Animal rights activists are beginning to rely heavily on the animal humane societies to help defend their belief that hunting, fishing and trapping are inhumane. But what is humane? The dictionary describes humane as kind, merciful or considerate. What is considered humane by one person, may not be by another. To an animal rightist (who knows very little about predator/prey relationships or carrying capacity) banning hunting and allowing the deer to overpopulate and destroy the habitat (causing the deer to suffer malnutrition, stress and starvation) is more humane than removing enough deer through hunting so that the remaining deer will have enough forage to live. To an outdoorsman this scenario is not merciful, kind or considerate, and it is not humane.
If a person understands predator/prey relationships and carrying capacity they know that when prey specie numbers exceed the carrying capacity of the land habitat destruction, low reproduction rates, stress, malnutrition and starvation are the results. However, most animal rightists have no knowledge of the way things really are in nature. They relate everything to a Utopian world where they believe all animals should be free to live like humans. And believe that there is some unknown welfare system in nature that will take care of the animals so they will never suffer. Or they relate wild animals to their lap dog, which they lavish gifts on and coddle.
I have watched animals in overpopulated areas search for food. At first they lose weight, then they become emaciated, every rib showing. In their search for food they begin to move at times and places when they wouldn't normally. They travel in the open during daylight hours, where they are chased by wolves, coyotes and stray dogs, which costs them so much energy that they cannot recover, and they eventually die. If they escape the predators they are often wounded and die later. They travel greater distances in their search for food and are often hit by vehicles and die a slow death. I have watched a deer hit by a car die. It is not a sight for the weak hearted. If the animal is severely wounded, with one or more broken legs, as is often the case, it may drag itself to the side of the road, where it may take hours to die.
Anyone who has spent enough time in the outdoors has seen a wounded animal. Whether it has been a rabbit or squirrel hit by a car, a duck, pheasant or deer that has been shot, or a fish that has swallowed the hook, most outdoorsman have seen an animal that may or may not recover from it's wounds. How do you decide if the animal will survive or not? Where do you draw the line as to what is an acceptable injury for the animal to live with and what isn't? What injury will eventually lead to the animal's inability to move and cause it to die of exposure, malnutrition or lack of water? The question inevitably rises, "What is the humane thing to do?" When it is a game animal that has been shot, or a fish hooked too deep, the answer for most of us is simple; dispatch it as quickly as possible. To an animal rights person a blow to the head of a fish, breaking the neck of a bird, or a finishing shot to a deer, might be inhumane and cruel, but to an outdoorsman it is an act of kindness, mercy and consideration.
The real world for wild animals is a harsh, cruel one, where an animal must eat to live, and avoid danger to survive. There are both prey species and predators, and they are interdependent on each other and their habitat. If there are too many prey species they will destroy the habitat and eventually some will die. And it may take years for the habitat to recover. If prey species move into habitats where there is not enough forage to sustain them they must either move out or some will die.
In the real world there have always been predators, and man was one of them. The predators evolved with the prey species, and the predators' existence depended on the numbers of the prey. Where there were numerous prey species, numerous predators could exist. After thousands of years of coexistence a balance was met between the prey species, the habitat and the predators. The predators kept the prey species at or below carrying capacity, so that habitat destruction by the prey species did not occur, and malnutrition, stress, disease and starvation where kept to a minimum. But, without the predators this balance of nature could not occur.
Another reality is that man has altered the predator/prey relationship and habitat carrying capacity wherever he goes. In many places man has improved the habitat through agricultural practices so that more prey species can survive. But, man has also eliminated the natural predators by hunting; because the predators competed with man for the prey species, or the predators left the area because of their unwillingness or inability to survive in the vicinity of man. The result is that in most areas there are far more prey species than the habitat would normally hold, but fewer predators than should be present. This is not bad as long as man continues to be a predator. But, when human populations stop or ban hunting, the prey species is not kept in check, and with the absence of other predators, the prey species overpopulates and suffers.
Because many predators are dangerous to man most humans do not tolerate their presence, and the predators are removed through hunting (this hunting seems to be acceptable, especially if human lives are at stake). Thus, the predators can not, and do not, keep the prey species in balance with the carrying capacity of the land. The only alternative is for man to continue to hunt or otherwise remove the over abundance of prey species, and treat them in a humane manner, by taking excess animals and using them responsibly as a renewable food resource, so they do not destroy the other renewable resources that they rely on to survive.
