I am a hunter and gun nut for 44 years. I believe in hunting as a means of controling animal populations to prevent disease,starvation etc. I firmy believe in the right to keep and bear arms. I have killed many animals, small game and at least a couple of deer a year for those 44 years. Used handguns,bows ,blackpowder etc. I just wanted to say these things before I get to my main question so the people who dont know me wont think I am an anti gunner or hunter.
I am finding myself in a position that I love the outdoors,shooting ,and hunting BUT I am enjoying the killing of animals less and less. Where I hunt there is no realistic danger of overpopulation of deer, Although I like to eat deer meat I certainly would not dry up and blow away if I never eat it again. I have always been humbled somewhat after taking an animals life(except for when I was a Kid )but I find myself more and more questioning myself why I kill for sport. Every time I kill an animal(deer for example)I find myself thinking that this animal was alive and I took its life for what reason? I gut, skin and cut up my own kills and do not waste any more meat than I have to, SO I am not killing JUST to be killing, But still find myself thinking that I am killing when I dont have to ,as in survival. I just dont like the killing as much as I used to. Nothing left to prove ,no wonder IF I can with homemade bows and arrows,reloads ,cast bullets etc.I KNOW I can .But wondering more and more if I should.
I know this all sounds like probably the wrong thing to say on a hunting, fishing forum BUT just wondering if there are any other hunters here who have experienced or are experiencing these types of thoughts when killing animals?
While in college I was part of a team that had a collection permit for research. We killed deer from the end of season (first of January) in a high rack with spotlights till bucks dropped their antlers and we couldn't tell bucks from does easily. In 3 years we killed over 1000 deer. After that I got to harvest waterfowl with a supressed .22 off of the water and testing them for bird flu.
After that I really cut back on hunting as I just didn't want to shoot anything else for a long time.
I don't dance around, jerkoff and high five everyone in sight after killing a critter.
That said, I still get much gratitude in it and don't think much about it as it's not a hobby, it's something I'm supposed to do.
I know I will always eat meat, so I'd rather it come by my hands than from the store. I figure if you are always gonna eat something that was living and breathing you should do it yourself.
From the time I was a little kid, I roamed the woods with a rifle looking for something that would pass for game,..but not now.
And it's not that I had any type of profound revelation about it or anything like that.
I just lost interest in it.
If I needed to eat and hunting was the answer, I wouldn't think twice about it,...and I don't begrudge anyone their interests in hunting, or their ability to hunt.
I quit hunting completely a while back. I have no compunction about killing animals (I always said that it wasn't a good day unless I'd killed something) but I did get less and less satisfaction out of it over the years.
I'm not sure it has anything to do with it, but I've probably killed more people than game animals - provided we don't count prairie dogs, that is. So perhaps I've simply had a surfeit of killing. And again, there's an exception: fish. I catch fish largely to eat them. No second thoughts there.
Other than shooting coyotes that prey on live stock in our area here, my 'killing' is to put meat on the table. Never cared for killing animals just to do it.
We fill the freezer. Besides hunting deer and elk, we raise meat goats, chickens, & geese for the table. I do a lot of killing. A member of PETA I'm not.
βIn a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.β β George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
a major part of our meat diet comes from wild game. I have hunted all north American wild life for over 50 years and never "enjoyed" the death of an animal. I have been proud of some that I harvested but as I get older it is harder to take some things life. I have some health issues but that has influenced me only a small bit. I respect animals and enjoy living with them as neighbors so anymore I travel quite a ways to hunt. that way I don't know the critter that I'm eating. so yes my feelings have changed over the years.
I hunt 30 days per year and might kill one buck every three years on average. Killing stuff seems repugnant now for the sake of just killing, unlike when I was 18. Back then I shot 3 deer per year, two turkeys, hundreds of armadillos, and gobs of rabbits & varmints per year.
