Giving respect to your harvest

[sidebuster]

Sometimes we take our hunting for granted as well as the game we harvest.  I have always tried to give a small ceremony of thanks to the fallen game.  I would place my hand on the animal and  to show thanks for his presence.  

When I lived in Germany I was educated in doing this since there is so much ceremony and customs when you hunt in Germany or in Europe. The U.S. Military had special privileges so soldiers could enjoy hunting.  I lived on the economy. At that time a German citizen had to go to school for 6 months to get his hunting license.  The military personnel were speed-ed up to one month.  My landlord who has lived there all his life told me "I have not been able to do what you are doing and I live here". Before I could hunt I was told not to come in blue jeans.  Green or grey only.  I was told you are not allowed to shoot a trophy  animal.  You must earn this right by first harvesting that game which is inferior. The forest myster is with you at all times.   You will not be allowed to jump from you hunting seat and rush to see the game.  You must give utmost respect for the kill.  You will place a green leaf branch (broken off and  not cut from the nearset tree to the kill) and place it in the animals mouth.  Its call the "letzter Bissen" The Last Bite.  Another branch will be placed on the animals left side.  You will give a moment of silence and thanks to this animal for givings its life.  They are very serious about this.  No laughing is allowed during this ritual

I learned a lot about not taking game for granted there and when I came back to the states.  I going to use the last bite ceremony in any of my future harvest.

You must respect your harvest its only right.

[ChuckC]

We all have our way.  

I am not into the letzer bissen ritual, but neither do I whoop and hollar and pump my fist, or shout "I smoked him" or some other vileness.  

I just killed a critter, took its life, not for joy or fun, but because it is what I (we) do in life.  

I am quiet, introspective and do what I need to do.

I also have a thing about butchering and caring for my critter.  I was asked about that and told " you can afford to take that to the processor and not waste your time".  

I don't think so.  For now, I have the money, but. .  I feel that it is an important part of my ritual. .  field to table. I have to make the time.

We just made and smoked a bunch of sausage over the weekend.  Mmmmmm
ChuckC

[jsweka]

Wow.  That's quite a contrast to the whack 'em and stack 'em mentality displayed by a lot of hunters here in the States.  We could learn a thing or two from our German brothers.  Thanks for posting that.

[Bonebuster]

I will admit to some celebrating when an animal is down...but it is ALWAYS heartfelt and dignified. There has been many hugs and high five and tears.

I have asked for devine intervention when a blood trail petered out, and asked for help from family and friends who have walked on.

As ChuckC said (and said well) "we all have our own way"

Respect indeed...you will find much respect here on Tradgang.

[Bladepeek]

Sidebuster, I spent somewhere around 20 years there. Got to know the forester where I hunted most of the time and had free rein to come and go as I wanted. If I shot something I went by his house. If not, I showered and went in to work. I really learned to enjoy the German traditions. I screwed up once and then it was a big one. I had permission to take an old buck that was known to frequent a very small area. Almost had a shot at him a couple of times, but not quite. One day at first light I saw him slipping along a ditch. He stepped clear for a minute and I dropped him. Turned out it wasn't the old one, but a 2 1/2 year old that would have been a real gold medal buck in another 2 years. Same horns, but as soon as I got up to him I knew I'd screwed up. The forester said he had no idea what this young buck was doing so far out of his normal territory and not to feel too bad about it. Collected the old one the following year and have their horns on the wall now. Lots of great memories.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

interesting for sure. very much like my own personal
ceremony where i thank the deer for giving me his life and I place some tobacco on his side to send him on his way.

[waiting4fall]

Originally posted by sidebuster:
Sometimes we take our hunting for granted as well as the game we harvest.  I have always tried to give a small ceremony of thanks to the fallen game.  I would place my hand on the animal and  to show thanks for his presence.  

When I lived in Germany I was educated in doing this since there is so much ceremony and customs when you hunt in Germany or in Europe. The U.S. Military had special privileges so soldiers could enjoy hunting.  I lived on the economy. At that time a German citizen had to go to school for 6 months to get his hunting license.  The military personnel were speed-ed up to one month.  My landlord who has lived there all his life told me "I have not been able to do what you are doing and I live here". Before I could hunt I was told not to come in blue jeans.  Green or grey only.  I was told you are not allowed to shoot a trophy  animal.  You must earn this right by first harvesting that game which is inferior. The forest myster is with you at all times.   You will not be allowed to jump from you hunting seat and rush to see the game.  You must give utmost respect for the kill.  You will place a green leaf branch (broken off and  not cut from the nearset tree to the kill) and place it in the animals mouth.  Its call the "letzter Bissen" The Last Bite.  Another branch will be placed on the animals left side.  You will give a moment of silence and thanks to this animal for givings its life.  They are very serious about this.  No laughing is allowed during this ritual

I learned a lot about not taking game for granted there and when I came back to the states.  I going to use the last bite ceremony in any of my future harvest.

