Shooting to end pheasant hunting

Posted by phasianus on January 12, 2008 at 6:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Full marks to Joe Miele of CASH. Killing animals for pleasure does no credit to a 21st Century America. I cannot claim moral high ground for Great Britain. In this small country, we release 35 million pheasants and 5 million partridges every year to satisfy the base pleasures of shooters, many of them big-spending Americans. The birds are bred in barren cages; 9 pheasants to a space little bigger than a (British) car trunk. Partridges are monagomous and pairs are kept in steel boxes, with floor space the size of two A4 pieces of paper. The British Association of Shooting and Conservation, (BASC), an oxymoron itself, recommends a maximum bag of 500 birds a day. The birds are not able to survive in the harsh British environment of release and the 60 per cent that are not shot perish from a variety of causes. 40 per cent of those birds that are seen to be hit are not recovered. They go off to die in the woods or become wounded prey for predators. American friends and hunters can see the facts for themselves by visiting the Animal Aid web site in the UK. Please navigate to campaigns then shooting. Please read the reports Fowl Play and Assault and Battery. To read about the other side take a look at Bettws Hall. It is pronounced Bettus. Its Welsh.

Posted by wingshot on January 13, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I am primarily a bird hunter and fisherman. I hunt upland birds, waterfowl, and wild turkeys. Yes, I hunt "soley for pleasure". It's fun. It's fun to be with my dog out in the wild looking for game. It's fun trying to figure out where the birds are and how to get there undetected. It's fun and exciting when things come together and I have the opportunity to shoot one. And it's fun to prepare a meal with that harvest and share it with my family.

The fact that there were 37,000 Pheasants to be harvested in Colorado is the direct result of the actions of people who hunt and fish. There are more deer, elk, ducks, geese, and turkey's today than ever before due to conservation efforts funded and implemented by sportsmen. Sportsmen consistently put up the money, time, and effort to support what they consider a way of life.

Fund wildlife programs with taxes collected from wildlife watchers? Are you kidding me? The amount of tax revenue collected on equipment sales generated by wildlife watchers would pale in comparison to the millions received from license sales alone.

Think of the further economic impact. Four hunters traveling across three states to chase birds for three days. It's a five day trip: gas, hotel, food, licenses, sales taxes, etc. Many hotels in rural areas are booked only two week-ends a year, the openings of Deer and Pheasant season. Can you imagine a couple of parents and a there children driving fifteen hours to Minot, North Dakota every fall to watch a Ring-necked Pheasant run across the road?

Our fish and game populations are no different than any other natural resource. Properly managed they are a renewable and self-sustaining resource.

Posted by Jackal on January 13, 2008 at 1:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The 37,000 pheasants killed in Colorado this year probably saved 37,000 chickens too! How much Corn and Wheat will 37,000 pheasants eat? Can someone calculate how many loaves of bread that would be?

Posted by phezman on January 13, 2008 at 8:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

As a proud member of Pheasants Forever I found this article to be appalling and probably hypocritical also. Unless you anti's are vegetarians, your butcher does the cold blooded killing so you can feel more justified I guess so that what you aren't doing is more politically correct. Pheasants are a renewable resource unlike oil, coal and other things you should be more concerned with in life in my opinion.

Tell me Phasianus are you one of Joe's buddies that had to write in support for him possibly as this does not sound like people around these parts I know of. His article was sent to Pheasants Forever Headquarters and I will be interested to see their response to it. What happens in Great Britain is far from what happens in this country, so comparing them as a whole is not on the same scale.

There are bigger "true" problems in this world that need attention and this article is on the bottom of the list in my opinion.

Posted by shaffe48 on February 23, 2008 at 8:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Well, Phezman, meat you get from the butcher is different from wildlife. Because pheasants are sacred, cute, cuddlesome, and deserving of special treatment.

But then, there's a such thing as logic.

Actually, if pheasants are not overpopulated or starving, it's because enough are killed every year to keep the population under control. Or because they are being artificially fed by farmers' fields. But Miele doesn't care how they're being fed. He's not footing the bill is he?

Thus, Wingshot has a point. Anti-hunters and animal rights activists aren't willing to pay the bill to increase population, build habitat, feed animals, or take responsibility for anything. They just want to complain (illogically).