Do you, or anyone you know, shoot living things for sport?

ilikewatch

Just to add my opinion, I have spent most of my life living in the country, and although I don't personally shoot I know many people that do.
I feel far better eating a pheasant that I know has effectively lived a relatively natural life, than I do eating a chicken which has been reared in a cage or a barn. I appreciate that many people who shoot do so mainly for the "sport", but this doesn't mean that the birds they have shot are wasted - in my experience, the majority of them find their way to the beaters, or others in the local community. At my last house I used to find a brace of pheasants hanging on my back door handle most weeks during the season as did all my neighbours - a thankyou from the owner of the local shoot for putting up with the noise and extra traffic the shoot generated.
In a age where farming is less and less profitable, and the price of farmed commodities is dictated by supermarket buyers it's great that landowners still have some ways left to make a living and support their communities.

aliasojo

epsilondraconis wrote: »

Wow - sorry I didn't mean to offend.

I was going to go on in my post to make the point that sometime townies and country-folk just never see eye-to-eye. It's just one of those things.

It was only then that I realised who had posted it originally and so didn't bother to finish the post.

I can see that things aren't good for you today and so will apologise once again and remove myself from this thread with my tail between my legs.

I appreciate your reply thanks for clarifying.

No need to leave, things are perfectly fine with me today and I didn't think I was coming cross in a way that suggested differently? (Bit confused about that comment tbh. )

I just thought the thread was interesting and informative and was surprised at your post which seemed more 'personal' and was why I asked if I'd offended you in some way and if you were having a go. Always better to clarify I think.

Apologies for picking you up wrongly. :beer:

sassyblue

We live in the countryside and l've seen this all my life. I don't have a problem with it - it's how it's been for centuries, TBH it's actually kinder than some meat reared these days at least the bird has had a life and enjoyed the outdoors naturally and without hormones or whatever they feed animals on these days.

I'm having a pheasant soon aswell off a friend who shoots l'm not going to be a hypocrite (for want of a better word) l want my son to understand the connection between seeing animals and knowing that they can be killed to be eaten.

l never buy caged hens eggs, animals and birds should have a good life.

podperson

I'm a vegetarian and had always been quite against shooting/hunting etc. My OH is a film maker and recently made a documentary on a gamekeeper in the Scottish Highlands - while I don't think I would ever want to see or do it, it hasn't given me a bit of a different perspective on it. The birds are reared on the estate and allowed to roam freely, generally having a good life. Almost all the ones shot are used for meat - so really not that different to free range chickens and a vast amount better then battery ones. Also, while I must admit I don't see the appeal of the shooting itself, people pay a lot of money to do it - which goes into the estate and helps to maintain some beautiful areas of countryside and the rest of the animals that live there.

Lotus-eater

aliasojo wrote: »

I appreciate your reply thanks for clarifying.

No need to leave, things are perfectly fine with me today and I didn't think I was coming cross in a way that suggested differently? (Bit confused about that comment tbh. )

I just thought the thread was interesting and informative and was surprised at your post which seemed more 'personal' and was why I asked if I'd offended you in some way and if you were having a go. Always better to clarify I think.

Apologies for picking you up wrongly. :beer:

It was only because you are always going on about, should I stay, or should I go, type things :rotfl: so to suggest that you move.......

It actually made me laugh it is funny if you look at it in the way I said.

emiliah

I live in the Highlands where there's loads of hunting, shooting and fishing, and whilst I do agree with many of you concerning the quality of life these animals have had compared to shop bought meat, I still find it very hard to understand the fact that people get enjoyment from killing animals

Lotus-eater

Very good posts by peater and seanymph, they raised all the points I was going to.

I don't agree with shooting for sport, only for food. But in the cases of pheasant shooting, although all the guns shoot because of the sport, the birds are used as food and they've had a better life than a chicken you buy in a supermarket.

If you are a vegan, then you have a right to turn round and say "it's not right", if you're not, forget it, you do things far worse by not being a vegan.

neneromanova

I HATE pheasants. They are the thickest creature around today I think. Running out into the road and just standing there when you're coming. They have even been known to, when it rains, raise their heads, drink the rain, forget to lower their heads and drown themselves! Numpties in my opinion.

I would say something about Fox hunting but I don't want this to be a for/against fox hunting thread as no one wins. But all I will say is until you've actually kept Chickens/Ducks and had the gits kill everyone of them (50) and only take 1 or 2 bodies, you would be all for keeping the population down.

heretolearn_2

If you eat meat then an animal has died for you to have fun - the pleasure of that meat on your taste buds. You don't need to eat meat any more than people need to take part in shooting - it's all about personal pleasure and satisfaction both ways. I wouldn't want to go shooting myself but I'd be happier eating one of those birds than some poor broiler chicken from the supermarket that's suffered all its life, been terrified and mishandled while being loaded onto a lorry, transported don't know how far, then hung upside down by its feet before being electrocuted and killed. Having something spook me into flying then bang all over is pretty cushy compared to that.

(yes, I do eat meat, i just see very little cruelty in shooting compared to usual meat production and slaughter, and also people have to accept that the only reason they eat meat is for pleasure, so that animal is dying for your pleasure just the same as people getting pleasure from killing animals directly)

aliasojo

Lotus-eater wrote: »

It was only because you are always going on about, should I stay, or should I go, type things :rotfl: so to suggest that you move.......

It actually made me laugh it is funny if you look at it in the way I said.

I agree it was quite funny and if a poster I knew 'better' had made those comments, I probably would just have had that reaction initially but I just wasn't sure so I decided to ask.

No big deal. As I said, I'm sorry for taking epsilon the wrong way.