Duck shooters

[Mom]

c: child molesters
d: rapists

[scumdog]

See this is what I struggle with. I am a meat eater and dont have issues with killing animals that have been raised to feed us. I am a girl though and would not want to take part in the killing of the animal, though I have butchered them shortly after they were killed.

To deliberately kill something for the sheer hell of it upsets me. I have eaten duck that has been shot... full of little bits of shot, real teeth threateners. I have eaten wild goat, I have eaten wild deer. By all means kill for food, but to kill for the hell of it is not healthy in my mind.

Disclaimer: I am a certified softie.

OK, I'm with you.

Wallaby, chamois, thar, deer, hare blah-blah-blah, I've eaten 'em all, waste-not, want-not.

Shooting and leaving is a sin.

(Unless it's rabbits, 500+ in a week and left is OK 'cos another 500+ is waiting for next wek - and who can eat 500 rabbits in a week???)

[Smifffy]

Any duck shooters 'round here, I'd be happy to take a couple off you - no need to dump em.

[Mom]

(Unless it's rabbits, 500+ in a week and left is OK 'cos another 500+ is waiting for next wek - and who can eat 500 rabbits in a week???)

I just might have to excuse you that one. Mind you rabbit stew is yummy. I have a friend that used to breed rabbits for the pot, my kids have had them as pets, but the destruction they are capable of defies belief, and there is a limit to the amount of rabbit stew one man can eat

[rainman]

(Unless it's rabbits, 500+ in a week and left is OK 'cos another 500+ is waiting for next wek - and who can eat 500 rabbits in a week???)

500 people?

[scumdog]

500 people?

Fair enough.

So what about the 3,200 rabbits the other shooters got that wee????

Who will gut/skin/ship all those rabbits?

[Smifffy]

I wonder how many of our average foodbank customers would turn their noses up at rabbit.

[Mom]

I wonder how many of our average foodbank customers would turn their noses up at rabbit.

Probably none if it was cooked for them the first time, and without them being told what it is. Anything different is going to be scarey. I would not expect most to know how to cook a goat curry. Goat? You dont eat that!

To say to them here is a pile of rabbit meant get stuck in is unrealistic. To cook it for them then teach them to cook it maybe a bit more hopeful. Some will embrace it (if it is freely/cheaply available) some will plainly tell you to get stuffed

[scumdog]

Probably none if it was cooked for them the first time, and without them being told what it is. Anything different is going to be scarey. I would not expect most to know how to cook a goat curry. Goat? You dont eat that!

To say to them here is a pile of rabbit meant get stuck in is unrealistic. To cook it for them then teach them to cook it maybe a bit more hopeful. Some will embrace it (if it is freely/cheaply available) some will plainly tell you to get stuffed

"A fussy eater is not a hungry eater"

[Swoop]

I wonder how many of our average foodbank customers would turn their noses up at rabbit.

They probably know that it isn't "real" food unless it has been crumbed, fried and served through a window.

[T.W.R]

Wouldn't it be more 'sporting' to shoot at things that can shoot back?

.................

[rainman]

So what about the 3,200 rabbits the other shooters got that wee????

Who will gut/skin/ship all those rabbits?

I think you just solved our unemployment crisis.

Anything different is going to be scarey. I would not expect most to know how to cook a goat curry. Goat? You dont eat that!

To say to them here is a pile of rabbit meant get stuck in is unrealistic. To cook it for them then teach them to cook it maybe a bit more hopeful. Some will embrace it (if it is freely/cheaply available) some will plainly tell you to get stuffed

Absolutely true. Goat is delicious, done right, but you do have to know what to do with unfamiliar food.
I must confess here I have never eaten rabbit, it's on my to-do list but never got around to it (and it's quite expensive from the Aussie butcher). I don't have a gun or go hunting, so getting my own is a bit unlikely (although I would be keen, if anyone wants to educate me in the ways of rabbiting). One of the drawbacks to living in Auckland, there are not many wild rabbits around the place... I could of course keep them in a hutch and put one in the pot from time to time but I expect I'd get complaints from the kids.

"A fussy eater is not a hungry eater"

You got it. I'll eat pretty much anything, and am happy to (although not highly competent at) kill, skin, gut, prep, cook etc to get the food to an edible state.

[McWild]

Pandas are the real scumbags out there.

I know this one panda. It just eats shoots and leaves.

Disgraceful.

[slofox]

From time to time I will go out duck-shooting. This year was the first time since 2003.

I shoot 'em to eat. I only take about six 'cause that's all I will get through. But I do love to eat wild duck and the only way I can get it is to go shoot it for myself.

I could argue that if you are not prepared to kill your own meat then you shouldn't eat meat that someone else has killed for you. But that's another keg of gunpowder so will leave it alone. Suffice to say that once upon a time, I specialised in putting on dinners where everything on the plate I had either grown or caught myself - nothing bought. But that was when I lived rural and on the coast. Bit harder in an inland swamp basin...

Having said all that, one of the things I enjoy about duck-shooting is the effort you have to go to to get the ducks close enough to you to shoot at in the first place. The mallard is a very wily bird indeed - prolly because all the stupid ones get shot out of the gene pool early on in life...(could there be a lesson in there for humanity d'ya think?) And that effort has given me a lot of respect for the duck as a species.

The other spin-off for me is just being out there so early in the morning and studying the habits of all the wild life you get to see. It's pretty cool. For a sense of what you see, have a look at the pics I put up after opening weekend...http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ghlight=maketu

Might explain some of what i like about the experience.

[Maha]

Billy T James