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Is hunting a sport?


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22 hours ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

If they knew theyd forfeit immediately, or demand better equipment

I invision deer walking around with military style head gear to "improve their site". I can see the marketing now. Fool those stupid humans with "DEER VISION"*

*not guaranteed or proven to improve vision.

Detect fake pee with the FAKE PEE SNIFFER! Never let another hunter fool your little head into thinking there's a hot piece of doe ass near by

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16 hours ago, Black Bellamy said:

Again, what a silly debate.

The word "sport" has two meanings.  Everyone is familiar with the modern usage.  But for hundreds and hundreds of years, "sport" meant "a leisure activity, pastime, entertainment" and those who engaged in such were called "sportsmen".  

So hunting is definitely, absolutely, 100% a sport...if you use the old definition.

If you use the new one, hunting is not a sport.

So apples and oranges.  The entire article over at http://sportingclassicsdaily.com/ is annoying, because the guy spends half the article explaining the modern definition of sport, then spends the other half of the article trying to convince us that hunting doesn't fit his definition.   All it does is showcase his ignorance of the etymology of the word.

There's tons of words that used to mean something completely different.  If 500 years ago I wrote "God is awful" I would be praised for my wisdom because back then "awful" meant "awe-full" or "deserving of awe" or simply "awesome".    Today "awful" means something completely different, just like "sport" and a million of other words.

I don't see anyone losing their sh!t. It's March in NY. It's an interesting discussion.

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On 2/28/2017 at 6:40 PM, Curmudgeon said:

So, if hunting is a sport, when did it happen?

I, or should I say we, were preceded by 1000 generations of hunters. None of my ancestors considered it a sport.

Like I said earlier, I think there are different meanings behind the word "sport."   

From Merrriam Webster:

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physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) :  a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in

and

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a source of diversion :  recreation

and for sportsman, which is normally attributed to hunters and anglers:

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a person considered with respect to living up to the ideals of sportsmanship, a goodsport a poor sport

I don't consider hunting to be a sport in the same sense that football and soccer are.  But the activity of hunting, as it is conducted in modern times, certainly meets the definition of a sport in the broad sense.  And lawful and ethical hunters certainly meet the definition of sportsmen.

Our ancestors didn't hunt for sport, they hunted for survival, except for the nobility of course.  Nowadays, hardly anyone hunts because they need the food; most people who hunt do so because they want to challenge themselves by searching for and killing an animal in the wild (some food or fur is a nice bonus)...it's a conscious choice to engage in this recreational activity, the key words being "choice"  and "recreational" as hunters of years past usually didn't have those luxuries; if they didn't hunt they would starve.

I don't think people should shy away from that definition either.  The inherent recreational aspect to hunting doesn't deprive it of moral or scientific credibility.

 

 

Edited by Padre86
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So I guess the dog tracks did not have sporting events because they use to chase a live rabbit.

What about the Fox Hunts (horse, rider, and pack of hounds) that were primarily for pleasure for the upper class/nobility.

I guess the ultra-animal-rights people would declare horse-racing is not a sport - we nail shoes to their feet and use a riding crop or whip to make them run faster.  Make horses jump over barriers they could get hung up on and break or sprain a leg, etc.

Of course those same people would have starved 100 years ago or more because we would not have been allowed to hitch a horse, mule, or oxen to plow/harvest a field and bring in the food to town on wagon.

But I digress...

Guess depends on whether you hunt and fish just for fun or for food if it is a sport.

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16 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

"Old Michigan steams like a young mans dreams; the islands and bays are for sportsman". -Gordon Lightfoot


End of discussion.

Gordon Lightfoot - I never knew you were a hippie commie pinko TCIII.  Good for you. 

 

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I personally can't say I consider hunting a sport.  I consider it an "activity".  Now skeet shooting or sporting clays which I really don't know much about, there is a score system. In hunting I can't really say the same. That being said there are a few sports I really don't consider a sport either.  Car racing, fishing and fox hunting on horseback come to mind.  To me a sport has to have athletic ability and some kind of a scoring system. 

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13 hours ago, nybuckboy said:

I personally can't say I consider hunting a sport.  I consider it an "activity".  Now skeet shooting or sporting clays which I really don't know much about, there is a score system. In hunting I can't really say the same. That being said there are a few sports I really don't consider a sport either.  Car racing, fishing and fox hunting on horseback come to mind.  To me a sport has to have athletic ability and some kind of a scoring system. 

to me that's the point in all this. it's also about how the person is engages in it. For me, skeet is an activity because I'm casual in it. others may compete for medals. Golf is also an activity for me because of how infrequent I play. 

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I have quite a few good friends in Canada..I love the working class Canadian people , as opposed to the snooty liberals in Toronto and Ottawa...  I'll bet Stompin' Tom  would have been a HOOT to hang around with..

When I make my annual  spring gobbler trip to Prince Edward County I like to stop into the Royal Canadian Legion posts in Wellington and Picton and visit with the locals, especially the few remaining WWII vets...

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