I practice field to table regularly. I accept the moral obligations that come with it and I do NOT shirk from those obligations. That means I take only sure shots that are quick and lethal. Then that means I go as absolutely far as I can to use every bit of the animal that I can and what I cannot make use of goes back to the forest where it belongs. I even save the marginally edible scrap to make dog treats, much to my dog's everloving joy.

Also, I recently switched to using all non-toxic lead free ammunition. I have read hundreds of peer reviewed scientific papers on the subject and the evidence is clear that residual lead in the gutpile is a source of lead poisoning in raptors, particularly eagles.

And this is directly attributable to being a committed Rooseveltian conservationist that agrees with the North American Wildlife Conservation Model.

Yeah I think so, I’d still like to get into hunting. I question whether Id have the stomach for it at first but I’d rather hunt and fish than patronize large scale agriculture. If you’re curious about how someone can love animals yet still hunt you should check out the series Meateater on netflix. It’s a great, unusually smart hunting/cooking show by Steve Renella. I don’t remember anything super graphic in it, although it’s bound to be a sensitive topic. He really understands conservationism, and at the very least undoubtedly has a great respect for animals and indigenous people, with whom he hunts and fishes. It’s about realizing that we’re a part of the food chain, wildlife doesn’t manage itself, and there is a sustainable, ethical way to eat meat by working hard for it, taking no more than you need, and taking personal responsibility for your part in the food chain.

The way I look at it is: life eats life. Even large scale vegetable farming necessitates pesticides, fertilizers, huge damage to the environment, and grain harvesters are constantly sucking up fawns and ground nesting animals. The only way to get around causing death by your diet is to do all your organic farming yourself and grow a years worth of vegetables every summer. It’s not practical for everyone just like hunting isn’t practical for everyone, but the more of either and both any of us can do, the better.

Deer and elk are beautiful animals, but almost nothing has the privilege of dying of old age or natural causes in the wild. They mostly die by starvation, freezing, or torn apart asshole first by wolves (yes, really). All of which are obviously slower processes than an animal lover would like. If one can die at a mature age, after it’s had a chance to breed, by a bullet or arrow, and sustain a discerning person for months if not most of the year, keeping them from giving business to the awful cruelties of large scale slaughterhouses, that’s about the best outcome possible for the planet and everyone involved. I try not to harm any living thing I don’t have to, with the exception of parasites. But if I was killing for food and wasting nothing I’d feel morally better than I do going to McDonald’s for sure.

Grew up hunting and fishing on a farm. Taught to butcher cows, chickens, and deer from a young age. Chose being a vegan for health, environmental concerns and the way that farms currently raise animals with no dignity and much cruelty. When we raised animals on our farm they had good lives up until the end... Probably wouldn't eat meat today even if corporate farms raised animals humanely.

I would only do it if I needed food. Not for sport

It would be difficult for me.

Can't and won't. I know people who do but not me.

Probably not...
A stray chicken found me and I actually feel guilty if I eat chicken now... lol

Did this, when I first left the army hunted food until I got back to work, my family ate wild game and thrived

I have hunted and fished. I made a point of eating or trying to eat whatever animal or fish I took. First, I was not really good at either, so no creatures went extinct while I was hunting/gathering. Second, cleaning the catch was not fun, but fortunately I never killed a large animal like a dear or bear. Third, I could never be a farmer and raise animals to be slaughtered, but then I could never be a boxer or a surgeon either. Cutting live flesh is not something I would do willingly. Fourth, my rationalizing for eating meat is that putting that meat on the table is employment and income for thousands of people. Farm kids are lovingly raising animals for slaughter because it is the life they were brought up in. And millions of animals would never be born at all if it wasn’t for the food industry.
I realize the corporate farming and slaughtering is not pleasant, I have been inside chicken processing plants. But then vegetable farming on the corporate scale often mistreats humans in the process of growing those vegetables. But there would be no other way to feed our exploding population with mom and pop farms. They are a luxury few can afford, and I want to grow my own vegetables about as much as I want to hunt my own meat!

Society in the UK dosen't hunt often. We but from supermarkets or butchers. We are a mostly urban society and many have forgot where meat comes from. In education small children appear reviled at the idea their chicken nuggets came from a bird, burgers from a cow, bacon from a pig and so on. Many seem to think that pork sausages are made in a factory from stuff, not thinking that it was once a living animal or two.
Then milk, or cow juice as I often wind kids up with. Squeeze an orange, what do you get? Orange juice, squeeze a cow - cow juice.
All complex life kills and consumes to live. Humans are a hunter species.

