Like it or not things die. Plants, animals, planets...Hell, even people die; That's right you and I will die at some stage, sooner or later. It's an inevitable part of life. Having said that, you're alive now and so whilst you are I guess it's prudent to make the most of what time you do have. Get out and own it!
Life includes the need for nourishment. Food and water essentially, and although some may prefer one form over another we, as living things, require it on a regular basis or we will die. We are a world-population of meat-eaters, vegans, vegetarians, raw-food-eaters, soup-dieters, keto-dieters, gluten-free-eaters and so on however the thing we have in common is that we all eat, and drink in some way or another. Agreed? If not, then you may as well stop reading right now...
Over the years I have been two different sort of eaters. I was brought up as vegetarian, or maybe pescatarian is the right word because I ate seafood. Anyway, around the age of 18 or so I started to eat meat and have continued to do so. The reason I was vegetarian is because my mum was and she did the cooking so I had little choice in the matter. Anyway, these days I pretty-much eat anything, within reason, and either buy it from the market or shoot it myself. I do not grow food through lack of skill and space however sometimes make it on my phone by dialling a pizza. Does that count? Yes, it's totally legit!
You read correctly above though, I shoot it. As regular readers of my blog may know, I hunt and cull animals. If you're not sure of the difference, hunting is to gather food, and culling is to control pests. Here that means deer, kangaroo's, foxes, hare's, rabbits, camels, dingo's, wild pigs, goats and so on. The (cattle) farm on which I cull on is for deer, kangaroo's, foxes, hare's and rabbits. So, it's ok...You can judge me as cruel or whatever. I get it. You may not shoot and provide your own food in that way so you don't get it. You may even prefer to get your food, meat or whatever, from where it's made...In the supermarket. That's right, it gets made in those little white foam trays with clear plastic on the top: "No animals harmed in the making of this meat." Yeah, that's right...Sarcasm. Anyway...unless your food was made in a lab somewhere it used to be alive. Yep, your tomato, corn, sushi, broccoli, porridge, steak...It all used to be alive and now it's dead and you're eating it.
I took this photo the other day when I was out culling. It's one of my rifles and some associated gear: Binoculars, range finder, backpack and so on. It's the gear I usually take out culling with me among a few other items. I was asked about culling, and shooting in general, the other day by a young girl who was interested. She is vegetarian. She was fascinated by the technical aspect of the actual shooting, out to long distances, bullet-making and the like; The science of bringing it all together. She had no idea of what was involved and was really amazed at what it took to accurately send a bullet for a killing-shot.
She asked about just about every aspect including what it was like killing an animal too, what I felt and what the animal felt.
I told her that I take no real pleasure in the killing. I mean I don't rejoice. It makes me feel a little sad really, although it is a job that must be done. Addressing the feral pest problem means the farmers can market their produce for lower prices. This doesn't just go for the stock farmers either...Kangaroos, dear and pigs do damage to crop farms also. As do locusts, which get sprayed and eradicated (slaughtered) similar to the pests I cull. So, I take no pleasure from it and I am very human when I go about it. I shoot head-shots only and will only shoot if I feel I will confidently kill the animal with the first shot. I am a very good shot out to 1000m and almost as good out to 1500m and yet would not take a shot at an animal at over 500m so I know I won't miss. I think that's responsible.
The animal feels nothing. one moment it's eating grass, looking around and enjoying the day and the next it's dead. That's it. The bullet I fire will strike, for instance, 400m away at a speed of 2024fps (feet/ second) and with 792 ft-lbf (foot-pound-force) which is a lot! The animal does not know what is happening. Just like a human shot in a war in the same way would not.
Now, you may have clicked away as this is not your thing, but if you're still here think about this...Animals in an abattoir are electrocuted, pounded with metal bars, stabbed with long sharp things and killed in various other ways. You can YouTube it if you are game, but what is seen cannot be unseen, so be cautious. They are also in a race watching the animal ahead of them be killed. Humane? Hmm, I wonder. Fish are netted, alive, then thrown in a freezer to die, or hooked by fishermen and dragged, alive through the water where they can breath up into the air where they can't...Humane? Maybe a head shot from my rifle and instant death doesn't sound too bad now huh?
So, I get judged for hunting and culling; For providing some of my own food and yet the people doing the judging feel ok doing so whilst eating their steak, bacon and eggs or whatever. They hide behind the fact they got it from the supermarket where it was made. **They may call me cruel and inhumane whilst they sit back enjoying their steak whilst watching the Melbourne Cup horse race in which animals are beaten with a stick by an asshole jockey around a grassy track for the betting-enjoyment of humans. The ladies at the Melbourne Cup may even have their nails painted and everyone knows nail polish contains fish scales which makes the polish sparkle. I mean even toothpaste contains glycerin which is obtained by extracting the fat from animal bones. Oh, sure, it comes from plants too...But they have to die first as well.
Yeah, yeah I get it...But then there's the vegans. That special breed of person that uses nothing, and I mean NOTHING that is animal derived...But what about all those poor little plants? Aren't the vegans eating the food that my food eats? How dare they? Oh, I'm not sure how many vegans are actually totally and unequivocally vegan. Not many I think but to them being just a little bit vegan makes them feel happy and validated so have at it part-time-sort-of-almost-but-not-quite-vegans!
You know, it takes all sorts of people to make up this world. Good, bad and indifferent. Some like this and other's like that; We cannot always agree on everything. What we can do is understand that no one is perfect, no one is above reproach and that we, as individuals, are not any better than the next because we don't eat flesh, or because we don't use plastic bags or that we provide our own food even. We are just human and therefore flawed and imperfect. We can reign in our judgement on others because it is our judgement of others that leads to prejudice, hate and eventually war.
So, I'll keep shooting, providing my own food and building outdoors-skills, it's good practice for the apocalypse, and I'll continue to be judged by those who don't get it. They'll keep eating their meat deluding themselves that it was killed humanely, or not thinking about the fact it was alive in the first place. Live and let live huh?
For the gun people:
Tikka CTR .243 (stainless)
Precision Defence Industries carbon fibre stock
Atlas Bipod
Kahles 624i scope (SKMR3 reticle)
APA little bastard muzzle break
Accuracy 1st scope level
Vortex scope level (secondary)
87gr Vmax projectile (Hornady)
2950fps muzzle velocity
Ballistic coefficient 0.196 (G7)