# Urban hunter



## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

I found this article and it was a good read. I thought i would share http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-urban-hunt/Content?oid=81126


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

That is a very interesting piece, for sure. The vast majority of urbanites are completely disconnected from their food, especially meat. I always said here in Victoria, that if I were hungry, I would stroll through Beacon Hill park on a rainy day, when few people would be about, with a tennis racquet and a sports bag. The ducks are easy to approach, and one swipe with the racket would break a neck ... pop the carcass into the sports bag, and you have dinner, with no one the wiser.

I was living in Baltimore in my early 20s ... very poor at the time. I used to snare squirrels on the campus of Johns Hopkins University for the occasional meal.

University of Victoria campus is completely over run with rabbits ... the result of rabbit pets being released. The hospital used to be the same, but they worried about disease there ... hired a "professional hunter" who came around at night with a pellet gun and killed them. Anyway, back to U. Vic. The administration proposed several schemes ... trapping and neutering ... killing them by various means ... etc. There was a huge outcry from students and faculty ... they raised a LOT of money, trapped many of them and sent them off to animal preserves as far away as Texas. What a bunch of lunacy! They could have easily been trapped, killed, and used to provide food for the homeless. One local SPCA official even went so far as to claim that the only humane way to kill the rabbits was by lethal injection ... and that would render the meat unsuitable for human consumption. I wonder if that lunatic had ever seen a slaughter house. So instead of feeding the hungry, large sums of money were wasted, sending rabbits hither and yon to rabbit rest homes. In one case, a bunch of the rabbits escaped from a local preserve and overran a neighboring farm. The farmer called in a hunter who shot them all!

Starting as a boy, I have box trapped rabbits most of my life until just a few years ago ... home made box traps ... very easy to do. In recent years I put a label on each trap claiming it was the property of the Fish and Wildlife Department, Ministry of the Environment , penalty for tampering ... nobody every bothered my traps. I used to have a small scale commercial rabbitry ... sold rabbit to some of the stores here in Victoria. My rabbits were certainly not killed by lethal injection!

Ah, well ... it is a different world now. Heaven help you if anyone in the city sees you take a shot at a bunny with a slingshot!

Cheers ........ Charles


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

Charles said:


> Ah, well ... it is a different world now. Heaven help you if anyone in the city sees you take a shot at a bunny with a slingshot!
> 
> Cheers ........ Charles


I won't get caught doing it. I will be deep in the forest part of the parks in the early morning . I will take extra care to be safe about it. I wan't to try pigeon too. if Anthony Bourdains can do it, so can I. lol


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

Great article! I just recently moved into the suburbs for the first time in my life. I have always been a country boy and roamed, shot, and fished as I pleased. Now I live in a neighborhood with loads of squirrels that tempt me daily. Several have found there way to the dinner table. My tactic has been to shoot them near the street so that when I go to retrieve them, folks just think I am picking up a squirrel that was hit by a car! So far, no one has caught on to the fact that I am hunting with a slingshot right under their nose. More people need to have an awakening as to where their animal based protein comes from or be vegetarian. Our current slaughterhouse system is so disconnected from nature's intentions that I find our mass ignorance more repugnant than the system that puts meat in the grocery store. Balance must be restored- we are only animals ourselves, let's get real!!


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

people dont realize that what they buy off the shelf was once very alive too.


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

flippinout said:


> Great article! I just recently moved into the suburbs for the first time in my life. I have always been a country boy and roamed, shot, and fished as I pleased. Now I live in a neighborhood with loads of squirrels that tempt me daily. Several have found there way to the dinner table. My tactic has been to shoot them near the street so that when I go to retrieve them, folks just think I am picking up a squirrel that was hit by a car! So far, no one has caught on to the fact that I am hunting with a slingshot right under their nose. More people need to have an awakening as to where their animal based protein comes from or be vegetarian. Our current slaughterhouse system is so disconnected from nature's intentions that I find our mass ignorance more repugnant than the system that puts meat in the grocery store. Balance must be restored- we are only animals ourselves, let's get real!!


that is cool about the squirrels ! lol. I agree with you. Most people have no idea how meat gets on their table and would rather not know. It is funny how people would never be vegetarians in the wild. People can only choose that way of life because of the products available to us today. If you lived in the forest, you would eat meat every chance you could.


