I'm one who absolutely Loves and Values the Great Outdoors! But personally has never cared to actually Hunt. The latter does go back a lot to my "Niceness", -towards the idea of shooting / killing animals.

However, -This in no way effects or diminishes my beleifs in doing so for Survival, Defense, Food Procuration, or Wildlife Management of purposes. I'm also not oppossed to Hunting for Sport. So long as the latter is not of the "Shooting Fish in a Barrel", of a type!

For folks like us, I firmly beleive in the Value of at least knowing HOW to Hunt, Fish, Shoot,Trap, and etc. Of so knowing and being familiar with, Hunting etc, Firearms, Wildlife, Food Forageing, Survival of course, -along with so many other aspects of our Great Outdoors!

Even I wouldn't hesitate a moment to hunt for Food!, Defense and Protection, etc.

(When everyone else was mysteriously Grossed Out back in hi school Biology's disections, -I hadn't the slightest problem. Nor did I when once helping to gut a freshly slaughtered cow.)

Hunting and such? At least know and be somewhat familiar with the HOW of it. Your Life, -as well as that of Others around you, -could just someday depend on it.

Pardon Please a bit of upcoming redundancy that I've found in my Edit. But I want to parpsh the following points in somehow. Here they are,-

And so this Non-Hunter is far from totally oppossed to Hunting. This non-hunter in recent years has been Reading, -not passing over, -anything on such that comes my way. I've just picked up a late 60's copy of "The Hunting Encyclopedia". A Chock Full of Information sort of tome!

There's also the Great Outdoors Personal Experience Values involved! As too can be gained from such HOW sources. As exemplified in Outdoor Life's great feature, -"This Happened to Me!" As well as from among many other sources.

Again, -Do at least know something of the HOW! Of Hunting and it's Associated Like. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Christina[/email]

Scott:

While it is nice to have a mindset about being willing to hunt in an emergency situation, it is more important to do so before hand.

You have to kill the animal without going through a moral question and answer period that might put a quick kill out of range.

You have to retreive the dead animal without thinking of what you did to something that has not done you any harm or threatened you.

You have to gut, skin, and in some cases remove musk glands to prevent the animal from becoming unpaletable.

You have to prepare the animal for consumption or preservation for future use.

Doing the mental exercises and having the instructions on proper proceedure are all well and good, but it is a "blood ritual", and until you spill the blood and eat the harvest you can not really know.

Bountyhunter

(PS The first time you get "hives" after handling an animal, you will swear that you will never do that again, but you will.)

However if youre in SW TX where whitetail season (near Del Rio) is often nice and warm and you get Deer Ticks all over you, that might make you think again. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I hate those things...

Oh, I agree with your main point and all of your supporting ones, Bounty. I did not mean any implication that one should intellectualize or moralize there on the spot! Of course one Cannot and Should Not entertain such luxuries at any such time. As you say, -the Game will be Long Away! This goes back to what I've said about not hesitating in such a time or situation. Your Point(s) are Agreed With and WellTaken. I regret any misunderstanding as may have come about, -if I was less clear on this than I could have been.

Also, some *Non-Neccessary", "Non-Survival / Self Defense" etc Hunting Practice beforehand, -would serve well in following Survival / Self Defense, etc situations, -as may later arise!

Sorry for the long time in answering, -but I've only gotten back to a computer screen today!

Indeed and Agreed, -No Hesitation and Prepare and Practice Beforehand!

Thanks for your Observation and Comment! I was not however endorseing such hesitation or it's like. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]bountyhunter[/email]

Also Bounty you are quite Right, -that however much one may swear to never do it again, -"You Will!". Survival Imperatives do come again to the fore. Not that I'm one to initially swear to not do so again! But as to this main Point of your's as well, (One WILL Do so again!),-I stand Strongly and Squarely in Aggreement with you. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]ScottRezaLogan[/email]

Scott:

Get out in the woods, kill something (Legally!), gut it, take it home, skin and quarter it (Or smaller pieces if it is a large animal.), prepare it, and eat it.

After you have done that, write back and describe the hunt, the animal, the kill, the preparation, and the taste.

Bountyhunter

Christina:

I know exactly how you feel. To quote the estimable Horace Kephart, "Butchering is the most distasteful part of a hunter's work--a job to be sublet when you can; but sometimes you can't."

I personally believe that hunting is a very valuable skill to have, for reasons which go way beyond simply learning a good long-term survival skill.

The main problem with hunting is that it's, well, messy. Very messy. First of all, you have to actually *kill* something. This is not a action which should be taken lightly. Is it any wonder that primitive societies so often ascribed spiritual qualities to animals?

