# Kill vs. Harvest



## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

*Harvest vs. Kill*​​This was an article which was in the *International Hunter Education Association* magazine, spring 2009. The article basically covered how the two terms, *harvest* and *kill*, are used when dealing with the taking of wildlife. Do you kill a deer or harvest one? There isn’t any easy way to sugar coat the stoppage of life, taking of wildlife is just that, killing! 

If you claim a Christmas and cut it at the based, you’ve KILLED the tree. If you take the same tree and transplant it to another area, you harvest it. When mice come into a barn or house and poison is placed to control them, nobody ever said, “I harvested a mouse!” You KILLED the pest. When RoundUp is used on weeds to control them around streets and fence posts, few have ever claimed to have HARVESTED the unruly grasses. They were killed by a chemical burn. 

So, when we hunt and claim wildlife for our table, taking the “salt” from the message, “sugar-coating” the terminology just can’t do. Say it as it is; you have killed the animal and now enjoy the meal. The idea of offending the tree huggers and animal rights crowd isn’t the way to go. It only cheapens the end result to an activity which has long been held as something American, *HUNTING!*


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## kim guidry (Jan 11, 2008)

Just another "PC" comment. :twisted:


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

I just don't think animals should be killed for food. Go to Kroger and get your meat like the rest of us.

DFrost


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

.....and tastes much better :^o :^o :^o


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)




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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

Animals are for pets. Meat comes from the supermarket.


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Kristen Cabe said:


>


And this is a classic case of mindless folk who think Whoppers grow on trees and livestock aren't rendered into patties!!!


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## TOM SMITH (Dec 25, 2008)

The meat i KILL with my bow taste better than the store bought. And i know what iam eating.


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## Kyle Sprag (Jan 10, 2008)

all I kow is that: People need to EAT more things with Faces.


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## kim guidry (Jan 11, 2008)

ok...at the risk of getting this thread locked...here goes. For the record, I am not a hunter, when I fish, I release it after it is caught. I have no issues with people who do not hunt and the only issues I have with hunters is that if they kill it they need to eat it. Not just hang the head on the wall. I believe that "true hunters" do eat their kill. Not every community has a Wall-Mart where they can drive to to buy there meat, nor does everyone have the money to spend on food so hunting and gardening is how they eat and feed their families. As harsh as it sounds, when people hunt, the animal is killed. I stand by my first statement that it is just another "PC" term. And as far as animals being pets, well I don't know of too many people would keep a wild deer or turkey as a pet. Sorry, I just don't see it.

Now....Howard.....what does this have to do with dogs. I am beginning to think you just like to fluf up feathers!:lol:


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## kim guidry (Jan 11, 2008)

Now...let me go explain to my 6 yr old son where chicken nuggets come from.:-$ All this time he thought a clown with red hair by the name of Mic Donald made them!=;


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Well, it is in the canine lounge ............ no dogs needed here.

I can see it now - gone are the slaughterhouses and in are "harvest homes" 

Sure can't see how the way we raise animals for meat production is more humane than hunting though I do have problems with hunting deer with dogs [we have a dog season] and know a lot of archers don't quickly drop the deer and have to blood trail it.


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## Jerry Lyda (Apr 4, 2006)

Kim, Kim , Kim


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Kim Kim Kim...of all the people who would UNDERSTAND the placement of this! Dogs....meat....*hotdogs*, forum placement correct! :razz: Thanks for understand the ******* side of life also goes beyond WalMart and Big Red dog food!!!!!!!


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## kim guidry (Jan 11, 2008)

Howard Gaines III said:


> Kim Kim Kim...of all the people who would UNDERSTAND the placement of this! Dogs....meat....*hotdogs*, forum placement correct! :razz: Thanks for understand the ******* side of life also goes beyond WalMart and Big Red dog food!!!!!!!


Yes Mr.Gaines I stand corrected....your placement of this is correct.:lol: But the "PC" thing to do is eat tofu hotdogs. Funny, it taste like chicken!:lol: :-$


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## Michael Wise (Sep 14, 2008)

Nancy Jocoy said:


> and know a lot of archers don't quickly drop the deer and have to blood trail it.


Archery can be more complicated. And shots do have to be more precise.

It still comes down to the shooter.....and every freakin' variable you can think of. Bullets go astray, too.

Obviously there are more bad shots with bows, but I think that it is more the shot choice than the weapon choice that causes problems.

Sorry Howard. Got a little of topic.

I'm guilty of picking words, but killin' is killin'. Regardless of game, it should be taken very seriously.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Michael Wise said:


> Archery can be more complicated. And shots do have to be more precise..