I think there would be many more vegetarians if everyone had to be involved in the killing and butchery of the animals they eat.
It is so easy to go to the supermarket and buy a plastic wrapped joint and I doubt if many people give a thought as to the living animal it originally was part of.
I try to avoid cheap chicken and pork because of the conditions the animals are kept in.
Beef here is mainly from grass fed animals that lead a reasonable life before being slaughtered but having driven past feedlots in the USA where cattle are kept in bare earth pens and pumped full of antibiotics that is a totally different thing.
We have evolved as omnivores but many of us eat far too much meat which makes us ill but to me veganism is too extreme and a step too far

Yes.

And if you've ever seen how animals kill their prey, hunting is very civilized by comparison.

Humans are omnivores. When you grow up in a poor rural environment, you need the protein from game, fish and animals you raise to provide the protein you need to survive. Animals killing animals is a part of nature. Slaughtering huge numbers of animals is not. But, being completely a vegan is not a part of nature for humans.

If born 200 years ago, I would be moving through the digestive system of wolves.

No

I have, and will do again, hunted. Every thing from Duck, Pheasant, to Deer. And I also fish, and have Crabbed.
Back in the day I was a Chef at a few different places over the years. So I've learned every thing from hunting to serving dinner.
It's a bit unrealistic to say that every one should kill, and carve an animal to food, even though it would be a good idea. yet It is also unrealistic to say that humans should never kill another animal as well. To be honest I see both sides, mostly because I am also a huge animal lover.
Meh I'm probably talking in circles here. But I can say one thing, Humans as we are at this point of evolution are Omnivores. we can try to deny that fact, but we just can't get the nutrition we need with out proteins, and other than animals, proteins are hard to come by.
JMHO.

i don't want to be around if that is what it comes to. i cannot imagine the chaos. i try to accommodate my kids evolving views and food choices. i figure they are educating themselves on the ecology and idealistic, why crush it with mandatory hamburger. i do this while lying to myself that i could do it if i had to all the while knowing the involuntary gagging at slaughter training would be to the point of certain failure if not hemorrhage. i believe i could help with the clean and dress, but the kill? that i would have wished i was taught as a boy by my dad. if i had to figure it out now? would be tough. i am eating less meat because of my kids choices. but sometimes i eat the steak right in front of them.

I was involved in the annual slaughter of pigs. I have now learned enough of nutriotion that I do not have to slaughter pigs anymore, or goats, cows and sheep and chickens. So no,Iwould not.

Yes I would, and I have no problem with eating road kill..yes I can dress a kill (skin & gut)..I also have no problem with fishing..or trapping (rabbit, squirrels)..I would do whatever needed to stay alive..obviously I'm an omnivore..hunting for food and loving an animal(s) are separate needs..one is survival the other companionship..I wouldn't kill to consume endangered species..

I live on 12 acres beside a river for a reason. I don't hunt, but I shoot targets. But if I had to, my freezer would be filled with Deer, bear, turkey and whatever else might be good. I catch fish fresh so I wouldn't freeze them.

I have. We raised chickens. I have fished.

Yes. That said not as often, as it is very messy.

Humans have been killing for thousands of years to get their meat and I have no problem with it. Yes I’d like to get my meat.

I do ... for the most part.
I eat a lot of deer meat ... they get hit by cars and I find them beside the road, some dead, some injured and dying and I end their pain.
Chickens are a handy meal, but take a lot of preparation
Occasional rabbit from the garden ... but I prefer them as lawnmowers and they also attract stoats and weasels, who in turn eradicate the rat population
and fish ... I catch and eat quite a lot of fish
also barter some meat and fish for other food and services I need (20lb of cod fillets swapped for a butchered lamb last week)

Yes. I hunted at a young age. I never enjoyed the kill; just the walks in the woods. Quit at 20, but still eat meat. I've also worked on a farm as a young man. I could do so. It would not be enjoyable however. When I did hunt, I tried saying a Native American prayer thanking the animal. It didn't really ease my conscious. Depending on you you would ask - I was either a good hunter (Only ever took clean quick and safe shots) or a bad hunter ( didn't take too many shots and brought home few meals). I always ate what I killed and never had nor wanted a trophey. You have to remember my time and location. Just asking to go walk in the woods would elicit a weird parental response; but hunting was accepted. My brother hunted; my Dad, a war vet, never did, nor, even after 13 years in the army own a gun. Both he and my brother stressed safety.