Nov 25 2006
Editor, The News:
Re: Big gun, small brain? (Letters, Nov. 8).
Mike Rogozinski from Port Coquitlam seems to forget than man has been a hunter and gatherer since the beginning of time.
Until recently, most meat was obtained through hunting. Now we have factory farms, so people don't see or know what goes on in the life of a food animal.
Mr. Rogozinski, if you eat meat, do some internet searches on slaughterhouses. You'll either become a vegan or will want to give your next steak a sporting chance.
One last point, if you haven't explained dead animals to your kid yet, stop on the side of the road and show him or her some road-kill. There's a lot more of that around than from hunting.
Dave Andersen
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Nov 29 2006
Editor, The News:
Re: Hunters first environmentalists (Letters, Nov. 11) and Big gun, small brain ( Letters, Nov. 8).
I am writing regarding two recent letters complaining of waterfowl hunting on the dikes.
One of the letters was written in a civil manner and the other less. One questioned the safety of the public and the other was ranting based on, perhaps, hysteria and misinformation.
I say this: hunting is one of the safest sports out there. One can check both with provincial studies with statistics and insurance companies risk analysis. Hunting is so safe that insurance companies consider risk negligible.
These same people are way more likely to be injured running on the dike.
One letter (Big gun, small brain) is so misinformed, the writer thinks shot guns have bullets. Shot guns do not have bullets, nor do the shots carry great distances. This is taken into consideration by municipal and provincial regulations.
As for noise, propane cannons make far more of the same type of noise and this seems to hurt no one.
Hunting is limited to a small amount of the vast dike systems in Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Port Coquitlam.
There are many miles for those who have bought into the anti-gun and anti-hunting hysteria to use. The few dikes available to hunting are plainly signed as shared use. Why do these people even venture there unless they have hidden agenda regarding hunting and guns?
Hunting is only open for some of the fall and winter in the season of inclement weather conditions. Why can the hysterical types not avoid the hunters for this time by using the majority of the rest of the dikes? Why do they insist on the whole thing changing to suit their narrow views?
Many of these people would do well to involve themselves and their children in hunting and fishing to truly learn to enjoy and respect nature and balance.
If the writer of Big gun, small brain is so smart, why does he use the few dikes available for shared use instead of the others?
Ken West
Pitt Meadows
Kids, guns don't mix
Editor, The News:
Re: Hunters first environmentalists (Letters, Nov. 11) and (Big gun, small brain" Letters, Nov. 8)?
Did Gregg Rogers even read the letter by Mike Rogozinsky? He was being sarcastic about hunters who are stupid enough to be shooting in a public place.
I'm not proud of the fact that I used to hunt. But at least I was never dumb enough to do it around families and children. Mr. Rogers suggested people should take their kids to a shooting range. Is he an actual parent? If he is, he shouldn't be. Kids and guns don't mix.
G. Hilt
Coquitlam