Funny, my dad had a 60lb longbow he used to hunt deer with. I had a 35 lb recurve I would use for bowfishing. There was a LOT more target practice than shooting at animals though. Neither one of us ever used a sight or a damper and I look at these complex things that are out there now with pulley and sights and wonder how is that? We both had real good aim. I had bird arrows too, but we only shot frisbees.


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## Michael Wise (Sep 14, 2008)

Nancy Jocoy said:


> Funny, my dad had a 60lb longbow he used to hunt deer with. I had a 35 lb recurve I would use for bowfishing. There was a LOT more target practice than shooting at animals though. Neither one of us ever used a sight or a damper and I look at these complex things that are out there now with pulley and sights and wonder how is that? We both had real good aim. I had bird arrows too, but we only shot frisbees.


I'm gonna' go home and tie a pink ribbon on my compound. :lol: :lol: :lol: You and your dad sound like the real deal.

I practice about 300 days a year for 2 shots max.#-o :grin: I know better than to try with a longbow. I know I ain't that good.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Because of events in my life, I no longer hunt. I once was an avid hunter and yes, I ate what I killed. Well, except for coyotes. I had a deer lease in Texas, went every weekend, never shot a thing. I was the cook and common sense in the evening (I don't drink). The two friends I shared the lease with did enjoy a few evening adult beverages. I raised my sons that hunting was a good sport and did put meat on the table. They are both hunters. My oldest returns to Texas every year just for deer and hogs. Here, I feed the deer and Turkey and there are plenty. I am going to shoot those darn squirrels in my attic though. They are a bit bothersome. Haven't had squirel, biscuits and gravy in quite a while.

DFrost


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## Randy Allen (Apr 18, 2008)

Never did kill for sport myself. Just necessity. 

Everyone should have to do it at lest once in their life.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Michael Wise said:


> I'm gonna' go home and tie a pink ribbon on my compound. :lol: :lol: :lol: You and your dad sound like the real deal.
> 
> I practice about 300 days a year for 2 shots max.#-o :grin: I know better than to try with a longbow. I know I ain't that good.


Michael - my dad was the "real thing" - picking off mullet with a bow requires no special talent but he was incredible - rarely missed the bullseye  I was pretty good but quit shooting after a freak accident which destroyed my bow and left me with some stiches.

David - just don't eat the brains anymore! CJD variant in squirrels. Mainly in Tennessee - and all along we just thought those people up there werent quite right. Now we know why. it was the squirrel brains did it all along.


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Well, I have always looked at things this way. If you don't approve of hunting, waterboarding and such, that is perfectly ok because you don't have to do it if you don't like it. Casing aspersions about things you don't approve of personally is another matter all together. Anyone that lives in a glass house should avoid judging what others do because you and your lifestyles will be next. Besides, how am I going to work my dogs?


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

Waterboarding? torture of humans is a long way from humanely hunting animals for sport and eating the meat.


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## Kayla Barth (Apr 18, 2009)

I used to hunt when I lived in MN. My father taught us to take the best shots to kill the animal quickly, though it didnt always happen that way. Where I lived in MN the had a lottery for Doe tags (to limit the number of female deer killed legally) and the result of that caused the deer population to shoot up to the point that they were damaging crops. What the DNR allowed in my county was to allow farmers to kill one deer a month until they had harvested their crops. But what really caused the deer explosion was the fact that there are so few natural predators in my area. We ate what we killed. My father even had me take a bite out of a raw deer heart to prove to him that I was willing to consume what I killed. I personally dont eat the liver...cant stand the taste but it made a good treat for the dogs. We also used to butcher our own hogs and cattle...how is that any different then growing a garden and "harvesting" the fruits of your labor...if you just look at it in a literal sense you are still killing a living thing. Those of you that dont hunt thats fine but DO NOT make those of us who do in to monsters. 

kayla


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## Don Turnipseed (Oct 8, 2006)

Nancy Jocoy said:


> Waterboarding? torture of humans is a long way from humanely hunting animals for sport and eating the meat.


Did I say waterboarding???LOL But your right Nancy. Waterboarding is for the harvesting of information which is much different than killing.


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## Gerry Grimwood (Apr 2, 2007)

I think people should be able to have the opportunity *once* in their lives to visit a slaughterhouse/meat packing plant and that would give you some insight on how your store bought meat is treated before it hits your plate.

There is no better tasting meat in this world than the type that wanders around lost in the woods for its entire life, well..until it meets me :lol: 

On a regular basis I do work at a facility that processes several thousand animals daily, and I can guarantee that most people would turn into a raw food vegan if they spent a day there.


