Is it okay to hunt?

Don't hunt people. Otherwise, have fun, stay safe, don't be cruel to animals, and use what you shoot.

Agree with Jespah.

I do have a problem with some of the hunting TV shows with special note of them showing you a beautiful wild turkey for example an having the hunters commenting also on how fine this bird is just before killing it with a damn rifle.

What skill or ability does such an act demonstrate?

Kind of on the same moral plane as shooting wolves from a damn helicopter.

It really depends on what you're planning to hunt.
If you're going whale hunting, or on a big game safari in Africa, that's totally different to going out and culling feral pigs.

I think killing for fun is wrong.

I'm completely against the people that shoot just for the trophy, I'm even more against the people who shoot certain game like bears, wolves, lions, etc. I will always have a high level of respect when it comes down to taking the life of an animal, I'm not going to be hunting to hang it up on my wall, but to eat it and not waste anything. I'm preferable to the idea of hunting the species of invasive boar, but I would also like to hunt deer, anything beyond that is a no go.

Good luck with boar hunting! They haven't reached my area yet but I hear they're on the way.

There are places in the Northeast (USA) where whitetail deer populations are way heavier than is healthy for the deer herd and for the ecosystem in general. Besides spreading Lyme disease and causing auto accidents, they also have a deleterious effect on the forest, stripping the forest floor of undergrowth needed by ground-nesting birds and consuming the saplings of regenerating trees. A local cedar swamp has been devastated by browsing deer, not a new cedar in sight. The only natural* predator left in the woods is the eastern coyote which faces heavy pressure from varmint hunters and trappers and only has a small effect on the size of the herd. Hunting by humans is pretty much the only check on the deer population — the sub-urbanized landscape is basically a smorgasbord for the well-fed animals. I'll be out in the woods this November.

*The eastern coyote is an invasive species which has spread into the region, a hybrid of the western coyote and the timber wolf. It fills the place at the top of the food chain formerly occupied by the timber wolf and mountain lion which have been extirpated in the region.

Most Americans buy dead animals at a supermarket. At this point they have been skinned, cleaned and cut into convenient chunks. I can pick up a shrink wrapped piece of meat without any clue that this was once a living, breathing animal.

I think hunting is more ethical. If you are going to eat abimals, you should be willing to look them in the eye while they die.

It depends is my viewpoint.

Endangered animals of any kind - no it is not ok to hunt.

I am guessing though you are going to hunt for an animal that is legal - during a legal hunting season. If so, I am not against it.

Personally it would be difficult for me to hunt an animal. I know I do eat meat, but I would find it hard to shoot a beautiful living animal (I mean I stop for squirrels and chipmunks in the road).

I can understand it though especially if you use the meat (either yourself or give it someone) - otherwise I find it wasteful and wrong. There are good reasons for hunting besides food - someone else mentioned about overpopulation and provided the details of why overpopulation is bad for the environment.

Unfortunately with our human intervention - some populations of animals have thrived and others have not resulting in almost the need the need for hunting - with less predators some species are so overpopulated that they hurt our environment. As long as it is done in such a way that is safe, helps the environment and sustains people through food, I see nothing wrong with it.

Game hunting for the meat is entirely a good population control mean of spices whove "gotten out of hnd"> We live in an area where wild turkeys have reclaimed their once unlimited range.Tom Turkeys can be mean specially when mating seasons occur. Kids who play in the woods have been rlly mauled by these things.

Certain species re really delicious meat products.
Im all in favor of deer hunting for met supply. I happen to hate the taste n txture of deer meat, but Ill allow bow hunters on my farm to et up deer blinds and tree blinds in my woods and field margins. As the man said, deer hve, in many areas, totally killed the forest understory and thus leaving the terminal species as cherry trees or third growth pawlonia trees. (Forest weeds). My wooded areas have been nicely restored to balance by the addition of hunting in the fll bow season. LAst year the hunters harvested 13 deer and thats the 3rd year (5th year after my neat little Bombay cat was shotgunned by a bunch of heartless small game hunters).

I am really against trophy hunting where the imposition of artificial selection pressure is driving spcies to xtinction just because the populational variety is being wiped out by hunters seeking the primo spcimen.

it frankly depends on what you are trying to hunt but be careful though

If you need a trophy go buy yourself one of those plastic ones at the dollar store...