I say again, perhaps other states need to look at Maine. We have all the "evil" methods of killing bears, we have plenty of bears, and we have no "problem" bears. We have less people too. I hope none of the above changes for a very long time.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln
This is the story we've been told and LARGELY ONLY TOLD. Actually, science is now discovering and RE-DISCOVERING what Darwin observed...very few behaviors are entirely genetic. While there may be a contributing genetic component to behavior that correlation DOES NOT equal causation when it comes to behavior whether it be in human or other animal behavior. What's being observed, AND RE-EXAMINED IN A WIDER CONTEXT, is that behavior in humans and in wild animals can also be described as not only SELFISH but also PRO-SOCIAL, OR COOPERATION even among different species. It's clearly observed in human and other species behavior, EVEN AMONG DIFFERENT PLANT SPECIES. WE KNOW humans have the capacity for altruism, empathy, and cooperation NOT ONLY among each other but with other species!
This notion that humans act ONLY as predators or that natural selection is ONLY about competition is narrow minded and most often used to justify self serving purposes.
Even though humans act predatory at times those times have to be taken into context with what was shared earlier:
Regardless of our primal instincts, if we choose to consume animals there really is no moral difference between hunting for the meat or buying it at the grocery store or restaurant. In fact killing what one eats is if anything more intellectually honest as we can see the direct cause and effect of our choices. I was raised vegetarian but now eat meat occasionally and I admit that I really enjoy the occasional burger, steak, or fried chicken. I'm not sure I'd have the stomach to kill in order to have those things. It is an inherent contradiction that few recognize.
If a guy goes out hunting deer and enjoys it for the thrill of killing a live animal and then goes home and packs up the usable meat and puts it in his freezer for the winter, how is his enjoyment of the act relevant? He's taken a life to facilitate his desired consumption of meat. There are people who take pleasure in looking at the elaborate meat displays at Whole Foods and making a purchase. I'm not sure it is very different. In other words, I don't care if someone enjoys hunting or not. If they are hunting for food, it is the equivalent of shopping at the grocery store and perhaps more morally honest since you're personally taking the life that's feeding you. Hunting purely for sport is a different story for me. I don't understand it and don't like the concept but it is a free country and I've never been around the hunting culture enough to really understand why someone would be motivated to go into the woods to kill living creatures for nothing other than sport.
I'm sorry but it is. I don't think you know ANYTHING about hunters or hunting. Some of the things you've said about hunters in this thread are mere imagination projected onto them. I've always thought that making negative generalizations and stereotyping any group based on ignorance was a bad thing. I hike, and I hunt. I enjoy hunting, and I enjoy eating the meat I get from it. It's legal, and to me it's moral, more moral than buying meat in a store or restaurant.
"You're a nearsighted, bitter old fool."
I hunted for decades. I enjoyed the hunt. I enjoyed the meat from the hunt. Deer, moose, rabbit, partridge, etc is much better than beef in my opinion. I eat beef because I no longer prioritize the time to hunt. Fishing is a similar thing. I love the sport of fishing. I used to eat the fish when I was going after Brookies. Now that I fish for bass, I toss them all back and let them get bigger. It is likely that some will find that practice disgusting too. Oh well....
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. - Abraham Lincoln
I think part of the reason people think like Tdoczi is that they see reports like those of the younger Trumps on big game hunts ( https://www.thedodo.com/trump-speaks...275724124.html ) and are then forced to hear more traditional hunters defend them.
On the other hand I think if most of us saw the suffering animals endure on factory farms, we would all be eating venison.
again, if your assessment of their motivation is correct i dont disagree. IF
theres a perhaps subtle difference between killing something because you enjoy the act of killing it, and then eating it as an afterthought, and killing it because you want to eat it and the enjoyment being a coincidental biproduct. specifically when talking about bears i have a hard time imagining getting to eat it is a big motivation.
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.
Because were managing the population so there's not too much growth per year and they're tasty
love peace and chicken grease