- #36
zomgwtf
- 66
- 2
Turbo I think you know that I am Metis... fully. Non-status of course because due to a burnt down church and lost birth records but none the less many people in my family hunt for food as well. They come from New Brunswick (Grand Falls) which is really a light jog and a little jump away from Maine (where you are correct?) So the cultures aren't that different really. So I understand what you're saying... but...turbo said:There are many people who do not understand hunting. Often they describe it as people taking pleasure in killing. I have Native American blood on both sides of my extended family, and I grew up hunting deer. We did not kill deer indiscriminately - only for the venison, and my father and uncles trained me to only take a "kill" shot and respect the deer. I still hunt almost 50 years later, and I hunt with a single-shot rifle (.45-70 Ruger Model 1) and haven't needed a second shot for decades. There is nothing like venison steak, heart, liver, etc. It's what I grew up eating.
There are some out-of-state nuts that come to Maine loaded with semi-automatic rifles, wearing huge knives, etc, and they spend much of their time partying in the local bars. Anti-hunters might find some quarrel with such city-dwellers, but so do the natives in Maine that adhere to more traditional standards for hunting etiquette. That means concern and respect for the game and the other hunters in the woods.
There is no pleasure in killing an animal for meat. Slaughter-house-workers and butchers can tell you this. They are the "sin-eaters" for all the "innocents" that want to pick up packages of hamburg, steak, chicken, etc, neatly wrapped in plastic-covered foam trays and never take responsibility for the lives of the animals that they eat. At least a cleanly-killed deer has had the advantage of living all of its life in the wild, instead of in a feed-lot.
Just because there's a greater purpose to the killed animal doesn't take away from the pleasure that's gained from hunting. That's why people do it. First you're alone in the woods (well sometimes alone sometimes not but it's quiet always so basically you're alone) which to most hunters is really pleasurable. Even if they don't get a kill it's a good day out. Second the anticipation of animal making sure you're doing everything properly, quite thrilling. Third, SEEING the animal and deciding it's good to shoot. Fourth, taking the shot... and this is probably the most pleasurable thing of all. It's not 'sadistic' it's just exhilarating, shooting a rifle within very small error margins to kill a sometimes HUGE animal. Fifth, some people actually like chopping up the animal it's not a weird sort of 'nasty' ew they like killing and dismembering bodies it's just interesting and some people enjoy it. Fifth EATING the meat. This is easily the most enjoyed by all parties, even those that don't hunt... Some people get pleasure just out of the gamey taste of meat, some people like non-gamey wild meat... makes no difference the pleasure factor is still there.
Now it used to be vital to do this to survive so while going on the hunt it would be counter balanced by the knowledge that if you screw up you're tribe/family won't eat. Now days though it's different, if you want any kind of meat you can go to the store and get already killed and butchered animals. Now why kill ANOTHER animal if you're so worried about them? The only reason is to get pleasure nothing else. It is not required to survive.
Also I do not know of these people personally that you speak of with automatic rifles etc. etc.. Our laws are different up here but I wouldn't consider those people hunters. Those type of hillbillies that just use dynamite to fish cause they think it's funny.