Tell me about your first time...

[horatio1226]

I have benn considering hunting with my buddies. I have never hunted before. I have made 7 or 8 bows,5 of which are capable of killing a deer. I have made arrows. I can shoot good enough to hunt. I want to hunt. I love the outdoors, I love the idea of killing my own food. Earning it. Cutting down the tree, making the bow, hunting the prey in its own habitat. The stalking, the quiet of the forest, the smells. The cunning. The strategy. The hunt itself. The satisfaction of making the bow and harvesting meat for my family. The spirituality of the ordeal. What keeps me from actually hunting is the killing and dying. I can't seem to get bring myself to do it.I can intellectualize it. But emotionally I can't seem to bring myself to do it. I have been coming on to this forum for quite some time now and have seen little discussion about this. Is it that easy for you guys (and gals)? Am I just a 280 pound wimp? Its just a deer,I know. I've hit them in my truck and I'm over it in a minute or two. Is the hunt like that? Maybe I don't have the hunting gene?  :(

[the Ferret]

Watching something die is or never should be easy. Most of the time they run out of sight and you don't have to worry about watching them die. But sometimes it doesn't work out that way due to a bad shot/deflected arrow/spine shot or whatever, in which case you should leave for awhile and come back after a reasonable time to recover your animal. Sometimes as in the case of the spine shot,a follow up shot is necessary. It is all part of the game though. If you are going to shoot a sharp stick at something you have to expect that it is going to bleed and die and sometimes you may see that. Then it's your responsibility to use it wisely.

[Mike Bolin]

Brian, I'd suggest that you give it a try! If at the moment of truth you can't drop the string, you'll know. Some folks can't bring thereselves to harm any other living creature and that's o.k. All "meat" was alive and had to be killed ....it's up to you to decide where you want to be in the process. I personally have no problem with folks that can not bring thereselves to kill....I have a problem when someone tells me that killing an animal is "wrong" while they are wiping the grease from their burger on their chin! As I said, give it a go, all it will cost you is the price of your license/tag and it may open up a whole new world to you! Good luck with your decision. Mike

[Mike Bolin]

.....you might want to start out with small game. Rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, what ever is avalable and legal in your area. Shooting an animal is a bunch different that shooting a target. Good luck! Mike

[Billy]

I'm no expert.
My first thought is, if killing were easy everyone would do it.  Hunting, on the other is something different.
I hunt so I can be there and enjoy the woods. I hunt so I can particpate in the cycle of life. I hunt to escape from the concrete jungle.
I kill because it is necessary in the food chain.
But, the killing has always made me stop reflect and give Thanks for all that came before the shot.
It's just my way.
I told my boys, if they never killed anything; that was okay. As long as they understand that someone will have to kill an animal for them to eat meat.

[Gordon martiniuk]

Suck it up Men are Meat eaters and hunters go with that and you will see all the tree hugging will stop it is the way of the land it is humane much more than truck kills who? do you think that Beef and Pork come from someone kills them and butchers them you would be saveing those anamals some pain and help not get them killed by cars and trucks most bow kills do not feel a sharp Broadhead so try and you will see how silly you are for not trying  

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Don't compare butchering beef or pork to taking a deer with traditional equipment.

[Arwin]

I guess it depends on the person.
I was given my first BB gun when I was 5. Without
instruction or any examples, I proceeded to thin out the starling population in the old barn behind our house. As I grew older the animals got bigger. My father did not hunt, my mother did fish, my grandfathers hunted but I never got to go with them. Learning how to hunt was solely up to me.
 To me, the thought of someday taking a deer would keep me up at night when I was a young teenager. I'd see them in fields, hear hunting stories at the local restaurant, on tv, or see them hanging from the buckpole at the local hunting shop in town which was also the local hardware store. I had always been fascinated by them.
 The first time I actually got a shot at one wasn't until I was 21. It seemed almost automatic when the time came. I had an old Point Blank compound and 3 arrows. The deer was a 60# yearling feeding off from a soybean field. A friend of mine put me in a stand that he knew deer would pass by. The first shot I missed low, the deer ran off, and I couldn't beleive how much I was shaking. The same deer came back, I drew my bow and shot high! I had one arrow left. The deer being so young didn't know what to do but stand there. I remember praying, which was strange for me at the time cause I wasn't saved yet. I drew back, anchored, and sent that arrow so perfectly into the heart of that deer. It was nearly in slow motion, I remember the flight of that arrow so vividly. The deer bolted and I sat down and my whole body was buzzing with excess adrenaline. I sat there and waited until I stopped shaking. I got down, walked over to the spot, and saw a giant path of blood. My first blood trail was a easy one! I quickly found my first deer, which I could have fit in a suitcase,LOL! It didn't matter to me though at that point. The overwhelming feeling of finally accomplishing what I had dreamed about for so long came true. I was hooked, a full on bowhunting junkie! Ten years have passed since then and I thank God for that very moment.

[bluegill]

Don't worry about the kill you stated you wanted to hunt, then hunt the rest will fall into place as it becomes needed. Death cannot exist without life, it is part of it, perhaps the most important part. I am the only one in my family that hunts and have had little problem over coming that part of it. Killing like anything else comes with practice. A friend once told me that to be good at killing you just kill, don't try to glorify it or to lessen it, just do it. At first I will admit I thought he was a little harsh but as time went by I believe he was correct. The suggestion of starting on smaller game is also a great idea.

