Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!erb1!osnome!hunting From: isgtec!robert@uunet.UU.NET (Robert A. Osborne) Newsgroups: rec.hunting Subject: Deer Hunting Message-ID: <395@erb1.engr.wisc.edu> Date: 19 Mar 91 12:48:04 GMT Sender: news@erb1.engr.wisc.edu Lines: 63 Approved: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu From: "Robert A. Osborne" beal@cis.ohio-state.edu (Alan Beal) writes: #It seems like hunters fall into two categories - those out just for the #meat and those out for the sport. [...] #Hunting deer with dogs doesn't seem sporting and I find #it outright disgusting, mainly because it makes deer hunting a blood #sport. [...] #But then again I enjoy the outdoors and enjoy #being in the woods for a long time - thats hunting, hunting isn't killing, #hunting is enjoying outdoors, hunting is appreciated the wildlife, hunting #is satisfying only when you earn it and show respect for the environment. #Killing should be a secondary goal. As somebody who grew up in the woods I find your philosophy abhorent. I love the outdoors, I spend as much time in it as I can. But when I pick up a gun to go hunting, I'm going for meat. If you're not destroying a pest or bagging dinner why pull the trigger? I don't "appreciate" wildlife by shooting it, and killing is NEVER "satisfying". (By the way, what is your opinion of your neighbourhood butcher?) My great grandfather kept his family alive over a particularly harsh winter by hunting deer and rabbits. My grandfather got his family through the depression by poaching. My father kept us fed when times were tough with a little hunting. I see nothing wrong with hunting for meat. When I young my dad always said, "If you shoot it, you're going to eat it." (My brother found out what porcupine tastes like this way :-). We usually use dogs (and almost always drive), this is perfectly legal in Ontario (I'm not sure about the rest of the provinces). I'm not sure if destroying dogs 'running' deer is illegal but I doubt if anything would come of it if you did (NOTE: I am not advocating any such behaviour!). Most deer are not eaten by the packs of 'wild' dogs. These animals are usually well fed house pets who are just running. Most deer die due to exhaustion since the house pets (terriers and poodles are the worst!) can run on the snow crust while the deer punches through; thus the chases can be really long. In winter, a deers reserves are really depleted so even a short chase can be life threatening. House pets running in packs are dangerous to humans, I've been attacked by a pack (I managed to find a tree). Most of our deer hunting is in heavy brush or thick hardwoods so most shots are under 50 yards. For this reason the guns of choice are either 30-30 or .308. Anything smaller is apt to wound if it plows through a branch or small maple before hitting the deer. Somebody was asking about camo for hunting? I wear blaze orange since deer are colour blind and most humans aren't. For anything I've hunted (partridge, rabbits, deer, moose, geese, ducks, etc.), being quiet and still are FAR more important that being camouflaged. I've actually seen somebody dressed in buckskins and wearing a coon-skin hat (Daniel Boone? :-) about to enter the woods for some deer hunting, perfect camouflage, the deer would all think that he was one of them. (We stopped and pointed out that he wasn't appropriately attired :-). (Note to Moderator: I don't think ads are appropriate, especially non-Canadian ones :-). I also think we should watch the 'blood and guts' humour to avoid negative propaganda (which hunters get enough of anyway)) Rob.