Hate watching em
- Thread starter Carpn
- Start date
Does with yearlings along are off limits for me. Single does are usually too smart for me ... haha. A guy can certainly lose the thrill of the kill as he grows, but you can never take the woods out of him. He needs to be there.
I agree 100% jake. Through work, and hunting I've seen multiple deer suffer/die slowly, and every time I feel terrible. At work I've seen 2 deer hit by cars, and couldn't do anything until the patrol showed up. Hunting, I've killed deer, and had to see them die. I think as long as you do everything you can to make a quick clean kill, that's all you can do. I think it's more out of respect for the animal than anything. That's why when I hear stories of people doing big deer drives and just throwing shots at deer, or people that just take stupid shots make me so sick. I was hunting with taylor once, about 3 years ago, when I shot a bb out of a ground blind with my bow. After shooting, to my left I saw the mama and another fawn that weren't far off. That daggum fawn walked over and started sniffing and walking circles around the bb that was 30 yards away dead. It made me feel like real shit. I don't think that anyone that feels that way is soft, but just has repesect for the animal. I can't stand to see any animal suffer.
I know exactly how you feel Jake. This year I've found myself feeling the same way. I mean, I've always had some amount of remorse when harvesting a deer...I think that just comes with the territory when you respect an animal to that degree. But this year I felt it more than ever. Don't get me wrong, I will continue to hunt hard and fill my freezer with venison. I enjoy it too much not to. But it will probably sting a bit more than it used to.
It's weird because I don't have the same amount of remorse when I kill ducks or pheasants or I'm filleting a 10 pound walleye. It's just deer. There's just something about them.
It's weird because I don't have the same amount of remorse when I kill ducks or pheasants or I'm filleting a 10 pound walleye. It's just deer. There's just something about them.
Big_Holla
Senior Member
I don't know you well enough Jake to question you on this. Like Phil stated, I've seen an article that chronicled the stages of a hunter and it seems you're in one they discussed. I don't care to see an animal suffer, particularly whitetails. However I can't imagine ever not wanting to kill them. Deer are made of food. Delicious food and that's why I shoot them. I guess if I ever got tired of eating them, I'd stop shooting them. If I ever get tired of bacon, I might... ah fugg that! I'll never get tired of venison OR bacon!!!
Kill on gentlemen.
Kill on gentlemen.
at1010
*Supporting Member*
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Mike you need to come run the snare line with me sometime.
You like to eat deer you better kill some yotes cause they eat alot more of them than we do.
Devil dogs.
You like to eat deer you better kill some yotes cause they eat alot more of them than we do.
Devil dogs.
I can get a twinge of remorse for taking a life. That quickly abates when I know I am going to be eating meat. If I am going to eat it then I may as well be the one to pull the trigger.
Wildlife, life holds no more value than steers. Unless a vegan I don't see the reason to stop.
Wildlife, life holds no more value than steers. Unless a vegan I don't see the reason to stop.
That's why I said I "could" kill a yote. As far as running lines on my own, I just don't have the time with properties being a good distance away.
at1010
*Supporting Member*
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exactly! Great post!
In conclusion, no one likes to see an animal/person/living thing suffer. Unless your some Ted Bundy acting fool! hahaha Keep hunting and deflate them fast!
I don't like to kill just to kill, and yes I don't like to see game suffer. For some reason tho I just love to shoot a turkey in the face.
I have been silently fighting this subject for a couple of years now...
I love to be in the woods. I love hunting and eating whatever game I harvest. I love the preparation. The stalk and the meal but I thought I was just getting soft. I've killed a lot of fur, fin and feather over the years. I take great pride in accurate shot placement. I'm fascinated to recover the round or inspect the wound for future shots. But in recent years, I've become more selective. I pass on shots that years ago I would have taken and wait for the "slam-dunk". I currently have sort of a double standard so-to-speak. A wild cat that is killing my bunnies and birds never gets a second thought and is shot but I still have my wife's 2 house cats even though I'm a card carrying dog lover. Beavers killing my trees or muskrats burrowing into the damn of shoreline are targets of opportunity... but a dead dog on the side of the road or a deer suffering due to poor shot placement or a car hit bothers me. Not a road kill deer, just a injured one.
