Dove Hunting in Argentina?

[Matt84]

Floopy while I understand where you're coming from, please know that the big doves you see around the city reproduce like crazy and don't migrate, these so called little creatures infest feedlots and grain fields they are therefore considered an agricultural pest and shooting them is encouraged, there is currently no quota, closed season or limit on the amount you can shoot making Argentina effectively the number 1 destination in the world for this 'sport' .. Mind you I personally am happy that this 'cleaning' is being performed by tourists who year after year leave thousands of millions of dollars in revenue helping us out not only economically but also ecologically.

dude you said fox, Flooppy (and I btw) might have a problem with shooting little playful feral dogs that couldn't hurt humans even if they wanted. (if they are still numerous enough to steal eggs or kill chickens, by all means put me to rights!). As for pigeons, shoot away them flying rats!

 

[Iznogud]

I only hunt mosquitoes and roaches and haven't resorted to shooting at them. Yet.
The buddhist in me takes no pleasure in killing any living creature. I do feel bad for the mosquitoes, sincerely.

While dove shooting might look cruel and barbaric to the uninformed, it is a necessity for the producers and the rest of us. They can consume 20%+ of the crops. That represents no small amount of food and income.
Them "winged rats" eat and shit all over our food and carry-spread diseases. While I abhorr the idea of killing I can understand the need for it and people who enjoy it at different degrees practicing it in a joint effort.
No doubt that some of the money that exchange hands during the season goes to partially cover the damages caused by the little creatures.

 

[sleslie23]

I think some of you are confusing doves with pigeons.

 

[Iznogud]

I'd say yes and no.
Yes, because it tells you how clueless they are before launching into their side of the argument. They do not even clearly know what they're talking about.
No, because it's the idea of violently killing apparently harmless creatures in numbers they can't stomach and therefore you shouldn't either, lest you be considered cruel and inhuman by their singular definition

 

[xtrasback]

dude you said fox

aye sir I said fox, and I'll be attaching a picture that may or may not help you understand why I do it. (foxes are not like yotes or wolfs they don't hang out in packs, they are opportunistic territorial loners that can cover 30km+ per night) they are absolutely and with no doubt the most successful predator on farms livestock (lambs, rabbits, free range poultry etc)
Look I know it may sound crazy, inhumane, extreme or plainly wrong for some but to me it is still 10 times better to dispatch them at once than to screw around with chemical/biological controls or even fumigating.
Now if you still don't agree and you still have a problem, you are always welcome to come visit my ranch and see for yourself how these little playful feral dogs 'play' with the lambs.

 

[Gringoboy]

Pigeons are a damned nuisance and not to be confused with doves.
Maybe the words got confused whilst crossing the Atlantic.

 

[snowwhitebum]

Whilst I am able to understand the need to defend the livestock on your ranch from predators, or protect your crops/grain from nuisance birds. I fail to understand why anyone (not a ranch owner) would go out of their way to seek out locations where they can shoot at defenseless animals for pleasure.

Does the ranch owner take pleasure in the fact that he kills a fox? I would have to assume no, but, that he does it as it's necessary.

OR

Does the ranch owner wake up every morning and say "I'm looking forward to getting me some killing done"?

If you have the unnecessary wanting to kill anything without good reason you have problems.

 

[snowwhitebum]

Why not try 'clay' pigeon shooting and leave the purging of pest's up to the farmer/rancher?

 

[Markgeezer]

(I shoot doves, ducks, ostriches, fox, partridges etc almost on a daily basis here in Monte and I can honestly tell you that this place is more than enough)

You don't even know what you are shooting then. Ostriches are African and there are no partridges in Argentina. Perhaps you mean rheas and tinamous or nothuras.

If you are shooting as much as you say, what are you doing with all that meat ?

Indiscrimate goose hunting in Buenos Aires province has almost brought the South American population of Ruddy-headed Goose to extinction, because people like you don't know how to identify what they are shootiing.

http://lac.wetlands.org/WHATWEDO/We...birds/Cauquéncolorado/tabid/1224/Default.aspx

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Why not try 'clay' pigeon shooting and leave the purging of pest's up to the farmer/rancher?

The answer to that would be economics. The farmer (I grew up on a farm) works on a very thin margin. To have the farmer need to pay for and support this activity to the point of control can be a serious burden. Though we bird and deer-hunted on our farm we also leased out our land to other hunters. Those hunters get access to otherwise unavailable land as a recreation and we got paid to have animal control.

Yes, I enjoy hunting. It is something that I was raised with and is a part of my culture. We eat everything we kill. Often, as was the case when I bow-hunted the suburbs of Philadelphia, we killed so many deer that we paid to have the meat processed and given to the inner city churches and soup kitchens.

With all due respect to those who cannot fathom the idea of killing an animal and /or think we should leave the poor animals alone you really don't understand that it is the fees collected from hunting licenses that support wildlife management and protection programs. You also don't understand what happens to an animal population that is left alone with few/no natural predators. The deer population in Pennsylvania and Alabama (my home states) suffers from a serious inbalance in the buck-to-doe ratio (way too many does). This causes the entire herd to be much less healthy through over-breeding and starvation than if it is managed. It also is a direct contributor to the car/deer accident rate.

I completely get that it can be impossible to understand that some people kill animals for "sport." I hope you understand that there is a lot more to it than that. People from other cultures might have the same feeling about anything that you do or eat in your life. But you do those things because it is a part of your culture.