Just wondering...

[ezypikns]

How many of us have ever shot a living creature with a firearm and have observed first hand the effects of a gunshot?
Handgun, shotgun, rifle. Or an air rifle, it doesn't matter. For the record, I am a hunter and have killed not a few deer and many birds (doves, quail, ducks, a few turkeys).
This is not intended as a slam against those who do not hunt. You have made the choice not to hunt and your choice should be respected here and elsewhere. Most of my shooting these days is at the range.

Thank You.

 

[K3]

I've hunted for years. When field dressing a deer, the thing I notice most is the soup that used to be lungs and heart from a properly placed shot.

I wonder if Hollywood has any clue as to what a .30 cal bullet does when it hits bone...

 

[exar]

Seen enough to know that a well placed .22 will solve most of my critter problems.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Not a hunter but grew up on a farm. Have never actually enjoyed shooting any living thing but haven't dodged the necessity when it presented itself.

High power air rifle or .22LR vs rats (many times over the years)... Okay, got a sort of vindictive satisfaction on that one 'cause I really hated those rats. A variety of hit locations but 95+% one shot instant fatality.

.243 Winchester (Remington 760 pump)... Woodchucks, the occasional possum, and one summer I had to shoot three rabid dogs. For whatever reason most of my 'chuck shots were clean headshots. Gruesome but instantly fatal.

Remington 870 pump (12ga)... Mercy shot on black angus cow with broken leg (stepped in a woodchuck hole, that's why we shot the 'chucks). Worst scene I've ever had to deal with.

.357 magnum pistol... Mercy shot on deer hit by a truck. That one was also pretty awful as the deer kept thrashing around and was hard to hit.

.38 special... drew and shot an extremely aggressive copperhead snake. I freely admit that it was pure luck that I hit true.

 

[NevadaDep]

I have always wanted to hunt but, I just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger.

Interestingly enough, I find it very easy to pull the trigger on a human being.

Maybe it has something to do with true innocence.

 

[Hemicuda]

I have shot and then processed squirrel, rabbit, and most Michigan small game, bear, whitetail, blacktail, and mule deer, elk, antelope, moose, coyote, hogs, cattle, wild boar, and most other North American game...

YES, I know firsthand what a bullet does... I learned that from accompanying my father out hunting at the ripe old age of five...

Do you REALLY ever expect Hollywierd to get a clue?

 

[mdao]

No.

I've lived in the city and major suburbs all of my relatively short life, and have owned pistols and revolvers for the last couple of years. I've never owned a shotgun or a rifle. The GSW effect observations I've had have been in hospital settings.

 

[frostbiker]

I watched with great sadness as a gut shot deer ran off into the brush this season. My first true AD and my first ever gut shot deer. Fortune was favoring me as the deer's position and the timing of the shot allowed it to be a mortal wound. The bullet raked from inside the right hindquarter through the thoracic cavity. Turns out, the trigger assembly in my rifle had some dirt inside that my last cleaning attempt missed.

My dad and I hunt with handloads we build up every year. We try different powder and bullet types to see what is best. He's more interested in damage caused by the bullet than I am. I'm more interested in the accuracy of the load and my shot placement.

 

[average_shooter]

I've taken a few squirels and pigeons using 12 guage, .22 lr, and an air pistol (once). I'll never try to kill anything with an air pistol again, learned that lesson the hard way. Oh, and I took a snake with a .45, also too difficult, will likely never try again, have to agree with being lucky to have hit the snake...
It has been a bit of a learning experience. Learning that things don't actually get "blown away" like in the movies. And I've learned that one must use the right tool for the job.

 

[BHPshooter]

Yep, I have shot living creatures with all three -- rifle, shotgun, and pistol.

It is not pretty. So far, the wounds that I have found the most shocking are the ones caused by my handguns... I'm not sure why.

The experiences certainly ground you in reality.

Wes

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

I have shot deer with a high powered rifle, upland game and waterfowl with a shotgun and some rodents with an air rifle when I was much younger.