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

I saw a t shirt once that said " Vegetarian- Indian word for lousy hunter".


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

lol.. there are too many people there for them all to be able to eat meat.


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## Nico (Sep 10, 2010)

That is a great article and it actually sums up a great part of my childhood!

My father raised us with the rural mindset that he brought from Mexico and transfered some of this mindset to us boys while he raised us in Los Angeles. A lot of the game that kept us in practice in suburbia were doves, inca doves, pigeons, cottontails, squirrels. Largely the former (fowl) but we did it both with slingshots and later airguns, now its exclusively slingshots for myself. We also box trapped doves and pigeons to eat but not as fun as taking with a slingshot









This urban hunting kept us sharp and when we did go to rural Mexico we often out did the locals in hunting and field dressing of wild game.

I like this thread

Nico


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

I might just have to start my own urban hunters blog. lol. i could use the traveling slingshot to kickstart it. It might be interesting since i am such a noob and all these experiences will be firsts for me.
I could really use pointers from you veterans !


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

bj000 said:


> I might just have to start my own urban hunters blog. lol. i could use the traveling slingshot to kickstart it. It might be interesting since i am such a noob and all these experiences will be firsts for me.
> I could really use pointers from you veterans !


As has been pointed out before, just be careful what you post. You do not want some ninny reporting you to the RCMP for shooting a slingshot at some poor, defenseless bunny in the city. I'm not saying not to do the urban hunting ... that is a decision for you to make. I am suggesting caution about posting about it.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

yeah i probably will have to sleep on that idea lol. you're right. can't really trust anyone


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## Xidoo (Aug 14, 2010)

I believe this is a great article. Most people are reluctand to make a kill, they prefer to pay to have somebody to kill a raced and caged animal. An animal that has no other funtion, but to die to feed a hungry consumer. This animal does not have the chance to escape as a wild animal does from a hunter. The butcher does not miss a prey, since this one has no chance.
I know that farms can be a hudge source of all kind of pollution to the nearby communities. It is also a place where micro-organisms get stronger by eating the food full of vitamins for the farm animals. A very serious issue that nobody ever takes into consideration althought, micro-organisms have killed more humans than all the wars combined.
I have seen chickens been transported at five in the morning in a very cold weather. I am sure the animals were suffering from the cold, since they were outside in a wire cage, behind an eighteen wheeler on a highway. Did somebody care about their suffering?? I do not think so.
Hunting and killing an animal is something that you have to learn and always try to improve on as a hunter. Some people have told me, "It is much easier to buy a kilo of chicken than to hunt a skinny inca dove." I like to reply, "Yeah, but there is no intensity on making a line to buy the chicken. Sometimes, to kill just one inca dove might take hours of walking, stalking and shooting. Sometimes, you might no even kill one, so when you have a good number of them, you feel victorious. Later, victory taste so good and way better than chicken." Saludos







.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Amen, my friend. You have put it wonderfully.

One thing about hunting vs buying at the store. When you hunt, you must face the fact that you are part of nature ... not distinct from it. As people become alienated from the source of their food, they forget that they are PART of nature; they forget that they cannot just do as they please. Forgetting that we are part of nature is one of the biggest reasons we are having an environmental crisis. When you are hunting, you are PARTICIPATING in nature, rather than just observing it.

Cheers .... Charles


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

Xidoo said:


> Amen, my friend. You have put it wonderfully.
> 
> One thing about hunting vs buying at the store. When you hunt, you must face the fact that you are part of nature ... not distinct from it. As people become alienated from the source of their food, they forget that they are PART of nature; they forget that they cannot just do as they please. Forgetting that we are part of nature is one of the biggest reasons we are having an environmental crisis. When you are hunting, you are PARTICIPATING in nature, rather than just observing it.
> 
> Cheers .... Charles


you guys put it so eloquently . I am an animal and I want to hunt. It is in all of us.


