When I was young I used to hunt a lot
(no firearm restriction bs back then)
I would cart my kills home and since my mom wouldn't have anything to do with cleaning it or cooking it I would do the work and cook and eat what I brought, usually rabbit, squirrel, grouse, sometimes porcupine.
We would shoot coyotes as they were a problem with out cattle, but only the problem ones, the rest got the message once we dropped a few of their clan and would steer clear of our farm.

All the meat we ate we either grew ourselves (beef and chicken) or got from hunting (deer or moose in the autumn on occasion).

I spent 12 years living on an Indian reserve in Northern Alberta and my family ate pretty much whatever wild meat we could get.
Beaver from Jan to spring melt when the cousin across the road would trap them.
Bear in the autumn.
Moose or deer or grouse whenever.
We saved the hides and tanned them.
We had dogs who loved the stew I would make for them with grain and trimmings/bones.


I am totally against waste of life and if you take the life of an animal you should use it all to improve your life.
It is respectful.
I think hunting strictly for trophies is criminal and should be a punishable offense, like loose your hunting license for life.
I haven't hunted for a long time.
But we live in the city now and it is not practical, so we hunt at the grocery store.
It lacks that primal connection, but it keeps the belly full.

EP, being opposed to slaughter, does that mean you are a vegetarian or at least purchase local meat that was not sent through a slaughter house? (not that it matters to me in any way, just curious)

Wendy

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Interesting topic!

Living in the South at this time of my life, I've become acquainted with alot of hunters. My ex-husband's new wife (whom I love dearly) is a national champion in bow-hunting. It's been a new world for me since I moved here from the North years ago.

I eat meat and have no problem with people hunting or owning guns. But I still have a little nagging question in the back of my mind: why would hunting be a pleasurable pastime?

Anyone have any answers?

Probably for the same reasons I enjoy horror movies and violent video games.

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I asked my brother-in-law this and his reply was that he goes out for a weekend in the wilderness to hunt, and while he may not kill anything, or if he does, only one dear, which doesn't take long to kill, transport and clean, he gets to spends hours and hours each day in the wild quietly observing nature. For him (haven't ever asked anybody else) that is the "pleasurable aspect. Getting food for the family for the winter, he said is a bonus, but not pleasurable, more along the lines of a duty
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I'm not a vegetarian, but I prefer, when at all possible, to eat meat that has been dedicated to the gods -- it doesn't have to be my gods. I will eat Kosher or Hallal meat, or meat that has been hunted by natives in the traditional manner. As a result I eat much less meat than some...

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Interesting responses.

As I mentioned before, halacha prohibits hunting unless it is done for the sake of survival or health. The reasons is, first of all, that the animal is not killed in a manner mentioned, but not described, in Leviticus. It took the "oral law" (or "oral tradition") to explain how it must be done (a quick slice across the neck that severs the carotid artery). Hunting, therefore, is considered too brutal since the animal may suffer tremendously before dying.

On top of this, killing for the sake of pleasure is considered too sadistic. Also, the Talmud discourages us from eating much meat and considers avoiding it as being very wise even though it is not required. Within the Jewish community, one will find many vegetarians and those who only rarely eat meat. And one of the controversies that has been going on over the last couple of decades deals with is it allowable to eat animals even if they were raised in an inhumane manner? Jewish farmers cannot raise animals in that manner, but there's no prohibition for a kosher slaughterhouse to buy animals raised in that manner by gentiles.

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We completely avoid chicken and all chicken products unless they were free-run, organically raised.
I grew up eating chickens and eggs from our farm and so I know how they are supposed to taste.
They do not taste the same.
When you consider the conditions they are raised in and the food they eat with all the hormones and anti-biotics, it is small wonder.
Those who eat pork should think again as the same conditions apply there too.
Beef is the lesser of the evils as they at least spend a good portion of their lives in the pasture.
But they too are fed lots of crap once they get to the feed lot.

I try to only eat "happy meat," myself.

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