Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
You bring up an interesting issue. Nowadays rifles are so extremely accurate and to shoot
1000 yards with the proper equipment really is not that difficult. That brings up the question of
people; in fact, there was a Wall Street Journal article about guys now going back to hunting
with Stone Age tools. They make their own chipped stones for arrows, and bow hunting
certainly seems to be enjoying a lot of popularity. Your thoughts about, obviously, in Ohio
where rifle shooting isn't allowed - there is a whole issue about getting close with a bow and
arrow vs. rifles and maybe even shotguns.
“That is somewhat of a conundrum. On one side of the coin there is making the contest of
being able to take an animal fair or more difficult than it would be if you were just hunting for
meat. On the other hand, there is the desire to reasonably, reliably kill the animal without too
much suffering. Bow hunting I think can be a very good way to hunt if one is extremely self-
disciplined about the shots that one takes. Then I think that one can hunt with a bow, or a cross
bow, which is what I hunt with. Just take very close shots that you think you can reasonably,
reliably make. Under those circumstances very few animals I think are wounded or die a death
that is unpleasant.
There are some ethical issues with bow hunting that are somewhat difficult. In America, in
my opinion, one of them is baiting. There is quite a bit of baiting that goes on with bow hunting
and I personally don't think that just because you are hunting with a bow that it gives you a
good reason to put a bunch of corn out for whitetail deer. In Africa what that often comes down
to relates to hunting at water holes. The bow hunting I have seen in Africa is basically people
sitting around a water hole waiting for the animals to come by and I am not so certain that I
think that is any more ethical or sporting.”
Obviously, according to Gordon Cummings' and Baldwin's topics, they often hunted from
pits at water holes but, as you know, in Zimbabwe, that is actually illegal. You are not allowed
to hunt within 400 meters of a water hole.
“I think that is a good rule. I don't think that bow hunting is intrinsically more ethical than
rifle hunting. The advantage of rifle hunting is that when you do get to the point where you have
a shot, you have the best chance of humanely killing the animal. You can do that with a bow as
well but if you are not very self-disciplined about the shots that you take you can wound a lot
of animals, which is not what we would like.”
I think that is a critical part of the whole ethics of hunting, it is that the animal never suffers.
I think a lot of people would become vegetarians if they saw how cattle suffer before they are
turned into the fine tenderloins we buy at the grocery shop. I mean those animals, they might
enjoy a season or two out in the plain but then they [go to] force feed areas and then are hauled
off in trucks to abattoir with bad smells and [with] ropes or clamp around their heads dragged
in and stunned. To me the thing about ethical hunting is that an animal is standing, enjoying the
scenery, having good food, and that is it. It is hopefully and ethically a very quick and
completely painless event for them.
“I agree with that. I think that it is important to try and conduct ourselves in that sort of a
way. I don't think there is anything particularly attractive about farming cattle or sheep or
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