J.M.Spencer@newcastle.ac.uk (J.M. Spencer) (11/19/90)
In article <1990Nov17.002351.25330@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (ArchTeryx) writes: >Just my two cents on falconry... > >I consider, for small-to-medium sized game, falconry to be far, far more >"sporting" than hunting with a shotgun. If you point a shotgun at something, >and shoot it, that thing is either instantly dead or instantly mortally >wounded. Or instantly missed (which is more common than you might thingk :o) [...]>And, if hawk makes its kill, >it will be quick and merciful...far more so than the death of a mortally >wounded goose lost in the field, or, worse, the duck that dies from >respitory paralysis after eating the "waste" of the shotgun (i.e. lead >poisoning). And, you get the satisfaction of taking care of the bird, >as well. Your post suggests that you consider hawks are somehow "better" than shotgunners because the quarry is never wounded and left to a slow death. Well, firstly falcons can and do sometimes mortally wound quarry without killing it cleanly. Ever seen a grouse after a peregrine has knocked it down but failed to kill it? Pretty serious wounds. Although many a *falcon* will cleanly despatch its quarry with a single bite to the neck, the same is not the case with hawks. True hawks kill by inflicting multiple stab wounds (with their claws) into the vital organs in the chest. This is neither quick nor merciful. But then such concepts are a human value - the hawk just needs to eat. I have seen wild sparrowhawks tearing lumps of blackbirds, and goshawks pluming woodpigeons and rabbits while the prey was very much alive. It makes no difference to the hawk whether the prey is dead or alive, just so long as it can be eaten: it gets killed because the more it struggles the more the hawk grips it. When it stops struggling, the hawk feeds. The same is true of ospreys. It feeds not because the quarry is dead but because it can be eaten. Death is *almost* a side effect - the hawks intention is to feed, not to kill. The hawk kills the quarry because (generally) it has to in order to eat the quarry, not because it's somehow "nicer" to kill something before eating it. I am both a flaconer and I shoot. I don't see how you can make any comparison. --- Jonathan ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sender : Jonathan M Spencer Mail : Computing Lab, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK Phone : +91 222 8229 ARPA : J.M.Spencer%newcastle.ac.uk@cs.ucl.ac.uk JANET : J.M.Spencer@uk.ac.newcastle UUCP : !ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!J.M.Spencer