I've shot a bunch of planted bobwhites and pheasants to help train young bird dogs. Can't think of a better way to get them in on a lot of action in a controlled way. I never thought of it as murder and not really as sport either. I always wanted to anchor the bird right now for the pup when everything was working out right during training, so it didn't bother me if I smoked a close bird with a 12 ga. I never mistreated the birds, but they were what they were.