Refreshing post on Outdoor blog

[S. Brant Osborn]

Let's also remember that the size of the animal has nothing to do with the amount of respect owed.

I am normally doing all I can to swallow the lump in my throat when I walk up to deer, or pick up a little grey squirrel..

[Gil Verwey]

I know a lot of other hunters my age, still love to hunt, but the kill is now the least of the goals set.

I think that most of the shows now on television for hunting are one big advertisement. If you use their products you too can kill animals this size.

When one show made the content a actual hunting competition show, I thought that was the beginning of the end for hunting.

Slow motion pass though shots, with blood pouring out and the animal struggling to survive, made me want to hunt less. I started to get disgusted and couldn't watch them anymore. They became more and more graphic. I started to root for the deer.

I love animals. I have 2 dogs, 3 horses, 16 chickens and only God knows how many rabbits. If I saw a man abusing an animal, my wife would have to get bail money to get me out of jail. If one of the farm animals dies, my wife makes me bury it. I am surprised she hasn't gotten a priest for last rights - yet!  

Yet I hunt. It is in my genes. I don't understand why, but it is one of the greatest pleasures in my life.

Leading up to the kill, it is the most exciting thing I have done. After the shot, there is a let down in excitement, then anticipation and then anxiety worrying if we will retrieve the animal. Upon retrieval, there is joy, followed by thankfulness and then remorse. There is always respect.

Respect doesn't just mean after retrieval.

Respect is ensuring you limit your shots to a range you are confident you can hit what you aim at.

Respect is in preparation.

Respect is competing with yourself hunting and not trying to score points to gain admiration of others.

Respect is wildlife management, improving habitat.

Respect is abiding by game laws.

Respect is working as hard as you can to recover the game.

And yes respect is being thankful and remorseful upon recovery.

Gil

[xtrema312]

I don’t think I could put it better than some of you particularly Killdeer.  I totally get the sentiment that most of us share, and I live the highs and lows of the waves of different emotions each time I take a life.

With that said, there is some of the blog and some comments that always come up on this TV hunting posts that tend to lump a lot of folks on TV together unfairly, and in my mind go just a little too far the other way.  I don't have cable and don't watch a lot of outdoor shows, but I have seen the stuff he was talking about, and I don't care for it when it is fake or way over the top.  However, I have seen some outward expression of the inward adrenalin rush many of us feel after a shot.  I know when I kill something I thank the good Lord and don’t jump around or anything like that, but I can tell you I am coming unglued inside.  I have see the honest joy in finding an animal that may have been feared lost or is truly the largest animal of the species that hunter has ever shot.  You can tell what is staged and what is real most times.  I don’t have an issue with someone being excited and letting it out a little.  I am not that type in general, but others wear their emotions on the outside.  Nothing wrong with that.  You can be very excited and let it out without being disrespectful.  I just don’t like to lump everyone that doesn’t break down and cry or do a death ritual into the same camp as the clowns.  

I also know that most times the TV hunters don’t set down and kill something in 26 minutes.  Most travel all over, speed month away from home, set in stands for sometimes weeks for a shot.  Sure they hunt the best places, but even hunting can be a hard work and carry all the feelings, responsibilities and stresses of it particularly when you have to get the footage to make a living.

“It comes from an animal that spent its last moments alive bawling in terror in a slaughterhouse.”  We all need to know where our meat comes from.  We should not be flippant about an animal’s death.  I really feel for the animal, but everything dies and there are few good easy ways to do that for an animal.  My issue with the statement is that it starts to assign too much mental awareness and intellect to animals.  Let’s not get all Bambi movie here or start going PETA.  Animals don’t watch TV or visit slaughterhouses. They don’t read books and no one explains what is about to happen to them.  They don’t tell stories about what happened to grandma with the evil hunters killed her.  Most don’t even know what happened to them when it does, and the end is easier than it is for most of us humans.   Wild animals pretty much live in a natural fear every day if they are a pray animal.   That is their job and they don’t seem to have emotional breakdowns over it.

I think for me I will simply say thank you Lord for your provision and say "don't worry deer, we'll eat you.", Wallis Wetzel daughter.

[Caddo]

Nice, Thanks for sharing Ray.

LD

[SheltonCreeker]

Thanks for sharing ray! Great post!

[jwhitetail]

I can see that I am in good company when I read this thread and it one of the reasons I love this Traditional crew.  There are a lot of emotions running at the time of the kill (including joy) but I really feel respect is paramount.  I found this quote from Swamp Preacher was one of many comments that rang true...

"Regardless of the method, there is always a feeling of regret as the life leaves an animal. I don't want to ever loose that feeling. Simply put, it's a sacred moment that demands self examination and reflection."

When I killed my first buck and sat down in that draw as the sun went down it was a really emotional moment.  When that animal died right then and there, I knew just how sacred all life is.  I was really filled with gratitude.  

Thanks for the great post, Ray!