Can't Kill

[Hirlau]

Quote: "Is there an animal that you can't bring yourself to kill?"

My Answer: "No, there is not" The simple of it.

[MikeinLA]

"Ain't life a bugger!!! Not all of us get to live in paradise... I feel for ya!"

Hi HogDogs. No offense taken as none was intended. As for your above statement, here's a funny story. When my kid was going to Ohio State last fall, I was researching the real estate market there just for fun. I found a 2,500 sq ft house 50 miles outside Columbus on 200 ACRES with a LAKE and a RIVER and all kinds of game, all for the price of my stupid condo in Los Angeles. I gave some serious thought to that, I may end up in "paradise" yet.

Be well, Mike

[publius]

I could kill any animal in the right circumstance. For those that haven't been on an African safari and say "poor elephant, or poor giraffe", it's the hunting fees that are guaranteeing their existance and the Africans eat the meat. If I ever see a Labrador duck I'll let it go

[wyobohunter]

I'd blast a unicorn. I hate unicorns! hehe Oh, and Picachu too.

[Inspector3711]

I forgot about unicorns.. I kill them and care bears on site. Shoot first ask later.

I killed a kitten once when I was in high school. It was a stray and was horribly sick. My dad didn't want to spend money on the vet and we were afraid what it had might make our cat or dogs sick. So I went out with the old .30-30 that was grandpas and did what I needed to do. If you guys watch Ax Men, I was in the hills around Vernonia, Oregon on a hillside that was being logged. I guess it was 1981 or 1982. That was when I knew there was nothing I couldn't kill if I needed to. It bothered me for a day or so as I recall, being a cute little kitten and all. What I realized before and after was that it had to be done and nobody else was doing it for me. I was dumb enough to feed it so it wouldn't go away.

I'd slaughtered hogs, rabbits, and chickens before. The woods nearest to our house had few birds by the time I moved out and fewer squirrels. I hunted opossums and coons too and had killed a stray that gave the neighbors cat rabies. That kitten was the difficult one though. I suppose since it wasn't wild and able to fend for itself. If you can do that, for me anyway, killing a bad guy or anything else should be no problem.

[phil mcwilliam]

I was on a pig culling trip on a huge remote cattle property in the Top End of Australia several years ago. We were asked to cull 6 "Brumbies"and felt obliged as the request had come directly from the property owner. I have been hunting for over 30 years & have accounted for many species of animals in several different countries, including Africa, but I found it uncomfortable shooting wild horses.

[Crankylove]

Won't shoot any protected species (birds of prey, ferrets, wolves , etc)

Any none game animal is fair game (birds, squirrells, snakes, rabbits, etc). Any predator coming after me is fair game.

I will go after any big game animal (deer, elk, antelope, moose, big horn sheep, bison, etc) I draw out for........cause they taste so yummie

Just a question.....How many people here won't shoot an animal except in self-defense, or maybe not even then, but love to go fishing and fry up some golden fried fishies for beakfast or dinner?

[Mr Odd Six]

I have one simple rule:

If I think its gonna kill me or mine, it hits the ground dead.

I dont care whom or what it is.

As long as I can buy food at the store, there is no reason for me to kill critters.

You do what you have to do, to stay alive.

Period

[sc928porsche]

Key to survival: If it moves, it is edible...it may not be very palatable, but it is edible.

[damien1988]

phill mac i agree with you there i have been on pig/roo/goat culls where i have been asked to kill wild brumbies and i couildent do it i dont feel right takeing a shot at such a beautyfull creature + i grew up with horses and kno how good a wild stallion can be once broken

[FrontSight]

Giraffe, cause my wife loves em. And cause they have the cutest damn lips when they eat that bread out of your hand at six flags, makes you wanna pinch their cheeks, adopt them and name em George.

Camels, and lamas, for the same reason.

And horses, man do I love horses. Zebras I would blast without batting an eye tho.

Dying Chimpmunks are a pitiful sight.

Wow, I really have grown soft over the years.

[mr kablammo]

Elephant, giraffe, komodo dragon, hummingbird, and songbirds (bless you grandma, RIP). I guess that bringing up the hummingbird is so far removed from the ideal of hunting that it seems preposterous. I have an aquaintance that confessed that as a child he shot a hummer with a BB gun. Fool! I would like to really bear down on hogs, feral cats, crows, pigeons, and grackles. Guess that is the city boy's idea of 'cleaning up'.

