What is it about humans that makes some of us think shooting an animal with a gun is brave or noble or tough

[OCNewbie]

Yeah, hunting IMO is fairly trivial, it's just a waiting game. As long as you're patient, it's gonna happen if you're not totally clueless with how to operate a gun. How hard is it really for humans to outsmart animals when we have bullets that move faster than any animal can even think, fake scents to lure the animals in, it's just silly.

I find fishing somewhat enjoyable though. I guess you don't necessarily kill the fish just to kill it though.

I know, PAINTBALL HUNTING!! yeah, that'll fly. I guess it's all about the picture of you sitting/standing next to the big, dangerous, dead animal.

 

[tcsenter]

Yeah, hunting IMO is fairly trivial, it's just a waiting game. As long as you're patient, it's gonna happen if you're not totally clueless with how to operate a gun.

Except that one can't hunt between dusk and dawn, most people don't have unlimited time to hunt (due to work and family or whatever), the season is limited, and most hunters come-up empty any given season.

But yeah, if I sit long enough in my living room, a wild animal is bound to come by at some time; be it 10 hours, 10 days, or 10 years. After all, I saw on the news a few days ago that a deer wandered into a Target store. :roll:

 

[probzy]

Human instinct

 

[OCNewbie]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
But yeah, if I sit long enough in my living room, a wild animal is bound to come by at some time; be it 10 hours, 10 days, or 10 years. After all, I saw on the news a few days ago that a deer wandered into a Target store. :roll:

So you have to go out into the woods. I don't think it's some sort of long-term goal to realize where animals live. Aren't there like tons of written guides out there you can use to locate hot spots for specific animals? Their habitat is HUGE so yes, it's a bit of a luck of the draw. Sure, some tactics work better than others for luring the animals to your location, but most of these "tactics" are on sale for $9.99 at Wal-Mart.

Sure it's a PITA to get up early in the morning and sit in your deer stand all day long waiting, waiting, waiting for a deer to respond to your call or just meander by, and then your reward is killing the thing, how lovely.

I'm fine with people hunting, I don't think anybody's right to do so should be taken away or anything like that, but I certainly don't see the appeal or real "challenge".

 

[0]

What's worse - hunting a deer that has lived a free life in the woods, that is using all its senses to tell if danger is near, and can possibly get away if it detects you...

-OR-

Having a semi-tame animal that has been fed by humans all its life herded to a slaughterhouse with no chance at all, so that you can have your big mac or roast beef sandwich?

 

[judasmachine]

I've done it many times as a youth, but it just seems dumb now. My Dad even took me bowhunting back in the day. I never considered it brave, noble, or cool. It's pointless now.

 

[bluestrobe]

Reading this thread makes me wonder about society. Hunting is a hobby, like building computers. I have seen several pictures of people's systems on here they built from scratch. Why take picture of a computer? What is the point? Same with cars, houses, yards, along with everything else people take an interest in.

 

[judasmachine]

Originally posted by: bluestrobe
Reading this thread makes me wonder about society. Hunting is a hobby, like building computers. I have seen several pictures of people's systems on here they built from scratch. Why take picture of a computer? What is the point? Same with cars, houses, yards, along with everything else people take an interest in.

Perhaps because computers don't involve killing? I think the OP's line of reasoning was that why is it manly to shoot something with a gun, when it is so relatively easy (even i've done it.) Not so much why people do it, but why they think it makes them a man.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: judasmachine

Originally posted by: bluestrobe
Reading this thread makes me wonder about society. Hunting is a hobby, like building computers. I have seen several pictures of people's systems on here they built from scratch. Why take picture of a computer? What is the point? Same with cars, houses, yards, along with everything else people take an interest in.

Perhaps because computers don't involve killing? I think the OP's line of reasoning was that why is it manly to shoot something with a gun, when it is so relatively easy (even i've done it.) Not so much why people do it, but why they think it makes them a man.

Maybe they do it because they enjoy it? Because it is good for the environment and it puts food on the table? Did that ever occur to any of you?

How do you come to the conclusion that hunters hunt to make themselve feel like men? I've known plenty of guys and some women who hunt and I've never come to that conclusion about any of them.

Jeez, this thread full of idiotic conclusions about a sport most of you clearly have no clue about.

 

[bluemax]

Most hunters I know are more proud of killing the animal and displaying heads on the wall than about the meat it will provide.

Maybe killing something makes them feel like a man.

If I had to provide meat for my family in order to survive, I'd hunt - but I would not ENJOY watching these animals die and then mount their heads and antlers as trophies for all to see.

Rednecks.

Hunting to fill freezer = good.
Hunting to boost ego = bad.

 

[SilthDraeth]

I didn't read all the replies, and there are a lot of them. But humans, lacking superior physical strength, speed, etc, utilize our superior intellect, and use of advanced tools to gain advantages over other animals.

