Tennessee Titan Jason Babin Talks Football, Family and Why He's Teaching His Young Sons to Hunt

You have to understand. A gun is a tool. In these times a very important tool. This tool does not commit a crime. It is caused by the individual behind it. Once you take the stupid politics out of it, it becomes quite clear. Politician are surrounded by personal protection so they can pontificate a lot of BS. For the rest of us that is exactly what it is.
I have a concealed-carry permit, and I have a hand gun. Do I carry it all of the time? Absolutely not! But should a situation arise I can do so. I sincerely hope that situation never arises. I like that hand gun as it is now: unloaded, and safe. But I also appreciate the option I have to use it if it is needed to protect my family.
This is a cost of living in a free society.

Norman Prevatte
Fredericksburg, VA

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I applaud him for all his successes. He's an intelligent man that has not lost his roots. He has lived a life that several people have not lived, and if you have not been raised in that envirionment you do not understand. I was raised like him, my parents were of native american descent, so we were taught to hunt both with gun and bow and arrow. Myself and my brothers were taught a patience and understanding for nature. Like him, toy guns weren't pointed at each other and you didn't kill anything that didn't get eaten. My children were taught this also. Now I live in the city, and people look at me strange because I refuse to care a gun for self defense. Little kids are running around pointing toy guns at everyone and everyone with a lack of respect, and lets add that these children are more likely to pick up a stolen gun and shoot another person. Even in DC where it's illegal to own a gun how many gun crimes are committed by someone that has never handled a gun? I'm sorry if it sounds like I am looking down my nose at you all, but if you forget your past then your future is doomed to fail. By the way, our forefathers hunted to live, and taught their children the same way. What did that make them?

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To condemn this man is to condemn nature it self! All the PETA elites have issues with predators but only condemn us humans and just love to show how enlightened they are!
I suggest you all go complain to the Mountain Lions, Grizzly Bears and Gray Wolves about there mistreatment of their prey as they kill very often to survive and teach their young to do the same. P.S. you should be armed as they might just prefer to eat you rather than listen to your nonsense, if you don't believe me check out all of the Death's from Mountain lions since they banned hunting them in California.
Natural Law proves that the strong, the fit and the intelligent will succeed. You PETA elites are proof that the problem with the world is that WE have protected the Morons, which has allowed them to reproduce thus screwing up the gene pool!

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Maybe people should educate before making comments about something they obviously know nother about. btw teaching kids to murders...nice role model

Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary 
Although it was a crucial part of humans’ survival 100,000 years ago, hunting is now nothing more than a violent form of recreation that the vast majority of hunters do not need for subsistence.(1) Hunting has contributed to the extinction of animal species all over the world, including the Tasmanian tiger and the great auk.(2,3)

Less than 5 percent of the U.S. population hunts, yet hunting is permitted in many wildlife refuges, national forests, and state parks and on other public lands.(4) Almost 40 percent of hunters slaughter and maim millions of animals on public land every year, and by some estimates, poachers kill just as many animals illegally.(5,6)

Pain and Suffering

Many animals suffer prolonged, painful deaths when they are injured but not killed by hunters. A member of the Maine Bowhunters Alliance estimates that 50 percent of animals who are shot with crossbows are wounded but not killed.(7) A study of 80 radio-collared white-tailed deer found that of the 22 deer who had been shot with “traditional archery equipment,” 11 were wounded but not recovered by hunters.(8) Twenty percent of foxes who have been wounded by hunters are shot again; 10 percent manage to escape, but “starvation is a likely fate” for them, according to one veterinarian.(9) A South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks biologist estimates that more than 3 million wounded ducks go “unretrieved” every year.(10) A British study of deer hunting found that 11 percent of deer who’d been killed by hunters died only after being shot two or more times and that some wounded deer suffered for more than 15 minutes before dying.(11)

Hunting disrupts migration and hibernation patterns and destroys families. For animals like wolves, who mate for life and live in close-knit family units, hunting can devastate entire communities. The stress that hunted animals suffer—caused by fear and the inescapable loud noises and other commotion that hunters create—also severely compromises their normal eating habits, making it hard for them to store the fat and energy that they need in order to survive the winter.

Blood-Thirsty and Profit-Driven

To attract more hunters (and their money), federal and state agencies implement programs—often called “wildlife management” or “conservation” programs—that are designed to boost the numbers of “game” species. These programs help to ensure that there are plenty of animals for hunters to kill and, consequently, plenty of revenue from the sale of hunting licenses.

