Poll -Should we allow hunting related posts on this forum

[gverma]

Hi
On this link http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7892 very respected members have suggested that may be we should not post hunting related posts. While other equally respected people feel we should go for it as long as the post is tasteful.

So a quick poll for everyone. Please do participate
Thanks
Regards
Gaurav

[dev]

Hi
On this link http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7892 very respected members have suggested that may be we should not post hunting related posts. While other equally respected people feel we should go for it as long as the post is tasteful.

So a quick poll for everyone. Please do participate
Thanks
Regards
Gaurav

Since hunting is banned in India we are adverse to such posts. But tales of hunting overseas, do crop up now and again. Some old timers do relate pre-ban stories. Generally we like to keep the discussions to guns and ammo, lest we get painted as blood thirsty yahoos.

Mod.

[Yaj]

If the post made does not transgress the laws of our country and is in good taste then definitely yes!

[mundaire]

[kanwar76]

Yes why not, we can't do it but atleast we can talk about it..

-Inder

[Vikram]

Anything that is legal,lets not be ashamed of it for hurting the delicacies of the uninformed or the differently informed.

Having an open and honest discussion generates a knowledge base and helps others make up their own minds.

Suppressing and self-censorship of ideas are rarely productive and anathema to free thinking.

Once again, the operative word is "Legal".And take it from there onwards.

Best-
Vikram

[gunnera4]

my vote was "yes", and i agree with the majority responding. so long as its legal hunting under the laws where the poster lives, and photos are in good taste, no pics of bloody wounds, or piles of animal entrails. in many parts of the world hunting is not only for sport but for subsistence by poor folk. even in my own rich country there are people for whom a deer taken in the fall hunting season provides meat for a family over a winter, in younger days i've fed my own family by hunting in vermont's forests in times when jobs and money were hard to come by.

[nagarifle]

If the post made does not transgress the laws of our country and is in good taste then definitely yes!

i say yes to hunting topics.

the link shown viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7892 is not hunting but butchering which is two different things, so to use that as a reason to ban hunting topics etc, shows that the subject of hunting is not understood, its like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

if one does not like hunting related topics then one is not forced to read those topics, i believe that on this forum one has a right to read any post just as they have the right not to read any post. one is not forced to read hunting or outdoor posts.

[Sakobav]

yes if its from overseas and the old times when it was legal...

[hvj1]

Hello Gverma,
A lot of water has flown down the Ganges, since that post. Along with the swirling eddies and roiling waters, my thoughts on the subject, quite similarly flow and unfurl. Some of these are as follows;

So what is this concept of 'tasteful'? A clean shot, followed by instantaneous death? No gory exit wounds? Or should we term 'tasteful' as posing with the animal looking as if it is still full of life and could spring away any moment? And then wondering, whether it would have appealed more to the heart, by just watching it continue its life in graceful beauty, rather than frozen in a photograph!

Then there is this grand concept of 'legality', Ah! What a concept, designed by men to keep other men from transgressing into areas, which in other parts of the world may just be the opposite?

Then there is 'culling', wow, one does great good, by reducing the numbers of a species who CO-HABITAT the planet,like you and me, so WHO decides? We humans, supposedly on top of the gene pool, we grant ourselves the right to decide, on which species should be allowed to roam free in numbers and others to be slaughtered, perched on helicopters and shot in the back of the head.

So Gaurav, my friend, why not just leave it to that little voice in each of us, lets listen to that voice, if it is silent and it doesnt hurt to pull the trigger and watch a LIFE being taken, then I suppose its okay for that person. The question is WHAT does YOUR voice say? My inner voice says I will NOT,EVERMORE, pull a trigger, to take another LIFE, THAT, which I cannot give, I will not take. This is what MY voice says regarding hunting and I will abide by it? Others may abide by their own.

(Unfortunately, my little voice is still silent, when buying mutton. When the day comes when its voice become too intolerable, then I might stop eating meat.)

