Boy shoots albino deer, gets deaththreats

[54bogger]

I alway's killed deer for the taste! Once the skin is off they all taste the same, albino or normal.

[Zoo Nanny]

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

Isn't killing deer a part of keeping this planet healthy? I thought the reason for killing deer was because their numbers are so high in a given area that they are causing problems. I always hear about how in some places you have to drive very slowly because you never know when a deer will come shooting out of the woods and crash into your car or motorbike.

Not always. If you drive through the Keys in Florida you will see signs for deer crossing. Key deer are critically endangered. You see moose crossing signs in the Northeast where the moose are just coming back. It just means that you happen to be driving through an area where animals travel. There are some areas where certain types of deer are over populated. Hunting seasons are regulated to avoid over hunting species which has happened in the past.

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

Not always. If you drive through the Keys in Florida you will see signs for deer crossing. Key deer are critically endangered. You see moose crossing signs in the Northeast where the moose are just coming back. It just means that you happen to be driving through an area where animals travel. There are some areas where certain types of deer are over populated. Hunting seasons are regulated to avoid over hunting species which has happened in the past.

Overpopulation is what I am talking about. I wouldn't agree with the killing of an animal if it's endangered.

[Zoo Nanny]

I agree with you on that one. There are a couple of local towns near me that do not allow hunting and the deer are getting out of control. The same people who ban hunting are the first to complain about the deer eating their flowers and the coyotes that are going to eat their children! And more than likely it's their children that make the threats on social media sites.

[CosmicOwl]

It is indeed. Humans aren't exactly equipped to kill deer with our teeth. We've always used our brains and ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey. But, if you think killing a deer with a crossbow is just killing and not hunting, I invite you to try it. I don't use a crossbow, but I've been bowhunting since I was 10, and it's a lot more difficult than you might think. A lot of non-hunters get their impression of deer from those that live in parks and neighborhoods and are fed by people all the time. It's a different animal that lives out in real nature.

I've pointed this out already, but humans are capable of bringing down large animals without ranged weapons and with little more than a sharp stick or rock.

You try to say that humans have always used our ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey, but then try to romanticize hunting by saying it's different to hunt the animals out in "real nature." If I hunt the docile, human fed deer in my backyard, that's just another way of "using my ingenuity" to more easily kill prey. There is no practical difference between that sort of hunting, and traipsing around the woods with a crossbow. They're just different strategies.

Originally Posted by Zoo Nanny

I agree with you on that one. There are a couple of local towns near me that do not allow hunting and the deer are getting out of control. The same people who ban hunting are the first to complain about the deer eating their flowers and the coyotes that are going to eat their children! And more than likely it's their children that make the threats on social media sites.

The problem is that we eradicated all of the predators. In many areas, we wiped out the wolves, panthers and jaguars that would have naturally preyed on those deer.

[Zoo Nanny]

If people weren't so misinformed about predators we could see the reintroduction of some species. So long as people feel that they are threatened by carnivores we will never see them come back. The deer, beaver, muskrat and other small mammals will continue to flourish.

[IW17]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I've pointed this out already, but humans are capable of bringing down large animals without ranged weapons and with little more than a sharp stick or rock.

You try to say that humans have always used our ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey, but then try to romanticize hunting by saying it's different to hunt the animals out in "real nature." If I hunt the docile, human fed deer in my backyard, that's just another way of "using my ingenuity" to more easily kill prey. There is no practical difference between that sort of hunting, and traipsing around the woods with a crossbow. They're just different strategies.



The problem is that we eradicated all of the predators. In many areas, we wiped out the wolves, panthers and jaguars that would have naturally preyed on those deer.

I don't know how to explain what I'm saying an better. Whether a hunter uses a gun, crossbow, bow, rock or a pointy stick, it's still just a tool to get the job done. It's a method used by a predator to catch prey.

As for overpopulation, there are more deer in the US now than hundreds of years ago. Between predator populations declining, or being wiped out for that matter, and the agricultural, we've given herbivores the necessary tools to flourish. Which is why every state has a dept of wildlife, who employees people to study animal populations and determine the number of animals to be culled each year to maintain a healthy population.

And to davidvb, saying that allowing a ten year old boy to kill a deer using a crossbow is wrong, could you please explain why?

[Cmwells90]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

You try to say that humans have always used our ingenuity to come up with easier ways to kill prey, but then try to romanticize hunting by saying it's different to hunt the animals out in "real nature." If I hunt the docile, human fed deer in my backyard, that's just another way of "using my ingenuity" to more easily kill prey. There is no practical difference between that sort of hunting, and traipsing around the woods with a crossbow. They're just different strategies..

