Going soft hearted

[NYBowhunter]

1 hour ago, Tughill Tamer said:

I wouldn't go as far as saying I have trouble pulling the trigger, but with every passing season it becomes less about the kill for me and more about quality time spent afield with family and friends.

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I couldn't agree anymore, the best time I had hunting this year was taking my dad who is 82 up the mountain in my UTV to retrieve my buck, just me and him.  Killing a deer is a very small part of my hunts. I enjoy spending time with family at camp and the very best part is butchering deer at camp, waking up on a cold morning, cup of coffee, wood stove going butchering and talking for hours.

[fasteddie]

I agree that just getting out there is great . I was fine with being able to hunt with two of my sons and not getting a deer until November 23 when I got two doe . MY sons try to make themselves available for the hunts and they do the field dressing and almost all the dragging . Being able to get out with my sons is enjoyable . When it comes time that I no longer feel the excitement of the hunt , I will quit .

[chrisw]

I can relate. But that feeling even crossing your mind means your head is in the right place. Too many hunters have zero remorse (or respect) for the animals and it makes me angry. Wounding deer and non chalantly shrugging it off really gets to me. I feel "bad" every time I kill one. But I combat that with quick kills, salvaging all of the meat I can etc... It's not all about the meat although it's my top priority next to age class of the deer I kill. It would be a lot easier and way cheaper to buy my meat but I also think that being the necessary part of the process (the killing) puts your perspective right. Noone should take killing anything lightly. Deer feel pain, like we do. I don't want to be the cause of tremendous pain to anything. I only hope that my own death is in some way a reflection of what I strive for in the woods, a quick, humane death. I've seen some gruesome hits on deer only to find them the next day still alive and can't help but imagine what that animal went through. I also think the longer you hunt and the more kills you have the lust of killing fades and you appreciate just observing and enjoying the world around you as you see your own demise growing closer. My father was big into hunting when I was young, hence why I am even more so than he was. But the last few years he has refrained from pulling the trigger on much of anything. The reality of death sets in differently the closer you get. I'm only 35 and can see myself changing already, I may even quit hunting one day in the future. Who knows? If it happens then so be it, I've made a lifetime of memories already to look back on...

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[wolc123]

3 hours ago, Zag said:

Did it a favor? That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard in awhile. Sorry Eddie

Imagine a deer having 3 of its leg busted by an F-150, stumbling around for a week on stumps, them getting finished off by a coyote.

[Nomad]

15 minutes ago, chrisw said:

It would be a lot easier and way cheaper to buy my meat

What I spent on gasoline alone this hunting year would fill my freezer with one trip to the meat market . Something that is starting to make me think .

[ncountry]

I always have a bit of sadness after killing a deer.  Especially deer . Because I spend so much time watching them...I know better than to Anthropomorphize deer but sometimes it happens. 

This year I shot a 60# fawn(thought she was 100#.). .I shot her with my bow. A whole story that goes with it, but not too proud of the shot . I had to chase her down and finish her off . I felt terrible. Cute little thing, long eyelashes and all.;).

But as sad as I feel at times I still love it . Weird eh?  I feel worse for ending a fawns life for 30#s of venison when I could of waited a year and doubled that. Never feel so bad that I want to quit hunting though.

[chrisw]

What I spent on gasoline alone this hunting year would fill my freezer with one trip to the meat market . Something that is starting to make me think .

I think about that sometimes too.

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[chrisw]

Imagine a deer having 3 of its leg busted by an F-150, stumbling around for a week on stumps, them getting finished off by a coyote.

You can't assume that the deer was going to die some horrendous death as justification for killing it either. Doesn't work that way. Maybe that deer lived to be 12yrs old and died in it's bed of "old age."

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[wolc123]

2 minutes ago, Nomad said:

What I spent on gasoline alone this hunting year would fill my freezer with one trip to the meat market . Something that is starting to make me think .

Could be a lot worse.  At least gasoline is at an inflation-adjusted all time low this season. 

[Nomad]

2 minutes ago, chrisw said:

I think about that sometimes too.

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But then we’re hunters , like you said being part of the process and all .

I could make a couple thousand easy cleaning gutters in the Fall, that could sure fill the freezer .

Venison for most is the most expensive meat by far . 

[Bionic]

I thought i was the only one.  I had a very difficult time this year with the crossbow buck I killed.  I sat there leaning against a tree pretty upset, for a good half hour.  I finally walked over to the deer, looked up and thanked god for what was provided.  Then sat there awhile with the deer in tremendous thought.  It all means so much to me.  I had a difficult time explaining what had actually happened during the kill, to my family.  
 

I feel their is an enormous disconnection with society, as far as how meat is brought to the table.  We as hunters directly experience it...we all handle it differently.

Edited December 9, 2020 by Bionic

[chrisw]

I thought i was the only one.  I had a very difficult time this year with the crossbow buck I killed.  I sat there leaning against a tree pretty upset, for a good half hour.  I finally walked over to the deer, looked up and thanked god for what was provided.  Then sat there awhile with the deer in tremendous thought.  It all means so much to me.  I had a difficult time explaining what had actually happened during the kill, to my family.  

You will never be able to explain it to a non hunter in words they can understand. Hell even some hunters don't get it. It's frustrating trying to convey a passion that someone who doesn't do will get. Especially because hunting involves killing which seems emotionless to most.

