Taking an animals life

[bruzer]

I always say, "Sorry girl" when I smash a Black Widow Spider. They are such a beautiful spider but they have to go.
Mike

 

[JohnD13]

I was also raised to be thankful for and respectful of the game we had to hunt. If you shot it, you made the best shot you were capable of so the animal didn't suffer. And then you took good care of the carcass so you got the most out of it. I remember tanning rabbit skins, deer hides, and selling squirrel tails to some of the local fly fisherman for their flys. I've done my best to pass these things along to my son and grandsons.

 

[1911Tuner]

But free range hogs and cattle are just as free as deer.

Not all hogs and cattle that are raised for slaughter are free ranging, and it's not exactly the same as freedom even if they are. Conditions are often overcrowded and unsanitary. Think also of the process used for producing veal. For those animals, death is a gift.

 

[Black Butte]

OK if you're eating the animal.

Not OK if you're just doing it for no other reason than you think it's fun to shoot another living thing dead.

 

[acdodd]

I have nothing against those that hunt and I really don't have a problem with killing to eat but I just lost the desire to hunt.
I hunted for years and enjoyed it greatly.
I was always a little sad after the kill but didn't do anything special.
Then as I got older I just didn't enjoy hunting.
I don't need the meat because I raise a beef and butcher it every year and my freezer is full.
A good deer or elk steak would be nice but not worth it.
Still like to get out in the woods and have fun around a campfire but as for hunting not really interested.
My long time hunting partner has passed on and I most likely will never hunt again.

 

[Hanshi]

Just to post script what's been posted, I believe we're all obligated to give an animal as quick a demise as possible. I grew up in poverty, also, but didn't know it until quite a bit later; I just hadn't seen much of the outside world. Interesting that if you're in it you don't notice it; it's just the way things are.

I draw the line at those eight legged things as I have no sane, rational thought when confronted by them. Phobia! Some people - okay, most - think I'm crazy because I rescue animals others kill. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, etc, I'll stop my truck (where safe) and get them off the road. Other critters don't cause the same degree of weird glances, however. While I do feel a bit of sadness at a kill, I appreciate mine and the animals place in the circle of life. I appreciate the giving up of it's life and feel there is dignity in that.

 

[ZeroJunk]

Not all hogs and cattle that are raised for slaughter are free ranging, and it's not exactly the same as freedom even if they are. Conditions are often overcrowded and unsanitary. Think also of the process used for producing veal. For those animals, death is a gift.

Everybody has their own reasons for feeling the way they do. I live a few miles north of you in Browns Summit. When I was a young man in the 70's a few of the neighbors would get together and kill hogs. Mine were in a pasture and they seemed to enjoy themselves pretty well. It was my job to shoot as many as ten neatly between the eyes with a 22. I really did not like it at all, but somebody had to do it and nobody else liked it either.

If the people who think meat comes from grocery stores had to kill a few themselves along the way it might change their thinking about some sanctimonius anti hunting position is all I'm saying. Vegetarians get a pass.

 

[dirtykid]

My father always paused for a moment and said"God's creatures,all of them too" regardless if it was just before he laid the chickens head on the chopping-block or when he knelt next to a deer after tracking it for miles or disposing of a streaky-gopher from a trap,, i never got a chance to ask him who taught him that or what it meant,, but now years later in my own life ,, i get it,,, I only feel remorse if my shot was not accurate and the animal has to suffer longer than necessary

 

[H&Hhunter]

Rituals..

Oh yeah... I immediately start with the post kill chant. Eventually my eyes roll back into my head, I start frothing at the mouth and speaking in tongues. After the great spirit has completed the vision quest I strip naked, roll in the gut pile and complete the ritual by sacrificing a member of the hunting party with a dull knife and a candle.

Anybody want to go hunting?

 

[Robert]

Anybody want to go hunting?

Sure, can I borrow your truck?

 

[H&Hhunter]

Sure, can I borrow your truck?

The Great Father has chosen a new sacrifice.

 

[CZsp01]

Great thread

 

[35 Whelen]

Hogs and other animals that are bred for slaughter are never free. Their death is a release from bondage, and possibly even a relief. Wild game animals were born free and have lived free. Their death is a sorrowful occasion for me because it represents the death of a free spirit.

It's funny...I think we humans try to place our own feelings and desires into animals. Think about it...An animal such as a hog or a beeve born on a farm has no idea what freedom is just as a wild animal does not know what captivity is.
"Freedom" to humans is something we seek, desire, etc. But what is freedom to a wild hog? For one thing it means they have to hustle their own food and water, they have to constantly be on their guard for danger, they're likely infested with parasites such as tapeworms and ticks which means the food they find doesn't do as much beause a portion of it goes to feed the parasites!
Domestic hogs on the other hand live in a controlled area where there's no danger from predators, they're feed high quality feed on a regular basis and have fresh water at their disposal. Does anyone honestly think a pen raised hog looks through wire of his pen and thinks "Gee....wish I were out there...."
I grew up on a farm and when I was a teen, we raised hogs. Trust me when I say that our pen raised hogs had a MUCH better life than their wild cousins. They were fatter, cleaner, ALWAYS had food to eat, water to drink and mud in which to wallow, and the best medical attention when they were ill. And unlike their "free" cousins, they never had run for their lives, they never had to avoid a cactus patch, were never hit by motor vehicles, and they never had to watch for danger.
What more could an animal want?
35W

 

[1911Tuner]

Domestic hogs on the other hand live in a controlled area where there's no danger from predators, they're feed high quality feed on a regular basis and have fresh water at their disposal.