[Kreyzhorse]

I hunt deer, turkey, antelope and dove for food. What I can't do is get into vermin hunting like coyotes or praire dogs. I don't have a problem with others doing it, but it just isn't for me.

Not that I can afford it, but I could never shoot an elephant. Those creatures are just too wonderous for me to shoot.

[Para Bellum]

My answer to this question is I can kill anything that I have to for survival, but don't like to kill anything for the fun of killing. I do kill for food and wildlife control.

100%. Well spoken.

[RockyTop]

I could shoot anything if I had to in order to survive. But growing up, no one in my family hunted and I never really took it up either. We weren't opposed to it, but we just always bought our food at the grocery and I was more into team sports than hunting and wildlife.

Now though, I wouldn't mind getting involved in hunting and I have quite a few friends/co-workers who hunt, but I don't really like venison, I'd much rather eat steak or beef. So while I could shoot a deer, I haven't ever done so and probably wouldn't since it would be more of a sport to me than a food source.

But, here in Virginia, there is definitely a need for thinning the population. There are quite a few deer in the city and once you go more than 2 miles outside the city limits in any direction they are plentiful. My sister and brother-in-law live in the county less than 10 miles away and I can't recall ever going to their house without seeing a deer. One night I pulled into their driveway and stopped counting the deer in the field next to their house when I got to 20. So I'm always amazed when I hear of people going hunting and not coming back with something, when I could drive 5 miles down the road and spot half a dozen or more on any given day.

Anyway, for me, I'm not sure if thinning the population would be a good enough reason for shooting a deer if I wasn't also going to put the meat to good use.

[Pathfinder45]

I make my living climbing trees and squirrels are like a kindred spirit to me; perhaps like the Indian idea of a totem spirit. I dunno. Also, when I was trying to grow cantalopes on a farm in eastern Kansas I was having a war with the rabbits that loved to chew the vines before the 'lopes ripened. I could not kill enough of them and it was making me mad. Just when it was starting to look like I would surely lose the war, I began to see itinerant coyotes in the open that I had never seen. Within a week of the first coyote sighting my rabbit problems were completely over! When I camp in the wilderness the night song of the coyotes enhances the experience. If they were killing my livestock I would kill them; but not until, as I have found them to be on my side in the past. I would never kill a horse except as an act of mercy. Of course, starving with Jedidiah Smith in the desert or with the Donner party, one makes exceptions.

[protectedbyglock]

Hmmm.
Interesting question. I don't think I could shoot a horse, either. Well, my mom had this one horse... I probably could have shot that SOB. He would try to scrape you off on tree limbs and everything. We usually carried a baseball bat to deter him. Stubborn as hell, he was.

Unicorns would definately get shot. I heard that their horns disappear when you shoot them, though, so then they would just look like a horse. Is the meat still magical after they die? Because I'd like to eat some if it is.

Dogs, well.. it depends on the dog. I love dogs (and have two at the moment), but if they try biting me, my fiancee, or my kid... then it's death by lead poisoning. I've had dogs all my life, and only ever had to shoot one. Not his fault at all. Sad day for me, it was just his time. Crazy strays get shot just like anything else.

Cats? Ha. Just tell me where. My mom has two, and I have all I can do to keep from snapping their necks and tossing them in the trash can every time I visit.

Giraffes? I don't think so. Never tried the meat, though. Maybe that would change my mind.

I don't really get killing bear cubs. I don't know, if you're gonna eat them, fine. If you're gonna try to brag to me about killing one, I don't want to hear it.

I used to have a thing about doves. I wouldn't kill them no matter what. I think it has something to do with my mom telling me they were "god's birds" when I was a kid. I shot a few last year, and it felt odd. They were good, though!

I had a problem with killing squirrels when I was about 10 or so. Not so much a problem with shooting them, I just didn't like finishing them off with the butt of a gun. I always would, though, and I got over it pretty quick.

Never had a problem with deer. They are a lot of food, and the dam things are everywhere. They're so stupid, too.

Somebody earlier mentioned condors. Hmmm.. That's a good one. Being endangered, no. If they were everywhere, you bet your ass I would. We already have tons of vultures. I'd shoot the vultures first.