Now, I try like hell to get a bull elk every year and a big buck but fail on average. It has to take my breath away now for me to pull the trigger on it. I would rather get up, make coffee, take a drive to the farm, crawl up in my stand and sip mocha while I watch a sunrise and anticipate the arrival of mr big.
I guess that's why I find canned hunts, or even hunting any species on the decline to be personally unsatisfying and slightly vile.
Conrad101st 1/503 Inf., 2nd ID (90-91) 3/327 Inf., 101st ABN (91-92)
Nothing wrong with being witness to the circle of life, nor to being a part of it. I have no interest in chasing horns, I hunt for the meat and if a big one comes along, well great, if not I'll be plenty happy to come home with doe meat to feed my family. Man, I love nature and the outdoors! Realistically your body is killing something every second you draw breath...just because it is a critter vs a plant doesn't mean it's more alive than the other. I am proud to play a critical role in the balance of nature. Wanton bloodlust is not a natural part of that cycle and can severely impact it.
We're blessed to live here and now, but you have to ask yourself, would you even ask this question if there wasn't a grocery store down the corner?
I kill animals for food. Just the way it is. My two girls 6 and 8 also know contribute to the family. Don't have to do it this way. Seems natural to grow, catch and kill food.
People's interests and goals change over the course of their lives. Lots of times its a matter of been there, done that.
As for me, I have never been a thrill killer even as a young person so no, my view has not changed much. If I kill it, I am going to eat it or someone else is....nothing goes to waste.
I still enjoy taking fish and game.
Last edited by RJY66; 04/20/14.
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
I hunted for the thrill and challenge of getting mr bigger after becoming successful, but as the possibilities of that having diminished due to the size of the big ones I've killed and the scarcity of bigger bucks the thrill has diminished.
Mainly I kill a couple of does for meat and see how much less beautiful they and the deer others kill just a few minutes after the shot than what they were alive, the only challenge being to get a video of a good kill with a luminock, though it is enjoyable to see the thrill I once got in the eyes of a successful young hunter who will regretfully probably never have a chance to really stalk and hunt and see the sights I have.
Last edited by eyeball; 04/20/14.
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time by the blood of patriots and tyrants.
If being stupid allows me to believe in Him, I'd wish to be a retard. Eisenhower and G Washington should be good company.
I still love to hunt,love to see animals in their environment but finding them is now the challenge. Pulling the trigger is now secondary, though if I don't have to pack them out alone they are still delicious. I do want to shoot a wolf. Happy Easter.
mike r
Don't wish it were easier Wish you were better
Stab them in the taint, you can't put a tourniquet on that. Craig Douglas ECQC
Killing is killing, always has been and never a part of the equation, look at it this way, by providing your family and yourself with fresh wild game meats you are providing the best there is, most grocery store meats are steroided, horemoned, iradiated cuts of trash injected with solution [salts] and preservatives, no comparison to wild game meats.
I can understand your sentiments about hunting and as I've grown older I've also pondered the same things. However, I have a different opinion when it comes to the part that's highlighted ...
"I have always been humbled somewhat after taking an animals life(except for when I was a Kid )but I find myself more and more questioning myself why I kill for sport."
I view the acts of hunting as sport (scouting, glassing, stalking, etc.) but when it comes time to pull the trigger it is killing. The moment the animal is down it then becomes food.
I don't have a problem killing my food and I'm a meat hunter first and foremost.
Another way to put it is hunting, for me, involves sport, killing, and food versus just an act of sport killing.
With all that said, I don't have the bloodlust I had when I was a kid.
Depends on why you're killing them. For example, I don't think twice about swatting a mosquito or fly; love the sound of a wood tick going "click" in my Leatherman pliers. If you really think about it that tick's life is as important to the tick as your life is to you. Now if you want to restrict the thread to "game animals", I'd have to say that I'm not as fanatic about filling every possible tag that I was 30 years ago, I have absolutely no compunction about squeezing the trigger on a meat whitetail. I do however, get kind of a thrill to let a little buck walk by, that years ago would have been meat.