Duck hunters in Louisiana persuaded the state wildlife agency to direct $100,000 a year toward “reduced predator impact,” which involved trapping foxes and raccoons so that more duck eggs would hatch, giving hunters more birds to kill.(12) The Ohio Division of Wildlife teamed up with a hunter-organized society to push for clear-cutting (i.e., decimating large tracts of trees) in Wayne National Forest in order to “produce habitat needed by ruffed grouse.”(13)

In Alaska, the Department of Fish and Game is trying to increase the number of moose for hunters by “controlling” the wolf and bear populations. Grizzlies and black bears have been moved hundreds of miles away from their homes; two were shot by hunters within two weeks of their relocation, and others have simply returned to their homes.(14) Wolves have been slaughtered in order to “let the moose population rebound and provide a higher harvest for local hunters.”(15) In the early 1990s, a program designed to reduce the wolf population backfired when snares failed to kill victims quickly, and photos of suffering wolves were viewed by an outraged public.(16)

Nature Takes Care of Its Own

The delicate balance of ecosystems ensures their own survival—if they are left unaltered. Natural predators help maintain this balance by killing only the sickest and weakest individuals. Hunters, however, kill any animal whose head they would like to hang over the fireplace—including large, healthy animals who are needed to keep the population strong. Elephant poaching is believed to have increased the number of tuskless animals in Africa, and in Canada, hunting has caused bighorn sheep’s horn size to fall by 25 percent in the last 40 years; Nature magazine reports that “the effect on the populations’ genetics is probably deeper.”(17)

Even when unusual natural occurrences cause overpopulation, natural processes work to stabilize the group. Starvation and disease can be tragic, but they are nature’s ways of ensuring that healthy, strong animals survive and maintain the strength level of the rest of their herd or group. Shooting an animal because he or she might starve or become sick is arbitrary and destructive.

Not only does “sport” hunting jeopardize nature’s balance, it also exacerbates other problems. For example, the transfer of captive-bred deer and elk between states for the purpose of hunting is believed to have contributed to the epidemic spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has given state wildlife agencies millions of dollars to “manage” deer and elk populations.(18) The fatal neurological illness that affects these animals has been likened to mad cow disease, and while the USDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that CWD has no relationship to any similar diseases that affect humans or farmed animals, the slaughter of deer and elk continues.(19,20)

Another problem with hunting involves the introduction of exotic “game” animals who, if they’re able to escape and thrive, pose a threat to native wildlife and established ecosystems.

Canned Cruelty

Most hunting occurs on private land, where laws that protect wildlife are often inapplicable or difficult to enforce. On private lands that are set up as for-profit hunting reserves or game ranches, hunters can pay to kill native and exotic species in “canned hunts.” These animals may be native to the area, raised elsewhere and brought in, or purchased from individuals who are trafficking in unwanted or surplus animals from zoos and circuses. They are hunted and killed for the sole purpose of providing hunters with a “trophy.”

Canned hunts are becoming big business—there are an estimated 1,000 game preserves in the U.S.(21) Ted Turner, the country’s largest private landowner, allows hunters to pay thousands of dollars to kill bison, deer, African antelopes, and turkeys on his 2 million acres.(22)

Animals on canned-hunting ranches are often accustomed to humans and are usually unable to escape from the enclosures that they are confined to, which range in size from just a few yards to thousands of acres. Most of these ranches operate on a “no kill, no pay” policy, so it is in owners’ best interests to ensure that clients get what they came for. Owners do this by offering guides who are familiar with animals’ locations and habits, permitting the use of dogs, and supplying “feeding stations” that lure unsuspecting animals to food while hunters lie in wait.

Many states, including Arizona, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming have limited or banned canned hunts, but there are no federal laws regulating the practice at this time.(23,24)

Other Victims

Hunting accidents destroy property and injure or kill horses, cows, dogs, cats, hikers, and other hunters. In 2006, then-Vice President Dick Cheney famously shot a friend while hunting quail on a canned-hunting preserve.(25) According to the International Hunter Education Association, there are dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries attributed to hunting in the U.S. every year—and that number only includes incidents involving humans.(26) It is an ongoing problem, and one warden explained that “hunters seem unfamiliar with their firearms and do not have enough respect for the damage they can do.”(27)

The bears, cougars, deer, foxes, and other animals who are chased, trapped, and even killed by dogs during (sometimes illegal) hunts aren’t the only ones to suffer from this variant of the “sport.” Dogs used for hunting are often kept chained or penned and are denied routine veterinary care like vaccines and heartworm medication. Some are lost during hunts and never found while others are turned loose at the end of hunting season to fend for themselves and die of starvation or get struck by a vehicle.