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## Tina Rempel (Feb 13, 2008)

Don, wonderful mounts! Will you take me on a hog hunt sometime? :grin: I'm betting that is good eating. 

Who has turkys for Pets? I do. Still have a nice trio that will follow me around. The flippin coyotes have munched the rest.


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

having worked for oneof the largest meat-packers in the world for nearly 15 years, i find the term "harvesting" as applied to slaughter facilities extremely annoying in it's over-reaching "PC". we kill animals, we are a "kill-plant".

i actually had a SHIPPER call me once to ask when his check would be issued and when i asked him when his cattle were killed, he got all sentimental on me about me using the word "killed", so i said "all right, when did you send them to the plant?" (as if that made a dif to the fact that we DID kill them, and he WAS being paid for it), but it made him feel better, so whatever.

i think if a mandatory visit to a kill-plant isn't a part of every child's life, they should at least be required to watch a chicken/hog/beef butchered at a farm. eating meat requires the sacrifice of a life, and i personally think that everyone who eats meat should watch the life go out of a living being. 

i eat meat, but i am well aware of where it comes from, and have killed my share of chickens/cattle/goats. it's not easy for me, but i like to think i appreciate every bite i take maybe a little more than ppl that think hamburger comes from who knows where.


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## Michael Wise (Sep 14, 2008)

ann freier said:


> i think if a mandatory visit to a kill-plant isn't a part of every child's life, they should at least be required to watch a chicken/hog/beef butchered at a farm.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG91VCdK_vw

First thing that popped into my simple head.:lol:


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## Faisal Khan (Apr 16, 2009)

Hunters are the major contributors for conservation of wildlife and habitat. Most people do not see it that way.


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## ann schnerre (Aug 24, 2006)

Michael Wise said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG91VCdK_vw
> 
> First thing that popped into my simple head.:lol:


michael, i swear to god!! no, watching it on youtube is NOT an adequate substitute. esp with the bus blocking the actual "act".

and who kills a cow w/ a frickin' shotgun??? and who kills a good milk cow period? you're fr arkansas, you should know better than to promote such unrealistic BS to the gullible general public....well, maybe not.


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## Michael Wise (Sep 14, 2008)

Yeah. Shotgun was a little overkill, huh?

Mama.....Cuz.....whatever you want to call her always used a .22. 






Disclaimer: I'm just kiddin' 'bout Mama.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

I'm for hunting........AND waterboarding! :-o


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Bob Scott said:


> I'm for hunting........AND waterboarding! :-o


When it comes to terrorists and saving American lives, I don't care if they use electricity on the family jewels. I could also include rapists, child molesters etc in that group, but that's another discussion. So yeah, waterboarding is fine with me. 

DFrost


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

kim guidry said:


> Yes Mr.Gaines I stand corrected....your placement of this is correct.:lol: But the "PC" thing to do is eat tofu hotdogs. Funny, it taste like chicken!:lol: :-$


Tofu...what part of te chicken does that come from? OH it's beef! UUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNN:mrgreen:


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Our waterboarding is a slide with a burger in hand!!!


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

Bob Scott said:


> I'm for hunting........


We hunt every year. And we kill things. I do not call it harvesting. 

We use almost everything off of the animal, whether it be for us or for the dogs. We also raise our own cattle that go to market and end up in our freezer as well as the grocery stores. 

I cannot say that we hunt because we need to, but rather because we like to because we like to eat the game that we hunt. It is so much better than store bought meat. Even the cattle that we use for us is better than store bought. 

The dogs are on raw diet and actually the hunting keeps my costs down with so many dogs.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Carol Boche said:


> We hunt every year. And we kill things. I do not call it harvesting.


Pheasant, praire chicken, quail, antelope, all mighty tasty eating. I know you have all of them in your state. I lived there for a short period of time and ate a little of all of them. 

DFrost


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

As a Delaware Hunter Education instructor, we see the lack of youth coming into the hunting area. The parents, uncles, brothers, and the ofter male leaders of this "sport" are not filling the voids of the 60's and 70's. When you look at freshwater fishing, I see many single mothers taking their kids to a park pond to wet a line. Killing time or just trying to burn off some wild kid energy.

When are the men in this country going to step up again and be family leaders...not producers of babies? I have kids at school who tell me they don't even know their fathers. No one cares and no one is setting the positve standard for the next generation. 

As a kid, my dad took me hunting every Friday and Saturday. It has been the best thing that I can remember. I appreciate wildlife, give back to eco-systems through habitat efforts, and help others to understand the outlet I use and love. And yes, quail, ducks and deer eat just fine. And the "Whopper" is a 12 point buck still waiting to be harvested!!!!!!!!!!!!


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