<p>You’re too old to have babies 
so you must be part of the DOGGIE defense league. </p>
<p>Hey, my mother is there. She loves the view of her golf course, complete with alligators by the bathrooms. Gives new meaning to water hazards.</p>
<p>How do you feel about fighting gators?</p>
<p>Time for a rousing chorus of “GO GATORS!!”.
But DP, despite being a 4th generation floridian, I still think the gators have ya beat in that regard.</p>
<p>We used to see alligators all over the place in Lake Alice and around some of the apt complexes that had small ponds. And that was 30 yrs ago. I can only imagine how many are runnung around Gainesville now. Tell your ds to be careful, dp.</p>
<p>Oh, time to get back on topic and have some more grilled Vick.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t be interested in fighting gators (except the kind that “fight” on the gridiron). </p>
<p>It is, however, always an exciting round when someone calls the “professional” gator squad out to get a particularly aggressive gator that’s been hanging out in their backyard. Had that happen a few months ago- neighbor called the trapper, but he wasn’t able to lure the gator in and finally left. Not sure the outcome of that one.</p>
<p>This is the same lake that my son goes out in a little inflatable Coleman raft to fish bass in. :eek:</p>
<p>Yes, back to Vick. Sorry to get off topic.</p>
<p>“This is the same lake that my son goes out in a little inflatable Coleman raft to fish bass in.”</p>
<p>OMG, I didn’t realize this could start a whole new broo-hah. He throws them back!!!</p>
<p>Actually, dp, I was thinking about fishing. We used to take our kids when they were little to a stocked trout farm. There was the 1-2# pond, and the 3-4# pond. Those poor trout would almost line up to bite the hook! And you had to buy what you caught- no throwing back. Trout is pretty expensive when you pay by the pound with the head and all the pieces parts still on (and then they charge even more ifyou want them to clean the fish). So, while I feel kinda bad that we killed these poor defenseless fishies, I think WE were the bait in the long run!</p>
<p>I like the way they do the big game fishing contests down in the islands. They reel 'em in, take their winnings, and leave the big fish there on the beach for the natives to cut up and take home. Can you imagine? Big giant fresh tuna steak anyone? Yummm.</p>
<p>Up here they have Bass fishing contests all the time and use a “live well” to keep the fish alive. Then they release all the Bass back into the lake to be fished again. </p>
<p>I also have to say “ducks unlimited” is a sportsman’s group that works to keep habitat for birds. Yes, they shoot at em, but they don’t get all of them and the birds natural stopovers aren’t becoming walmart parking lots. </p>
<p>There are hunters and fishermen who believe in using practices that ensure other generations will have the opportunity to fish and hunt. Not all of them are bad people.</p>
<p>Also most hunting fees go to conservation and maintaining habitat.</p>
<p>Could tax doggiefightin’ and pay for universal health care!</p>
<p>“Could tax doggiefightin’ and pay for universal health care”</p>
<p>Are you drinking on the job today mini? Let’s legalise pot first and use the tax revenues their to pay for national healthcare.</p>
<p>Tax the internet and pay for everything–$.01 per post/pageview.</p>
<p>noooo, barrons. I’d go broke!!! I like the weed recommendation <em>much</em> better!</p>
<p>Just like everyone else–we all want the other guy to pay.;-)</p>
<p>“We have had several arrests in WA for ****fighting. Mostly Mexicans”</p>
<p>I believe it is still legal in Louisiana, at least until the first of the year. The state outlawed it recently but gave the operators until the first of the year.</p>
<p>I guess you folks aren’t fans of fox hunting either.</p>
<p>I ran in to a guy in the hardware store a couple of weeks ago looking for live traps for rats. I asked him where he planned to release anything he caught. He didn’t answer. I told him to stay out of my neighborhood.</p>
<p>Just reading about all those alligators is making me hungry. Anyone ever had alligator tails? Very yummy :)</p>
