http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_re_us/young_hunters

Disgusting.


"Sure he doesn't know how to write his own name, but I think it's perfectly fine that he go out and shoot and kill a deer from his treehouse. It teaches him responsibility."

What the fuck is wrong with this world?

I used to hunt rabbits with my dad when i was 4

My dad had a rifle (pre-Hungerford) and when I was a kid we used to make a little bit of pocket money shooting rabbits for the local farmer. He'd give us 10p for each one and feed them to his dogs. Then we'd go and buy candy with our loot.

You know here in the Midwest we are a little more open to the idea of hunting and allowing people of all types etc. to participate, even allowing the blind to hunt!
How cool is that!

Got nothing against other people wanting to hunt with their kids, but it's not something I'm ever going to do. I understand the hunting culture but have always stayed out of it (was a vegetarian for many years, too).

I did have a major problem with relatives who thought I was a pantywaste for not wanting to shoot things when I was younger.
If the kid wants to learn to be a hunter, that's one thing. If it's anathema to nearly everything about their personality, it's wrong to browbeat them into becoming hunters.

Honestly, I'm confused, is it the hunting in general that has you disgusted? Is it the age of the kids? What?

I hunted as a kid...don't care about it now...haven't done it since then. But, if you have a dad that hunts, he probably took you out there to get a taste of it pretty young. Maybe he didn't put the gun in your hands when you're too young to carry it, but its very, very common for dad to take his young sons out to the woods with him when he's hunting. That's pretty much the way it works.

Personally, I think if you wanna oppose hunting, you better be a vegitarian, avoid leather products, and all that crap. I can respect your belief to not kill animals if you refuse to use the products of their death. If you eat meat and wear leather and complain about hunting, it just sounds like you're afraid to get your own hands dirty or are just afraid of rednecks.

While I don't hunt, I wear plenty of leather and absolutely love a good steak, so I'm not gonna sit here and condemn those who do the killing.

Oh yeah...and deer sausage makes tasty sandwhiches.

What's wrong with hunting? Jeez, people. Would you rather have the kid plopped in front of a television or video games all day long?

By allowing him to hunt, he gets lessons in all sorts of positive subjects: strategy, hand-eye coordination, anatomy, becomes familiar with the outdoors, knowledge about and respect for his environment and surroundings, gun safety, exercise and quality time with the father and/or other hunting family members. Sure his quote about tracking animals and killing them sounds harsh, but the kid is 5. He's not exactly ready to make campaign speeches.

Not only that, the kid has gotten a taste of success, which I know is a dirty word. That success can go a long way in making him a more productive person to himself and his family.

For myself, I hate hunting. Done it a few times and don't care to do it again. But I think it's pretty important for people to find positive activities in which they can excel other than "Grand Theft Auto" or "Katamari Damacy".

Hey cool. Nobody took care of the "killing animals is evil" argument, too.

I don't think there is anything wrong with hunting IF the animal is going to be consumed afterwards. That's just life. I do oppose it when it's just for the sake of shooting some animals (that big game hunting kind of thing in Africa is a case in point).

i did a lot of shooting when i was younger. i started out when i was about 7 or 8 and did it off and on until i was about 13. ive never shot anything, but ive gone out on hunts where other people have. as long as people are taught proper safety techinques i have no problem with anyone going hunting, no matter what their age.

I like my dead animals wrapped in cellophane.

AND neatly placed on a diaper to soak up unwanted juices, then placed on a styrofoam tray.

I agree with all of this. Not a hunter either, but come from a hunting family and culture. If it gets kids outside doing something productive it's a step in the right direction. I don't think kids should be hunting without supervision though, despite the statistics indicating that juniors have a better safety record.

Where I live just about everyone hunts. I've found, however, that there are two very different, distinct hunting cultures: most hunters I've known are nature lovers, eat what they kill and only kill what they need to. The other hunter is a gun-nut asshole whose only pleasure in hunting is destruction and trophies. Most people who do not hunt or come from rural areas assume all hunters are the latter, which is a shame. Hunting teaches people valuable life lessons, gets them out in the woods and away from the TV, and creates bonds and relationships between family members that otherwise would never arise.

Until I moved to the Midwest I felt the same way. Also agree with your take on eating what you kill etc.

I currently work for a guy that has a "dead animal room" where his trophies are kept. Kind of sad when you look in and see a beautiful zebra skin on the floor and kudus and stuff that should, in my opinion, be running around the veldt and NOT dead in some office in WI.

I guess my point is that if you have enough money to go across the world to "hunt" an animal with "guides" maybe you should rethink your priorities, go buy some music or something ferchrissakes! YAH HEY!

...or better yet, buy ME some music!

I like how nobody really argued here

I guess hunting at a young age doesnt turn you into a right wing nut

no, it's the NRA that does that.

REMEMBER: Guns don't kill people, bullets do.

Well, not so much the bullets as the speed they are travelling.

Speed kills.

cows would kill you and everyone you cared about if they had the chance.

cows kill.

What about speeding cows

(+1)

Deer kill for real, the bastards. Just about hit one Friday night. Did a quick search and there were 1.5 million deer-vehicle crashes in 2002. Between 1993-2003 nearly 1,500 people died from hitting deer on the road.

They're evil.

And surprisingly, Pennsylvania is the worst state for deer-car accidents, followed by Michigan.

Lot of deer around my house. New Jersey is actually so overpopulated with them that at least one year they upped the number of deer you could bag from 2 to 3 to try and lower their numbers. Heck for a while, deer were grazing on my lawn daily.

We need to get those deer in Pennsylvania to a drivers ed class. Same goes for MI.