Hunting, as a means of survival and as a way of recreation, has been practiced by humans for thousands of years. There are several references to hunting, and which wild animals were hunted, in the Bible. In Genesis 1:26 God gave man dominion over the animals and plants. Dominion means authority, which means we humans are the masters of the animals and plants, and we can do what we want with them. That authority carries with it the responsibility to manage our natural, renewable resources. If man is to exercise his authority, and his management responsibility in a humane fashion, he must remove excess game animals from the habitat, so that the habitat is not destroyed. The question is, is it better to let the animals die a long drawn out death after they have already destroyed the habitat? Or is it better to remove excess animals through hunting and use them as the food source that they are, therefore keeping both the animals and the habitat healthy? Anyone who has not lost touch with the outdoors will agree that hunting is the more humane alternative.
Personal Note I didn’t have to go very far into the Bible to find out that humans not only have the right to utilize animals and plants (Genesis 1: 29-30), but that we also have the responsibility to manage the animals as well. Genesis 1: 26 states that God gave man dominion, or mastery, over the animals, which means we can do anything we want with them. But, along with the right to do want we want, we also have the responsibility to manage. We have to control the numbers of animals in many areas through hunting, because the natural checks and balances are no longer in place. Man has decreased the natural habitat through destruction of forests and the building of cities and roads; increased the natural food source through farming; and reduced the natural predation by eliminating or displacing many of the larger carnivores like wolves, mountain lions, bears etc.
Man was one of the natural predators from his beginning, and he will continue to be a natural predator. In the United States, Canada and many other countries, hunting is one of the rights of the people. If we wish to keep that right we all need to become involved with the hunting organizations and conservation clubs that are devoted to proper management of animals and habitat, and to hunting rights. But, many of these organizations are leaving out the same part of the equation that families, businesses, and government are leaving out in their attempts to be successful; God and prayer. With the help of God, through our prayers, the anti-hunters can be stopped. Join an active pro-hunting group and spread the news. Then pray.
God bless,
T.R.
God bless,
T.R.
I'd rather die by way of a well placed shot while strolling through the woods than suffer death by starvation, death by mauling or death by prolonged pathology. The wild ain't kind. The modern human hunter IS the most humane way for an animal to die. Another point the ARAs get completely wrong.
I can pray that proper management practices are put in place. In many instances - hunting is a management tool.
People pray to stop other people from going to war, or from suing them or harming them etc.
God can choose who or what he wants to support.
God bless,
T.R.
The world is a brutal place - full of pain and death. The only way to end animal suffering is to end animal life.
Anybody who actually thinks about it quickly realizes hunting is the best way to obtain meat if you care about animal welfare. And when animals kill each other it's worse for them than when hunters do it (most of the time).
Anti-hunters aren't about animal welfare, they're stupid people who can't see below one level deep. I.E. "Hunting kills animals, therefore hunting bad!" They can't think beyond that.
The bible is for people to interpret however they would like, and antis will find just as many interpretations that show we shouldn't hunt.
Bottom line is it's politics, and not religion, that will determine what happens.
We hunters through our tag fees support wildlife management. We do more than anyone one of those people asking about humane treatment of animals. Bunch of #@@!!! dang fools with no more sense than a fence post. Whoops..sorry.
If you stop hunting deer will trash the environment, then die by the tens of thousands in the first bad winter. Of course they think starving is a "natural" death and therefore acceptable.
It isn`t really a question of being humane or not. Hunting is natural and necessary. The question of being humane or not was added by modern man. Actually only the last forty or fifty years has more than just a handfull of people ever really considered whether hunting was humane or not. The last few decades have produced a generation of people who have no idea who the hell they are, or what the hell is going on.
They are removed from the reality of where their food comes from, and they have no idea that no matter what they do, where they live, or what they eat, they are directly responsible for the deaths of countless animals every day. Facts are facts. As hunters we KNOW how much blood MUST be spilled in order for us and our children to live. A person who truely believes that hunting is not humane is simply not in touch with reality, and does not realize the death they cause just by being alive.
Every day, as humans we are further from our natural instincts than we were the day before. To me, THIS is truely inhumane.
How many people do YOU all know who would be much better off if they knew the joy, honesty, and reality that hunting shows us? Is it not inhumane for someone to live without feeling their heartbeat as a HUNTER?
1st is it humane? You know we are told humans were gathers before being hunters. Well honestly that is a theory because there is no fact finding proof that humans were 1st gathers.
Especially since they keep finding our ancestors have been here longer and longer just about every year.
We know that who we find were always hunters but not pure truth as gathers.
Now I am waiting for them to find where humans have been using SCENT-LOK for several thousands of years now.
Back to the gist of this thread ,yes it is depending on who's opinion you believe !
Great post!!! You go right on quoting the Bible!!!!!
HerdManager,
If you don’t like TR’s posts, DON’T READ THEM!!!! Simple solution dude!
Proverbs 3:5 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Great post.
God Bless
Ray
