Fishing vs. Hunting

[MichaelAngelo]

I love seeing wildlife. Ever since I was a kid that's all I wanted to do. My dad took me bird watching and moose watching very often. I loved to catch bugs and frogs and crayfish. Everything!

Last year I was considering getting my PAL, but decided to focus on fishing instead. I can catch my fish and it doesn't have to die. That's the beauty of fishing and that's how it rewards me. I get a hold of a great specimen and then return it to where it came from.

I would love to hunt if I could use tranquilizer darts, make my photo, and let the animal go. Unfortunately tranquilizing animals isn't that easy (or legal). It requires specific measurements and mistakes kill the target.

Oh well, so since I can't hunt with tranquilizers, I might as well stick to fishing .

[bettercallsaul]

I don't have a car and I don't think there exists such a thing as urban hunting lol. Although if I could I would want to try out hunting for snow geese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5sN7kOAxl0

[MichaelAngelo]

(04-13-2012 12:32 AM)bettercallsaul Wrote:  I don't have a car and I don't think there exists such a thing as urban hunting lol.

LOL could you imagine! =D *evil grin*

[OldTimer]

(04-13-2012 12:32 AM)bettercallsaul Wrote:  if I could I would want to try out hunting for snow geese:

Hey - why not take take a kazillion blasts at the over populated Canadian Geese that endlessly (12 months a year) soil our parks and waterfronts across all of central and southern Ontario.......... most are getting real sick of the crap and the smell.

Now that's a problem that is WAY outta control with no "acceptable/correct" solution to the many.

..............They don't even taste real good once you do get one.

[hammercarp]

Hunting involves killing an animal. There is no taking a bullet back once the trigger has been pulled. There is no getting around that or prettying it up. It is not for everyone.
It can be a lot of fun . I know that sounds weird or contradictory but it's the truth. The actual killing only takes a small fraction of the time used in the hunt . It is the whole experience that is enjoyable.
There is one thing that stands out to me. You are never more alive than when you are hunting. You are aware of so much more of what is going on around you.
With a few years under your belt you will see the natural world much differently than others that don't hunt. I mean that you will actually see things that others don't. I have had it happen more times than I can remember. You are with friends and you see a deer. "Look at the deer" ,you say. They say " Where?" You say " Right there". They say " Where I can't see it." And that is the truth , they can't.

[MuskieBait]

If you don't like the idea of shooting an animal, you can always mount a camera on your unloaded riffle. Treat the shutter like your trigger and just snap a picture of the animal you're intended to shoot...it is almost as good as making the kill.

I don't hunt...at least not yet (don't have money to take the course and license...not that I'm opposed to hunting)...but if I were in the field and don't feel like taking an animal, that would be as close as taking a shot to me as possible.

I know some friends who go out with an intent to target a specific animal (maybe a buck...or maybe a doe...or maybe something of a particular size)...and they would only pull the trigger when the right one comes around. However, they often feel happy just being able to say "There was this deer and I could have taken the shot, but I chose not to." They feel satisfied that they had the skills possible to sneak up on an animal and that in itself was enough for them.

Hunting is more of an experience than just going out to shoot things...at least that's how true outdoorsmen and hunters feel anyways.

Not sure if this sounds stupid or not...but you can try tagging them with a paintball gun too Maybe take a picture of the animal after you're marked it with your paintball. This is twice as difficult as you have to track down the animal after you hit it...and without any blood trail, it is difficult to track. I can see it now...a bunch of deers with brightly colour polka dots on them

[hammercarp]

Muskiebait
What you are proposing is actually illegal. You would be charged with harassing wildlife. Not kidding.
When you hunt you are participating in something that is part of who we are as human beings. Humans have hunted for as long as they have been human. Ever wonder why people try to get as close as they can to wild animals? It is because we are hard wired to feel good about getting close to them. Close enough to stick a spear into them.
The sport we participate in on this forum is really called angling and it isn't that old. Angling means to take a fish by means of a line with a hook or angle on the end. They have found some bone and even stone hooks but I don't think they are as old as hunting artifacts like points. One of the neatest things I found while deer hunting was a stone hide scraper. I also have a stone arrow head. I sometimes think about this link to the past. How our ancestors not only survived but thrived with tools like these and how even with modern hunting tools I am doing the same thing.

[MuskieBait]

Hold on there...note the smiley face...it means that I'm kidding about the whole paintball thing...

I guess you missed my whole first part of the post about appreciating nature and just snapping pictures...

