RM99 

Whenever I encounter an animal rights freak or a vegan or vegetarian, I always tell them the same thing. If God (or nature...lots of these folks are atheist) didn't want us to eat animals, then he shouldn't have made them so tasty. The best (and most difficult to understand) argument for harvesting dear is that it prevents the other deer from suffering. Deer populations will balloon so rapidly and to the point that it literally kills nearly all of them through starvation. Deer were always naturally meant to be harvested by predators, but when we removed the predators (wild cats, wolves, bears, etc) the natural order is messed up.

There is a difference between eating meat and hunting. You are, of course, right about predators. The whole ecosystem is out of whack....

If one wants to "shoot" an animal, use a camera... For me there is not much difference between shooting a person and a deer, and I prefer to do neither.

I guess my problem with it, is that I don't see the sport. There is no challenge, yet hunters seem to take so much pride in their killings...

Lornz 

There is a difference between eating meat and hunting. You are, of course, right about predators. The whole ecosystem is out of whack.... If one wants to "shoot" an animal, use a camera... For me there is not much difference between shooting a person and a deer, and I prefer to do neither. I guess my problem with it, is that I don't see the sport. There is no challenge, yet hunters seem to take so much pride in their killings...

As long as the hunting is done in a humane way, I see little difference between meat bought at the butcher and taken from the wild.

And like I said (and you agreed) that without hunters, the deer would suffer greatly, dying of starvation. Predators also play an important role in keeping the gene pool clean (something humans will finally admit in about a century after our entire global population is inundated with disease, genetic defects and outright recessive, undesirable genes)

People that are sick or disease prone should not be allowed to pass their defective genes on...it's not "natural" but alas, we humans feel we're above nature.

RM99 

As long as the hunting is done in a humane way, I see little difference between meat bought at the butcher and taken from the wild. And like I said (and you agreed) that without hunters, the deer would suffer greatly, dying of starvation. Predators also play an important role in keeping the gene pool clean (something humans will finally admit in about a century after our entire global population is inundated with disease, genetic defects and outright recessive, undesirable genes) People that are sick or disease prone should not be allowed to pass their defective genes on...it's not "natural" but alas, we humans feel we're above nature.

I just don't like to take life, but I can if I have to. I don't understand the joy people take in it, that's all. I could understand it if people were hunting each other, as there would be real danger involved. Or if you get an armed intruder in your house and you defend yourself. But sitting at a distance, shooting a harmless animal. I don't see from where the pleasure would come...

Fact is, we are far too many people already. But nature usually has a way of regulating excess...