ORIGINAL: untried_talent
i think useing a high caliber for small game is over kill.not that the animal doesnt deserve to blow up or some vegan or a.r.a. crap like that.my opinian on hunting:do whatever is nessasary to bring it down, but waste nothing.if you blow it up with a huge caliber buffalo gun, your meat and pelt is screwed.you think the indians hunted for the fun of the kill?they did it as a job that they were extremely efficiant at.they hunted to put food on the table and clothes on there backs.its like you goin to your cubicle for you desk job.you dont do it for the sheer joy of the paperwork or the adrenalin rush of the board meeting.have you ever woke up and dreaded going to work?well have ever you ever woken up and dreaded opening day of deer season?no.
the four things you owe to nature and the animal you kill:
1.be as good of a marks man as you can. if you sit up on a mountain looking over a prairie and you nail a deer 25 times until it dies, you are in the wrong.not becausse its imorral, but because the suffering could have been avoided by you becoming a good shot and nailing him one, maybe too time in a vital point.
2.dont be repentant.if you take an animals life and try to hide it,you are in the wrong.show what a beutiful animal it is:even in death,an animal should be hailed for being a remarkable piece of nature and the world we share with them.
3.praise the animal for being a trophy,not your self for downing it.it isnt any harder to down a ten point buck than it is to down a 5 point buck(i realize that there are many exeptions,like the area,age, personal qualities of the animal,and such).if you got a trophy it means you followed rule number one.if someone got a 5 point,and you got the 10 point,you could have easily have traded places and that person would have killed it to.
4.dont waste any thing.you owe it to the animal to not take its life for nothing.even if you could just go to the store and buy a hat,if you kill a raccoon,and you cant find a use for the skin,make a hat!
this is my opinion,and please post what you find different in your oppinion.
i think ill put this in my signature and maybe make a topic about it.it took me a while to put my oppinions in to words, and i dont want to waste that time
First of all, what is your definition of a buffalo gun? I prefer my .308 to control the coyotes, for one reason-reliability. I tan my hides, I use the meat unless diseased, and I use the gutpiles for varminting, predation, and even composting. And don't compare the Native Americans into your own philosophical thread unless you have blood reasons to do so. My background is Cherokee and Choctaw, and to throw that in, is just funny business when it comes to predator management. It was not a job to manage wildlife and to hunt for any Native American, it was a collective duty as a whole to live off the land, and respect nature as well as you take it.
Second, not to offend you, but an animal should not be treated as just a trophy but more. The rewards of the stalk, the hunt, the animal, the harvest, and the products that follow are initially a trophy, yet to be thankful you had the ability to experience and use it all in a useful manner is the real trophy. And again, not to offend ya, but you were probably all amped up by typing your response, but you may watch your spelling. Not a problem, just oversight.
And this is for Missed Another, what was your insight on " if you don't care if they run away from being shot, use a rimfire. If you want them, use a centerfire". Isn't it ones duty and responsibility when you predation hunt, varmint hunt, or hunt for food/trophy, to take the animals life efficiently, not to wound it and hopefully it dies in a corner out of your sight???? Sounds to a point like that is laziness and irresponsible mixed together, unless you can correct the manner of what you said and define. Lets see, I see a coyote out there at 90 yards. I am going to shoot them wherever with my .22 LR, and oh, he/she didn't die, oh well, look at the time. I gotta get my Starbucks! Sounds like predation management to you is injure it with the rimfire, and let nature take its course. Not my philosophy at all.