I think part of my problem goes back to the loss of Syndi, Dad and my last dog all within 6 months. As I've gotten older it seems that death is becoming more frequent around me as I've battled some form of depression and sadness for the loss's. I told myself I would just hunt, fish and watch my kids (and now grandchild) grow older but if I'm getting soft, I'm fucked...
This year, as I drove the 4 wheeler out to a stand for gun, I came up on a doe bedded down in the same field I had so much luck in last year. I rolled up to within 25 yards, stopped and shut down the machine, raised up on her w/ the Marlin 44 and looked at her over the sight for at least 20 seconds before she got up and bounded away in the tall over grown field. Years ago I would have gladly taken her and looked for more but that day I told myself as I drove away that its not the way I wanted to remember the harvest. I'm not starving...
The double standard is still working for me but its critter-by-critter. Species-by-species.
Thanks for bringing up the subject.
I love to be in the woods. I love hunting and eating whatever game I harvest. I love the preparation. The stalk and the meal but I thought I was just getting soft. I've killed a lot of fur, fin and feather over the years. I take great pride in accurate shot placement. I'm fascinated to recover the round or inspect the wound for future shots. But in recent years, I've become more selective. I pass on shots that years ago I would have taken and wait for the "slam-dunk". I currently have sort of a double standard so-to-speak. A wild cat that is killing my bunnies and birds never gets a second thought and is shot but I still have my wife's 2 house cats even though I'm a card carrying dog lover. Beavers killing my trees or muskrats burrowing into the damn of shoreline are targets of opportunity... but a dead dog on the side of the road or a deer suffering due to poor shot placement or a car hit bothers me. Not a road kill deer, just a injured one.
I think part of my problem goes back to the loss of Syndi, Dad and my last dog all within 6 months. As I've gotten older it seems that death is becoming more frequent around me as I've battled some form of depression and sadness for the loss's. I told myself I would just hunt, fish and watch my kids (and now grandchild) grow older but if I'm getting soft, I'm fucked...
This year, as I drove the 4 wheeler out to a stand for gun, I came up on a doe bedded down in the same field I had so much luck in last year. I rolled up to within 25 yards, stopped and shut down the machine, raised up on her w/ the Marlin 44 and looked at her over the sight for at least 20 seconds before she got up and bounded away in the tall over grown field. Years ago I would have gladly taken her and looked for more but that day I told myself as I drove away that its not the way I wanted to remember the harvest. I'm not starving...
The double standard is still working for me but its critter-by-critter. Species-by-species.
Thanks for bringing up the subject.
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Ya. Definitely stage 5. Thanks for finding that.
I have been doing all I can to create a micro habitat for the critters I hunt on our land for a number of years now.
I still have elk on my bucket list. Funny I have no hesitation to go on that hunt given the opportunity and I still look forward to bunny hunting w/ J and Sam every year.
Ohiosam
*Supporting Member*
Deer I feel blessed too harvest as they are a big part of our diet, when the kids were at home we'd have it 3-4 times a week... Now that it's just the wife and I and the occasional appearance of the kids and some friends getting more then 2 a year is not something I would normally do, this year I filled the third tag for a buddy... I don't feel any remorse per say and always am thankful for the sacrifice that it had made for us....
Rabbit I watch 90% percent of the time and shoot maybe a half dozen a year too have for stews soups and what not.... When I first started out we'd average 100 a season and cold pack them for the remainder of the year....
Now I just enjoy watching the rabbits playing hide and seek with the girls lol....
Rabbit I watch 90% percent of the time and shoot maybe a half dozen a year too have for stews soups and what not.... When I first started out we'd average 100 a season and cold pack them for the remainder of the year....
Now I just enjoy watching the rabbits playing hide and seek with the girls lol....