The equation is simple

Not eating meat >>> Killing for meat >>> Funding meat factories who make animals suffer.

Hunting for sport and trophies is bad, but hunting for meat is a hell of a lot more ethical than industrial meat production. Interestingly I’ve known people that were Vegan due to the ethics of commercial animal handling, but were also hunting and would eat meat from animals killed in the hunting team.

I live in Sweden and hunting is pretty common here, even though I’m not personally involved. There are limits on when and how many animals you may shoot and when to make sure the population is healthy.

I don’t think the solution to the predators being gone is for humans to fill the gap, rather to let the predators make a return.

Here in Sweden we’re looking to shoot most of our wolves for no good reason. That is after a considerable effort to stabilise the population and bring genetic diversity back to it.

Instead of killing, try a trip just to photograph the animals. Then compare your experiences. The killing may not be what you enjoy about your hunting trips.

It is a perfectly fine thing. Humans are part of the ecosystem. We are predators and fill that niche. So long as we do so with attention paid to ensure it is done sustainably then there is nothing wrong.

It’s awful.

Spent a lot of my youth on the family ranch in the foothills of the Sierra Madre. Grass fed beef, they, the cows, had pretty idyllic lives up until the end there. I have never had a problem eating a good steak. I certainly don’t have a problem with someone killing and eating a deer. We’ve decimated the apex predators that should be culling the wild deer herds anyway.

I totally agree with you. It’s far more humane. They get to live a natural life in the wild and the death is often far better than what they’d face to a natural predator. It also has a very small carbon footprint.

I don’t hunt, and probably never will. It’s not really the killing and butchery that keeps me from doing it (I think I could handle that), but more the activity isn’t appealing to me, and I also don’t live in a great area for it. I have ADHD I’m pretty sure though, and the idea of sitting there for hours sounds horrible. I like camping, but I can’t be active and do things while camping.

I’m more curious of people who are against hunting. I can’t really think of a good ethical argument against it. I can understand an emotional argument, being against hurting animals, but that isn’t logical really. That’s part of nature. They will be hunted, by humans or otherwise, or their population will get out of control and they’ll die horribly from starvation. If anyone does have an ethical argument against hunting I’d love to hear it!

hunting for food is ethical, over killing, killing for profit, killing for sport are not.

the impact of hunting for food is so far below the impact of industrial agriculture and other things, it’s fine

A lot of people bring up the moral problems with eating meat, but I have barely any such issue in regard to wild animals, especially those overpopulating areas.

Of course, if a company ever made a big product out of reselling venison, we’d probably get perverse incentives where someone would start trapping and farming them. So, it ends up just being a homey domain of hobbyist hunters and all their family friends - but one I respect a lot.

I’m pretty simple.

Hunting to eat it? Great. I love me some deer sausage.

Hunting to chopoff its head and mount it on your wall like some ghoulish asshole? Go fuck yourself.

I feel like trophy hunters don’t show any respect to the animal, while hunters for eating do.

Go hunt to your hearts content. We’re all part of the cycle.

I get a lot of down votes for this but it’s important since we wiped out natural predators. One of my favorite days was cooking up some venison my students; we had a field day or whatever and no the meat came from another hunter.

I almost died when a a bunch crossed over the highway in the middle of the night. Tokyo drift instincts kicked in lol. Thankfully a buddy bought a Jeep XJ and it saved his ass.

Then there’s this ongoing argument against firearms; do you shoot the deer that ran into your car or beat it to it’s death with a blunt object? And I mean this in a humane question, otherwise you leave it die suffering in pain.

I only go for kill shots. None of this trophy bullshit. I’m not going to make a game of chasing around a wounded animal.

I’ve worked in wildlife conservation, and I’m all for it. With a few caveats.

• Be a fucking good shot. Practice. Don’t slop and wound. Humane kills to the greatest extent possible. Know what the fuck you’re doing.
• Eat the meat. Venison is delicious. Harvest, don’t just take a trophy.
• No spears. Holy shit, please. See point 1. Why is this still a thing? Even a niche thing, but still.
• Don’t scoff at tag prices. Be proud of your contribution. Donate to the crunchy granola hippies that ensure you have game to hunt.