If ever you are in the Austin area, around Lake Travis, that scene plays itself out any time you drive up around there. I hated going anywhere near the lake because I always feared that no matter how careful I was, I would hit one of those vermin. They just hang out in the road in huge numbers.

When I saw that movie, even though I thought it sort of stunk, I was so creeped out by that scene because of that.

Seriously, though, I think tonight is going to be a venison night around here.

All I have to say is: This story is newsworthy???? Come-awn.

Also, most hunters (I’m not claiming all, but everyone I hunt with is included in this) eat the meat from the deer. It’s quite tasty and there’s a lot of it, so we don’t have to spend a lot of money on hamburger and other meats. Yes, it is an adrenaline rush, but it’s legal and I don’t see anything wrong with it to be honest.

As far as hunting goes unless you are a plant all things must kill to survive. Imagine the thousands of living beings you kill when you brush your teeth. You think shooting a dear is less “humane” than a Lion taking down a Gazelle and eating it alive? That seems weird to me.

These supposed animal lovers want to demonize the hunter, but the fact is, hunting keeps a balance in the eco system. If the deer population is out of control, other animals, like rabbits, for example, have little to eat. This in turn hurts the predators who feed on rabbits and so on.

This denial that humans are not animals and a part of the food chain is a pretty sad statement about our society. We are animals, we eat meat, and there’s nothing wrong with that unless the meat we are eating is endangered. Those that claim it’s unfair to stalk and hunt an animal with a gun are ignorant. It’s not that easy to do. Furthermore, if you look at predatory animals in the wild, they do the same, and they don’t get the clean kills that hunters strive for. They tend to start eating while Bambi is still alive.

Hunting licenses are there to track the number of animals culled. This keeps people from over hunting or not hunting enough.

Those people who think that they are somehow better or enlightened because they are against hunting have zero understanding of nature or animals because they are so bent on saving the cute animals that if they had their way, they would be the ones responsible for their demise.

So a shooter had a harder time killing an animal than he originally thought he would. Whatever. There’s no lesson for anyone here..he’ll probably hunt again, just from a longer distance and with more bullets.

hopefully he, and other’s hearing his story, will have a greater respect for danger

hunters aren’t anymore noble than someone who works at a farm killing things, or anyone else for that matter. they’re generally dips- they hide out in expensive little tents, in expensive cammo with equipment and guns and shoot things as they walk by. how heroic! how challenging.

it boils down to this: one animal stalking and killing another. and if its not ok to root for the opposition, then its not really a sport, is it? its just a process… at which point it might as well be a killing floor. and hey, what about that poor schlub making a living feeding turkeys to the grinder?? you don’t think that’s “the hard way”? p’shah

and its not being hypocritical to have a problem with killing things for kicks (and that’s what most hunting is- the thrill of the hunt).
there’s nothing wrong with trying to minimize your negative impact however you can. just because you’re not sin free doesn’t mean you can’t try to be good. so you eat candy that contains animal products? does that mean that being against someone kicking a dog is hypocritical? of course not. THAT’S naive. i mean, being prolife, talking about the sanctity of all life, but supporting the death penalty- now that’s hypocritical.

i have no respect for anyone that thinks its fun to take the one thing anyone or anything truly owns- their life. you have to be pretty damn full of yourself to think that’s your right, especially for sport. if you’re in the Donner family and its the only way, yeah sure. someone’s trying to kill you? yeah alright.
but if the thing has a prob with you trying to off it and it stomps yer face? good on it. go deer.

now if this was a fair fight, naked guy in the woods in winter with some pointy sticks tied to his head facing off against a deer… i might be rooting for the guy.

resume blowhardery y’all.

But yeah, I’m with Patrick and mu here. I think that people would have a deeper appreciation for life in general if they acknowledged that the meat on their plate once had a face and deserves to be well prepared and never wasted given how it is feeding us and keeping us healthy and well… alive.

I am not a hunter myself, though I fish and have raised hogs for slaughter. Those experiences have taught me more about the value of life than any tree hugging PETArd type could ever hope to understand.

I question the ethics of anyone that eats something they can’t kill and butcher themselves; this limits me to plants, fish, and other “primitive” life forms that I can’t empathize with.

Venison is probably one of the tastiest meats outside of alligator as far as I am concerned, and I am glad I live in the UK, where it is readily available in the store most of the year. I wish it were more like that in the States because it is also very healthy.

I have all the respect in the world for the responsible hunter, and though this story is kind of funny, it drives home the point… if you hit a deer, shoot it, or otherwise stun it, never approach it until you are sure it’s dead. Deer may be skittish and people may want to associate them with a Disney cartoon, but they can also be very dangerous.

Food wise, you have two ways of going about things:
1) Gather or grow your own food
2) Pay someone else to do it and pretend to understand how the food system works, while actually not having a clue.

You’re a hypocrite unless you’re doing all your own farming, with all organic ingredients, and making sure that all your soil is turned by hand so that no adorable animals are killed by a tractor. MAYBE one in five hundred people in America live that way.

Eat eggs? What do you think happens to male chickens who are born on an egg farm? They’re fed into a machine that grinds them up, alive, into feed.

Eat foods fertilized with organic fertilizers other than straight up compost? Where do you think all that animal shit comes from?

Eat vegetables you didn’t grow and didn’t come from a local CSA? Who do you think picked those peppers? Guys bringing in $70K a year and working in some sort of fantasy land where farming isn’t horribly dangerous, dirty, exhausting work?

A deer is the ultimate local food source. It ate grains from the farm it lived near. It’s a renewable resource. The guy that shoots it takes it home rather than shipping it cross country on a truck.

Have a little more respect for people who are willing to do things the hard way.