Posted on 05/19/2008 4:50:54 AM PDT by SLB
BTTT
It’s a necessary thing, but nothing I’d like to watch on You Tube.. I just don’t have the stomach for it..
When I was a lad there were no prairie dogs around, so I and my friends would find a wooden bridge somewhere in the country, sit on the safety of the bridge and plink water moccasins with 22s.
This is just like shooting rats in a garbage dump.
Next they'll want to ban killing cock roaches.
Yep, thats all we had when I was a kid. I'd love to make a trip out west some day for a prairie rat hunt.....
I love to hunt, but to me the very definition of hunt would have to include, at the least, using the meat for food. Our meat is primarily venison with some squirrel, raccoon, pheasant, and rabbit. I have fed my family with the game I have hunted for a long time.
To go out and simply kill animals for “pleasure” is at best distasteful, if not sinful. A task best left for fools and cowards.
You obviously have not had the pleasure of my mom's squirrel smothered in onions. She kills them herself, BTW. Mmmm.
You really have to live with the negative aspects of a varment for a while to appreciate their destruction.
I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to use non-jacketed bullets in a typical varmint rifle. It would lead the barrel beyond belief after only a few shots and you wouldn't be able to hit anything.
The writer of the article is an idiot.
Hand breaded and pan fried. MMMmmmmm.
For example, among others, in Idaho, on occassion, there are rabbit infestations. Too many to shoot. The answer in the past, out in the rural areas, is to get a goodly number of men armed with clubs, make a large circle, and then close the circle to the point where the pests are caught in the middle and litterally clubbed to death.
In this article, it sounds as if though an individual sounds as if he has made a sport of it. I have no problem with that because it is something that needs doing anyway.
"Those exploding lead bullets turn into sand-sized grains ... that are picked up by any species that scavenge on corpses," Short said.
Oy...where to start?
Would these eco-warriors be happier if the rodents were poisoned or vacuumed out of the ground? One way or another, ranchers are going to have these pests remediated rather then have them make their ranges made unsafe for high-value livestock. A bullet kills quickly for the most part. Poisons do not.
The majority of folks who are into competitive prairie dog shooting are using very-high-velocity, flat-shooting ammo that, by definition, has to be jacketed in order not to fly apart at the incredible RPMs they pull. We won't touch on barrel leading either.
Neither jacketed hollow points not plain old lead bullets "explode" into tiny particles either. They mushroom open (most of the time)or fragment into somewhat smaller chunks. I doubt much sintered metal ammo or birdshot is being used out there. If a PD is disappearing in a pink mist, the bullet will not remain in their tiny little corpses for the scavengers to eat.
Do you use a mouse trap, poison, hunt over bait, trophy hunt ? Sicko is a harsh, insulting word with many applications.
Prairie dogs, sod poodles, grass gophers , fuzzy bowling pins or what ever they are called in your region are vermin, they are hazards and costly too ranchers and farmers. They carry disease and have no purpose other than provide a PC pet too Japs who pay a hundred or more for one.
Control of a species that is in such a category and quantity is needed. Note this is an annual shoot, been done for years and we go back each year to prairie dog towns and shoot em till we have busted our ammo budget and time off for such yet each year they are back, more of em in some cases.
I control em in my area during the spring shoots, and enjoy the day with friends, family and other shooters.
PC Bullsh*t control efforts by animal rights folks have cost the average hunter , insurance companies and state fish and game sorts millions. Deer, waterfowl, etc in some parts of the US under such BS laws are being killed en masse due damage too property and in some cases human life when they wander onto a road in a vehicles path. Recent news here tells of genetic birth control efforts for east cost deer due the uncontrollable numbers.
Any hunter knows conservation and limits established for game animals harvested is the way too go. Eradication and or control is necessary for varmints. Eat em if ya want but we leave em for the raptors and coyotes who serve a real purpose in proper numbers..... Except during calving when coyotes are “controlled” as well.
Just my opinion without insults.......
Prarie dogs carry the Black Plague.
When that makes a comeback because of them, “I told you so” just won’t cut it.
Well said.
Best regards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.