We live in a country with a government that claims to be tough on terror. Laws are being toughened up, our border protection set to DEFCON 4, and debate rages over whether government should have access to our META Data (if only we could find a politician to explain what it is).
Millions maybe Billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on surveillance based on concerns of the next Man Monis strolling in somewhere with a shotgun and seeking to strike fear into the hearts of our nation.
Whether or not this spend is justified, and how many of our freedoms we are willing to give up to protect those freedoms is a debate that will no doubt rage for years to come.
However are we really safer for any of it?
Is our security level really beefed up to a level we should be comfortable with?
Wixxyleaks has heard disturbing reports of groups of armed men wearing camouflage gear and balaclavas that were spotted over the long weekend in alarmingly close proximity to families enjoying a long weekend away.
Public Threat – Terrorist with a gun
These men, who could not be named due to the fact that they were intentionally hiding their identity were armed with shotguns and were carrying hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Despite the threat of heavily armed men with balaclava’s I don’t believe that any arrests were made, nor do I believe that any change was made to the countries terror threat level.
How can a country that claims to be tough on terror allow this?
Well, in Victoria apparently heavily armed groups of men in balaclava’s roaming the countryside doesn’t ring any alarm bells.
An all too familiar pose from men in camo gear and balaclavas
You see it’s the last weekend duck-hunting season in Victoria. What that means is that less than a week after a shooting occurred in a road rage incident, the states motorways are packed with vehicles loaded up with men and women and their firearms all of whom are desperate to shoot something. If you think that sounds like a scene from the new Mad Max flick, then your probably not too far from the mark.
Those of us who come from a civilized society, like say NSW or QLD must breath a little easier knowing that if heavily armed men disguising their identity would usually bring about a response from a SWAT team.
However in Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania, public safety and terror threats must be things of little concern. I guess these states fall into the “soft on terror” category.
Apparently No Threat – A Victorian hunter that doesn’t want you to take your kids to feed the ducks
Whether or not you think duck hunting is a sport is completely irrelevant, although I tend to think sport involves a team or individual of equal standing to compete against, not a defenseless bird versus a heavily armed bloke with binoculars.
I believe hunting is a skill rather than a sport, not unlike playing PlayStation or X Box. This will continue to be my view until someone finds a way of arming the ducks so they can shoot back.
In the meantime, maybe its about time we used the common sense approach and took the heavy weapons off our roads and out of the hands of all who don’t have a real need for them. There are other ways to practice a skill without having to arm yourself to the teeth.
After all, Man Monis didn’t stroll into the Lindt café carrying ax X Box control pad.
How serious are we really about terror?
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I think duck hunting might be a sport when we let the ducks carry guns, horse races might be sport when the horses get to ride the morons in boots, greyhound racing when the dogs get to chase the stupid humans on poles and so on.
I also think zoos will be fun when the animals can cage the humans for other animals to look at, point at and throw peanuts at from the gallery.
It can’t be a sport when one side doesn’t have a ‘sporting chance’.
It is beyond crazy, beyond intelligence and beyond belief that grown (Victorian) men would don camouflage gear and balaclavas and go and shoot at defenceless, harmless ducks. It makes me ashamed to be a man. And at the risk of sounding sexist, I cannot imagine that women would ever engage in such moronic stupidity. This kind of abhorrent behaviour seems to be a peculiarly male thing. I agree with Marilyn that it would be great if, just for once, the roles were reversed, and animals could give humans a taste of their own brutish medicine. I can just envisage the howls of protest that would result.
I really don’t have a problem with hunting for food, but calling it sport is moronic.
WTF? this is a BS distraction from the real issues, duck hunting might not be a sport in the sense of a played game, but it can still provide communion with nature albeit via eating some of its sentient beings, at least they are ‘free range’ and probably had a better life than most animals consumed by non vegetarians paying out on hunters, the targeted species of ducks are not threatened and if you had to list threats to waterfowl water demands of urban populations and agriculture (to feed urban populations) would rate higher, at least duck hunting gives these hunters a vested interest in wetland habitats – something most non hunters would seldom get excited about – I’m more worried about the government (with fascists tendencies) and its guns – get back on topic!!
You are a tosser buddy, duck hunting is in many countries of the world as well as still going on in your civilized NSW rice fields so wake up to yourself you latte sipping Quack.
I don’t drink latte…
So monkey see monkey do is your approach eh? Should we also have Sharia Law? It’s also in many countries
Shooting a duck won’t add inches to your manhood ya know, find another way to deal with your shortcomings
The author of this article does not think duck hunting is a sport because you don’t have a team? What? What about when you have two or more hunters sharing the same blind (hide) is that is a team? What about boxing, that is not a sport because it’s mono a mono (one on one) come on now, really? The author has no understanding about hunting or he would know that shooting birds flying in the air is an art and is something that takes years to get good at. This is not to mention blending in with your surroundings and proper decoy placement in order to lure your quary into effective killing range. He wants to arm the ducks so they have more of a chance? This author does not live in the real world, he lives in fantasy land.