Cosmic, the type of hunting you're referring to "persistance hunting" is only used by ONE culture today, and they're in Africa where it's easier for them to chase down their food for 8-10 hours while it dies of exhaustion than it is to risk losing a valuable weapon by throwing it. This doesn't make it a "better" way to hunt, in fact the animal suffers quite a bit during this process but the people of that culture respect their sacrafice so their families can eat! However this is not by definition "Natural hunting" in fact, all hunting is natural, hunting is hunting. You seem to humanize and very inhuman thing. Apes use tools to get their termites, is this not natural? How is this any different than us using a tool to hunt something? The edge humans have over other animals is our intellegence, our ability to look at something and figure out a way to solve the problem with a little effort as possible. and to answer this post, yes killing a Deer in your backyard and in the forest are the same to me, as long as the law see it the same way then it shouldn't matter.

[CosmicOwl]

Originally Posted by Cmwells90

Cosmic, the type of hunting you're referring to "persistance hunting" is only used by ONE culture today, and they're in Africa where it's easier for them to chase down their food for 8-10 hours while it dies of exhaustion than it is to risk losing a valuable weapon by throwing it. This doesn't make it a "better" way to hunt, in fact the animal suffers quite a bit during this process but the people of that culture respect their sacrafice so their families can eat! However this is not by definition "Natural hunting" in fact, all hunting is natural, hunting is hunting. You seem to humanize and very inhuman thing. Apes use tools to get their termites, is this not natural? How is this any different than us using a tool to hunt something? The edge humans have over other animals is our intellegence, our ability to look at something and figure out a way to solve the problem with a little effort as possible. and to answer this post, yes killing a Deer in your backyard and in the forest are the same to me, as long as the law see it the same way then it shouldn't matter.

I think this argument has become a bit semantic. I'm not saying that hunting isn't natural, or that making/using tools isn't natural human behavior. I'm arguing against the idea that humans can't hunt without tools. But if we're going to argue about what is or isn't "natural" then we have to define what "natural" means. It's a concept that has all but lost it's meaning in modern society.

I'm saying that persistence hunting is the "natural" method of hunting for humans because it is a task that we were adapted to preform in our native environment. It's a method of hunting that requires the barest of technology that any human could develop. Not utilizing a weapon that was developed by countless humans over centuries of technological development. I doubt that most hunters who use a gun or a crossbow would be able to build even the simplest versions of the highly advanced weapons they use.

[IW17]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I. I doubt that most hunters who use a gun or a crossbow would be able to build even the simplest versions of the highly advanced weapons they use.

I agree with this statement. But that extends to pretty much all aspects of life in modern society. How many people could accomplish even the most basic of human needs if left to fend for themselves? Fire by friction? Doubt it. Gathering wild edibles or growing crops? Might take a while and even then many would get sick and possibly die from misidentified plants or fungi. How about just getting clean drinking water? These are all tasks that not long ago were common knowledge, yet now most people would be $h*t outta luck if they had to provide these things for themselves or there family. We(most people) depend on modern conveniences to go about our day to day lives. Hunting is no different.

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by CosmicOwl

I think this argument has become a bit semantic. I'm not saying that hunting isn't natural, or that making/using tools isn't natural human behavior. I'm arguing against the idea that humans can't hunt without tools. But if we're going to argue about what is or isn't "natural" then we have to define what "natural" means. It's a concept that has all but lost it's meaning in modern society.

I'm saying that persistence hunting is the "natural" method of hunting for humans because it is a task that we were adapted to preform in our native environment. It's a method of hunting that requires the barest of technology that any human could develop. Not utilizing a weapon that was developed by countless humans over centuries of technological development. I doubt that most hunters who use a gun or a crossbow would be able to build even the simplest versions of the highly advanced weapons they use.

I think what they are getting at is that no matter what you use to hunt, hunting is still taking part in nature. Would persistence hunting be the only method of hunting considered natural? "Primitive" people all around the world use bows and arrows to catch arboreal animals, spears to catch seafood...etc. What would the natural way of catching fish be if not primitive archetypes of nets and spears?(and in some cases leaking poison into a lake to kill fish)

[SnoopySnake]

The fact that this this kid is getting death threats is ridiculous.. I don't care that he got an albino dear as long as he put it to good use. I also think hunting is much better than buying meat from the store. But what I'd be more concerned with is the fact that he used a bow, and that only concerns me for this reason:

[EL Ziggy]

Aww, that is sad Adrian. I hate to see any sentient being suffer.

[Aaron_S]

Nobody wants to breed this thing to make hets?! Is it only me?!

[eminart]

Originally Posted by SnoopySnake

But what I'd be more concerned with is the fact that he used a bow, and that only concerns me for this reason:

A deer shot with a rifle through the face would still be walking around too. That goes back to proper hunting ethics - practice and only taking good shots. A deer shot through the vitals with a bow dies in less than a minute in most cases. Humans kill far more quickly than almost any natural death that an animal will meet.


As for all the other arguments springing up, it gets tiresome, as a hunter, listening to people with no experience talking about things they know nothing about. If you exist on this earth, other animals die for it. Even if you're a vegetarian, you take up space, and your veggies fields take up space. Things die because of it. Being further removed from the death that you cause doesn't make you better. It just means you're afraid to see the cost of your existence.