 

[TallPine]

Yeah, and the results are not exactly pretty.

It's just something you have to do if you want the meat and/or want to get rid of the vermin like rattlesnakes, porcupines, gophers, and marauding dogs.

Although I sorta got to enjoying killing gophers

 

[Snarlingiron]

I have always wanted to hunt but, I just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger.

I am a hunter, and have killed animals with rifle, shotgun, handgun, and air rifle. I have never done the archery thing. A very good friend of mine loves firearms and shooting. He hails from South Africa, and when he was attending college here he was dating a girl whose family owned a ranch in Louisanna. He went deer hunting with her family and shot a nice doe. He said when he approached her she was not dead yet, and she raised her head and looked him in the eye, and he knew that he just couldn't shoot another animal. I respect that. I respect even more that he gave it a shot, and decided it is not for him (read the quote at the bottom of my posts).

The experience certainly does ground you in reality. I happen to believe that the human animal is an innate hunter. It is part of our basic make up. In todays world, most are so far removed from it that the exposure to what makes us all tick i.e. blood, muscle, and bone is repugnant to many. I think it is reality itself. If you are going to eat, something is going to die. It is the natural order of things. When you have a burger, you should know what that means. The cow did not die of natural causes, and if it did would you want to eat it? No, someone killed it, skinned it, gutted it, and processed it into the burger. When you are too far removed from that then I believe you have lost part of what makes us human. Quite contrary to some of the folks that believe that killing any animal is "inhumane". We are the ultimate preditors.

 

[MJZZZ]

While hunting 2 years ago, I took my soon to be son in law hunting. In fact he asked for her hand that weekend. I let him use my rifle and as he drew down on a nice buck, it jumped and he hit it in the front leg. We watched it try to run, and he shot at it again through the scope but we were too close. I ended up killing it with a .45, needless to say it was not pretty. It was the first time I had to watch an animal struggle for life upclose, as my motto is "one shot, one kill". It has stuck with me ever since and he has not hunted again, but it didn't stop me from using my one bullet this season. Mike Z

 

[Steve Wynn]

I've hunted more than 40 years. Wound effects....hell the only thing I see when I'm dressing something out is the the vision of the cooked meat.


Steve

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

I have knocked deer @@s over tea kettle multiple times. Once on a running shot I hit one and spun her around violently with my 1903A3, dead as a doornail. Slammed one and knocked that 200 lb buck completely off his feet with an 8mm mauser when I was 17 years old, I will never forget that one. I shot another deer that jammed it straight up a bank 3 feet and watched it roll back down only to splash into a river, I got it out in 24 degree weather and that's another story to tell. I have shot other deer that simply fall where they lay with the same caliber and the same type of bullets from the same box of rounds. Shot into the same area (behind the shoulder). Go figure. Shooting is violent and if you don't understand that then don't eat meat. Don't ever go to a butcher house and watch what they do by the hundreds everyday if you cannot accept it. It's a part of life.

 

[BullfrogKen]

The last animal I shot was a groundhog off my deck with a then newly pistolsmithed 9x23. It dropped dead right there.

Hunted deer occasionally; groundhogs I hunted with a passion. The most devestating hits were with my .308 "Groundhog rifle" that I loaded 110 gr V-max's for. They would do all manner of carnage. Completely remove guts - once I shot a pregnant groundhog in the "hind end" from the rear and found the embryos next to her. I've shot plently in the mouth/head and it pops the eyes out.


I don't hunt now for several personal reasons. I'm not against it, I just choose not to do it anymore.

 

[SwampFox]

I've been hunting since I was 14. Plus I grew up on a farm where we butchered our own pigs, chickens and rabbits.

Not really sure what the question is about but harvesting meat is a messy business.

 

[Snap]

I have hunted for about 10 years now, mostly waterfowl, pheasants and some pocket gophers. Mercy shot a mouse in a glue trap and a garter snake that went through the lawnmower with an air rifle as well. Just a part of life to me, I guess. People need to eat, things die, and so it goes.