Game farm shoots... elk vs. buffalo

[tmsander]

I'm wondering about the opions here on this.... if you are against game farm shoots of elk and/or deer, do you feel the same about buffalo? Why or why not?

 

[FLIPPER]

tmsander....

....evidently you have never been a part of one of these topics

 

[Tom]

I remember some discussions of this. People said things like, the buffaloe are only wild in a couple places in the US, the elk are wild a lot of places, the deer are wild a lot of places. The buffaloe's habitat is basically gone, the deer and elk's is not, so there's the difference they gave.

I would like to object to the use of the term, "game farm shoots". That's an already biased anti-hunter term in my opinion. I use the term "wildlife ranch hunt" when I can. Many of these places treat them like wildlife and make it a hunt, more than a shoot. If its not a 15 mile hike in the mountains, its no big deal to me, there are lots of real hunts that are not a 15 mile hike in the mountains. There are wildlife ranches where you can walk around hunting for 15 miles if you want to, e.g. yoranch.com, check their web site.

 

[Michaelr]

High fence "GAME FARM SHOOTS" are a disgrace to all ethical sportsmen.
end of story

 

[tmsander]

I apologize if this topic has been discussed before. I must have missed it. I'd still like to discuss it however. As I would never stoop to shooting a deer or elk in an enclusure, I would shoot a privately owned buffalo. I have justified this to myself in my own mind (with rationale similar to what Tom describes as well as others), but wondered if others would consider this hypocritical.

The whole purpose of using the term 'game farm shoot' is to distance this activity from hunting. Shooting penned up animals is just that shooting... it is not hunting. And to call it hunting damages real hunting. So it is pro-hunting to do so, not anti-hunting.

I understand that there are differences between enclused hunts. I'm not sure I would call a very large enlosure that affords the game a good chance to escape and is by no means a 100% success type of hunt a penned shoot.

 

[BuzzH]

I think its just wrong to pen some animals up, elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mule deer, whitetail, that just isnt moral or ethical at all. Theres no good reason for them to be penned in either, nor is there any reason for some moron to shoot animals like that in a pen.

Bison on the other hand, seem like a big shaggy cow to me. Who cares if someone blows one away, it isnt hunting thats for sure. I do think its kind of sad that bison have been turned into livestock for the most part. I view a bison "hunt" on the same excitement level as butchering chickens or killing a steer. Something that you do, but you sure as hell dont go around bragging about it...like most of the idiots do that hunt a game farm.

I also think its pretty sad if you cant see the difference between penning elk and penning bison or the difference between hunting free-ranging wildlife and shooting livestock on a game farm (excuse me, fake wildlife ranch, or whatever it was Tom called them)...huge difference.

 

[Tom]

"I'm not sure I would call a very large enlosure that affords the game a good chance to escape and is by no means a 100% success type of hunt a penned shoot."

I'm sure, I would NOT call it a penned shoot, I would not call it a game farm shoot.

"livestock on a game farm" There's a big difference between livestock and wildlife, "penned" or not. There are lots of reasons for high fencing wildlife and they benefit the wildlife, not just the people. For example, prevent them from walking out on a road and getting hit, prevent cross breeding, provide better management of the herd, supply of the habitat, keep cattle out, make it harder for poachers, stop the public from shooting or hunting every legal creature they see, etc. Those are some reasons I've seen used down here.

 

[Point Creep]

Bison shoots are livestock harvests. Bison aren't much different than an angus steer.

Good thing about bison operations is the fencing doesn't have to be "high fence." Wildlife can come and go across the boundaries. Do bison get CWD? Do they interbreed with native wildlife?

Don't call a canned bison shoot a hunt either. A friend of mine brought 2 doctors to town this summer to kill 3 trophy bulls on a local bison ranch (120,000 acres). I saw the video. It was no hunt. My buddy used a bow. 4 guys walked down a open field and the group of bison moved across in front of him, he arrowed the biggest one. They herded it to him like it was a cow.

Lot of meat, but at 3,500 a piece, sorta pricey steaks. It was tasty though, we ate it at his wedding reception.