Pest control, is it hunting?

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Pest control, is it hunting?
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Snap Cap

Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 553
Location: Outside a warren armed to the teeth.

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:02 am Post subject: Pest control, is it hunting?

Last night I was on pest control duties for a golf course. We managed a good bag of 37, I'd say 98% of them will make good eating, some where tough old bucks but ferrets arnt that fussy.

So this leads me to ask you lot if you think pest control falls under hunting or is it far more clinical? When carrying out pest control for a farmer or in this case a golf course you can't be selective. When I am hunting for the pot I will not take a milky doe or kitts and will also avoid decimating a whole warren. With pest control you do not have that luxury the landowner will want maximum results.

I have my opinion on if pest control is hunting.

Would like to know yours.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:12 am Post subject:

Pest control isn't hunting. Its a job that needs to be well done.
You may use some of the same techniques to achieve your goals but there is a totally different ethos attached to it.
When I had my pest control business I never totally put my moral standards to one side but at the end of the day it was results that counted and also at the end of each and every day I had to feed and support my family with the proceeds.

There are things that I did as a pest controller that I wouldn't consider doing today as a hunter.

Last edited by Bodger on Sun Aug 20, 06 8:44 am; edited 1 time in total

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:29 am Post subject:

I would say that hunting needs to be ultra selective, choosing your animal with the aim of sustaining a viable population (for example not taking out the best buck or the pregnant females) as well as being a valid balance of 'meals gained per life taken' (eg many small birds can be eaten, few of us would consider it because it makes no sense to kill something for one mouthful of food, so most hunters I believe will choose a good sized animal which will feed them longer)
Pest control is often about eradicating the breeding population of the pest species, so a totally different approach.

Pilsbury

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5645
Location: East london/Essex

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:29 am Post subject:
I agree , pest control is a job, hunting is more of a hobby / sport if i can call it that. as you say Bodger, with pest control it is about removing as many of the animals that are causing the damage/ problems where as hunting is about skill and technique.

Snap Cap

Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 553
Location: Outside a warren armed to the teeth.

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:33 am Post subject:

Pilsbury wrote:

I agree , pest control is a job, hunting is more of a hobby / sport if i can call it that.
as you say Bodger, with pest control it is about removing as many of the animals that are causing the damage/ problems where as hunting is about skill and technique.

You still need to be competent in a certain leval of fieldcraft to be able to carry out pest control on rabbits etc. obviously this does not include wasps, mice insect invasion etc.

Interesting stuff.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:36 am Post subject:
If your quarry is a pest then the line between hunting and pest control is a blurry one. Dunno whether the lines between the two need to be so very well defined, do they?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:38 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

If your quarry is a pest then the line between hunting and pest control is a blurry one. Dunno whether the lines between the two need to be so very well defined, do they?

I'd agree

Snap Cap

Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 553
Location: Outside a warren armed to the teeth.

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:46 am Post subject:

Ok but pest control would include the taking of milky doe, kitts, young, and old. Basically its indiscriminate, where as hunting you dont want to wipe out your food supply in one hit so as sally says you need to be selective, I tend to go after 3-4 month old pot sized bunnies. So the lines are pretty well defined.

You could ask, should a hunter who has respect for his quarry also carry out pest control when the job basically goes against the principles of hunting?

think I worded that ok!

Last edited by Snap Cap on Sun Aug 20, 06 8:50 am; edited 2 times in total

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:49 am Post subject:
In which case yes it is more clinical, but then that's the nature of the job, isn't it?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:50 am Post subject:

Snap Cap wrote:

I guess so, but such a large proportion of rabbits that are taken and eaten are killed 'cos they're pests. That does soften the edges between the two. Obviously, where an animal is not considered a pest, where ia prime consideration is not keeping numbers down, things are different.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:56 am Post subject:

I can see where the two of you are coming from but there is a difference.
As a pest controller if the person who was paying me had a problem with rabbits or pigeons, he employed me in the hope that I'd virtually kill the lot.Therefore the techniques that I used were designed to do just that.
Now as a hunter , I'm hunting for the pot and enjoyment so I can be far more choosey about which individual I kill and how I kill them.
I have rabbits on my propoerty and I wouldn't dream of killing baby rabbits for instance but when I was doing it professionaly my choice was do it, or become unemployed.
Theres quite a big difference.
If you find 20 catterpillars on a cabbage leaf you get rid of the lot. Thats pest control. If you are quite partial to caterpillar soup you take ten off and leave the ten to breed. Thats hunting

Taking this a step further, you eat the sickly weak specimens and leave the big ones so that the standard of the general population is maintained and possibly improved. I could kill a caterpillar on toast !

Last edited by Bodger on Sun Aug 20, 06 9:42 am; edited 1 time in total

Snap Cap

Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 553
Location: Outside a warren armed to the teeth.

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 8:59 am Post subject:

bodger wrote:

IIf you find 20 catterpillars on a cabbage leaf you get rid of the lot. Thats pest control. If you are quite partial to caterpillar soup you take ten off and leave the ten to breed. Thats hunting

No thats called gardening

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 9:58 am Post subject:

bodger wrote:

I could kill a caterpillar on toast !

I'd definitely kill any caterpillar found on my toast!!

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 10:20 am Post subject:
Halitosis ?

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 06 3:56 pm Post subject:

I'd agree that there are differences between pest control and hunting, in purpose, outcome and methods. Also depends on the scale of the problem, and the physical area involved.

As a fruit and veg grower, I originally took up shooting for pest control one year there were loadsarabbits, and they were getting cheeky and entering the growing area (which in years of normal or sparse rabbit population, they don't, seeing as it's rabbit-netted all round which seems to deter them). However, I also intended them for the pot.

Far greater loss of fruit crops is caused by birds, but these are small ones, and I have no wish to kill or eat them, therefore either I net / cage my fruit to protect it, or accept some losses. If it were woodies involved, I would shoot them (to eat). Caterpillars on veg get squished.

However, I also hunt both rabbits and pheasants for the pot. Neither of these are about to damage my crops, so I would only take non-breeding ones, or out of breeding season.

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