Free: Contests & Raffles.
I DO T FEEL REMORSE. The realty is we are the top,of the food chain and I have respect for people that are willing g to do there own dirty work . I love nature and being part of it . I don't mind passing young game looking for throphy class it just gives me more time to sharpen my skills . Like blrman nothing is better than the sound of a arrow finding it's mark it gives me a true since of accomplishment. I as well respect vegetarian life styles I don't respect hip critical people ho shun us hunters while they sneak down the meat is seat safeway. Use nature and enjoy what we have in the end all animals will die and provide nourishment for the other wild life . If I make a bad shot I feel disappointed in my skills or judgement I get past it knowing that nature wastes nothing it all part of the life cycle.
I think I know how you feel. When I was younger, I used to be most excited about taking an animal. My outlook has changed since I've grown older. For me, the challenge is about in the preparation for the hunt - the planning and the scouting. Getting out there at 5:00 a.m. when it's 37 degrees and raining or after a good snowfall...walking down a logging road with your son or daughter...or a good friend. It's about the experience. Taking an animal is bittersweet and I always say a prayer of thanks for delivering the animal to me. I'm still passionate about hunting but it's for different reasons now.
I find this to be a very interesting topic, thanks for bringing it up! As a young hunter, my blood lust was very high, I just had to punch my tag. Now that I'm older, the punching of the tag has less importance.When I was younger, I had something to prove to others and a family to feed. Now that I'm older I don't feel the need to prove anything to anyone, plus it's just me and the wife now, we raise beef now so the venison is not quite as important. It would have been interesting to know the age of all the folks that posted to this thread, I bet we would see as one gets older, these feelings start creeping in. And yes I do at times feel hesitant at times, before the shot. But that feeling usually doesn't last long.....
Have you ever watched the nature channel? Seen bear, wolves, big cats or hyenas' kill an animal? We are the most humane killers of big game on the planet! Even our ugliest kills are far less cruel that what comes naturally in the wild. Our only guilt should come from not utilizing and/or respecting the nutrition and amazing gifts God has given us. I believe most hunters appreciate what hunting and the time spent in nature gives us in return. We are not synthetic beings. To sustain life, life has to be given in return. Whether that is fish, fowl, animal or plant life should make little difference in the grand scheme of human life. As long as we give thanks and do not abuse our responsibilities as stewards of this earth we should live guilt free. For our only option in opposition is death.The animals we pursue as sport hunters have been born into freedom. Does the fact that the human race has become proficient in bearing life in the confines of captivity change our obligations of guilt? Should our hunt and gather instincts be demonized because of industrialization and new social standards? Should we apologies for not following the sheep of a civilized progressive world? Does burying our heads in the sand believing meat comes from stores somehow insulate us from responsibility of lives taken to sustain the human populations of this planet?Somehow modern society has progressed in a way that we judge everyone's actions without accepting the ugly truths of human and animal life. We consume living things and receive our own life as a result. Whether we choose to eat those life forms born into captivity or born into freedom, whether we choose to eat life forms with no central nervous system or those with cognitive function, whether we choose to eat living organisms with the life span of three months three years or three decades matters only in our stewardship of sustaining and supporting that life. We are the creatures God created. And if we are willing to accept that then pulling the trigger, charging our visa at the butcher or trading labor to a farmer for a pound of grain should all remain equally respected and guilt free.
I cannot say I feel guilty about killing an animal, but as others have said over my lifetime I have come to appreciate the beauty of these animals we pursue. I no longer have the sense of urgency to take an animal, I find myself ok with eating my tag, and just having some quality time observing them. I have started trying to instill this into my children, both of which have taken animals every year they have hunted. My daughter held off several young bucks this year, and ultimately missed a good buck on our last day of the regular season. My son had a late buck tag, and even with us observing dozens of bucks a day he chose to hold out for a mature deer. We only ended up seeing a couple of deer that were what we were looking for, and things didn't go as we hoped so he chose to end his season with an un-notched tag as well. I could not be more proud of either of them.
