AR Bowhunter

I shot a doe about 3 years ago that had a button buck with her. She hit the ground an got up an ran a little ways an fell over an expired. The lttle button buck just stood there at about 40 yards away an watched as I climbed downan put my feet on the ground. He was still standing there an I turned an told him to go on. He leftan ran out of sight.

I remember thinking, I hope that he learned something fromthat day an willdie of old age in his bed.

Dixon

Couldn't have said it better myself!

early in

When I kill a deer, any deer, I always feel bad that I ended a beautiful amimal's life. I have the utmost respect for theseamimals and try to make sure I take them as quickly andpainlessly as possible.

MECHDOC

If youenjoyed to see or hear a animal suffering than you would be one sick SOB.

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MountainHunter

dstubb, I feel the same way. I respect you for the respect you show the animals you hunt.

I’m fortunate that the deer I’ve killed died quickly (in sight, actually). But it’s hard to watch a beautiful animal die if you’re a compassionate person. And I don’t think there’s anything bad about being compassionate. I don’t see how a person can read any of the major religious texts, especially the New Testament, without seeing compassion as a major theme.

The one deer I wounded jumped the string when it hit my arm guard (I had locked my elbow because I had to hold at full draw almost 2 minutes, waiting for the deer to come out from behind a tree...a mistake I won’t repeat). I looked for the deer the rest of the day and most of the next day and never recovered it. I retrieved the arrow and it had some of the deer’s hair in the nock. I wove that hair into a bead I put on a necklace that I wear when I hunt to remind me to be extra careful when I take a shot.

Go ahead. Call me a Nancy. I can take it.

salukipv1

i think it comes as a surprise to many non-hunters, that we hunters may not enjoy the "killing/death" aspect of hunting. We may actually feel bad to kill a living creature, yet we still love to hunt. Maybe a tough concept for some to wrap their minds around.

I think most hunters are animal lovers, and would certainly claim that most hunters probably know more about the animals in NA than many non hunters who also are animal lovers.

How often have you seen a non-hunter point out a caribou on tv and say, oh look at the moose! or oh look at the stag? its an elk.

I don't like to watch something flop around/die slowly either. Ive been on hunts with guys wanting to put a finishing off shot into an animal, and the guide being like, its dead don't worry. If you want to take another finishing off shot, I say do it! its your right! watchign an animal bleed out slowly even knowing its dying, isn't fun to watch etc...to me.

So if that means taking another shot, with bow or gun, or looking away for 30 minutes, don't feel bad, or like a nancy, after all most "macho" types tend to be hiding something anyway.

valor10

Really? No offense, but if little ol' button buck grows up into Mr. P&Y, you're telling me you hope to never see him again and wish him a happy, long lfe and to die of old age? Didn't we have this same thread a few weeks ago? Hunting and killing are the same. If you love to hunt, but don't love the kill, why not just take a picture? You can experience everything about the hunt, and still just take a picture. Everything. You know why? Because that feeling you get just before you fling that arrow, that feeling you're about to take that animals life, that why you hunt. The rush. No rush watching them, no rush taking their picture. Draw that bow back on an animal, here comes the rush. My heart pounds every time I draw on a deer. Still, to this very day. No feeling in the world like it. Without the killing, it'd be like golf. Hunters are killers. We do it for sport, we do it for food. If you really feel that much emotional turmoil within yourself for killing a deer, you shouldn't do it. Respect nature, respect the animals you hunt.

It comes as a suprise to me so many cannot come to grips with their true nature. Loving to kill deer does not make you a serial killer, it does not make you inhuman, it does not make you uncompassionate.Happy4th fellas.

Arthur P

There's something to be said about not following a hit animal too soon.

As long as it's a clean hit through the heart/lungs, I don't think the animal is in much, if any, pain. If you get close enough to see it, it can see you and it's frightened. So, it's more trying to get up and escape and just can't do it. If that happens, rarely does because I give 'em time, I back way off where I'm sure the animal can't see me so it can quiet down and go peacefully.

MountainHunter

There's a great (IMHO) book called "Hunting from Home" that was written by a guy who's been living in a log cabin the the Blue Ridge Mountains here in VA that I think a lot people on here would like. He is a traditional bow hunter andalso writes for Field & Stream and some other publications. The book walks with him through a year of living (mostly) off the land he leases. In the book, he makes a point about the difference between hunting and hiking, photographing, etc.

When a person walks through the woods or photographs an animal, that is nice. But you aredoing that asan observer of nature.

When a person hunts, they are more a part of nature. They are a part of the cycle of life and death, like a lion or bear.

I think hunting is very primal. I think the thrill of the hunt is hard-wired into us, especially men, by millions of years of evolution. I think that people in cities try to satisfy this part of their nature through other means, some helpful and some not. But I don't think anything satisfies it like hunting.

This doesn't prevent us from having compassion for the animals we kill. I think the compassion and respect I feel for the animals I hunt makes me more human, not less, and I think hunting also makes me more true to my human nature and spirit, and so, more fully human.