Democratic congresswoman shot in Arizona.

[mrstickball]

HappySqurriel said:

mrstickball said:

Yeah there is.

Because free-range animals that are shot are fed 100% natural ingredients, and are given a more humane death than most farm raised animals. I would rather eat a free-range animal that was given a natural habitat, instead of living in a pen and fed various feeds to fatten itself up.

Furthermore, they are not 'poor' animals. In the State of Ohio, deer populations are culled through legal hunting at pre-determined times each year. If it were not for these hunts, the deer would become overpopulated, which would require massive government intervention to ensure the populations were culled. If they were not culled, the deer would face starvation, disease and other such maladies. Farmers would also face damages from such animals, that feed on their grains which further tax the population.

Therefore, legal hunting is a win-win propostion: The government doesn't have to spend money on actively culling the popluations, hunters get millions of pounds of 'free' food, and the deer population continues to live in its natural habitat, away from being herded and castrated by the wildlife agencies.

I just wanted to add that living in Alberta I know a handful of hunters and while they enjoy hunting as sport most of them eat the animals they kill; or at least keep as much of the animal as they can make use of and give the rest away. I don't (exactly) know what the costs are, but even with all costs associated with hunting a deer gives you far more meat than you could buy in a store for a similar amount of money ...

The costs of hunting are a fraction of buying at a store.

Typical costs in my state (Ohio) are $24.00 per deer for the licensing tag. The $24.00 fee pays for ODNR (Ohio Deparment of Natural Resources) rangers to maintain our parks and wildlife preserves, as well as pay for processing of meat donated to the hungry.

In addition to the $24.00 tag, it is then up to how you process the animal. If you butcher it yourself, the cost is just the tag and bullet. Typical processing costs are about $50-75 per deer. So under $100 USD for a deer that will dress out at 150lbs or more - much cheaper than any other red meat on the market. Its great eating, too. Deer backstraps are better than any cut of beef. Its like a solid 10lb cut of meat better than filet migon.

That isn't to mention other animals that can dress out higher for similar tag prices. America is starting to have a feral hog problem - domestic pigs escaping and going wild. These pigs have the advantage of being far smarter than deer (don't get hit by cars), breed as fast as rabits (6-7 young per year), and eat more field crops than 3 deer combined per animal. They haven't got to Ohio yet, but many other states allow open hunting of the animals with no tags/permits year-round. Feral pigs dress out between 100-400lbs. So you could eat upto 400lbs of pork for a bullet and process.

Oh, and unlike deer, feral pigs cannot be culled. They are known to attack and kill any and all things when threatened.