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## Nico (Sep 10, 2010)

Like Xidoo said, sometimes you take hours for one bird and sometimes you dont get any, sometimes you score big. All game harvested from hunting always tastes better than a plastic wrapped market chicken.

I like the feel of the earth under my feet, to look for my prey's tracks and start to my silent stalk, the slight scent in the air that lets you know you are close to your quarry. It is revitalizing, you take your place in the natural order as an apex predator when you hunt for meat.

There is no other way to become one with the earth









Nico


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## whipcrackdeadbunny (May 22, 2010)

You guys, have said it all for me.


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

Nico said:


> Like Xidoo said, sometimes you take hours for one bird and sometimes you dont get any, sometimes you score big. All game harvested from hunting always tastes better than a plastic wrapped market chicken.
> 
> I like the feel of the earth under my feet, to look for my prey's tracks and start to my silent stalk, the slight scent in the air that lets you know you are close to your quarry. It is revitalizing, you take your place in the natural order as an apex predator when you hunt for meat.
> 
> ...


i completely agree. its time i began being the animal i was born to be lol.


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

flippinout said:


> Great article! I just recently moved into the suburbs for the first time in my life. I have always been a country boy and roamed, shot, and fished as I pleased. Now I live in a neighborhood with loads of squirrels that tempt me daily. Several have found there way to the dinner table. My tactic has been to shoot them near the street so that when I go to retrieve them, folks just think I am picking up a squirrel that was hit by a car! So far, no one has caught on to the fact that I am hunting with a slingshot right under their nose. More people need to have an awakening as to where their animal based protein comes from or be vegetarian. Our current slaughterhouse system is so disconnected from nature's intentions that I find our mass ignorance more repugnant than the system that puts meat in the grocery store. Balance must be restored- we are only animals ourselves, let's get real!!


"We are only animals ourselves." Holy crap! I'm on the frekking food chain!

Of course, I wouldn't have to hide from vegans.


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

Careful THWACK! I can see you have never cornered a hungry vegan! The lack of protein causes them to do and crave all sorts of strange things.


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

flippinout said:


> Careful THWACK! I can see you have never cornered a hungry vegan! The lack of protein causes them to do and crave all sorts of strange things.


yeah, like eat vegan chicken nuggets. i work with a vegan cook. he eats these orange fake chicken nuggets. pure retarded


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## Xidoo (Aug 14, 2010)

All of you guys have make this post very nice to read and learn form it. Thanks to all of you.

I must tell you that since I started to hunt where I live I have been able to get to know better my community, as well as the animals that live here. I have noticed, that there is a great number of bird species which I like to leave alone, but the doves or the pest ones. I like to enjoy listening or watching native birds, they always leave a nice souvenir in my mind.
I have seen things that you only get to see in the Discovery Channel or the National Geography. Like the attack of a hawk on a dove, a lizard jumping to get insects flying away from the nest, hundreds of ducks at the Lerma River flying to get there, turtles and fish where I used to think there was only pollution, etc,. Man, nature always have something new, but classic to show.
I have seen squirrels or tlacuaches (possums) runned down by the train, but I have not seen them alive in the wild. So, I have never shot to them.
Hunting is an endless source of new things for me to enjoy, learn, live and share. I am aware that a concious hunter sees all this and hopes to be able to live it until the end of his own life.
I have seen how people like to destroy everything in their way. Many of them like to find "Nature untouched", but destroy and pollut everything they can with one visit. Most of them kill animals on the first chance with a weapon or unware that the trash or food left behind kill animals or sick them. Sometimes they destroy everything with their SUV's on their way to get there. No, they are not hunters, but just destroyers, who argue that "want to be in touch with nature." Yeah right...
We hunters are not like that, we like to leave the place as nature made it, so we can enjoy it again and again. You know, specially when you find a nice hunting spot.
Most of us, find with hunting that no matter that we have very advance electronic gizmos or other "civilizaded entretaiment," hunting is in our genes. It has been done for thousands of years and it will be done until mankind desapears from mother Earth. Saludos







.


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

flippinout said:


> Careful THWACK! I can see you have never cornered a hungry vegan! The lack of protein causes them to do and crave all sorts of strange things.


