after your shot?

[coonhound]

I don't really have a ritual, but I do always give thanks to our Lord for the experience and the gift.  This years deer was very tough and hard earned, I made a marginal shot with by bow and I had to track him for an hour before I recovered him.  I think I put a little extra effort into my thank you, I was really getting discouraged with myself thinking that I might have wasted the deer.

Coon

[robb92]

I sit and thank the lord for giving me the chance to harvest the animal. Then I gut and clean and butcher the animal. 

[ICEMAN]

What Muleyslyr and BTKR said. I honor the game by taking care not to waste, by enjoying the animal. I honor the game around the fire with good drinks and good friends.  Pictures.

[edmondshunter]

My buddies back in Montana, take a bite of the heart.  We also wear the blood of the animal on our faces like war paint. 

[cohoho]

Growing up with whitetails in WV, we always had just a quick moment, normally while Dad was catching up to us to reflect the hunt, most of the time Dad said "hurry the heck up, your brother has one down too..."

As I got older, it kind of developed into a brief thanks for the animal sacrificing for us type deal and a way the knives would fly.  It wasn't until the first Moose my son (11) killed, a little spike fork bull, (it was in a draw YOUTH SPIKE FORK ONLY area) he made a great shoot, it didn't go down, he had to hit it again, it still didn't go down and started moving away.  I had to hit it with a .338 as it was going to the timber, a bit tramtic for him at the time, seeing all these shoots into the animal at about 70 yards..  When we approach it, my son was very uneasy looking at the small bull that was down. He never batted an eye over the couple of Black Bears he had by this point in his life, so I kind of shrugged it off, said our stuff and got to work........   Later that night in camp, he awaken me to proceed to tell me about his dream of how the young bull keep looking at him from the laying position and the bull kept asking "why me?"  I think in his mind he related to the young bull as an equal somehow.  From the point on, everytime he and I harvested an animal, we did an extra moment of silence and reflected on the reasons why it was a good hunt and how the animal would be utilize within our household and how all the other animals will benefit from it being down also..... 

[RightPlace-RightTime]

After my shot I feel the success of the "Thrill of the Kill".  I hunt hard and long and after the success of downing an animal I am proud of my accomplishment.  Just admiring the animal when you walk up to it after to shot is something special.  Of course making it back to camp to tell the story next to a fire and beer in hand comes to mind.  After the shot, captures another memory for the books.  Backstraps on the same day kill in camp could'nt get better.  After the shot knowing you will have a freezer of meat is the best bonus.  Trophy or not, its always good to get an animal down.
My Dad started me hunting when i was 13, Me killing a deer at 14 for my first.  It was the best even when i was young,  His tradition after a shot was a shot of belly warmer that he would always carry in his pack,  He would have a bottle for years.  That only taking a drink after a kill.  Something special my dad and i do still when we are together,  Then a beer when we get back to the truck.

[PolarBear]

 I dont waste any time in getting it gutted, boned out and packed out as cleanly and efficiently as possible.  That is my form of respect.  I ususlly hunt alone so there is no gawking or picture taking involved, just work.  When I was younger, we use to sit around the fire the night of the kill and get piss drunk with the head of our new "buddy" sitting on a chunk of wood beside us.

[Skyvalhunter]

When you get "Piss" drunk is that where you get so drunk you end up pissing yourself? Or is that because the rest of the night all you do is piss? When I hunt alone I prefer to hunt by myself!!

[ICEMAN]

Yeah, I have wondered about that phrase too.... I get pissy drunk when we have an elk in camp. Maybe it is because I end up peeing a bit closer to camp that night.... 

I will have to try it again, and look into that.....

[catwithboost]

Yeah, I have wondered about that phrase too.... I get pissy drunk when we have an elk in camp. Maybe it is because I end up peeing a bit closer to camp that night.... 

I will have to try it again, and look into that.....

Ok thinking about that it is Funny. LOL

[PolarBear]

I always took it to mean that you have drunk enough that you pee it out as fast as you drink it in.  We always had a 5 gallon bucket in the corner of the tent for such occasions.

[dbllunger]

"Piss drunk" I was told it meant you got so drunk you pissed yourself either awake or asleep.

[ICEMAN]

... . We always had a 5 gallon bucket in the corner of the tent for such occasions.

Yummy, nothing smells better than an open vat of urine in your tent....   

[rosscrazyelk]

I normally get back in my truck and come back after dark and wait til the land owner is a sleep.. LOL Just kidding.. I thank the lord for the privledge to hunt and thank him for my bounty..

[mossback91]

I run in circles yelling hey ya ya ya hey ya ya ya then Ill scream aaaaaaaoauuuuao. Then I chuck my tomahawk at the nearest tree.