Reply To: Public Land hunting ethics

[lyagooshka]

#8712

Dave, I know you want to put this to rest, and I am by no means trying to poke the skunk here, but your statement of “I must disagree that baiting bears, and shooting treed lions, is necessary for management, that is, predator population control” sounds a bit off to me. My example is New Jersey and bears, whereas Etter1’s is California and lions. In both places, when hunters were not allowed to legally and ethically hunt those animals, people quickly realized that livestock, pets, people are all on the menu, and overpopulation leads to nastiness. I do not hunt predators. It is a personal choice. I do not mind the “competition”. I heard someone say that in one of these forums, and I couldn’t agree more. But in cases of bear and lion, it almost becomes self-defense in some cases. Almost, but still. So we allow hunting, but limit it so severely that the animals (who are by no means dumb) simply become nocturnal to avoid the two-legged nuisance. Then, the antis use the lack of decrease in vehicle collisions, attacks on humans, pets and livestock, etc as “proof” that hunting does not work. IMHO I really cannot see the “ethical” difference between setting up bait in the open forest versus digging a hole in the middle of desert country and filling it with water to attract sheep, deer, etc. As you can probably tell from my earlier post, unlike you and Etter1, I tend to let emotions get ahead of me. I am very new to hunting and I have absolutely no Biology experience. That said, when I hear people who are otherwise against hunting actually asking why “they don’t just shoot them”, I tend to see it as an issue well beyond simply “taking out the competition”. Again, IMHO. You (as usual) said a very intelligent thing in “agree to disagree”, so I have no problem with that, and I am sure your philosophy is more profound than the several hundred words of each post would allow. Again, I am not trying to re-hash the topic. I just wanted to add my 2¢. Be well.

Alex