A Humane Alternative

There are 30 million deer in the U.S., and because hunting has been an ineffective method to “control” populations (one Pennsylvania hunter “manages” the population and attracts deer by clearing his 600-acre plot of wooded land and planting corn), some wildlife agencies are considering other management techniques.(28,29) Several recent studies suggest that sterilization is an effective, long-term solution to overpopulation. An experimental birth-control vaccine is being used on female deer in Princeton, N.J.(30,31) One Georgia study of 1,500 white-tailed deer on Cumberland Island concluded that “if females are captured, marked, and counted, sterilization reduces herd size, even at relatively low annual sterilization rates.”(32)

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This is how we get college age children grabbing guns, and shooting up campuses, yet everyone is shocked as to WHY that happens. Well guess what folks this is how it starts.
This hillbilly has to teach his BOYS to KILL. This guy is not a real man, he is a complete wussy!
What really gets me is that his wife trades any small piece of self respect for his money...and you know what that makes her.
I own guns, I was taught to shoot, but it is only to defend myself and not take the life of a helpless animal.
He is no better than Michael Vick. I am tired of this hero worship for these false heros.
This country needs to get over the shallow, and focus on the basic, ethics, rather than even waste print on slime like these people.

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Hunting is just part of our world's history and also an essential part of our ecosystem. It is called the food chain. Responsible hunting benefits the environment and pays for much to protect our natural resources. The hunting areas in no means deplete the animals, they work to keep the animal populations stable. I would suggest before anyone disagrees, they visit one or go on a hunting excursion. You don't have to hunt. Respect for firearms should be taught to everyone at an early age, it doesn't meant they have to shoot. Some of the best naturalists I know hunt and eat their catch. There are idiots in any sport. My kids learned how to handle firearms early, not shooting till in their teens really, but learning the skills of patience, respect, safety and responsibility before they could handle one on their own.

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i got my 10 year old son a .22 cal air rifle so he can learn some basic shooting skills. i bought him a bunch of paper targets to shoot at the backyard. like any 10 year old these days with a Call of Duty mentality, he went back there and shot himself a squirrel and bragged about it. i then made him pick up the animal and made him gut it, skin it, chunk out the edible parts, instructed him how to cook it, and made him eat it... I then shared with him the hunter code... of not shooting anything you ain't eating. he was shocked. needless to say that was the last time he shot something living. he strictly shoots paper targets nowadays only because he's too lazy to clean and cook the animal.
TO those against hunting but eat meat: try visiting a slaughterhouse where they kill farm raised pigs, cows, chickens, or turkey... and then visit with a hunter. the least you'll learn from it is not be a hypocrite.

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Why is it Legal hunting is called into question like this by a puke who PROBABLY has no qualms about ending a innocent life with PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION and or abortion in general? To top it off , like all LIBERALS /SOCIALISTS "it" disguises its real agenda by PRETENDING to be interested in Jason's professional life. I can smell a liberal coming from a long way away.....

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I think what he's doing is commendable. If you bleeding heart liberals would listen and go see whats going on youd be surprised. This isn't about teaching your kid to be a thug, its about survival and the balance of nature

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First of all, it's not like he's leaving the gun cabinet open and letting the kids do what they want. Second, it always crack me up when I hear people whine about killing an innocent deer. How do you think beef and chicken get to our tables!?!? Besides, he's staying connected to his family and teaching discipline at an early age. That's more than I can say for some of these athletes today.

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It is sad how metrosexual American has become. This story is about a man that does something manly and the Metro sexes come out and march! Sad.

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This reporter sure had an agenda. If you don't want to hunt...don't. But these liberal do-gooders just won't let people alone until they control everything. Next thing you know they'll let you marry your family pet and call it "just a life style choice". ha

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Sounds like an upstanding man and a wonderful father and husband to me

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Most. Biased. Interview. Ever.

This isn't journalism. It's an ignorant, rude woman scolding a man about fundamental beliefs she doesn't happen to share with him.

Simply a lousy job of of "reporting."

suburbansheepdog DOT.blogspot DOT com

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Howard - clearly you didn't grow up in an environment where hunting and trapping supplemented a family's income and food supply. Growing up on a farm, I started assisting with food gathering (gardening and hunting wild morel mushrooms) when I was a pre-schooler. Started hunting with a gun when I was 8. We needed the money from fur trapping and the food that pheasants, ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels, fish, and turtles to get by. Many people enjoy these foods, though I don't. Fortunately, I don't have to hunt for food any more, but should things turn for the worse, I have these skills to fall back on. It's usually not about feelings, cruelty or the lack thereof, but a practical approach to life.

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you people from "peta" are slick i'll give you that...i hope one day you find yourself starving...you'll eat the person your with

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Sigh..... Moving forward.

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Oh please! You all are giving this man a hard time about teaching his sons to hunt? Really? At least he is a hands on dad who is spending time with his children! As for the comment about compassion, how much compassion do you think meat processors show to the cows, chickens, etc. killed for meat we buy at the grocery? At least hunters are taught that it is bad to wound an animal and we spend a lot of time practicing shooting so that our first shot is fatal and the animal doesn' t suffer. And further more, most of us, just like Mr. Babin, hunt for food not for trophies!! I hunt and any of my children who were interested learned to hunt as well. Oh, and you know what P E T A means don't you? People.. Eating.. Tasty... Animals.. LOL

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