[hogdogs]

Mike, Very well put and I will politely rake you over the proverbial coals...
From bottom to top...

Maybe one of you guys ought to take me hunting. I'd probably love it and then we could all have a good laugh.

I would take you up on that... A dogs on hogs no guns hunt... That is about as up close and personal as I can find. Should be fairly easy for you to "justify" as these are are crop damaging feral hogs.

I also kid my buddy who blew 80 grand on a boat so he can go out and catch a few hundred bucks worth of fish.

I too am guilty of being an offshore sport fisherman... If I never spend another dime doing it, I will never get my fish under $700 per pound in my whole life if I limit out every trip I go on for free... But the time and research planning the trip and taking care of boat and gear is as much fun as the fish fight... And I know how fresh my fish is. Try sushi of yellow fin while it has never been in a cooler and tell me you enjoy it the same in a restaurant following such experience.

And I DO consider animals who are raised like crops (beef, etc) to be different than animals in the wild. I have absolutely NO disrespect for hunters, I was just not raised around it.

But they are all living creatures. If a bible believer than all the animals are here to provide for man as are the grains of the earth. Ask the cow in line at the slaughter house how they feel as they walk the "green mile".

I could certainly kill a wild animal who was terrorizing the neighborhood, but that's hunting for a purpose in my mind.

I feel killing without purpose is wanton waste of wildlife as do most game law makers. But purpose to you is different than to me and my purpose is different than that of a trophy rack hunter. For me, I am able to reduce the food bill at home to the tune of pennies per pound if I get more than 2 deer with one round each... The purpose for the rack hunter is to put a big set of antlers on the wall which requires planning the hunt and restraint in letting the little guy walk. I just hope they eat the meat or give it to someone who will.

I think I appreciate bowhunters a bit more than LR scope hunters, there just seems to be more skill involved in stalking to get in close. I also appreciate hunters who stalk game who can, and may, kill them instead. That seems more sporting. I mean, shooting a deer with a high powered rifle from 100 yards, where's the sport? Why not just carpet-bomb the woods?

Many bow hunters use superior wallets to fund superior spending on superior camo and scent control items as well as high dollar calls. Many rifle hunters stalk to prey. I am one and I usually wear just an old camo shirt from the yard sale table and a pair of jeans. It isn't as easy as you realize to send a bullet on even a short 100 yard trip. It must fly true and not find so much as pine needles in flight that will send it errant.

I'm also not sure how you know you're not shooting the strong ones who would have survived the winter.

By strong we are not after the sick or afflicted. It is the genetically strong deer that produce the bigger better quality specimen we try to conserve... Momma ain't gonna be happy if I feed her a sick deer:barf: But a small bodied older deer with small racks produce likewise weak offspring.

The argument of population control has been explained to me and I do get it. I'm not sure I understand why if there are just SO MANY deer that they need to be thinned, why does it take all day to get lucky and see one wander by? Hmm. You would think they'd be all over the place, wouldn't you?

The reason you do not see them everywhere you look is due to hunting and other controls. There is an island off the coast of Cali that had elk and hog issues due to no hunting and they are destroying a delicate ecosystem unique to that spot.
Also if you spend some time in areas with limited deer season and meager bag limits you will see higher pressure placed on crops and may even see the starving deer others mentioned or you may hear of the WHOLE HERD exterminations completed by paid sharp shooters so they can burn and bury them as they are diseased. Around me we have a HEAVY population as well as many car accidents caused by deer. But if you get off the paved roads and keep your eyes and ears open, if they are moving, on any given morning or evening you may get to see a dozen or more healthy deer, many of which will have presented shot opportunity if we were hunting.

First, a few caveats....I'm a "city" guy and have never lived near the woods. I've never had predators attack my cattle or chickens and I've always lived within a few miles of a supermarket.

Ain't life a bugger!!! Not all of us get to live in paradise... I feel for ya! I have never lived out of reach of at least a decent little country store that sells meat but I have been too poor to let out the heat or air conditioning opening their door... As "Hirlau" said above your post "my stomach betrays me"... We have a country store that sells pork from the smaller meat packers who buy pigs from smaller farms and I assure you the crap in a chain supermarket doesn't compare and my wife saves 33% at least.
Then there is the wild pork that tastes even better. Deer IMHO has a flavor all it's own and not everyone will love it but most will find it, at minimum, satisfying....
Thank you for understanding I tried to post this in a respectful way and was not intending to offend you or your opinion in the least...
Brent