[A Ramble] Hunting, Sport Hunting, Trophy Hunting.

(Tosses a bale of hay out on the balcony to distract the bunnies.)

I recently dared to post to my Facebook timeline two pictures; one decried trophy hunting, the other decried sports hunting. Doing so apparently means I'm against all forms of hunting, am trying to pee on people's freedoms, steal all guns, lock people in their basements and hate everyone who has to eat.

Uhm. No.

Trophy hunting is going out for the purpose of killing an animal for having a trophy. Typically this is to show some sort of uber scary manly (in the adjective sense rather than gender sense) ability at gun use. This is the killing of a moose for its antlers, this is the killing of a lion to take it home and have it stuffed. While the moose meat may be handed out to people, more often than not it goes to the flies. I haven't seen the statistics for how much of the lion meat gets eaten, but as carnivores tend to taste like drek, I'm thinking next to none.

Sports hunting is going out for the purpose of killing an animal for the fun of it. Typically this is just for the endorphin or adrenaline high that comes from shootin' thumper into little itty pieces with a .45 Magnum.  This is the joy of shooting a kangaroo so full of holes you couldn't eat it even if you wanted to. This is going out to the savannah and shooting as many lions as you can. Lions are a favourite target of both, by the way, since they look like such scary, manly, threats, but really aren't. (Do your own research, I'm too pissed off to do your homework for you.)

So, apparently since I'm against those two forms of hunting I must also be against people who hunt for food. Apparently I also must be against population control, human safety and a host of other things that involve dangerous creatures having to be killed. I know this because I had several people tell me at great length how scummy I am for this.

Listen, I'm against reckless driving, but that doesn't mean I'm against people going for a Sunday drive up to Othello Tunnels. (Unless they're doing 130 km/h and weaving in and out of traffic.)

I am sick and tired of people automatically assuming the worst of me and starting a fight. Instead of just jumping in with both feet and assuming all sorts of things about me, wouldn't a "What do you consider sports hunting, Lorna?" have gone oh so much farther? Instead of making Facebook a place I don't even want to be, wouldn't a little extrapolation have been recommended? And y'know, even if I *was* against sports fishing (which isn't the same as hunting?) where you put a trophy on the wall and eat the fish meat, isn't it my right to say so on my wall? You don't like it, instead of doing your best to treat me like the crap you want scraped off the bottom of your boot, wouldn't it be better to make a counter post on your own wall? Or defriend me? Or ignore the post? I never said "Bob is scum because Bob hunts deer on weekends." I said trophy hunters and sports hunters suck.

I am an omnivore. I see no difference between going out and humanely killing Bambi as I do going out and humanely killing a cow. I do see a difference from humane slaughter and driving into a pasture with an AK-47 and mowing down a herd of cattle, deer, whatever, just because you can.