You must respect your harvest its only right.

I agree completely!    

 

[TxAg]

Different strokes for different folks. Nothing wrong with a little respect. Thanks for sharing.

[njloco]

Always show respect and give thanks, in your own way.

[D]

I absolutly hate that "I just smoked him" phrase with a damn passion.  I don't understand how all the television hunting "PROFESSIONALS" can act the way they do and they are the "rolemodels" for young hunters across the country.   I was just talking about this today.  There was a bowhunting show on the sportsman channel and there was some joker on there talking about a huge nine point he has been seeing.  He had all the usuall pictures from trailcameras of the deer eating out of a four foot circle and a foot deep of whatever bait he was endoursing.  He was doing the typical prehunt interview and it was so sad he was talking about it and he said I'm going to go out here and see if I can match witts with him and the very next frame was of him checking not one but two cameras on the same tree.  Showed him getting in the stand as he was saying we've seen from the cameras that he has been coming through here regularly.  The cameraman showed the area where he was hunting and there set another huge pile of bait.  Low and behold here comes the nine point straight to the stuff and he shot it.  I just don't get it how people can be proud of that.

[John Scifres]

I generally smile, thank God, thank the animal and honor its death by using every morsel I can eat.  I just ground up about 20 pounds of burer this weekend from last year's kills and also made some sausage.  Even then, I was thanking God for the bounty of His creation.

[David Yukon]

sidebuster, thank you!

[Stumpkiller]

I was taught to do the "last bite" with a hemlock sprig by the leader of our gun hunting group (the father of a college friend) in 1980 and have kept it up.  I still do this, after giving a prayer of thanksgiving to God and a prayer for the deer's sake.  The deer gets a sprig and the hunter gets another dipped in the blood and worn in his hat brim for the rest of the hunt; or at least back to home.  His last name was Bristol - hardly German - but it could have been passed along from who knows who in his past.

Note the sprig in this year's doe's mouth.  This, for me, was deer #39 and, amazingly, EVERY time I have shot or arrowed a deer there has been a hemlock tree within a few yards.  I just find that interesting.

   


Another tradition, that I think is brilliant, is that you do not clean your fist deer.  Someone else always did that in our group for a newcomer.  Seeing as how usually the first timer was shaking like a leaf this was a great plan.  And then they always had a demonstration for how it should be done.

[jwhitetail]

In my part of the world the native hunters would remove the lower legs bundle them with red cordage or yarn and put them in the crotch of a tree... I adopted this ritual and have done this for a long time... Also, I usually take just a moment of respecful silence when I arrive on my kill.  Thanks for this thread. I don't think this kind of thing gets shared enough.  It is a heavey thing to kill another creature and then eat it.  Many hunting cultures get it. I'm glad to see so many in the tradbow world show this kind of respect.

[Bjorn]

A mixture of emotion for me............satisfaction, gratitude, no jumping up and down, no break dancing. My son and I hunt a lot together and we often exchange a hug of reinforcement-never even thought about whoops and high fives. Let the work begin.

[El gran J]

I am happy when I kill an animal, because I worked hard for it.  I've seen many hunters who show up to ranches they reserved and paid for the year before, shoot an animal with a rifle, take a few pictures, and then never see the animal again till it arrives at their home from the taxidermist.  I respect my kill because I took it's life for my use.

[Thumper Dunker]

 Good stuff.

[Sixby]

Amen to what John and Bjorn said.
I thank God for his blessing . I respect the animals life I have taken by enjoying every bit of it to the max. I do not kill just for the fun of it. We should respect all life. Butttttttttt,. I worship the creator. I respect the creation.

God bless you all, Steve

[Uncle Buck]

I give thanks to God for his blessing. When you have the attitude that your harvest is a gift from God you cant help but treat it with respect.
If you really want to be blessed take some of the meat and donate it to shelter or other program. Ground venison is best because they can use it in chili or stew and make it stretch farther. In states with high bag limits you might even consider donating a whole deer. Many states have programs with processors to facilitate this. It also raises our image with the non hunting public.

[SteveB]

You must respect your harvest its only right.  

The only way? For some maybe.
I harvest my tomatoes. Is there a ceremony for for respecting them also? I kill animals to eat - been doing it since about the age of 5 on the farm and then the woods. Nothing mystical or ritualistic about it. I respect them in that I strive for a quick clean kill. Then the work starts to properly prepare them for the table. There is no ceremony needed for me to do what I do.