Darn! I thought I was safe!

Nathan knows stuff that I don't, that's for sure.

Thanks buddy. I'll be sure to check my rear view mirror for vegans from now on.


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Xidoo said:


> All of you guys have make this post very nice to read and learn form it. Thanks to all of you.
> 
> I must tell you that since I started to hunt where I live I have been able to get to know better my community, as well as the animals that live here. I have noticed, that there is a great number of bird species which I like to leave alone, but the doves or the pest ones. I like to enjoy listening or watching native birds, they always leave a nice souvenir in my mind.
> I have seen things that you only get to see in the Discovery Channel or the National Geography. Like the attack of a hawk on a dove, a lizard jumping to get insects flying away from the nest, hundreds of ducks at the Lerma River flying to get there, turtles and fish where I used to think there was only pollution, etc,. Man, nature always have something new, but classic to show.
> ...


Leave only footprints, take only memories and/or photographs.


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## Ruu (Mar 27, 2011)

Vegan is another word for "next victim on the menu."

I love hunting myself but it is sickening to see pre-madonas out there with their high tech sights and gps. What happened to "shooting be feel" or just "lining up the front and rear sights on the gun?"


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Ruu said:


> Vegan is another word for "next victim on the menu."
> 
> I love hunting myself but it is sickening to see pre-madonas out there with their high tech sights and gps. What happened to "shooting be feel" or just "lining up the front and rear sights on the gun?"


I used to "love hunting myself" until I tracked myself down and nearly died from shooting myself in the butt.


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## Ruu (Mar 27, 2011)

THWACK! said:


> I used to "love hunting myself" until I tracked myself down and nearly died from shooting myself in the butt.


You're a great tracker!


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## THWACK! (Nov 25, 2010)

Seems that I was never too far from the game I was after, as if I was in its shadow...


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Xidoo said:


> All of you guys have make this post very nice to read and learn form it. Thanks to all of you.
> 
> I must tell you that since I started to hunt where I live I have been able to get to know better my community, as well as the animals that live here. I have noticed, that there is a great number of bird species which I like to leave alone, but the doves or the pest ones. I like to enjoy listening or watching native birds, they always leave a nice souvenir in my mind.
> I have seen things that you only get to see in the Discovery Channel or the National Geography. Like the attack of a hawk on a dove, a lizard jumping to get insects flying away from the nest, hundreds of ducks at the Lerma River flying to get there, turtles and fish where I used to think there was only pollution, etc,. Man, nature always have something new, but classic to show.
> ...


AMEN to everything you have said. My very best wishes to you ... may your tribe grow and prosper!

Cheers ....... Charles


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## Xidoo (Aug 14, 2010)

Charles said:


> All of you guys have make this post very nice to read and learn form it. Thanks to all of you.
> 
> I must tell you that since I started to hunt where I live I have been able to get to know better my community, as well as the animals that live here. I have noticed, that there is a great number of bird species which I like to leave alone, but the doves or the pest ones. I like to enjoy listening or watching native birds, they always leave a nice souvenir in my mind.
> I have seen things that you only get to see in the Discovery Channel or the National Geography. Like the attack of a hawk on a dove, a lizard jumping to get insects flying away from the nest, hundreds of ducks at the Lerma River flying to get there, turtles and fish where I used to think there was only pollution, etc,. Man, nature always have something new, but classic to show.
> ...


AMEN to everything you have said. My very best wishes to you ... may your tribe grow and prosper!

Cheers ....... Charles
[/quote]

Tocayo, (same name in Nahualt)

Thanks for your kind words for me and my tribe hahahahaha. I also wish you the best mi cuate. It is always nice to read from such a nice and wise man like you. Saludos







.


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## monoaminooxidase (Jun 20, 2011)

Ruu said:


> Vegan is another word for "next victim on the menu."


careful mates, or you'll be dealing with the church of seitan germany. we don't screw around.

edit: not to be confused with church of seitan uk. they do screw around.

edit (2): nice article btw. I would not eat city pigeons though, considering what they live off. If you know what you're doing and manage to kill with one shot I do not see an ethical problem in hunting urban animals. no need for bashing vegans though


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