Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Hunting/Trapping 2014-2015

I think what I'm looking for is honest acknowledgement. I grew up in a hunting and fishing family. Just because I don't deer hunt doesn't mean I disdain all hunting. I'm a fair squirrel hunter, used to coon hunt till almost daybreak, can set a woodland snare for rabbits using just a pocketknife, and have trapped coons, rats' and mink along the creekbanks. I know when to gig suckers on the riffles as they make their spring run, and store them for excellent fish patties later in the year.

I can point out and name various plants that many simply step over or on, including those with monetary or supposed medicinal value. I can prepare beechnuts in such a manner that you can consume them without doubling over with cramps an hour later. I have skinned and prepared all manner of wild game, including untold number of deer. I can tell you which hickory trees out of a grove will have the best nutmeats.

I learned how to do all of this during my childhood. Not because we needed to in order to survive, but because the generation before me, the generation that raised me, needed to. And they wanted to ensure that I could, should the need arise. But always, it was impressed upon me the need to respect, and appreciate what was offered in nature.

This is why I am curious as to the motive behind trophy hunting. It really is foreign to me. To kill something just because of its greatness? When I cull fish, I don't toss the biggest male bluegills...I want those genes to remain, and there are plenty of other fish to cull, and/or consume.

Trophy hunting is perfectly legal, and just because I choose not to participate, doesn't give me the right to lecture those who do. I'm just looking for honest acknowledgement on the part of those who practice this form of hunting. As posted earlier, if deer hunting for sport meant no-kill, and no biological trophy for the wall, would it still retain its appeal? Or is it a case of pride in killing the biggest and best?

RAH, you may be correct. Like most of humanity I am certainly doing my best to suppress a myriad of human instincts. Many times not as successfully as I would like.