How do shooters feel?

[Richie w]

I have been shooting since i was 9 and allways feel a little sad after realising that I have shot a pregnant doe. Pest control job or not.

[Doobin]

Originally posted by swamprat
There seems to be a lot of fuss at the moment about whether to kill young bunnies or not. As has been pointed out, they're not really children. Just cause they're cute shouldn't make any difference. You could end up having a policy whereby you only shoot the ugly ones, or the guilty ones, or the ones with spots...

They're animals. That's it, end of story. They don't have life stories or emotions or grieving next of kin.

When I got into this game I had to think long and hard about whether I could really kill a living creature - it goes against the Disney education I've had in life. Then I realised that the Disney education was a fraud. That's why we have a hypocritical society that weeps over the killing of foxes and the culling of hedgehogs whilst eating their bacon sandwiches.

Everything on this planet was meant to either eat, or be eaten. Death and killing is all part of nature.

The only justification I can think of for not shooting baby bunnies is because you want to leave them to get bigger before you kill them for the pot, and that's a rational, not an emotional decision.

Any other reason is born of the same kind of sentimentality that breeds antis. You don't want to go down that road.

Got it in one. I don't shoot young ones unless its a complete pest control job. But that's only because I'd have no use for them.

Young uns from pest control jobs are ferret food, but theres no point shooting a little one if its not doing any damage- wait till its bigger.

[si72]

I find it very interesting reading this thread. here in nz rabbits are not indigenous they do not belong here like most mamals we have they are pests plain and simply put we would be better rid of them all down to the last little thumper. in parts of the high country where the ground is dry they will multiply into plague proportions i have a friend with a 7000 acre high country sheep station near queenstown and 6 years ago the rabbits nearly breed him into bankrupcy they shot and trapped 100000 in one year and there were still an estimated 600000 left. an average hunter can shoot 100 in a day with little effort . it is good fun but there is no room for discrimination young old male female time of year ar all by the by. I realise here we have a different enviornment and none of this is a dig at anyone or their views its just a different perspective.

[swamprat]

I've decided that I want to go and live in New Zealand... 'sigh'.



What are the laws in New Zealand regarding airguns and hunting?

[bobb d]

I got an invite to control crows at a pheasant shoot and I got hidden away before first light and waited. They came in thick and fast and after a while I started to wonder if I was going over the top, I shot 32 in the first morning ( honestly) it was raining carrion crows not rooks just in case you were thinking. Any way two years on I have shot nearly 300 and even the farmer has commented on the return of nuthatches to his garden. Point is we are pest controllers and we have a job to, do just do it as we are asked and we will get the good reputation Air Gunners deserve, when i first turned up at that shoot I got some funny looks in the cammo with the "pellet gun" they now have seen what can be done it has opened a few new doors for me.
ATB Bobb D

[Craig-P]

I'll speak from the perspective of someone who doesn't have loads of land on which to shoot.
It's pretty much a blessing to see a single rabbit on any of my shoots, those that I do see are goners - whether they're mixied, up the pole, three quarter grown or still looking at suspended mobiles on thier rabbit prams. Apart from the mixied rabbits, they'll all go to good use - either I eat them or the dogs or ferrets do or the local butcher flogs them.
If I had many acres and a 'choice', then i'd go for the good'uns, but I haven't, so they're all fair game - same as most other honest people who only have a smallish shoot would say too.

[ChrisPer]

I have a near relative who has served on the Environment Protection Authority board. She comes from a New England station, has spent most of her life very seriously involved with the bush and has little silly sentimentality for pest animals. Plenty for endangered ones!

She feels that hunters are a pest - they introduce wild pigs and deer where they were not, and even where that hasn't happened, we claim pest control benefits but LEAVE many of the population to ensure more hunting next time.

If you are on pest control shoot the cute little fuzzies. That is why you have permission to shoot, and if you don't it is almost fraud.

[Trav]

The first rabbit I ever shot over here in England made me feel a little guilty to start with.

In Australia the only shooting I did was either with a really old BSA air rifle as a kid, or on an indoor range with handguns and shotguns, so I didn't shoot any live game in either case. (Except when I shot my brother in the bum, but hey I was nine and he shot me first)

Over here though, I had been dropped off to spend a couple of hours on a friends shoot. I had seen a couple of rabbits in the distance with no chance at a shot and after about an hour and a half I decided I would go for a walk. As I was walking alongside some woods, I saw a very small bunny jump over a log and do a sharp left turn, then stop. I wandered over to have a look and it was huddled up against the log trying very hard to hide under a leaf.

No there was no reason whatsoever that I couldn't have leaned down, picked it up by the ears and snapped its neck, but I didn't. I shot it, from about 3 feet away.

That made me feel terribly guilty, it was only a baby after all. I did think "Well, I'm here for pest control and little ones grow up into big ones and become a pest, so I think I've done the right thing" and after telling the guy who dropped me off, after all the ribbing I got, he did tell me that I had. He filled me in on the numbers that one rabbit is capable of generating over a spring and summer and I have to say that while I knew it was a lot, I didn't know it was quite that many.

He also told me that cooked properly, that little rabbit would be absolutely delicious - and he was right.

The land I was shooting on was made available to us for pest control purposes and the landowner made it very clear that he wanted the rabbit numbers cut to an absolute minimum. The landowner realised that its virtually impossible to completely eradicate them, but since he owned a fully landscaped Capability Brown style manor house and garden, he wanted the damage to stop. He pays for the pest control to be performed and he expects the job to be done. Control is the key word here - by shooting that one rabbit, I have controlled the growth of that particular colony to a certain degree.

I think its fine to feel a little guilt, but don't get carried away. The rabbits sheer breeding ability will ensure the survival of the species.

cheers,

Trav

[robinghewitt]

I sometimes wonder if the "Thou shalt not kill fluffy animals" brigade is a result of too much Beatrix Potter, over active imaginations and that strange human propensity to believe in things mystic.

Do these people wake up one morning, find what might pass for an original thought inside their cranium, get all excited, never stop to wonder if it might be utter bunkum, leap out of bed and started preaching at me

Extending the Geneva Convention to include bunnies is the slippery slope to Jainism, no thanks

[billyboyp]

get them youngest in frying pan loverly.