[horatio1226]

Hey Gord
Are you banging your head against a brick wall for real.I'm about as  much a tree hugger as you are a literary scholar!I'm well aware of where beef and pork come from. Jeesh!

[draco]

You might try to go with a friend hunting to see what its like. He might get lucky and kill something with you there. That way you could experience it without  actually doing it. Ferret is right about the responsibility of our actions. Man is the only predator that can choose to kill humanely,but killing it is still,and it`s not for everyone. The experience with a friend might just waylay any fears you may have or show you once and for all it is not for you. Your inner peace is at stake,so good luck on your quest friend;  Bob Pool

[Mudd]

I am touched each time something dies by my choice. I give thanks! I also feel some sorrow, I'd be ashamed of myself if that feeling didn't exsist with the exhileration.
If I meet the challenge on fair chase terms I'm satisfied.
God bless,Mudd

[Mallardstacker]

Horatio,

Bluegill said it very well except I would have stated it this way: "Life can not exist without death."  Every living creature on this earth is born, exists and dies.  Everything dies for the benefit of some other organism wheather its meat for the table or consumed by microorganisms.  True, some believe hunting to be a sport of blood-thirsty savages; that the only thrill is that of the next kill.  For those people I pray.  

One not look any farther than nature itself as an example.  Weigh it in your own mind as to which you think more savage - a virus infected through the bite of a midge that leads to a slow, agonizing death via starvation, the attack of the coyote pack that quite literally tear their prey appart and sometimes begin the consumption even before death comes or the swift arrow with a sharp broadhead sent true to its mark that causes death by hemmorhage within seconds.

Just some food for thought,

Stacker

[Weekend Warrior]

I found this quote by
Fred Bear
 

I have always tempered my killing with respect for the game pursued.  I see the animal not only as a target but as a living creature with more freedom than I will ever have.  I take that life if I can, with regret as well as joy, and with the sure knowledge that nature's way of fang and claw or exposure and starvation are far more crueler than I bestow.
Fred Bear  

[John 4]

Every thing dies sooner or later.
The animals I kill are part of the natural cycle,and so am I.
It's just the way it is and we don't choose our places in this thing.
I regularly kill sheep by walking into a catching pen with a knife in my hand,taking them by the head,fliping them over an pulling their head around my leg exposing their throut.
I them cut their throut and break their neck at the same time.
As I do this,I look into their eyes,but I never see anything looking back at me.
Shooting animal is a lot easier than that,I don't even get my hands dirty until after their dead.
It's just the way it is,,,there not human,their food an they don't look back with any understanding what so ever.
Bambi was a movie.

[killinstuff]

Hunting and killing (never havest)makes you responsible for the death that is needed for you to live. A wild animal walks in the shadow of death daily and as hunters we are just another part of how that death will happen. Car or an arrow, it's still dead. I'm not much into having dead things hanging on my walls looking back at me years after I killed an animals. Trophies prove nothing of skill. Meat in the freeze from a single well placed arrow is why most Trad guys do it. If I had to choose between getting hit by a car and an arrow zipping through both lungs, give me the arrow.

[Moengo]

Brian, don't force anything. Just continue to go with your feelings. You'll never get the answer you're looking for here...it is just too personal and needs to be answered from within. Take your bow into the woods, hunt, relax, and just enjoy the whole experience...either way it goes, you've had a nice day in the woods.

[S. Brant Osborn]

Well said Mudd.

Buy a license and go afield with a good friend that has experience and understands how you feel and you trust.  Go out in the woods with your friend learning to scout and read sign.  Help place stands and ask why they are going there.  Make sure you are called to help recover game in the field and take part in the trail-up AND DRAG OUT.  Stay in camp even if not hunting and enjoy that as well. These things are part of hunting.  

If you get a shot oportunity and find thast you cannot loose the string,  well there is no shame in that. Enjoy being near game.  It is magic! If you do fill your tag and feel remorse, or maybe you you feel excitement but cry anyway, there is no shame there either.  More than one person on this site has done so for one reason or another including this 35 year old.

Whatever you do continue making your equipment and enjoy shooting.  I have shared camp with several nonhunters and they had a great time.  But if you are arround the hunting environment for very long it will seep deep into your veins and one day that tug you feel now may be too much to resist.  I have enjoyed my ride and I know you can too.

Brant

[Eric Krewson]

My wife hunted with me for 17 years. I told her from the start, pulling the trigger was optional when she was hunting. She hunted hard and never exercised her option even though she had several opportunities. Winter allergies ended her hunting but she still talks about the deer she saw and decided to let walk.

Go hunting, learn the ways of the woods and the game you are seeking. It is a very rich experience and you can choose to drop the string or just count coup. Doesn't matter which you choose, it is all optional.

[ishiwannabe]

There is a time with every kill that I reflect on what it means to hunt. I pray for quick clean kills, and do my best to follow through on the ones that arent. I hunt to be outside, to enjoy nature. If I get an animal too, it is a bonus.
If you want to hunt, hunt. You dont need to take the shot at the moment of truth. Its all a personal choice my friend. If you want to get some pointers or some help....just ask.