There are plenty of “latte sipping Quackers” who take a deep and abiding interest in wetlands, nature reserves, conservation and preservation of what remains of our national heritage – no matter where it takes place, fat, burly hunters armed to the teeth with telescopic lensed rifles, etc., to kill small birds reeks of a barbarity which can only be seen as a hangeover from a distant, more brutal (and short-lived) time.
Duck hunting is a sustainable renewable resource, regardless how you feel about it. The only danger to waterfowl numbers is habitat destruction. So thankfully duck hunters have been buying up and saving wetlands from destruction since 1958. Oh by the way duck hunting still happens in ALL states except QLD and Canberra. It’s time they got with the times I think. With 26 000 licensed hunters and climbing it’s clear duck hunting is gaining in popularity. People are liking the fact they can source their own free range game and take it home to their families to eat.
I did not say exclusively sports are teams, but hey don’t hold back on putting words in my mouth.
What I said was “team or individual of equal standing to compete against”
If you do not understand what an individual means, can I suggest a dictionary? I know dictionary is a big word like individual but someone may be able to help you out.
Clearly with your level of education I can see why you think pointing a gun at a helpless bird is somehow some sort of art form.
Can I suggest if you truly want to blend in with your surroundings, just stand amongst a group of dickheads.
If you want sport and a fair fight, go to Syria and fight ISIS militia.
“Luring ducks into killing range…” what a gutless past-time for tools who got picked on as kids
I’d rather live in fantasyland than the fuckwit zone.
Pete,
the way your arm swinging mate I’d almost think you’ve got some latent manhood issues going on – if you want to find animal cruelty or environmental sustainability issues to blow your Wixxy leaks on there are no shortage of more significant places to look… but for you duck hunting fuels all your righteous indignation and moral superiority complex so away you go…. blowing your load… Tell me mate are you a vegan? If not I’d like a summary of the life your animal protein makes on the way to your plate…?
Like anything duck hunting can have a bunch of paths and adherents – some are dickheads some are not – no one has a monopoly on dickheads including plenty mixed in with the latte sipping, culture waring urbanites like yourself. Duck hunting dickheads in my book are ones that can’t identify one species from another, blaze away instead of placing leading shots and are there to fill their freezer regardless of need… other end of the spectrum are Traditional Owners – Indigenous mob who generally only shoot a feed of ducks when they happen to be camped on the bank of the swamp I’d love to see you spin you views on nasty cruel hunting to some of them mob.. I like to think I’m somewhere in the middle I never think of duck hunting until I’m camped in the bush – then the prospect of cooking a fat black duck on a stick over the coals and chewing its gizards – fits in with the situation, *(or cooking them in sweet port wine then sucking off the bones), – its nothing about manhood, its more about humanhood – my ol man introduced me to doing that when I was a kid – and I don’t feel disadvantaged by that experience but privileged – he also taught me that without wetlands there would be no ducks, or barra, or mud crabs – things that are pretty totemic even for a whitefella – I’ve been working professionally as a conservation biologist for 30 years and specialise in wetland and catchment management and a lot of my passion goes back to my hunting/fishing origins and the communion with nature it introduced me too – if you look at the origins of the modern conservation movement there are a lot of hunters associated with it – e.g. Henry David Thoreau read his book ‘On Walden Pond’?? I know ducks are sentient beings – I’ve raised a couple of species of them (Blackies and Whistlers) and had very close relationships with them – they imprinted on us and used to follow us everywhere but eventually left to breed with wild flocks – but I’m comfortable being a predator and if I want to eat a duck when I’m bush I will – but respecting it as a being I try and make the kill a clean and quick as possible – maybe I should use a boomerang to be more ‘sporting’ – having seen what a hardwood boomerang does to a flock of fruit bats I don’t know if ducks would think not using guns is ‘more sporting’ – just know that there is more diversity and depth to hunters and what they do than the righteous yarn your spinning
I’ve written many pieces on animal cruelty Jim, this is however the first I think on the apparently noble art of blowing a bird out of the sky with what amounts to a scattergun that the misguided refer to as a sport.
It’s really none of our business what I shove in my gob, but to appease your mind I am indeed a carnivore, and once again I need to point out I’m no latte sipper, in fact I am quite the antithesis to what many assume I am.
As for the path my food has taken to my plate, I can only say that I try to do what’s right and if I think my meat has not been produced in the most humane way possible I will eat something else.
One of the differences between indigenous hunters and duck hunters is that the indigenous hunter is doing it for food, and not doing it just for the hell of it, a thrill kill, as many of those hunting are.
I sure as shit don’t consider myself righteous, but in an age of terrorism I think blokes with shotguns and balaclava’s roaming the countryside paints a poor picture of national security.