As anglers, we also have the choice to take the fish as part of the catch or release them. Let me see...you put a hook wound in a fish mouth, then letting it resist capture until exhaustion (with fish like tuna, they fight until lactic acid builds up), lift it out of the water to struggle to breath to the point of suffocation while people spend time to take some "hero shots", then releasing the at a weaken state that make the fish prone to predation and infection...that would also qualified as harassing wildlife, no?

Or maybe we should only go out and catch a couple of fish for the table then stop fishing all together? Who has ever done that honestly, especially on a day when the fish are on fire? Who has gone out and only kept 5 measly 6" perch for the table and left? Most people will be releasing a bunch of small perch all day just to try to catch a few jumbo ones. Why fish and catch and release if the intention all along was not to take the fish for the table, especially when people are out fishing for bass, steelhead or musky? Why put any fish under unnecessary stress at all?

Isn't that just as bad as running down a deer until exhaustion and not taking the kill shot? To me, it is just as bad if not worst. In catch and release fishing, you could go through tens of fish a day putting them through unnecessary stress, harassing wildlife in my mind. Why not just observe the damn fish?

I'm just playing devil's advocate...make you go hmmm, huh?

[bettercallsaul]

(04-16-2012 12:39 AM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Hold on there...note the smiley face...it means that I'm kidding about the whole paintball thing...

I guess you missed my whole first part of the post about appreciating nature and just snapping pictures...

As anglers, we also have the choice to take the fish as part of the catch or release them. Let me see...you put a hook wound in a fish mouth, then letting it resist capture until exhaustion (with fish like tuna, they fight until lactic acid builds up), lift it out of the water to struggle to breath to the point of suffocation while people spend time to take some "hero shots", then releasing the at a weaken state that make the fish prone to predation and infection...that would also qualified as harassing wildlife, no?

Or maybe we should only go out and catch a couple of fish for the table then stop fishing all together? Who has ever done that honestly, especially on a day when the fish are on fire? Who has gone out and only kept 5 measly 6" perch for the table and left? Most people will be releasing a bunch of small perch all day just to try to catch a few jumbo ones. Why fish and catch and release if the intention all along was not to take the fish for the table, especially when people are out fishing for bass, steelhead or musky? Why put any fish under unnecessary stress at all?

Isn't that just as bad as running down a deer until exhaustion and not taking the kill shot? To me, it is just as bad if not worst. In catch and release fishing, you could go through tens of fish a day putting them through unnecessary stress, harassing wildlife in my mind. Why not just observe the damn fish?

I'm just playing devil's advocate...make you go hmmm, huh?

People don't seem to care as much about fish in our culture IMO. It's like the "vegetarians" who still eat fish. Fish have faces.

[MuskieBait]

(04-16-2012 01:13 AM)bettercallsaul Wrote:  

(04-16-2012 12:39 AM)MuskieBait Wrote:  Hold on there...note the smiley face...it means that I'm kidding about the whole paintball thing...

I guess you missed my whole first part of the post about appreciating nature and just snapping pictures...

As anglers, we also have the choice to take the fish as part of the catch or release them. Let me see...you put a hook wound in a fish mouth, then letting it resist capture until exhaustion (with fish like tuna, they fight until lactic acid builds up), lift it out of the water to struggle to breath to the point of suffocation while people spend time to take some "hero shots", then releasing the at a weaken state that make the fish prone to predation and infection...that would also qualified as harassing wildlife, no?

Or maybe we should only go out and catch a couple of fish for the table then stop fishing all together? Who has ever done that honestly, especially on a day when the fish are on fire? Who has gone out and only kept 5 measly 6" perch for the table and left? Most people will be releasing a bunch of small perch all day just to try to catch a few jumbo ones. Why fish and catch and release if the intention all along was not to take the fish for the table, especially when people are out fishing for bass, steelhead or musky? Why put any fish under unnecessary stress at all?

Isn't that just as bad as running down a deer until exhaustion and not taking the kill shot? To me, it is just as bad if not worst. In catch and release fishing, you could go through tens of fish a day putting them through unnecessary stress, harassing wildlife in my mind. Why not just observe the damn fish?

I'm just playing devil's advocate...make you go hmmm, huh?

People don't seem to care as much about fish in our culture IMO. It's like the "vegetarians" who still eat fish. Fish have faces.

I'm still playing devil's advocate...so don't take anything the wrong way...

What you're saying is like what PETA is saying...why eat chicken and farm them in inhuman conditions when you call your dog your best friend, pamper them and buy them medical insurance?

Why do people catch "sea kittens"?