think about what you’re saying. If you choose to live blissfully ignorant, I guess that’s your choice. But have you ever tasted venison? God damn it’s so good. Any who if you are going out hunting soon in a few weeks, just be careful. Remember to always have your phone on you if you are alone, and to wear the proper camo depending on the season. Obviously know how to properly use your gun or bow, and get the right tags, and only shoot what you are supposed to! I most likely won’t be, because well I hate the cold. Plus since I gave my dad and brother all these props here, hopefully I can get some free venison. ;)