[prashantsingh]

My vote is a big "YES".
Man created guns not just to shoot at paper targets and clay pigeons , but more for "Shikar". Infact target practice was basically done to improve one's skills at Shikar.
Hunting is banned in India.....but I see no harm in sharing old/new (legally hunted) shikar stories. Interestingly a friend of mine (in Dec 09) shot the maneating leopard of Jhajra .

[Amit357]

My vote is yes,question being that we shoot Wild Boar,and Blue Bull for crop protection,do we label it as hunting [cause i can assure everybody that what it is],crop protection is the word for legal terms.Everybody is saying that hunting is banned in India,well legal hunting for vermin Wild Boar,Blue Bull read CROP PROTECTION is allowed in Punjab,H.P,Maharastra,M.P .
As HVJ said to Gvermas submission on tasteful photos,i would agree with hvj,and Gverma go to a butchers shop were they dress chickens/goats,etc boss there is nothing tasteful about it,chickens running without their heads is not really tasteful,but am sure eveybody does enjoy the Butter Chicken,Murg Masalam,etc.Spains matadors who bleed the bull and then the coup de grace is not really a tasteful sight,but go to Barcelona and see the reception they get.
Blood Sport/Hunting are in the human genes since they were hunter/gathers and a few laws passed by these farts sitting in GOVT of INDIA is not gonna change that.
As Wilbur Smith wrote in his book"Explaining the passion of hunting to a non hunter is like explaining colour to a blind man".

[MoA]

Why not?
Its legal in most countries, and Nilgai and Wild Boar are 'legal' in India.
Hunting used to be legal in India as well, I remember a lot of hunts growing up. Everywhere from Damana to Fatehragh and Barabanki to Kohlapur to you name it.

I no longer hunt, but do enjoy reading about it.

[Subal das]

I used to hunt a lot when was young as I grown up in the area where hunting is legal. Hunting illegal in India, but it is not a crime to disagree as along as you not going to broken the law de facto.

I think prohibition of hunting has many of negative concretenesses, first prohibition it self did not work and instead of been a hunter a lot of people becoming a poachers, quite unhealthy.

second, prohibition of hunting undermining defense capability of Indian military and police. It is totally different thing to shot a live object and a paper target. For example anti snipers team of US secret service encouraged regularly to hunt with their service weapon to keep a sense of as it called life trigger.

In India animals are over protected, one example, not related to hunting. To get permission to do medical research with use of lab animals almost impossible and very lengthy procedure, but if you want to do any experiments/clinical trials on people - no problem just get signed informed consent form

[herb]

Last time when I was in Delhi I saw a dog running on the streets with oozing sores all over its body. No body will spend a rupee to take this dog to the vet and get it treated but can spend hours talking why the life of this dog should not be taken to put an end to its suffering, they are comfortable with the dog continuing to suffer for many more months. Different perspectives I suppose about taking a life, not sure which one is correct.

In countries where legal hunting is allowed most of the wildlife are very well managed and wildlife numbers are on the rise. There is lot of hunting in North America & Africa and most of the hunted species are increasing.

In Canada we hunt a lot , I see ducks, geese & deer every where and and recent polls suggest that deer and geese numbers are increasing rapidly. Last time when I was in India for a month, the only non domesticated species I saw was crows.

In countries where hunting is prohibited e.g India, all I ever read is wild life number are rapidly decreasing even in protected reserves.

Wildlife has to generate revenue on its own merit for it to be valuable to the community. The only people who are willing to pay money to to maintain wildlife is the hunting community. In North America hunters pay millions of dollars as licenses fees for wildlife management. People who hunt in Africa spend a fortune for each hunt which goes into wildlife management.

I am not sure how many people (non hunters) will be willing to pay a wildlife tax of say 5% per year to protect and maintain and manage wildlife in India.

What about Fishing ??

Herb