Coming out of the closet

Status
Not open for further replies.
The guy went out and opened his trunk and the deer jumped out and ran.
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Surprise!!! Once when I was pheasant hunting with a buddy when I was about 16, a pheasant flew out of the trunk of my buddy's car when we got back to the house. It scared the crap out of both of us!
The pheasant didn't get very far though. The dumb thing flew across the road and straight into a telephone line, which either knocked it out again, or killed it. We didn't take any chances either way that time. My buddy walked across the road, picked the pheasant up, and wrung its neck.;)
 
One thing that MAY be bad about that law is, I have heard tails of people running down animals with thier rigs on perpose , though that may very well be a urban legon.

I sux @ the spelling

In some places it may be an urban legend, for my late uncle it was relatively common.
 
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Surprise!!! Once when I was pheasant hunting with a buddy when I was about 16, a pheasant flew out of the trunk of my buddy's car when we got back to the house. It scared the crap out of both of us!
The pheasant didn't get very far though. The dumb thing flew across the road and straight into a telephone line, which either knocked it out again, or killed it. We didn't take any chances either way that time. My buddy walked across the road, picked the pheasant up, and wrung its neck.;)

My grandfather had a squirrel wake up in his game pouch once. That was not pretty.
 
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein
 
Well, not long after I got bored of shooting at soda cans and decided to shoot at a bird, and hit a bluejay. It flew off, but left a ton of feathers behind and I got that sick pit-of-the-stomach feeling that I had killed something.

Well that's one bird I've shot on numerous occasions without much remorse. I used to walk a trail in the woods with my .22 and on more than one occasion I decided to plug a blue jay because they were going and knocking smaller birds nests all to hell and battering them out of their nests. I never knew them to do that and never talked to anyone who's seen the same thing but it happened 4 or 5 different times and I felt something should be done about it.

Then years later I started wondering if the smaller birds i used to see get knocked around and their nests battered right out their trees were starlings, I then started to wonder if the blue jay was doing my job, as starlings are an invasive destructive species.... not sure, not really up on all that stuff.

I mercy killed a deer with broken legs once, that didnt really get to me too bad but once a kitty ran under my wife's tires and she begged me to leave work and find and end the suffering. It didnt go over well, I lost alot of faith in .38spl that day and also felt like crap, 6 cylinders later....
 
I don't think you're odd for feeling how you do. You might think I am, though. If it walks, crawls, or flies in N. Arkansas, I've probably shot it. . . . . dispatch a critter, .... I look on it as a job that someone has to do, and that it should be done as quick and efficiently as possible. Not only for the sake of myself but for the critter's too. There should be no joking about it, etc. Respect and dignity to the end. You wouldn't do that to a condemned man, so why would you do it to an animal?

Like I said, maybe I'm the odd one.

Mac
I grew up in N. Arkansas, and I think your attitude is pretty common there. I've known a bunch of hunters and cattle farmers up there, and most of them would have echoed your words. It's fine to enjoy the hunt, but you eat what you kill, and you don't let the animal suffer. Same thing with animals that had to be put down. It may have to be done, but you do it quick and clean.

Which reminds me of a story from about 25 years ago. I saw a bird fly into a plate glass window and break its wing. It was just a little 'tweety bird,' and not going to survive. So I picked it up and wrung its neck. Unfortunately, the plate glass window was on a hotel and I hadn't considered the fact that a whole bunch of people on the other side of the plate glass window might come to investigate. They looked horrified, like I'd grown a tentacle in the middle of my forehead.
 
I gave up deer hunting. Just too many tics to deal with.

If you mean ticks, I hear ya. they are really getting scary. I practically take a bath in the Prevention lubes for myself and clothes. Lyme Disease a serious and potential deadly infection. Had one cut out of my neck last season. Doctor said in was smart to get to him within 24hrs. Have a friend that was a beautiful woman new paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair. Snake galore where I hunt, run across Black Bears all the time. They never even give me a second thought. But ticks. That is another story.
 
I kill bugs simply because I don't like them on or in my house. Or on my flesh, speaking to you Mr. Mosquito.

I haven't hunted or had to kill an animal in a long time. Currently, we like to watch all the tree rats and birds around our house.

BTW, the red tailed hawks around here cull the squirrel and white wing dove population fairly well.

