<p>curm:
Hence, my qualification, “in our region.” The 'burbs!</p>
<p>My family and my husband’s family are avid hunters (and fishermen). Personally, I’m a room service gal, so I rarely join the fun, especially when it involves ice-fishing. We consider ourselves responsible hunting families; never killing more than our family can eat and making sure every last bit of the deer or elk is processed or dried as jerky. My French mother-in-law also makes a mean venison bourguinnonne. We also don’t take antlers. The experience is more than killing; in fact a lot of trips involved nothing more than camping and experiencing nature, companionship, taking photographs, and learning how to make a campfire without setting yourself or the forest on fire. </p>
<p>What curmudgeon said… Alcohol and hunting/boating do NOT mix.</p>
<p>I just wish Bambi’s mom could shoot back. Make in more “sporting”.</p>
<p>(I’m actually okay with the hunting thing; some hunters are the best friends of the environment and wild spaces, and it’s not like the animals had to live their entire lives like factory chickens.)</p>
<p>Without effective hunting for population control many areas have had to resort to hiring professionals to thin the overpopulated numbers of deer and some other animals. It’s better to hunt them than to hit them with cars right and left as happens in my part of NJ. But I admit I am a deer feeder and enjoy their amazing beauty too. Not an easy question.</p>
<p>Have the hunters taken gun safety lessons, do they have the proper gear- the orange vests or whatever, do they understand the protical of hunting, where to stand, signal, etc?..I would SUGGEST STRONGLY, that before anything having to do with lethal weapons is participated in that ALL the boys get proper licences, and take a safety class, otherwise it is asking for disastor. Its like sending them out to drive without any lessons…</p>
<p>I hate hunting, especially the “canned” hunts, but it has been around forever and people like it. I grew up in Alaska, and my daddy was a hunter (the cleaning of the bear skulls-ewwwww)…anyway, I have had my Ds take gun safety lessons…</p>
<p>And, wherever they are hunting, i am sure a state license is needed, etc…and unless these guys are serious hunters, and they are just going off on an adventure, one needs to be concerned about the drinking that can happen…good, responsible hunters don’'t drink and hunt at the same time, but those guys, who knows wht their experience is, and for anyone to just grab a shotgun,or rifle with out proper training is a fool</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who still carries a bullit buried too deep inside for the surgeons to risk getting it out, I vote no to inexperienced hunters who hunt without experienced guides. Not fun for the rest of us.</p>
<p>Hunting is so disgusting and inhumane (I’m a vegetarian). </p>
<p>But he might be old enough to make his own decisions.</p>
<p>Yesterday a deer walked right down our street (large suburban subdivision) in broad daylight and up into the yard across the street where it causally sniffed out the dogs in the fenced back yard nosed around in the front yard and then headed back off down the street. </p>
<p>In our area new construction is running rampant and the deer have no where to go.</p>
<p>Hunting is nothing to be feared, actually. I myself have never hunted, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE to fish. Most of the time, I keep the fish to take home for supper. I especially love trout and bass fishing among others. </p>
<pre><code>Make sure that your dc goes hunting with someone who KNOWS how to hunt and is responsible with handling a gun. Most of the shooting accidents you hear on the news were caused by inexperience of a rifle or immaturity. Hunting is a safe recreation when you KNOW what you are doing.
By the way, to those who hate the sight of a hunted, dead deer in a pick-up, remember that most of the hunters actually shoot deer to feed their families, not for the mere pleasure or cruelty to animals. MMMMMM, venison with a side of mashed 'taters, corn bread, and apple pie. MMGOOD!
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<p>Hey in our old subdivision, my neighbor and i had to corner a very frightened, wayward calf in my front yard until constables could come and remove it. They didn’t exactly make short work of it, I might add. Keystone cops comes to mind. lol! So even livestock is getting the squeeze here in Texas.</p>
<p>Any meat killed in the wild has to be better for us. No hormones, antibiotics, etc. I get excited anytime someone gives us deer sausage - yum.</p>
<p>My college roommate was a hunter as well. He seldom shot anything but birds. He would come in from the stand and tell us about the big buck that walked by, but he seldom fired. We talked about it. He grew up in Montana, about 40 miles north of Yellowstone on a 600,000 acre ranch. He went up in helocopters every fall after the hunting season with the rangers to cull elk to a level that the winter range would support. He killed more in a day than most hunters see in a lifetime. Without the hunters, the cull would have been that much worse. Most of the meat was left for the bears.</p>
<p>I grew up eating venison as well. Don’t understand the aversion to it. Low fat, low cholesterol, high protein.</p>
<p>
This sounds just like my dh.</p>
<p>
Maybe that’s the key…perhaps you have to develop a taste for it while growing up. I don’t care for the taste of venision, but then, I never tried it until I was in my 40’s. My mother was vehemently anti-hunting and had always claimed that some venison that she had eaten by mistake (in some tamales) had nearly killed her. 
So, I was pretty brainwashed against venison. </p>
<p>I always kind of laugh at the cooking shows that demonstrate how to prepare venison. It seems to me like they spend most of the time/effort trying to cover up the real taste of it! 
But, I know quite a few people who love venision, including a few of my children and nutritionally, as far as meat goes, I think it is one of the better ones. ~berurah</p>
<p>How old are your s and his friends? How responsible are they? What kind of training/instruction will they have about firearms?</p>
<p>I also find hunting revolting, but if my kid were an adult and would be hunting in a way that was safe, I would not stand in the way. I would secretly hope that my S would find the hunting experience as revolting as I find the very thought of shooting an innocent animal.</p>
<p>I used to eat venison, which I found delicious. I recently became vegetarian, however, after I realized how much I love deer and other animals in terms of their being sentient beings like I am.</p>
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<p>PackMom, I’ll see your deer and raise you about fifteen of them! We have whole herds walking down the street in broad daylight lately! They even walked right up to my door and ate the flowers in my pots! My neighbor has hit two within the last year or so in her car and I’ve had near misses, as has my son. Nevertheless, animal lovers that we are, H recently rescued a little fawn stuck in an iron fence, called the animal extension and tried to get help for the poor thing. Lots of discussions in this area on how to control the problem, including some non-violent methods (birth control for deer, etc) but the problem seems to be getting worse. We aren’t vegetarians, and I can understand on an intellectual level the arguments some of you make in favor, but I must say that personally I would be pretty horrified if my <em>own</em> child wanted to hunt and would do my best to discourage it, over 18 or not.</p>
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I’m often amazed at how many sentient deer seem to be posting on CC.</p>
<p>I’ll confess to having “rescued” a couple of fawns that I found lying helpless right after birth in my garden–as in, I didn’t just make stew out of them, but let their profligate mothers come back and raise them. There’s a reason God makes babies cute, as they say.</p>
<p>What about that wasting disease in the N.W. and Canada in the deer population? There is a wasting disease they suspect related in some way to Mad Cow and they urge hunters in these areas to have the meat tested before consumption.</p>
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<p>That put a giggle in my Oceanic morning, driver.</p>
<p>My son has been pig hunting at night-- while riding around a game park in the back of a pick up truck with a professional hunting guide. He was 18 at the time but I have uncles who signed up for WWII at 17. I’m okay with 18 year olds hunting for sport. I doubt my son will acquire a keen interest. He’s too fond of room service, as they say.</p>
<p>My H doesn’t hunt but we have a number of friends who go out nearly every weekend. They are the kind of friends who stop by the house with a half of cord of wood for the woodburner. </p>
<p>My cousins like to hunt turkey with bow and arrow. I think they have killed one or two… in twenty five years.</p>