Anybody in Kent/Surrey/Sussex know anyone with land with a surplus of rabbits?

[MattF]

but is the killing enjoyable

Mate, the human species are predators. It's a natural instinct. Conscience and nature/instinct are two very different things. Kick the soapbox back out.

[robbie]

but is the killing enjoyable

i see the game and fish as meat it doesnt register when i kill it the skill to kill is enjoyable.

[Webbo]

Everyone entitiled to there own opinion. Me I have fished and hunted since I could hold a gun and fishing rod. I do a lot of pest control in my area, part time keepering work etc. There is a need to control pests like Magpies Jays Crows foxes etc have you ever seen a Magpie ripping a young blackbird from its nest pulling it apart ?

I have people contact me often about the ever increasing rabbit population in fact I shot 107 in August on one of my shoots.

Yes I do dress in camo but not to look like Rambo or Action Man. I just love to be outside with my Surf and Moss the dog its my life. I have worked in abbatiors as a contract engineer they are not pleasant places ie cows queing up waiting to be killed.

On my Pheasant shoot I run I feed the birds we shoot every other weekend in season some birds are missed others are killed cleanly any surplus I will give to the old gents in the village who used to shoot but cant get about anymore.

[biosurf]

my point is that if you kill for meat then fine if you kill for the enjoyment of killing then you need treatment .as for (i eat meat so im prepared to kill it and clean it ) dont feel that that's a good enough reason to kill and that sounds as though i should feel bad for eating meat if im not prepared to kill it .i eat potatoes but im not going to grow them i go on holiday in a plane but i will never learn to fly one . i used to go beach fishing and eat the fish but i felt bad about killing them so in the end i stopped i did alot of pike fishing up too about 2 years ago but to see people kill a fish to catch a fish or to use live bait wasn't for me .im not anti hunting for pest control or for food just anti the action men that kill for pleasure

Start a thread, go out for the evening and come back to a bit of a debate... the Surf forum I know and love!

Steve you've brought up a lot of points. I agree that someone going into a field, killing a load of animals purely for fun and then chucking the corpses into a hole in the ground (as does happen on some large pheasant shoots) is pretty awful and disrespecting the lives of the animals concerned. To my mind you may as well go and stamp on some cats round your local neighbourhood and have done with it.

However as to the being prepared to kill to eat I do feel pretty strongly about this and as I’ve got a glass of beer and a few minutes I’m going to bore you with my thought process that’s ended up with me shooting a good few rabbits.

As I say the whole reason I do this has a bit of a back story.

I've shot for years and am fairly good (for a numpty) I got asked by a landowner if I could shoot some rabbits for him. My initial reaction was that I like animals, I will actively go out of my way to not kill animals generally (my allotment has the safest snail population in Surrey) so no I would rather not.
However I firstly thought about the reality of the situation:
This guy perceived that he had a rabbit problem. The law in Britain says that a landowner must control rabbits to prevent them becoming a problem to adjacent landowners. So, he was going to do something. He already admitted (as have most farmers I have spoken to) that he saw them as a pest and would personally take pot shots with a shot gun, not interested whether he killed or wounded them as long as they died eventually. Other options were to poison them which essentially kills the entire rabbit population and does it is a very drawn out and nasty way.
Shooting them with a rifle is instant (if done correctly) and keeps the numbers under control but allows the population to survive, just in manageable numbers.

So, whatever I did, rabbits were going to die. This was a fact.
I knew that I am a good shot and that due to my moral standpoint I wasn’t going to take a shot at a rabbit I wasn’t confident would be dead immediately. So I felt at least if I did it the rabbits would be either dead or alive not wounded and dying over days.


My second consideration was that I eat meat. Although I eat organic a lot of the time its not all the time. We’ve all seen the programmes and the reports about chickens, pigs cows whatever and how they are raised in pretty awful conditions, then taken to an abbatoir and killed in fairly brutal and drawn out ways. I wish it was the case of a jolly butcher carefully wringing their necks or whatever but the reality of mass produced meats is far from this.
I don’t see it as being the same as being flown in a plane and not wanting to fly it or not wanting to grow your own veg. By buying meat, I know logically that I am making a choice that causes the animal to be raised in a particular way, killed in a particular way. Knowing that, I just can’t distance myself from it and remove my responsibility.

