Hunting

[metis]

I was over a friend's house last night and we briefly discussed hunting, and he mentioned how much he enjoys it. However, in Judaism, for reasons I'll mention later, one is only allowed to hunt for reasons relating to basic survival.

So, do you approve of hunting for pleasure?

Just a final note that I'll be gone for several days as I move back to my place downstate and my OWN computer and resources , so please have patience.

[Wendy Tall One]

I completely approve of hunting for food, one of the best dinners I ever had was a venison roast with wild mushroom gravy. And o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oh was it good.

As for butchering a carcass for the bust and cape, if that much, is BS.

[Storm2008]

I agree. I've known people who hunted for the same reason they gardened: it made them feel more connected, more respectful. Is it "hunting for sport" if you utilize the carcass?

[Wendy Tall One]

The way I understand it, hunting for sport is the same as hunting for pleasure.

But I am sure that it can be argued both ways.

[Chaitanyananda]

Originally Posted by metis

I was over a friend's house last night and we briefly discussed hunting, and he mentioned how much he enjoys it. However, in Judaism, for reasons I'll mention later, one is only allowed to hunt for reasons relating to basic survival.

So, do you approve of hunting for pleasure?

Very interesting question, and timely for me. I'll state, first off, that I am not a hunter, but I am an avid shooter, even though I only target shoot. I am also a meat eater.

I am, however, cutting way back on my meat and have been considering switching to a vegetarian diet for religious and spiritual purposes. Every time my spiritual teacher gets on a lesson about the killing and eating of animals, Her teaching makes a little more sense. I know it'll be like when I quit smoking and a day will come when I just don't eat any more meat.

However, the fact remains that people eat meat. The "best" way for an animal to die, if it's going to die anyway for food, is running free in the woods rather than raised in a factory. Even if only for that reason alone, I approve of hunting for food. When my kids were growing up, they were each taught to shoot when they turned 8. They were allowed to shoot anything they want (except people of course) under the condition that if you shoot it, you eat it. No exceptions.

As to hunting for skins or heads or bragging rights, I think it is horrible (unless one needs the skin to survive, which in this modern age of clothing availability is going to be quite a rare occasion indeed).

[Wendy Tall One]

As far as clothing options go...

I am not speaking for all natives and yes there are such things as fake leather and cloth dress, but I prefer to have my regalia made from deer hide.

I have pieces made from animals that I know were taken for meat as well as skin, bones, teeth, antler, hooves, wings, tails, etc. I have no shame in wearing these pieces.

I have been hunting, and hunting for venison, I have eaten gator, bear, deer, grouse, rabbit, pheasant, wild turkey, duck, squirrel, you name it, it has probably gone past my lips. Again, I have no shame in that.

The only time I feel shame is when I drive by a carcass, left on the side of the road no less, missing its head and nothing else. How barbaric, disgusting, embarrassing, and gross. Something like that would have never happened in NH where I am from, where there are laws against that, or at least the body would have been left in the woods vs the roadside. Living in SC I sometimes feel like an alien with the things they do here as the norm.

[arthra]

Baha'is do not hunt for pleasure but only when it is necessary to sustain life.. and while meat eating is not forbidden it is believed that in the future a vegetarian diet will be preferred and become more the norm.

Truly, the killing of animals and the eating of their meat is somewhat contrary to pity and compassion, and if one can content oneself with cereals, fruit, oil and nuts, such as pistachios, almonds and so on, it would undoubtedly be better and more pleasing."

- From a Tablet by Abdul-Baha

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 295)

[RevKathyV]

I believe in hunting for survival purposes...but although there are some I don't think there are that many people that NEED to hunt to survive.

[Schizophretard]

Yes I approve of hunting for pleasure because I approve of freedom.

[Eolas Pellor]

When I was about 7 I walked past this house on the way to school, and the man who lived there went deer hunting. You could see the backyard quite clearly from the street, and he had a deer carcass hanging there for a couple of days to age the meat. (I didn't know, then, that it is normal to hang venison for a few days, or longer.) It bothered me a great deal, particularly since I could see the eyes of the deer.

Actually, now, I appreciate that he did that. It wasn't just trophy hunting, he intended to eat the meat. A few years later I found out that he was one of a group of hunters from our community who used to provide moose and venison for a local child who was allergic to beef (back in those days (early 60s) almost no-one was vegetarian).

Our neighbour, who was a championship level trap shooter, used to hunt pigeons, as well. I can recall seeing him carrying in a bushel basket full of pigeons on a few occasions.

Did these men get pleasure from their hunting? I think so. As far as I know, neither had to hunt in order to feed their families -- and I have met people where that was the only choice if the family was to have meat. I appreciate that they did not waste their hunts, or hunt for trophies only.

All in all, I am not opposed to pleasure hunting, but I am opposed to waste, and to slaughter.