Putting an unarmed man against a grizzly is hardly fair for the man. Giving the man a gun, only gives the man an advantage if he is very skilled with the gun.

There are dozens of reasons why people hunt, but it isn't to prove that they are manly. And it still takes a ton of skill, given all of our technology to be able to make a clean kill. Any jerk can go out and shoot a deer if they see one, or a buck, but you have to be skilled, and patient to make it a 1 shot kill. And that is something to be proud of.

 

[SilthDraeth]

Oh yeah, pictures are for memories.

Though, that ranch style hunting seems it caters more to rich guys that want to feel like hunters, than it does to real hunters.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Canai
Real men hunt with bows.

real men dont hunt. they go to the grocery store in their minivan and buy the list of things their wife made

and i do hope one day the animals evolve to get laser shooting out of their eyes. that'll teach the hunters a thing or two about fair fights. the hunter sitting high up in the tree, looking thru his scope...spots an animal..he steadies, calms his breathing, slides his finger onto the trigger, is about to pull...then he sees the animal turn its head and look directly at the hunter...and before the hunter knows it, zzzaaaaap...the hunter is gone

 

[tcsenter]

real men dont hunt. they go to the grocery store in their minivan and buy the list of things their wife made

Exactly. 'Real men' just buy their meat already slaughtered and butchered by someone else, then feel superior for not taking part in any of the dirty work.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: DougK62
Using a firearm to shoot a target from a distance DOES take some skill, ya know.

You have to be clumsy, retarded, or both to miss with a scoped rifle.

And it's not something about humans - it's a cultural thing local mainly to the US. Killing the animal isn't the hard part, getting in range of it without it running off is.

Edit: Before someone nitpicks, by scoped rifle I mean one which has had its sights/scope properly adjusted for windage/elevation. Otherwise if the scope is off, the bullet will be too

 

[rhino56]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: rhino56
they do it because they have no respect for living things

On the contrary, many hunters have vastly more respect for living things than the animal rights whackos whose ideology is at complete odds with and denial of biology and evolution (you know, those things that govern the natural world and ecology).

By your reasoning, only strict vegetarians and Vegans can rightly claim to respect living things. What is the difference between someone who purchases their meat from a supermarket or restaurant and a hunter, feeling superior because they aren't involved in the dirty work that produces the meat they enjoy?

if a person hunted people would it mean they respect them? but because they are hungry its justified. i dont deny biology, animals die all the time and kill each other. Hunters are about 100 times more humane than the mass production of animals. but the truth is that any animal is a living thing just like a dog or cat. if i ate my dog people would think its a horrible crime, but other animals are okay, its justification of our needs,people do for everything.
if there were no more animals besides dogs and cats believe me, it would all of a sudden become okay to eat them.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: ariafrost

Originally posted by: DougK62
Using a firearm to shoot a target from a distance DOES take some skill, ya know.

You have to be clumsy, retarded, or both to miss with a scoped rifle.

So what's your excuse? Clumsy or retarded?

 

[her209]

Is it considered just as manly if a "hunter" uses traps?

 

[OCNewbie]

Some of these posts remind me of a video I saw online where I hunter has a deer/buck in his sights. The deer is in the middle of a fire/dirt road and the hunter misses THREE times before the deer finally runs off.

Can anybody find that and post it here? I'll look and see if I can find.

Edit - Here it is LOL Link

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: OCNewbie
Edit - Here it is LOL Link

Hahaha... I bet that guy never lived that one down.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
when the world goes to crap and there is no food in a stores , don't go looking for help from a hunter, they'll remember this thread

Farming >> hunting/gathering

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: OCNewbie
Some of these posts remind me of a video I saw online where I hunter has a deer/buck in his sights. The deer is in the middle of a fire/dirt road and the hunter misses THREE times before the deer finally runs off.

Can anybody find that and post it here? I'll look and see if I can find.

Edit - Here it is LOL Link

ok someoen needs to take his gun away.

thank god he did not hit the deer. Odds are he would not have got a clean hit and would have to track it (wich i doubt he would have.)

if you can not get a clean hit DO NOT TAKE THE SHOT.

 

[biggestmuff]

1. Hunger
2. Marksmanship

 

[SoylentG]

If we're judging people by a smaller group of them, what does that say about surgeons. Oh my god! Some surgeons leave instruments in patients! All surgeons do is harm people!

Oh please.

Just because you percieve something to be a certain way, having never experienced it, hardly makes you one to judge it. If you think people hunt to feel good about themselves, then you're simply proving your idiocy.

This whole thread is just a big freaking troll-bait. Make an ignorant post, based on assumption, add forums.anandtech.com, allow to simmer for 3-4 days.

 

[iskim86]

****** them animal rights activists.