Talk about white knuckles #2

[Sigarms]

Certainly man kills for sport, but during the settlement of this country animals were valued not only for food value, but for their furrs. Fur trading was big business, and many animals were hunted almost to extinction, the beaver for instance. Ducks, geese, turkeys were hunted commercially and sold to the markets. Not to mention, even up through the depression and even in the 50's and 60's, many animals and birds were hunted to put meat on the table. My Dad told me when I was little, we ate more venison (poached) than any other kind of meat. He (and me also) also hunted ducks, geese and quail for our table. Not so sure about the buffalo, but know they were hunted for their hides and their bones, which was encouraged by our government to help subdue the Indians, who depended on them.

Used to hike Hawk Mountain sanctuary a lot in my youth. The pictures they have of hawks just killed for "sport" is staggering per the amount of birds just killed for the sake of killing. Conservation and the preservation of wildlife really wasn't in anyones vocabulary 100 years ago. Yes, people had to eat, I understand that.

 

[Sigarms]

Wolves CAN and DO "kill for sport".

It's the rarity, not the normality.

If you could provide any statisitics that prove my previous comment incorrect, it would be nice if you could give the documentation.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Used to hike Hawk Mountain sanctuary a lot in my youth. The pictures they have of hawks just killed for "sport" is staggering per the amount of birds just killed for the sake of killing. Conservation and the preservation of wildlife really wasn't in anyones vocabulary 100 years ago. Yes, people had to eat, I understand that.

Back in the 50's, when I was growing up in the country, hawks and owls were recognized as predators, and they took their toll on the chickens, ducks, geese and guineas on the farm. In fact, I never heard a hawk called anything but a chicken hawk. Although I never knew anyone to go on a "Chicken hawk hunt", everyone I knew would shoot them on sight when they had the opportunity, or when they saw them harassing their chickens.

I read an interesting article on the Hudson Bay company. Apparently they have been around for several hundred years, and have kept excellent records. Someone was able to review their records, and found that number of furs the bought every year varied. Seems when there was a good year of prey animal fur, the next year the furs of predator animals increased, and the prey animal furs decreased. In other words, the predator/prey numbers were related, and increased/decreased according to the ratio of prey to predator.