Why is shooting something to bleed out in a forest "by far more ethical" than stunning and slicing its throat in a factory?

You're not wrong that going vegetarian is the most ethical of all available routes.

I think u/magicmoa is pointing out not the ethics of the manner of dying; but rather the ethics of the manner of living.

• Hunting option: animal lives its life as nature intended and dies relatively quickly from a bullet or arrow. 99% of its life is normal, followed by a death that is probably kinder than a wolf ripping the animal's throat out.

• Factory farm option: animal lives its whole life knee deep in feces, shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of others of its kind, unable to move. The only thing even close to mercy/kindness it will encounter in its entire waking life is the swift mechanical death brought upon it.

In one scenario, the animal gets a normal life followed by a swift death. In the other scenario, every moment of its life is misery.