Out of Curiosity

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Location
Northern California
# of dives
50 - 99
I'm relatively new to diving and have never done any underwater hunting of any form, nor have I ever talked to someone who has and I was just curious as to what the draw is? Do you eat everything that you catch? I love eating sea food but couldn't imagine catching it myself (I know this is a weird disconnect). I've never hunted on land other than just fishing with a pole. It seems strange for me to see a beautiful fish swimming and then shooting it. I understand that I'm essentially a hypocrite (eating seafood but not necessarily being pro-hunting) but that is just how I feel. Anyway, without any judgment on you guys or your hobby, what do you enjoy about underwater hunting?
 
Understand the dilemma. I used to hunt up until the mid 1970's but it was strictly for food. I stopped hunting (underwater and topside) and taking back then, but not out of any moral or ethical objections to it. I still eat what my friends and dive buddies take and have nothing against those who spearfish as long as they follow the regulations and are not too blood thirsty (I've seen a number of those, usually newbies at it, who literally cry out "I'm going to kill something today."
 
...Do you eat everything that you catch? ....

YES, and I would guess that most spearo's do or share it with family. You will also find that the diver who is has an u/w activity plan (being a DM/Instructor, a Photog, a hunter,etc) is also a more frequent diver who has logged many more dives than a vacation/tourist diver. Nothing wrong with that, they are just more focused on their task.

As for "Why Hunt?" it's no different than why go rock climbing(etc). For me the enjoyment of hunting is not killing stuff. I probably pass up 75% of shootable fish on each dive, and just like a photog shooting a grunt, it's not what I'm looking for. I enjoy finding a certain 5 fish and target them. Every spearo is extremely selective.

I don't buy fish at the store or restaurant. Once you have tasted fresh fish & lobster, hours not days old, right out of the ocean, you will never buy it again. You just haven't tasted it yet so you don't have a comparision, and that's understandable.

In the end, it's something you have not experienced so it's not possible to embellish that enjoyment to you. Only way to do that would be for you to try it.
 
Store-bought fish?
Drawbacks include species mis-identification,possible contamination from handling,several possible contaminations from farm raised fish(hormones and other toxins)possible environmental concerns about species depletion due to over-fishing and bycatch issues.Even the possible habitat destruction due to trawling or lost gear.

Big moral choice here.

Am I going to choose to harvest and eat what I chose within my ethics and the regulations?Or am I willing to trust a whole chain of other individuals and corporations to done so.I cannot morally justify eating seafood unless I know it's entire catch history and the ramifications of it's harvest.
 
I just started spear-fishing and absolutely love it. My BF, lil sis, and I went on a spearfishing trip recently with some friends. I caught a 22lb Black Grouper, 20lb Yellowtail Grouper, and a hogfish. BF and sis gathered 5 lobsters.

Upon returning home, bf and I prepared a meal for lil sis, my mom, and my son. It was absolutely delicious. And the feeling knowing I put that food there was awesome. :yeahbaby: Not to mention going to the store and seeing the price per lb on fish. Felt like I saved money somehow.

So I guess you could call me blood thirsty but only for what I am going to eat or share with my family. There is no way I am going to shoot something for that sake of shooting :no
 
For me this is a simple and easy question. Hunting in general has been done for thousands of years. Seems as society moves further away from a very natural way of feeding ones self there is this feeling of moral dilemma and wrong doing to the wild life and sea life. So, go kill something to eat. If not then shoot it with a camera you'll get the same basic feeling of being a predator just without killing something. Also think about this, I only shoot what I eat (limited predator) but with a camera I can shoot a whole lot more ( unlimited predator). And with a camera mounted to the speargun we're talking double unlimited predator. Just a thought.
 
For me this is a simple and easy question. Hunting in general has been done for thousands of years. Seems as society moves further away from a very natural way of feeding ones self there is this feeling of moral dilemma and wrong doing to the wild life and sea life. So, go kill something to eat. If not then shoot it with a camera you'll get the same basic feeling of being a predator just without killing something. Also think about this, I only shoot what I eat (limited predator) but with a camera I can shoot a whole lot more ( unlimited predator). And with a camera mounted to the speargun we're talking double unlimited predator. Just a thought.

Have to agree with much of the thoughts here. As society becomes more urbanized and less connected to the natural world and its sources of food, etc., the more people seem to object to killing for food. For almost my entire life I have avoided the abstraction of living in big cities, and stay close to the natural world.

One reason I chose to do so as far back as the 1960's was I realized how dependent people in cities were and how much trouble they would be in should nuclear war or other disaster take place that affected the food supply lines. Here on Catalina I could return to fishing, or hunt the wild pig, deer or even the bison that live on the island. I know I could survive even if our barges from the mainland stopped running. I'm no survivalist, but I think it is important for one's security to know how to obtain food should some catastrophe affect normal supply lines.

Back in the early 1970's we had all my students learn how to obtain their own food. We captured wild pigs, fed them with our kitchen slops, and then butchered them. Others went out to fish for rock cod and sanddabs. Those who couldn't stomach either activity grew vegetables in the school's organic garden. I think it was a valuable lesson for our students, many of whom came from big cities,

There are relatively few animal species that don't rely on others for food. We do, too, whether someone kills it for us in a slaughterhouse (ugh) and packages it in plastic wrap at the supermarket, or we do it ourselves.

Now where's that big, juicy slab of meat? Oh, I forgot, I'm having burritos tonight. Killed them myself!
 
Have to agree with much of the thoughts here. As society becomes more urbanized and less connected to the natural world and its sources of food, etc., the more people seem to object to killing for food. For almost my entire life I have avoided the abstraction of living in big cities, and stay close to the natural world.

One reason I chose to do so as far back as the 1960's was I realized how dependent people in cities were and how much trouble they would be in should nuclear war or other disaster take place that affected the food supply lines. Here on Catalina I could return to fishing, or hunt the wild pig, deer or even the bison that live on the island. I know I could survive even if our barges from the mainland stopped running. I'm no survivalist, but I think it is important for one's security to know how to obtain food should some catastrophe affect normal supply lines.

Back in the early 1970's we had all my students learn how to obtain their own food. We captured wild pigs, fed them with our kitchen slops, and then butchered them. Others went out to fish for rock cod and sanddabs. Those who couldn't stomach either activity grew vegetables in the school's organic garden. I think it was a valuable lesson for our students, many of whom came from big cities,

There are relatively few animal species that don't rely on others for food. We do, too, whether someone kills it for us in a slaughterhouse (ugh) and packages it in plastic wrap at the supermarket, or we do it ourselves.

Now where's that big, juicy slab of meat? Oh, I forgot, I'm having burritos tonight. Killed them myself!

Excellent summary, kudos. Too many people think that meat comes wrapped in cellophane & you dig potatoes out of gravy.

It's kind of funny for me. I live in a high tech world. My living depends on it, I'm a professional software developer who write object oriented applications for Windows. I have nothing against hi-tech. But I find great value in my time spent in the woods, or on/under the water. On land, or in the sea, I hunt.
 
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