Snakes... yes and no. Rattlesnakes/copperheads....dead. Black snakes, depends. I've seen sooo many black snakes (I mean HUGE dens where they've taken over entire houses and barns) Yes, they eat mice and other pests, but there doesn't seem to be a shortage of them. If I see like 5 black snakes together, I'll shoot a couple of them for target practice. King/milk snakes... never. Never ever. I almost smacked a guy once.....

[FrontSight]

sc928porsche: if you think anyting the moves is edible, then I'd advise you to rethink that if you ever happen to see a poison arrow dart frog & get hungry...

[impact]

Snakes! people kill snakes on sight. Snakes are good to have around. And I will no way kill a Hawk or Owl. These are just some of the animals I leve alone. I don't kill soft shell turtles or snapers.

I'm not no MR do gooder. I will kill hog and coyote on sight. and I love to do it!

[Para Bellum]

I'd need a very very good reason to kill a(nother) predator like a wolf, bear, lynx, puma or other big cat or bird of prey.

I feel they are hunters like me and do the same job. I'd only kill one of these if there'd be an environmental or security related urge.

[Dragon55]

However, Mr. Eatman since you didnt choose to take your personal argument to my email and decided to scold me on the forum I'll just say it like this. I hunt and enjoy it. I also recognize that biology existed before biologists, forests existed before forestry, nature existed before science.
It is fact that has been proven that essentially a squirrel could jump from tree to tree from NC to the Mississippi and never touch the ground. This is no longer possible. Is this a bad thing? I would not go so far as to qualify it as bad or good. It is what it is. Yes, man whether pre-historic, Missippian tribes, or more recent have all had an impact on nature. Ask the Sioux about the buffalo.
I would never want anyone to think I am anti hunting. My grandpa would roll over in his grave. It's just that I don't view hunting as 'managing the population'. I don't view it as a way to acquire food. I view it as a sport. Which it is.
Again, sorry about the my last post it was a little stupid. .... and now this is WAy off topic from the OP and I will bow out to those much more knowledgeable than myself about what animals they would not shoot.

[lt dan]

i red this thread with a lot of interest. i know a lot of dedicated local hunters that share my view on this thread.

i cant see myself hunting elephant, lion, cheetah, giraffe, leopard, rhino and a couple of other species.

the reason? simple, i have been brought up in the understanding that what you hunt you eat. that is not to say that i condemn the hunting of above mentioned animals. how can i when the revenues of 1 elephant hunt will pay the antibiotics of the total elephant population of the Kruger National Park in South-Africa for a year.

a couple of people said that they wont hunt giraffe, me nether. how ever i will concede that due to the popularity of giraffe hunting the giraffe is not a endangered animal.

i know a local game farmer that has a black rhino breeding program. (they are on the brink of extinction.) he finances this project with amongst other things leopard hunts. he often tells me the extend of the dislike he has in killing leopard. but the fact of the matter is no leopard hunt no breeding program.

in Africa if it doesnt pay it doesnt stay. i sometimes wish this was not true ,but in Africa we have the hunting fraternity to thank for the abundance of wild life.

ps. hogdogs i see you say you wont travel the globe for a hunt. any chance i can convince you other wise with a local Wart-hog hunt. free of charge

[Dr. Strangelove]

I've got two of the household version of the creature as pets, I never could shoot a bobcat, tiger, leopard, panther, etc. I suppose if a tiger was after one of my pet cats I would have a dilemma, but the tiger would lose in the end...

[srt 10 jimbo]

I got a 2 year old pet Squirral I raised from a baby(Hammy, kids named it) she just sits on my shoulder when I walk around and pretty much trusts me compleatly. I used to Squirral hunt with pellet guns and 22's. no way I could do it any more.

[Xwrench3]

i guess it would depend on the circumstances. under the right set of circumstances, there is nothing i would not kill. that is not to say that i blatently go around killing every animal i see. but if it was a life or death, or to protect my family, there is not an animal on earth that is safe. under normal circumstances, there are many animal i will not shoot. cougar, bald eagles, hawks, i could go on with this list for two pages. i am an ethical hunter, but if it comes down to survival, i will keep us alive first, and worry about the consequenses later. i would find it hard to believe that there would be serious trouble for shooting something to save a human life.