Do you feel guilty after pulling the trigger?

[fastdam]

Like a few others said, when the hey are bug eyed looking at me as I aproach. I let coyotes walk sometimes and always love to observe the unaware ones. I think boils down to two things, if I feel guilty or not: #1 I love the healthy fresh meat supply, and#2 I love to hunt and kill, so thats how its gonna be.

[Romulus1297]

What would you do if they jumped up in the back of the truck? You would slam on the brakes  to knock them back down.

[Turner89]

I don't feel any remorse, or guilt. I love and respect animals as much, or more than most bunny huggers I think. I'm the guy that friends and family call to put old, or wounded pets and livestock down. Not because I get a thrill out of it, but because it just doesn't bother me.
 I don't hunt for the thrill of the kill. It's all about the hunt for me.

[predatorpro]

What's guilt?

[rasbo]

no guilty feeling here,just a great respect for the animal,and the hunt.I always give thanks for the two

[Hilltop123]

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.....   

[elkrack]

I've never felt remorse or bad about killing an animal, just pure excitement and happiness that I filled a tag, whether it be a cow, or a 6x6 bull. The past few years I have changed a bit after the kill. I still feel the same after the shot, but when I get to the animal I always run my hand down its side and thank it for giving its life to feed me and my family.

Exactly the same here

[Southpole]

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.....   

The gentleman I know were changing around their 50's.

[Hilltop123]

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.....   

The gentleman I know were changing around their 50's.

Makes sense, I'm 48.
Used to be, in the advanced hunter study material. A small book, I don't remember the author or the title, but it had to do with the 5 stages of a hunter.
The author roughly said, as we age our outlook and goals of the hunt change. I found it to be one of the more interesting pieces of material, in the study packet. Maybe someone on here has more information on the book, I would not mind reading it again.

[luckyman]

I don't feel remorse or at least very little but have gone from if it legal I'm on it to only looking for antlers to close shot from a blind to traditional archery. the only thing left would be video & photography. At 52 I want my tag to last the WHOLE season.

[Thehowler]

Always get that tear in my eyes while notching a tag, my tag, my beautiful  tag.

[bigbeamhunter]

When I shoot an elk or deer that I have no history with I do feel a little remorse. And I always give thanks before the work begins. But there have been two instances where I shot a deer and an elk that I hunted for many years. There was excitement after the arrow left the bow on my elk and when I pulled the trigger on my deer. But as I walked up to them I was saddened it was over it was more than remorse. Although the accomplishment was great it was as though I lost a friend that was a big part of my life.

[jtw]

I feel no remorse before I shoot but I can say I don't take most the shots presented. I had a bad experience with a ill placed shot about 4 years ago and since then I've only taken perfect shots. I've passed up a lot of deer I would've shot when I was younger but the thought of how that one deer suffered still messes with my head and honestly, if I knew that would happen again I don't think I'd hunt anymore. I have no problem with a clean kill but making an animal suffer unreasonably is not worth it for me.

[greenhead_killer]

No remorse, except when the tag is punched and I know my year is over. I enjoy the whole process of this craft, death is just part of it. Like mentioned earlier, maybe that picture taking thing is worth a closer look. Good luck on straightening out the thoughts.

[McCRIZZLEY]

yup totally. That's why I stick to waterfowl and small game. I know that it doesn't make a lot of logical sense, but my remorse level for these species is less. I'll hunt waterfowl all season without feeling too bad, but haven't brought myself to pull the trigger on a deer/elk/bear yet. I really place importance on putting in full effort for retrieves and harvesting as much as possible from each kill. I'll spend all day trying to find the bird that vanished rather than keep hunting.

I think a large part of this is that I never had any family that hunted and had to teach myself. Spending so many years out in the woods and on the ponds without being able to connect really makes you appreciate the hunt and the animal more. Almost too much.