This doesn’t stop me buying meat (as I say I try to buy organic when I can but not all the time - I’m not getting all yogurt-knitty about it) but did make me think that it was pretty odd to make a choice (buying some bacon from Tesco) that I know causes an animal to be killed brutally and not be prepared to make another choice (to shoot a rabbit) that I know causes an animal to be killed humanely just because it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Doing it for the first time wasn’t pleasant, in fact I really didn’t and still don’t enjoy the act of killing another animal and certainly don’t ‘get turned on by it’ but it does feel very… real. Apache mentioned ‘ancient appeal’ and there’s a lot in that. It feels like a very basic, honest and historic transaction and at least you know that the meat you are eating has up to the point you end its life has had a normal existence rather than the penned in one the supermarket meat has had before it gets to our tables.

Anyway, bit rambling, but I think it wouldn’t hurt for everyone to be a bit more realistic about where our meat comes from.

Oh, I wear a bit of camo, it all helps a bit. But nothing like Rambo, might disturb the farmer and anyway my pecs aren't quite big enough

As to Boxgrove later this month, matey, if I’m free I’m there

[Webbo]

Paul if you ever find yourself heading towards Norfolk give me a shout in advance I can take you around some of my shoots for the day/evening, Bunnies Foxes etc.

[biosurf]

Paul if you ever find yourself heading towards Norfolk give me a shout in advance I can take you around some of my shoots for the day/evening, Bunnies Foxes etc.

Thanks mate. Appreciate the offer

[Shalershasker]

Well said Bio.

[BioHazard]

I be a country boy .......

You keep what you kill ..........




and eat it , rats being the exception . Thats why i gave up course fishing , you throw them back whilst fly fishing , you eat the trout , and sea fishing you eat the fish , also you only take what you need . Off out today to forrage for cob nuts and still looking for that elusive chicken in the wood or beefsteak funus ...........

[steve s]

paul point taken mate and one that i understand and cant argue with .i just dont feel that i could look at an animal and see a piece of meat i dont think i could separate the two animal / meat its much easier sold in cling film in a super market and that makes me feel bad .perhaps the best thing would be to get wild meat from a gamekeeper ? its a thought .we buy organic and free range when poss but as you say its still go to be killed and i suppose not like a deer with a bullet to the hart .all the best hope we can meet up at boxgrove . steve

[Apache]

This thread reminds me I had roast rabbit and chips a few weeks back. It was gorgeous!

[gwh200]

Hi Paul,you can come to an Eastbourne shoot. We have a particular nasty vermin(Latin name chavus shiteus)and their numbers need reducing. They are easily identified by their Burberry markings and they tend to "flock" at certain spots at regular times ie benefit office at midday,just after waking and then the pub straight after. Of your not to squeamish their young are available for shooting also,these are usually to be found swearing at people and nicking stuff from shots......perhaps consider shooting this useless sub species

[tintin]

Hi Paul,you can come to an Eastbourne shoot. We have a particular nasty vermin(Latin name chavus shiteus)and their numbers need reducing. They are easily identified by their Burberry markings and they tend to "flock" at certain spots at regular times ie benefit office at midday,just after waking and then the pub straight after. Of your not to squeamish their young are available for shooting also,these are usually to be found swearing at people and nicking stuff from shots......perhaps consider shooting this useless sub species

Nice one Gra!

[biosurf]

Hi Paul,you can come to an Eastbourne shoot. We have a particular nasty vermin(Latin name chavus shiteus)and their numbers need reducing. They are easily identified by their Burberry markings and they tend to "flock" at certain spots at regular times ie benefit office at midday,just after waking and then the pub straight after. Of your not to squeamish their young are available for shooting also,these are usually to be found swearing at people and nicking stuff from shots......perhaps consider shooting this useless sub species

Gra, you're right thats an interesting idea and noone would doubt that it would make the world a better and less polyestery place.
However, as I said in my previous post I don't like to make stupid animlas suffer and only decided to shoot rabbits once I knew I could hit the brain every time (you practice this by ensuring you can hit a 10p size target at every range you intend to shoot at.

So you can see my dilemma- I've marked the size of the chavs brains here in pink

[gwh200]

You have got to stop believing the media Paul,
chavs don't have brains.
It's very easy to "off"one of em
just aim for the benefit book

[Apache]

Trouble is, like all amoeba, if you hit one, they merely divide and then there's two scrounging tw@ts to pay for.

Nuke 'em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.