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[Bionic]

1 hour ago, chrisw said:

You will never be able to explain it to a non hunter in words they can understand. Hell even some hunters don't get it. It's frustrating trying to convey a passion that someone who doesn't do will get. Especially because hunting involves killing which seems emotionless to most.

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Agreed

Edited December 10, 2020 by Bionic

[wolc123]

I was never comfortable with the raising and slaughtering of domestic livestock.  Something just didn't sit right about it with me, caring for them for a year or more, until "butchering time".   It just felt like some type of evil trickery. 

Hunting has freed me from that moral dilemma.  I can't imagine going back.  I actually prefer the taste of venison over beef, and it is a lot healthier.  I am extremely thankful that my wife and daughters also prefer venison.

I have never felt the slightest remorse at taking the life of a deer.  Rather, I feel that awesome freedom of not having to rely on someone else's "trickery" to survive.  I feel especially sorry for those folks who eat only poor, defenseless vegetables.

Killing a long-lashed doe fawn might bother me a tad, but I have not taken one yet to find out.  A buck fawn, on the other hand, is always cause for celibration.  I have lost count of the number of those that I have killed thru my 39 seasons, but it has to be well over a dozen.  

It seems to be almost an every other year thing for me.  This should be a year for one, since my last was in 2018. It will have to be with my ML, because I am done gun hunting for the year.

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by wolc123

[luberhill]

Yea I hear ya.. this year was tough for me .

Killed a nice doe opening day , the. Two days later went to get one for a family I am friends with .

Shot a doe and hit it but never found it ..I did all the right things tracking it. I had some blood and hair .. 

Think I hit her in the leg..

I waited , followed the blood, it stopped ..I made three passes thru the woods from one end to the other , up and down wicked steep ravines ...

I spent almost three hours ..i left and went back the next morning and spent over two hours covering every inch I could ...

Sweating like a pig up and down super steep banks , every brush pile and thicket ..

Never found her ... it still bothers me more than the ones I’ve killed 

[blackradio]

I understand it. Last year I killed 2 bucks and went out late season to hopefully fill a doe tag. On the last day I had two doe run off the hill ride and hung out in front of me eating acorns at 10 yards. I liked watching them just continued to watch for 45 minutes and just didn't feel right shooting them. Not sure why but just wasn't in the mood.

[Four Seasons]

6 hours ago, Skillet said:

Hahaha. No, I enjoy the meat and I LOVE the hunt. It's the kill that is starting to bother me.

  I went thru the same thing. I myself went to only killing mature deer. I make it a point to find 2-3 bucks worthy of shooting and then hunt those deer. Trust me. You will lose a hell of a lot more then you will ever win but when you do get the chance to pull the trigger you will smile because you know you earned it against a beast that has also beaten you a few times.                   Go back to Hunting......Not just Shooting because you have a tag and it may have some kind of bone in it’s head.  Make it Worthy.             Anybody can kill the dumbest deer in the woods in The fall. A Yearling whitetail. 

[BizCT]

I shot my last doe in 2000, and my last 1.5 buck in 2012. Videotaping them in range with my iPhone is enough of a thrill for me. And trail cam pics really excite me. I checked my trail cams a few times this year during the season and didn’t even carry a weapon. I’m a big believer in killing what makes you happy is most important


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[Four Seasons]

6 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

I shot my last doe in 2000, and my last 1.5 buck in 2012. Videotaping them in range with my iPhone is enough of a thrill for me. And trail cam pics really excite me. I checked my trail cams a few times this year during the season and didn’t even carry a weapon. I’m a big believer in killing what makes you happy is most important


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 True that. But imagine being that guy that calls himself a “Hunter” but only kills baby deer?         Can’t even begin to grasp that one.  

[Lawdwaz]

6 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

 True that. But imagine being that guy that calls himself a “Hunter” but only kills baby deer?         Can’t even begin to grasp that one.  

Similarly the guy that pays to shoot a deer in an enclosed pen and calls himself a Hunter.........weird huh?

[Four Seasons]

16 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

Similarly the guy that pays to shoot a deer in an enclosed pen and calls himself a Hunter.........weird huh?

   Yup and they both carry about the same weight in the hunting world. 

[Zag]

2 hours ago, wolc123 said:

Imagine a deer having 3 of its leg busted by an F-150, stumbling around for a week on stumps, them getting finished off by a coyote.

There was nothing wrong with this particular deer. To say you did it a favor is highly inaccurate and I think disrespectful to the life of a deer.  If it’s wounded then yes you did it a favor. I have never shot a perfectly healthy deer and thought I did it a favor. But to suggest saying you did the deer a favor by shooting it based on events that may or may not happen throughout a deers life is insane. 

[Lawdwaz]

5 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

   Yup and they both carry about the same weight in the hunting world. 

True dat.....

[Lawdwaz]

6 minutes ago, Four Seasons said:

   Yup and they both carry about the same weight in the hunting world. 

And then there's guys that pony up the cash to get pleasured by a hooker.........oh wait, never mind. 

 

[Four Seasons]

4 minutes ago, Zag said:

There was nothing wrong with this particular deer. To say you did it a favor is highly inaccurate and I think disrespectful to the life of a deer.  If it’s wounded then yes you did it a favor. I have never shot a perfectly healthy deer and thought I did it a favor. But to suggest saying you did the deer a favor by shooting it based on events that may or may not happen throughout a deers life is insane. 

Exactly. Not shooting that baby could have very well offered him a long healthy life.