Aged wrote:
We're funny. We wouldn't shoot a dog for no reason but kill coyotes a hundred miles from the nearest town. Shoot a deer, sure but not a horse yet both are eatable. Crows are ugly shoot them but it would be a shame to kill a cardinal. Personally If I'm going to eat it I have no problem with a humane shot. For those of you who would never kill anything yet eat meat go visit a slaughter house.
I wouldn't kill a cougar to stuff it but if someone else does so legally that's their business. But Harold, don't call me a stupid for my opinion.
interesting - SouthWestern Ontario, Aged?
Further to that, I've eaten a lot of horse meat at my friend's farm in Horsefly, BC. They raise horses, ride some & eat the others. They are Swiss.
When I lived in SW Ontario and obtained my first hunting license in 1965, aged 15, the game regs which I memorized, stated:
"It is the duty of every licensed hunter to eradicate ALL domestic carnivores found more than 500yards from outbuildings".
I took those regs seriously, but could not shoot dogs out running, I loved dogs. Neighbourhood cats killed my rabbits and pigeons when I was 11 through 13yrs. old. I actually had no trouble shooting feral cats then, out hunting mice or grouse or rabbits, nor now, imagine that!
Now, I also include any dogs I find running in the bush here in BC, in areas that I am the only hunter present. Since the use of dogs to hunt deer is legal, I must be careful, thus in almost 40 years I have shot only 2 dogs yhen out in the bush - but many cats - all feral - ie: gone wild cats, when I was oput hunting, or simply working prowl shift at the jail. I figured it kept the inmates inside the building guessing, when awakened at 3AM from my .44 Mag. or .38SPL. killing another cat. Both of these species when feral, are a blight on our game populations - along with over-populations of the big cats and wolves.
When the big cats and wolves overpopulate, hunger sends them to the ranches to eat cattle and horses & farm dogs - then into outside city urban areas where they prey on domestic cats and dogs - or people as has happened too many times, here, Alberta and Alaska. If all of these species are not kept in check, problems ensue.
Note now how there is a wolf problem in the States, from Michigan to Northern Cal. - from the 50 BC wolves originally purchased and released in Yellowstone Park. They now number close to or over 3,000 & although starting in Wyoming/Montana in the park, they of course, spread West and East - and have numbers from California to Michigan - unintended consequences? maybe not, but it's a bad scene. In Montana, wolves now come to game calls and rifle shots as if they are dinner calls, the same as grizzlies have been known to do around here for some time. There is an upside - more wolves are now being shot in Idaho and Montana by hunters, where the federally introduced dangerous species designation has been lifted by the governors of those States. They have declared the Fed government did not have the authority to put their ranchers and populations at risk.
Just ask the parks service in Hawai'i about invasive species! That is what cats and dogs, pigs and goats are, when in the wild. I did talked with a couple of them about invasive species.
In Australia, feral, kitty cats are having a demonstrative effect on their indigenous bird and small mammal populations. It is a never ending story.