Cap'n, I've said elsewhere that I have no problem with anyone who holds an appropriate and registered firearm for pest control (and I include pigeons and rabbits, inter alia, as pests). I live in a pretty rural area, and I'm aware that it's a necessity. I don't agree that ducks are pests, nor deer, although they may well be in the eyes of others, and I may have to accede to the views of those with greater knowledge of their behaviour.

I don't especially disapprove of hunting for food if that's the only method available to obtain meat. What I do disagree with, vehemently, is the kind of 'trophy' hunting that goes on, where the **brave hunter"" (spit!) poses for photographs, grinning like a loon, over the corpse of a beautiful animal he's just shot from long range and in complete safety. This is NOT hunting. It's simply slaughter carried out in order to satisfy a primitive urge and, IMNSHO, to get over being deficient in the wedding-tackle department.