How do you feel about inflicting pain on an animal? Co-worker

My co-workers are the recipients of my toll. We share BBQ often...each just took 30 pounds of buffalo and deer home. They love me, and that's the way it should be!

Do animals really feel pain? I have my dog under foot as I type. He's old and tired. His eye is nearly swallon shut from allergies. It looks horribly discomfortable, but by the wag of his tail he feels nothing. Give him a treat and he'll leap to his feet to take it.

Walt Disney certainly changed the way people feel about animals. It sort of blows, if you ask me. People in general haven't a clue...and they vote.

Is anyone aware of the things happening in Western Australia right now? Seems the animal rights activists have found their allie in the government (one person at the top who has spent too much time watching Bambi). They are in the process of prohibiting the killing of animals with bows. Stupid people think animals have feelings and could care less about the management of non-indigenous problems. Never mind the fact that men have been chasing critters with bows for over ten thousand years. Heritage means nothing.

Guys, this is real and we need to do our part to protect what we have! The best way to do that is to share everything you have/get. Make the most of your harvest!

Brett, take her some meat!

 

You actually believe that animals do not have feelings or feel pain?

 

Not in the way humans do. Since they cannot reason, pain is not emotional for them, and it's the emotional effects of pain that hurt the most.

 

It's a fair question by her in my opinion.........the number of animals maimed and wounded by hunters every year is embarrassing and probably worse for our image then any dead animal ever could be.........The defense of "I ALWAYS hit where I aim!!!" I'm sure rings VERY hollow to most that hear it because even if it is true in your case........you would be in a huge minority. We fool ourselves into believing all hunters are like the guys we speak with on these boards when the truth really is that we are nothing more then a drop in the ocean and we are no where near a good example of "typical" hunters, no matter how bad we wish we were.

We all inflict pain on animals when they are killed.........much more when they are wounded. To deny this makes us look VERY foolish and like a group of people trying to hide something.

It is what it is...........hopefully everyone does their best to bring about the fastest and least painful end to a successful hunt possible. When we make stupid analogies like it's a chess game or we are in some sort of back and forth with the deer and we are "challenging" each other and it's a "sport"..........we really look like a bunch of tools.

Deer don't want to play this "game"........it's not a "sport" to them........they don't enjoy the "challenge" of trying to match wits with us and our $10,000 of technology. When we all get together for a beer afterwards the deer are on the table, not sitting at it.

We talk about how Disney has warped people's minds in perspective towards animals................we have managed to put a rosey spin on killing those same animals as well.

To stick our heads in the sand and pretend a deer or any other animal doesn't feel pain or emotions is nothing more then self serving garbage that only hurts our image to anyone capable of common sense.


I love hunting............I get ZERO enjoyment from killing or hurting animals. This dichotomy is one I have never been able to ignore as part of who I am.

 

I have had this situation myself, this is my standard reply. It usually shuts them up. I say to them; " There are two rules to life".
Rule#1; For anything to live, whether it be plant, animal, or even microrganism, something else, whether it be plant, animal or microrganism, has to die.
Rule#2; You or I can't change rule#1.
They usually get this strange look on their face as they realize that this is a very simplistic but true statement. Then they usually just mumble something and leave with a perplexed look on their face.

Blessings.....Pastorjim

 

Heck....we can't even come clean on this...................amongst ourselves. We'll paint ourselves as hunting super-heroes.......even though we all (deep down) know better.

I can't understand this mentality. We have people that feel the incessant need to preach to others when animals are wounded or lost. But if the truth was known, some of these people have missed, wounded and lost more animals than any 3 hunters they're preaching to.

I think Brad Paisley had it right. We're SO much cooler, online.

Brett:

I think we all know pretty quickly when a conversation with such a person isn't gonna go anywhere. It's frustrating. If your friendship is worth it, I'd stay away from the subject altogether. You're not apologizing for anything by doing so.

 

I have an especially hard time with someone saying htis to you who is a meat eater! I guess it depends upon the nature of the relationship I have with the person as to how much effort I would put in to the conversation.The first thing I would say ids that I participate in a legal activity that has been part of our culture for over 100 years.I would explain that I make every effort possible to be proficient with what ever weapon I use to hunt with and that I only take shots that I am certain will result in a clean quick kill.
It really sounds like this person has their mind set locked up.That is her problem not yours.All you can do is be polite,articulate and respectful!
In regard to the wounding conversation that was initiated.Beyond qualifying hunters with proficiency criteria there is not much more that can be done.I seriously doubt there is a hunter that participates here that has never wounded a deer.It is going to happen for even among the most practiced and discplined of us.
I have no problem taking slob hunters to task but I would never take some one to task that is doing all the things they should be and they experience a wounded animal.