I have fed the wild critters here for many decades. Love watching them. The Squirrel's sometimes cause more work when I have to keep them out of the house but to me worth it. We have some large Brown Hawks here that make a swipe now and then, never seem to nail anything. We also have either Coopers or Sharp Shins (not good enough to be sure) that seldom miss. They will swoop in and chase down one target and seldom fail. To me its they have to eat too. One girl long ago who loved watching with me was horrified when she saw this. I told her what do you think they eat? I fatten them up, they ring the dinner bell. She was NOT amused. I tried to explain to her the Hawks kill the slowest, weakest, and keep the rest healthy. It's just how it works. She still could no longer watch <shrug> To me it's just too cool when I get to see one of the hunters get a meal.
 
Well that's one bird I've shot on numerous occasions without much remorse. I used to walk a trail in the woods with my .22 and on more than one occasion I decided to plug a blue jay because they were going and knocking smaller birds nests all to hell and battering them out of their nests. I never knew them to do that and never talked to anyone who's seen the same thing but it happened 4 or 5 different times and I felt something should be done about it.

Then years later I started wondering if the smaller birds i used to see get knocked around and their nests battered right out their trees were starlings, I then started to wonder if the blue jay was doing my job, as starlings are an invasive destructive species.... not sure, not really up on all that stuff.

I mercy killed a deer with broken legs once, that didnt really get to me too bad but once a kitty ran under my wife's tires and she begged me to leave work and find and end the suffering. It didnt go over well, I lost alot of faith in .38spl that day and also felt like crap, 6 cylinders later....
Actually, that is probably the start of my bleeding heart now that I think about it.

When I was very young, maybe 5 or 6, my dad made me watch him chop the heads off a nest full of starling chicks just a few days old. Maybe that is a lesson that needs to be learned, but not at THAT age. To me, they were just babies, no matter what kind of birds they were!
 
I’ve killed maybe a dozen turkeys. Last time I went hunting, there was a HUGE gobbler in the corner of the field. There had been two birds over 30# taken on that farm, and he was every bit as big.

I had been after him all year. It was the last day of season. I walked over a mile to circle around him. Did a hand and knees crawl through a woods to stay out of sight.

Got to him about ten minutes before legal shooting time ended. He stuck his head above the weeds. Easy shot. I clicked off the safety, watched him for about thirty seconds, clicked the safety back on and walked out. I beat him. My hunt was done.

He was still there to make more little birds.

One thing virtually no one understands is the importance of African hunting as it relates to conservation. A hunter will pay maybe $10,000 or more for a trophy fee for one animal. The money pays for rangers to control poaching. Otherwise, poaching will obliterate the animal population. The money from one animal pays for thousands of hours of ranger time.
 
Last edited:
I’ve killed maybe a dozen turkeys. Last time I went hunting, there was a HUGE gobbler in the corner of the field. There had been two birds over 30# taken on that farm, and he was every bit as big.

I had been after him all year. It was the last day of season. I walked over a mile to circle around him. Did a hand and knees crawl through a woods to stay out of sight.

Got to him about ten minutes before legal shooting time ended. He stuck his head above the weeds. Easy shot. I clicked off the safety, watched him for about thirty seconds, clicked the safety back on and walked out. I beat him. My hunt was done.

He was still there to make more little birds.

One thing virtually no one understands is the importance of African hunting as it relates to conservation. A hunter will pay maybe $10,000 or more for a trophy fee for one animal. The money pays for rangers to control poaching. Otherwise, poaching will obliterate the animal population. The money from one animal pays for thousands of hours of ranger time.
Something I never considered, and a very good point!
 
I'm not a hunter. I have never been a hunter. In fact I share the OP's attitude of respect for all animal life.

That said, I also realize that hunters are an indispensable part of the gun rights coalition. This is the one group that even antigunners concede has a justifiable need for guns. Sure, there are more people that primarily use guns for self-defense, but the hunters are more visible and more untouchable (from the point of view of the general public). We need them as a public face of gun ownership. (Provided they are not shown trophy hunting in Africa -- that part is a public relations disaster.)
 