<p>Live traps for rats?? Good Lord, that’s taking the PETA mentality to the extreme. I do have a sort of hunting story of my own. (Well, more of a trapping story.) When you live near or in the city, it is pretty common to grow pretty lazy, even effete, when it comes to the animal world & how to provide for them or handle intrusions. When I realized a monstrously large groundhog was living under my shed & completely destroying my gardens, I had to call an exterminiator. Traps? Bait? Groundhog poop? Not for me. Well, this groundhog had a large family. At $230 a pop, this was getting expensive. I hated the darn rodents. They were ruining my garden. And when they were caught in the trap, I felt obligated to give them food until the exterminator arrived. (Because even though I wanted him dead, I didn;t want him to suffer.) The neighborhood kids would gather round the have-a-heart trap begging me to make him a pet. The older kids didn’t believe my lies about the happy groundhog world where the exterminator was taking him. Actually, when they’re not munching on your zinnias, they are kind of chubby & cute. (The groundhogs, not the neighborhood kids.)</p>
<p>So I decided to become a trapper. Bought the have-a-heart. Baited it with carrots & lettuce. Success! Of course, H was given the job of getting it the heck out of our yard. No utalitarian pick-up truck here, so the suburban minivan had to be lined with plastic bags & newspapers. He drove our pesky visitor over the river & to the…Meadowlands. Acres & acres of tasty vegetation & the only neighbor who’d be inconvenienced would be the Giants & Nets. Two days later, H is away on business & another groundhog shows up. I, who immediately has to wash my hands after petting a dog, was on my own. It wasn’t so hard. The release was a bit tricky, but he seemed to be as glad to be rid of us as we of him.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I will not be joining Curmudgeon on his ranch. I’m also too lazy to learn how to own a gun. It’s a big responsibility to properly use & maintain it. I’ll have to rely on the professionals. I like my meat in anteseptic foam trays covered with plastic wrap from the supermarket. But I’m not so delusional that I don’t know someone had to do the dirty jobs of raising & killing animals to bring me my food. I’m greatful that someone does. A rancher or farmer cannot be equated with Michael Vick. Give me a break!</p>
<p>Groundhogs are tricky. My father has no problem shooting them in the open, but doesn’t like shooting them in a trap so he has someone do that for him now - probably doesn’t help that he is over 80 and not so steady with the gun anymore. When I was visiting once,he trapped a huge one and I have always tried to make pets with every animal I ever found so I couldn’t bear for my dad to have him killed. I convinced him, just this once, to take him to the river and let him go. Now this is illegal mind you so my Dad was not and is not proud of the fact that he agreed to do this. He was also convinced that the critter would find his way back to his tasty garden. We were miles away from another house but the road leading to a bridge was right above us. He let the thing go and it headed right to the road and crossed it - coming within a hair of being smashed by a truck. My Dad looked at me, just shook his head and I said, “Dang - the thing was trying to kill itself all along.” I have tasted groundhog stew before but I prefer my meat packaged and anonymous looking too. Too many hog killing days growing up with the accompanying smell of fresh meat turned me off to fresh meat long ago.</p>
<p>“I guess you folks aren’t fans of fox hunting either.”</p>
<p>Killing animals for fun and entertainment is not for me. … As for hunting, why not come up with a way to even the playing field–make it more of a “fair and balanced” competition? No deer or rabbit can come close to outrunning a well-aimed bullet, so where’s the sport? Isn’t that a bit like pitting Carl Lewis against a child for a 50-yard dash?</p>
<p>As for fox hunting. I rode in one such hunt many years ago and was appalled at what some people found pleasurable. Didn’t stick around for the “kill.”</p>
<p>Hindoo - what about bow hunting? That’s pretty difficult and requires some degree of skill.</p>
<p>My grandfather fox hunted regularly - but not on horseback. They took the foxhounds and went at night. I don’t know how many they actually killed. I think it was more of a way to get out of the house and hang with the boys. The farm where I board my horse is very much into fox hunting but the hounds are trained to not kill the fox - there aren’t enough around to kill them willy nilly. My daughter wants to go foxhunting this year, but I fear she may be tempted to yell out a warning call to the fox - the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. I was graziing our pony one day at the barn when a fox came strolling across the field - within 50 feet of us and looking back now and then. The hounds and riders were not far behind, but the fox looked more annoyed than frightened. Hunting with dogs has been banned England I believe.</p>