 

"It's a fair question by her in my opinion.........the number of animals maimed and wounded by hunters every year is embarrassing and probably worse for our image then any dead animal ever could be.........The defense of "I ALWAYS hit where I aim!!!" I'm sure rings VERY hollow to most that hear it because even if it is true in your case"

Atlas......I agree it is a fair question. Misguided and without logic based on her being a meat eater, yet a fair question nonetheless. I never said I always hit where I aim. She made it out that when someone launches an arrow that they have NO control over where that arrow travels. I told her I do have control and that I aim and fire the arrow exactly where I want it to go. I did not say I hit that exact spot everytime. I don't preach hunting to a be a peachy fun time to people who ask. I tell them the truth, for that is all I have ever known to do in my life. Just to tell it like it is. Anyone that knows me knows that I will tell you exactly what happened on each hunt, miss, wounded animal, clean kill, etc. I have nothing to hide.

 

I think this add in a newspaper sums up some peoples ignorance.

 

I believe animals feel pain-feel it just like we do.
ever heard a wounded rabbit cry?

Also I would think pain is a way an animal knows something isnt right.
Why does a deer not put weight on an injured leg----cause it hurts
Why does a wounded dog yelp or growl when you touch him-cause it hurts.

There isnt anything about getting shot with a bullet or broadhead that doesnt look painfull to me

however it is just part of hunting

 

Some good points made here.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people fail to use the common sense you just posted.

From a scientific stand point animals have a comparable nervous system and the same chemicals in their nervous system that we do and it is believed that animals can feel as much pain as humans do. They just can't express it like we do. It has also been said by some who have been tortured that the human body is capable of feeling unimaginable pain. So it seems to me that animals could also feel extreme pain. Possibly beyond what we can imagine a we would feel if it happened to us. Anti hunters like the lady this thread was started about may be ignorant and may not want to face reality, but some hunters are equally ignorant and also do not want to face reality. I would like to see more hunters man up and face the full reality of what they are doing even if it makes them feel bad. That's life. It is just the way it is and I don't think ignorance about hunting is good for hunting. I know when I educate non hunters about the facts they almost always feel different about hunting for the better. They still may not like it, but they are more accepting of it.

Nature can be very cruel and I believe a well placed shot like a solid double lung hit with good sharp blades would better than a natural death would typically be (at least up here) and I think there are many in the hunting world (especially hunting shows) that need to face the facts and be less accepting of marginal or bad hits that just give the anti's more ammo. Not to mention being just plain unethical (I'm not referring to the occasional bad hit that can happen despite our best efforts).

 

Sorry you didn't understand my post.An animal does not know what is happening to them. I had the unfortunate chance to witness a buck get hit by a car. Both hind legs broken, but very much alive. Waiting for the police to arrive I observed the calmness of the buck. I'm sure he was in pain, but didn't understand it. You or I would be writhing in pain and crying. The buck calmly waited for the officer to dispatch him. It's a different interpretation of pain.

 

In a free society mistakes are made, I don't apologize for the deer I kill, nor the ones I have wounded and not recoverd.

It's a deer.

 

It is very hard to speak to someone on this who either eats meat or is wearing leather shoes...but like anything - just be kind, be calm, and try to explain as simple as possible...sounds like you did just that.

...So many people are just 100% removed from reality and what's really going on out there in the wild world we inhabit...

 

I see your point and kind of agree but kind of dont aswell. I agree that an animal may not have the understanding of exactly what happened or is going on with thier body but still I feel that pain is telling them something is not right.

I think perhaps animals probably have a higher tolerance to pain than humans.--What choice do they have? They cant run out and get pain medicene--ha ha

is it possible the buck hit by the car could have been in shock??

if deer do not assciate humans with death or pain --why do the fear us .

Im not saying you are wrong or trying to start an arguement . I really do not know and am just stating what I believe / think

 

So was it wrong of me to ask the question? Do animals really feel pain?

Personally, I do think animals feel pain, but yes, it is at a higher degree of tolerance than humans. Then again, a duck has no nerve endings in its feet. If you were to shoot his foot off, he would only experience the hardship of standing on one leg. I shot a buffalo once with an arrow. I buried the shaft all the way up to the fletchings in his boiler room. I watched in amazement as the buffalo continued to carry on like nothing had happened-he even went back to grazing like those around him. Two hours later, I shot the same buffalo with a 338. He toppled 25 minutes later. Again, he grazed right to the end. I'm not so sure he felt anything other than food going down his throat.

As far as applying common sense...Walt Disney tells us one thing while life's experiences tell us another. Wouldn't you agree? I'll go with the first hand life experiences every time. I guess that which is common sense to you is neither common nor makes sense to me. I have learned cynicism is the craft of non-participants.

Honey catches more than do-do. Provide a meat eater choice meat. He'll stay in your pocket when it comes time to vote.

 

That is my little world too !! Gotta love it !!

Tim

 

Very interesting topic, with a lot of very good insights/opinions.

 

I think this is a common problem these days. Like our current administration, some people are so blindly following emotion that they can't even comprehend factual information.

 

My food lived free - died free - what about your food?