Opening Weekend Dove Season

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Eurasions are right on the brink of actually not being considered a Dove....but more in the Pigeon family. They are damn big though and good to eat.

Do you prepare them like chicken/turkey/other standard poultry??

[tunatartare]

I wish there was a pigeon hunting season.

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by macallan25

You obviously have little to no knowledge of how hunting wild game helps animals and animal populations far more than it hurts them. (actually it really doesn't hurt them at all.)

For an example, i'll use deer. Go talk to any wildlife biologist and he will tell you that you absolutely have to control populations of male and female deer...especially on ranches and hunting leases where the numbers are higher on smaller pieces of property (anywhere from 2000 - 60000 acres.) If you don't kill them over breeding occurs and you start to get severe inbreeding which leads to diseases and pretty gnarly deformaties. Most often on larger ranches (such as the one I have) you will have an extra "Game Management" period after the end of the regular season to just kill Doe (females). Usu\ually are target number is around 35 - 50 deer per year.

I thought we had a lot of deer around where I live in Georgia (a semi-rural area), until I went with a friend to visit her family in New Jersey. DANG. The deer are EVERYWHERE. All over the roads, in everyone's backyards, it's crazy. I was confused, because I figured there would be less deer there, considered it was a much more suburban area. Apparently, however, hunting is illegal in the whole state, so the deer population is out of control. The deer from all the surrounding states can even find refuge there, I guess. I mean, yes, deer are cute, I've seen "Bambi", too, but they also eat all your plants in your yard and are very much not good at all when you're driving at night (or, in this area of NJ, even if you're driving during the day since the things are so rampant - sheesh).

[VandalSquirrel]

I like it when the boys come back from hunting because there is always something good to eat and they do the cooking. However, I do not like the funk of not showering for three days. I could do without that.

[valkyrie]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I know people are probably going to jump on me for this, but I've never understood this (coming from the environment I grew up in) so I have to ask: why is it that some people get SO upset over hunting, but they have no problem at all eating meat that they buy in a store or restaurant? I mean, you do realize that those animals that you're eating were killed in a much nastier, less hygienic, and crueler way, right? In the grand scheme of things, what is the big deal about hunting?

I'm bothered by hunting -- but then, I don't eat meat.

Also, there's a good solution for deer overpopulation -- it's called wolves.

[carnation]

There's a nearby college that has some 30,000 acres and for years they didn't allow deer hunting. Well, the deer have just swarmed the area (ask AXO Alum how many she saw there last December, lol) and they've come into our neighborhood and others, devouring plants and getting hit by cars and stripped parts of the campus bare. Finally the college is allowing controlled hunting. I could never do it myself but honestly, that campus is overrun by deer and you can hardly drive anywhere in the evening bc they all come out and stand in the roads. And stare at you as you try to inch your car past them.

[DSTRen13]

Originally Posted by valkyrie

I'm bothered by hunting -- but then, I don't eat meat.

Also, there's a good solution for deer overpopulation -- it's called wolves.

If you don't eat meat and you don't like hunting, that makes sense. I've just never understood people who are just so shocked by the horrible, evil hunters, then go chow down on a double cheeseburger or some such thing. I don't eat most meat because I am not going to pay a corporation to do something to the animals that I wouldn't do to them myself (especially when eating the results is pretty much gross and unhealthy, IMO). If I do buy meat, it is certified free-range, organic, all-natural fed - the way I would treat the animals if I were raising them for food. I only eat animals that I would be able to kill myself (birds and seafood) - I could never look at a pig or cow and kill it.

Re: the wolves, I think I'd rather have hunters around my area than lots of wolves, lol Wolves eat people's pets ...

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

Do you prepare them like chicken/turkey/other standard poultry??

Dove are great for appetizers. Take the breast (which is still on the bone) and wrap it in bacon with a jalapeno and a small slice of cream cheese in the middle. Season if you want and cook on a charcoal grill.

Excellent.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by valkyrie

I'm bothered by hunting -- but then, I don't eat meat.

Also, there's a good solution for deer overpopulation -- it's called wolves.

Well, I haven't seen too many wolves around Texas or the South (doesn't mean they aren't there though.)

There are mountain lions and bobcats though on our ranches in West Texas and South Texas.....but they don't kill enough Deer to make a difference.


....and I can promise you, a mature 4-5 years old Buck with a full rack could hold its own against a wolf.


What bothers you about hunting....just wondering?

[Munchkin03]

My parents live near a reserve that has limited hunting due to the rapid overpopulation and the fact that the wolves just weren't cutting it. I think my father and a friend went out a few times, but that was it.

I would rather have meat that was hunted or fish that was caught with a rod than farmed animals. Until I got to college, the only fish I ate was fish that my grandfather caught. There's really nothing like fresh fish--I can't even get it at Whole Paycheck.

[midwesterngirl]

My coworkers husband is an avid hunter both with rifle and bow. He is also a construction worker who doesn't always work through the winter so a couple deer help them tremendously. She tries to bring me deer chili or deer jerky but I just can't bring myself to try it.

[macallan25]

It is very good.....and lean.

[ShaedyKD]

So one of my friends went dove hunting this weekend, and wasn't back in school today. We're beginning to wonder if he went hunting with Dick Cheney.

[Rudey]

All those years that animals survived, evolved, and maintained a natural equilibrium before guns were invented are always ignored by people who use that as the reason why hunting is necessary.

And someone can have a gut ethical reaction to killing for sport and enjoyment much like most of the people that hunt have a gut reaction against homosexuality and gel heads.

It's also funny creating an analogy of hunting vs supermarket food in terms of humanity when you have absolutely no credible evidence and statistics on "pain" at the butcher shops. I'd be willing to bet that most people don't even get clean shots and no matter what there is pain involved.

-Rudey

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Rudey

All those years that animals survived, evolved, and maintained a natural equilibrium before guns were invented are always ignored by people who use that as the reason why hunting is necessary.

And someone can have a gut ethical reaction to killing for sport and enjoyment much like most of the people that hunt have a gut reaction against homosexuality and gel heads.

-Rudey

Oh, so I take it you are an expert on natural evolution of game animals, animal migrations, birth defects, population control, etc. etc. Maybe you should come see what happens to deer populations when they aren't regulated properly, it isn't pretty. Same with ducks. Hmmmm I wonder why Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl are the worlds leaders in waterfowl conservation.......yet they promote responsible hunting. Because it is necessary in the grand scheme of things. People have been hunting for far longer than since guns were invented.

And someone can have a gut ethical reaction to killing for sport and enjoyment much like most of the people that hunt have a gut reaction against homosexuality and gel heads.

Yes, I disagree with homosexuality....and I think putting gel in your hair is for GDI's. I know plenty of people who don't hunt that feel the same way. However, my gut reaction towards people who criticize hunting for whatever reason (defenseless/unneccesary/unethical, blah, blah, blah) is that they are some varied form of liberal, over-sensitive, tree hugger.

Tell me why hunting is unnecessary....you obviously think it is.