Second, you have to butcher what you kill (if you can't get somebody else to do it for you), and even if you're very skilled at butchering, it's still *very* messy work. Third, you have to clean up the mess, unless you want to attract unnecessary attention to yourself. Then, after all that hard and dirty work, you can prepare your meal and eat it--and then clean up again.

I, too, have thought that if I *had* to kill and butcher my own food rather than picking it up in nice little neat plastic-wrapped bundles of organic free-range goodness at my local gourmet/health food store, that I might have to go veggie...but the fact is, I just like meat way too much. Geez, the first time I caught a fish when I was a kid, I just couldn't bear to gut it...unfortunately, my mother didn't make me do it. I was glad to get out of doing it at the time, but I think I would have been better off if she had.

I think it's odd that in our society, we tend to assign butchery to a category somewhat worse than killing. After all, couldn't depriving another being of life possibly be worse than cutting it up, cooking it, and eating it? Perhaps it's that we tend to anthropomorphize too much, and as a result, treat our pets like our family, and other animals like our pets.

The thing about hunting is, it's difficult to do without gaining a large amount of respect for nature and our proper place in it. See, when you're killing and butchering your own meat or fish, you're very much more appreciative of what you've done than if you've just taken a ticket and waited in line at the deli counter. Also, you actions tend to have much less impact on the environment than commercial farming practices (or at least much less cruelty to the animals in question). These are important things to learn, and I think they're important things to teach, as well.

Now, if you *really* want to get hard-core about it, try it without a firearm.

Anyway, remember, if you ever find yourself *needing* to hunt, it's probably a little too late to start learning how to do so. So get out there, thank the spirit of the animals you take, and don't waste anything...

Amper,
Reading your post brought me a certain satisfaction. It brought my mind peace as you have inadvertently shown me that I am not the only one thinking in the sense you have just demonstrated. Agreeing on all your points from not wasting anything to learning the skills. But most importantly that you should spiritually respect those animals who you take and beg for forgiveness from their ghosts.
Not to forget your point about modern destructive farming methods. Hell, I could start a whole threat about it. But this is the wrong forum for a discussion of that nature.

Personally I see no reason for hunting unless for survival purposes only. So I have chosen not to eat meat. Nevertheless I still want to learn to track, kill and prepare. Yet I would not be able to forgive myself for taking a life, killing a family member for unnecessary reasons. Knowing a life was strangled in my snare gives me a sick feeling.
No, until the day I have learned all other skill and knowledge there is to learn about bushcraft and there is a survival need to sacrifice a life I will steer well away from it.

Short answer: Yes.
Long Answer:
Meat comes from dead animals. You can either outsource the killing, which in a meat farm is often very inhumane (a good number of cows are skinned alive and they survive a good 7 minutes into subsequent dismemberment), or you cna do it yourself. I get no thrill out of killing an animal. The first time I did it I thought I was going to vomit, to be honest, and that was just some poultry (I didn't expect the bird to LITERALLY run around spraying blood everywhere from it's neck for 30 seconds - I've learned much since then).
But as a hunter, you learn that there's a balance to everything, and you are part of the balance. You learn to respect the animals, even as you kill them to eat them, and in some mysitical sense, you realize that they give up their spirit to nourish yours. Yeah, it sound hokey, but that's what I think.

The next part of hunting is the sense of self-reliance. Well, sort of, if you count self-reliance as using a factory made gun or bow as your killing tool. I guess to be REALLY self-reliant, you'd need to learn to hunt with a wooden spear or rocks or something.
But I digress.
The point is that you are taking charge, know you can provide for yourself, that you won't starve, that you can be responsible for your life in a way that no grocery store shopper ever can understand.

Reinhardt Woets:

I completely agree with you, especially with your point about learning the most necessary areas of bushcraft first, and personally I would wait until it was absolutely necessary to learn to kill. Of course, you can still learn to track and increase your own awareness of the possibilities involved with hunting.

I have been a vegetarian since I was about 8 (I was quite impressionable as I still am!) after my sister became one, but for very different reasons than for which I have stayed vegetarian; I just did not like the idea of killing. Now, I have reasons based on the way we do things in this and many other countries, the idea that supply and demand must be upheld to compete with other suppliers. This ensures that there is always waste. I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I'm explaining why I personally am driven towards bushcraft.

I'm not sure about ghosts, my education is very scientifically based so I can't help that, but I like the idea in general and do not discourage it for the sake of humanity, while leaving it for people who I think really believe in this, indigenous peoples most of all, for whom I have a great deal of respect.

Ian