I have fed the wild critters here for many decades. Love watching them. The Squirrel's sometimes cause more work when I have to keep them out of the house but to me worth it. We have some large Brown Hawks here that make a swipe now and then, never seem to nail anything. We also have either Coopers or Sharp Shins (not good enough to be sure) that seldom miss. They will swoop in and chase down one target and seldom fail. To me its they have to eat too. One girl long ago who loved watching with me was horrified when she saw this. I told her what do you think they eat? I fatten them up, they ring the dinner bell. She was NOT amused. I tried to explain to her the Hawks kill the slowest, weakest, and keep the rest healthy. It's just how it works. She still could no longer watch <shrug> To me it's just too cool when I get to see one of the hunters get a meal.

Lolol. :D
 
In my book, OP need say nothing, goes without saying - absolutely fine by me - I can also understand and relate to his perspective - God bless him. In turn, I am like a little kid this time of year, anticipation of deer season - I simply love to deer hunt. God bless both of us.
 
Whatever works for you. I don't think you have to hunt to be a man or a gun guy. Growing up my father didn't hunt. He was a farm kid. He had grown up with Granddaddy doing whatever it took to keep 9 kids fed. They ate a lot of small game (there weren't any deer in GA until the 70's when they imported them from Virginia, the farmers had killed them off years before).
One boy I grew up with used to hunt with an air rifle in the little spot of woods in between subdivisions where I grew up. I spent a lot of time woods walking with him. When we were both around 17 or 18 he & I went hunting together a couple of times but I wasn't really serious about it. Not too long after that my guns were sold off due to my fondness for partying. I would get into a bind & sell whatever I could to get out of it. I got out of that & even acquired some guns but still didn't hunt. Then one day when I was in my 30's I went by a female friends house. Her husband was in the back yard practicing with a bow, getting ready for archery season. I walked out to speak to him & he handed me the bow & told me to shoot the target. I did. He was shocked that I hit it The next thing he said was that he needed a hunting partner. He got me into a club & pretty much taught me how to deer hunt. I hunted with him a couple of years then life happened & I got out of it. I seem to go through cycles of hunting & not hunting. I haven't been in several years now but it has never bothered me to pull a trigger whether hunting or to eliminate a problem. Sometimes that somewhat bothers me but I do not kill for pleasure or just to kill. There has to be a reason.

I also agree with the person that posted they just enjoy being in the woods. I honestly enjoy sitting still & quiet & getting to watch the woods. There is a lot to see.
 
I always told the students taking the state Hunter Education class that you should take the death of any game seriously. Some people have no qualms others are hesitant. If you decide to hunt you need to realize that you are indeed taking a life and should do so as humanely as possible.

We also need to realize that sometimes it is necessary to balance the population. If in doubt you need to read the history of Kaibab Plateau. Teddy Roosevelt declared the Plateau as a Park and made it off limits for hunting. Then he called in professional hunters to rid the place of all predators. The deer population exploded until there were so many that the natural food sources were so depleted. Thousands of mule deer starved. In fact, you could is the browse line as high as the deer could reach fifty years later.
 
If you decide to hunt you need to realize that you are indeed taking a life and should do so as humanely as possible.

For sure, and even then some folks aren't up to it. I don't say that in a bad way or a macho way. Some people don't mind it and some can't do it, and both are fine.
My wife is someone who thought she wanted to hunt with me. So we went shooting, and she enjoyed it, though the .30-06 was a bit too much for her. So I went to a local shop and did a little trading (parting with a nice Remington 11-87 that I didn't want to let go) and got her a nice bolt .243, then put a Leupold VX-1 on it for her.
After that we go hunting, she shoots a deer the first time out and damn near cried. Doesn't want to ever do it again. And it wasn't a bad experience either. It was a bang/flop. Deer never made it out of its own shadow. Very minimal suffering.

The problem I have occasionally is when things don't go exactly right, and if you've hunted long you've seen it.
I saw a doe get gut shot and we lost the blood trail. Got a dog on it and found the deer about 3-4 hours later, still alive. It was after dark and we didn't have a gun with us. We found the deer, and the guy who shot it didn't have his hunting knife either. All he had on him was a pocket knife. I had nothing because I had finished my hunt and was just along for the ride, helping track. I won't make that mistake again.
I won't go into detail, but that was an experience I'll never forget and hope I never have to see again. That poor deer did not have a good time of it and I felt terrible.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top