for me it is a principle that extends from mice to moose... that is just the way my father trained me... and the way I trained my kids...
JMO
I appreciate your consistency in philosophy that extends from mice to moose, though I've never "hunted" mice

. Sometimes I have to laugh at the inconsistency in the way our local Maritime TV media lately puts so much emphasis on "humane" treatment of animals like cats and dogs, yet has seemingly no empathy at all for mice. For them killing mice is a good thing (last week's TV story on mice in college NB dormitories), but drowning unwanted kittens is a bad thing, and so a dog or cat abuse story is pretty well a part of every evening's news. (not that I condone pet abuse, I don't). Drowning a kitten can get you in trouble today, but drowning a mouse in a pail trap at the cottage is still acceptable as far as I know. Where is the consistency in that?
I grew up on a farm, so I'm sure my values are largely based on the way my father trained me as well. Cattle and livestock were valuable, cats not so much and extra ones had to be "taken care of" from time to time. Mice got no sympathy, and pretty much still don't from me. Last 2 I got as I remember, one was run over by the ride on mower, and one got stepped on. If you think I'm rough on mice, you should know what my wife thinks of them

. I guess I have to confess I'm not too consistent when it comes to treatment of various animal species.
When it comes to bears, we have plenty in NB, too many actually, as evidenced by the recent license increase to 2 bears per year. The way I see it, there are plenty of bears, but there is only one of me. I'm not going to risk my life unnecessarily for one.