[Destroyer]

I had kinda hoped this thread would die a quiet death, but now that I see it hasn't I feel compelled to add a few lines in my own defense.

First, you have to know a few things about me. I am, as I've stated a few times in other threads, a Vietnam combat vet.. as such I've seen more than my share of pain, suffering and death. It truly changed me when I came back. So much so that I find it extremely hard to kill almost any living thing..much to the anger of my wife when there's a bug in the house... (I guess I'd make a great Buddhist.) I make an exception for fish, but just barely... I'll catch as many fish as I'm going to eat, and then I have barbless hook rigs that I use to continue fishing... but I release those fish... knowing full well that a lot of them will die even after I've released them. (According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, as many as 43 percent of fish released after being caught died within six days). So I'm faced with a quandry.. do I give up a sport that I love, or do I continue to fish, knowing full well that I'm going to injure and needlessly kill fish I'm not going to eat? It's a problem I struggle with every time I go fishing... and one I'll have to live with for the rest of my life.. it really is traumatic for me.

anyways...

My point is I don't kill or needlessly injure ANY living thing. I am however, all about sport and also about the need to protect my family and my property... So I fish, I golf, and I like to shoot my guns, bows and yes, slingshots also. On that note, there are times when I have to shoot at racoons and possums that are in my garbage cans, and deer that are chewing on my new $500 shrubs... A well placed shot in the *** or even near them will usually scare them off. But like all things aimed, there is always the occasional missed or errant shot. I've killed a possium and a groundhog that way... and it bothers me to this day.

I do not kill or injure without cause. It hurts when I'm accused of such things without someone knowing the facts. Nowhere in my posts did I ever advocate hurting any animal. And before you judge me I would ask each of you to consider for a moment the pain and suffering that each of you cause to other animals just to stay alive.. Fish that suffocate to death, pigs and cows that are herded into a chute and then shocked to death, chickens that are penned up all their lives, then have their heads lobbed off...etc, etc, etc... noone is without sin here..noone is guiltless.

Reel, I have to echo Stinks comments..I also hate it that you feel that way. It saddens me greatly. I consider myself very ethical, perhaps even super sensetive when it comes to living things. I've never deliberatly killed anything I didn't eat or in defense of my life or my familys, and I never deliberatly injure any living thing just for sport.