Lars Anderson makes Legolas look like a...

[Chad32]

Oh, you have? Ok. Usually when someone brings up the idea of buying from a store instead of hunting, it's because they don't hunt.

Yes I know archery isn't the most useful skill in a first world country, but it's a nice hobby that looks cool and builds upper body strength. Physical fitness is always useful. What would you rather say? That you spend your time lifting weights, or that you spend your time riding through the glen, firing arrows into the sunset?

Wedged in a movie reference there.

[Exian]

I'm just glad everyone thought it was as cool as I did. It kind of blew my mind. I suspected it wasn't all that meets the eye, but there's something really awesome about it regardless. At the very least, we can start expecting more out of our archery choreography at the cinema. Maybe amp up some of those GoT scenes.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Oh, you have? Ok. Usually when someone brings up the idea of buying from a store instead of hunting, it's because they don't hunt.

Yes I know archery isn't the most useful skill in a first world country, but it's a nice hobby that looks cool and builds upper body strength. Physical fitness is always useful. What would you rather say? That you spend your time lifting weights, or that you spend your time riding through the glen, firing arrows into the sunset?

Wedged in a movie reference there.

Perfectly true. I don't hunt, never have. I consider it an idiotic, useless pastime. But I grew up on a farm, where I butchered (or assisted in butchering) cattle, sheep, pigs, and fowl. And to forestall you, I've heard every argument in favour of hunting, and not a single one of them is worth a damn. If you hunt, it isn't for food, or to thin the herds or to manage populations of animals, blah blah blah. It's because you like killing things, but hunters never admit that.

Sure, archery is good exercise, and the Dane in the video seems frightfully good at it, not taking anything away from him. But archery has no value as a skill, that's all.

I don't ride. I find horses terrifying.

Boru

[Chad32]

On its own, as a skill, and not just something to build upper body strength that's more interesting than bench presses, it's not. Maybe in a third world or war torn country it could be, but that may or may not be a stretch.

I'll try not to derail the thread into a pro/anti hunting discussion. Or even a pro/anti livestock discussion

We do not live in the middle ages, where invading armies fight in the shade, and it's hard to think of a job where archery would be a key point in a resume except for a live action film actor.

I will concede that point.

[Zen Badger]

Archery would still be way more fun than say....jogging.

[The Grand Nudger]

The most 'exotic' meat we've ever had round here was ostrich, back when foot and mouth was all the rage. Pretty sure it wasn't hunted though. I never even got to try it; when I went to buy some, cow was back on the menu so all the ostrich had gone.

LOL, comin up, my grandparents neighbors thought emu would replace beef (it was all the rage at state fairs) - so I used to hop the fence at night and plink the little fuckers.

And to forestall you, I've heard every argument in favour of hunting, and not a single one of them is worth a damn. If you hunt, it isn't for food, or to thin the herds or to manage populations of animals, blah blah blah. It's because you like killing things, but hunters never admit that.

I hunt for food, to thin herds and manage populations - but mostly because I like to kill things. If my only aim was to manage a population I'd poison them. Throw the right seeds at the edge and bye-bye deer problem. hrugs:
(that said, deer sinew makes for great binding....I have alot of it on my bow, I prefer it to fiberglass or dacron patches, animals are useful right down to the shit that holds them together. But...I can go to Micheals Arts and Crafts and get synthetic shit that's worlds better, objectively...I know that. Imagine that...a bunch of redneck at a scrapbooking shop, lol.)

But archery has no value as a skill, that's all.

I think that like most skills not tied to employment, it's the getting of the skill that has the most value. Something to sink time into, something to exercise a little discipline over. Accomplishment, mastery. As far as archery goes, for me, it's the very last moment of a skill which took me far longer to learn than archery itself. Maybe that's why I measure the value of a bow or of a technique by it's ability to take game, and it's usefulness in the pursuit of the same? I want one draw that will stop the animal cold, put it in shock or kill it outright (though I confess to prefering shock while going for a kill out of compassion, I suppose - it's complicated - nothing like being close when they breath their last). All of the skill in that is expressed in setting up a situation where I feel comfortable loosing the arrow. I don't want to miss and possibly lose the point. I don't want the animal to live and run (if I want it to run I give it a good chimp hollar..lol - never fails..they know what's up)- and I cant take a shot at a previously wounded animal, for whatever reason...I figure it's earned a pass. Some guys put numbers on the board, that's not really my style. I like to watch them more than anything, I take maybe 1/20th of the shots presented to me. The rest I file away in the "someday, if you live that long" category. Unless it's a hog, that's kill on sight territory, so good - and they're mean as shit - they can take a broadhead to the face from 20yards and walk it off...worthy.

I don't ride. I find horses terrifying.

If they weren't so cowardly and foolish I might hunt them too, I fucking -hate- horses. Did you know that a human being in good health can run them to death on foot? Worthless.

I grew up on a farm as well, and that built a great disgust in me for butchering and cleaning, it's the shittiest part. The only thing I can clean without the taint of revulsion is fish ( I think that anyone who can clean a mammal without just a little bit of emotional entaglement is untrustworthy). I'd probably dig a hole and bury the animal if waste didn't make me even sicker. The day I won't clean a deer after I've killed it is the day I stop hunting...and it's probably coming. That's a line that I think can't be crossed, because then it's -just- killing, it's mechanical, and probably worse. As it stands, it's too powerful to let go of. Part of who I am and who my family is and who we are (all of us). It makes me feel connected, it's a sink for my joy and my despair. We call it "deer fever" over here. I'm in the lottery for elk tags this year, and I'll probably go for bobcat as well. The first is useful, the latter is a matter of curiosity, I've never seen a damned bobcat up here- I think it's a money sink for Fish and Game, but they need the cash, so they can take mine. They spend it building and repairing habitat. That's another hobby of mine "volunteering" to "manage habitat"....I have this map...you see.....

[Chad32]

Any animal that will run itsself to death, or run off a cliff, is not going to be hitting the top IQ points. That's why they ride donkeys on hills and mountains. A donkey will actually stop at the edge of a cliff. They're not stubborn, as they're often portrayed. They just have common sense.

[Cyberman]

Archery would still be way more fun than say....jogging.

It'd be even more fun to combine the two. Make it sporting though; give the joggers thirty seconds start.

[The Grand Nudger]

Ive really been mulling this over Brian, that denial that you mentioned...I've -never- heard a hunter deny that they were in it for the kill. Maybe it's cultural/local? It's almost unfathomable to me that someone would hunt if they weren't?
(to drive this home, I think the guys archery is phenomenal, but who the fuck narrated that shit, and who made the decision to have it narrated in such a way, gotta wonder..lol, you know?)

[Exian]

f they weren't so cowardly and foolish I might hunt them too, I fucking -hate- horses. Did you know that a human being in good health can run them to death on foot? Worthless.

Is there an animal a human can't run to death? Other than being turned on and mauled, I mean. That's sort of our niche, yeah?