Sounds like an Animal Farm utopia to me, and if they knew their ultimate fate...I'd wager that they'd bust down the pens and make a break for it...rough life or not.

Does anyone honestly think a pen raised hog looks through wire of his pen and thinks "Gee....wish I were out there...."

How do we know that they don't? We keep the gates closed for a reason, after all.

It's funny...I think we humans try to place our own feelings and desires into animals.

After working with dogs for the better part of 30 years, I don't do that because I know that I can't...but I also know that they're a lot more like us than many people would care to know. The desire for freedom is strong in us all...be it man or dog...or hog, I guess.

 

[cottswald]

I agree, there's a big disconnect for sure. I used to feel pretty sad, but then I think about all the meat I've eaten in restaurants or from the store... Animals are dying to feed people, if you decide to eat meat you probably shouldn't be too sad to kill one. Therefore if you are so sad about it that you can't hunt, you probably shouldn't eat much meat. If you don't see it die then it's easy to forget, but that doesn't make it any more right to eat it if you think it's wrong to kill animals. Killing is just part of living, this is a pretty fundamental concept of nature. It's only easy for us (humans) to forget since we don't have any predators and our meat comes from the store. And so people condemn the butcher while paying their salaries. Bugs me.

...free range hogs and cattle are just as free as deer. AZ is full of free range cattle, I see them all the time when I'm deer hunting; same habitat, same habits, same feed, same watering hole. AND, they run from you when you get close. They're looking for what's coming, just like the deer. The only difference is that most of the deer go to predators, and most of the cattle end up on dinner plates in fast-food joints.

wankerjake, I admire your thought process!

 

[cottswald]

If the people who think meat comes from grocery stores had to kill a few themselves along the way it might change their thinking about some sanctimonius anti hunting position is all I'm saying. Vegetarians get a pass.

Great point ZeroJunk!

Most of us are in fact carnivores. Everytime you bite into a steak or a Quarter Pounder you are in fact responsible for an animals death. People just don't like to think of it that way, and many of those same folks won't hesitate to condemn a hunter. OH THE HYPOCRACY!!!

 

[wankerjake]

Everytime you bite into a steak or a Quarter Pounder you are in fact responsible for an animals death.

Man, that is fundamental. People just don't think about it, and when you point it out they choose to ignore it or argue about it. That's one thing I like about hunting; I enjoy the sport of it very much but also it helps me to recognize how things work in the world outside the city. Living in nature and living in society are two different things altogether.

Sounds like an Animal Farm utopia to me, and if they knew their ultimate fate...I'd wager that they'd bust down the pens and make a break for it...rough life or not.

Well the deer know their ultimate fate, which is death by predator. They watch for predators all day...and so do free range cattle. They have no idea that one day a rancher will herd them up, load them into a trailer, and take them to slaughter. And even when penned in a pasture, the animals are not unhappy, they aren't overcrowded and miserable until maybe right before slaughter in the holding pens. They graze, they eat, they are mostly predator free...they have no sense of wanting "freedom" in the sense that we do. They are animals. And when cattle do break out of pastures, they don't truck all over the country to be "free." They stop at the first spot the grass is green and chow down. It's no conspiracy, they are just animals. I guess my experience and interpretation of livestock is similar to 35Whelen's.

Hogs and other animals that are bred for slaughter are never free. Their death is a release from bondage, and possibly even a relief.

Well that raises another moral dilemma: if one thinks that the animals raised for people to eat are treated unfairly and unjustly so much that he thinks killing them is doing them a favor, then maybe he shouldn't partake in creating demand for this behavior by eating them. Food for thought

 

[Bushido81]

After my caveman genes and the adrenaline dump have subsided I thank the animal and I thank God for bringing it to me. I then make sure I use as much as I can and what I do not need/want I give away.

 

[Gromky]

If the people who think meat comes from grocery stores had to kill a few themselves along the way it might change their thinking about some sanctimonius anti hunting position is all I'm saying. Vegetarians get a pass.

A good position. If someone has firm beliefs, and actually acts upon them, that's something to respect. Even as a hunter and omnivore, I can entirely understand the ethical decision to be a vegetarian. However, I was gaming with a bunch of friends and friends of friends last year and mentioned I should probably be in bed, because I was hunting in the morning. One of the girls commented that I should stop talking before she went "PETA on my ass." I resisted the urge to ask if she meant kidnap me under pretenses of finding me a home, kill me, and throw the body in a dumpster to rot.

As far as after the kill, slightly sad...but grateful that it was clean. Happy to be successful. I don't tend to anthropomorphize or humanize, it quickly becomes meat to be retrieved, much live visiting the supermarket (but much more work).

 

[flipajig]

I have read this thred and some of the posts are verry good alot of thought went into them.
I am a HUNTER I do hunt every year. I was raised to give every thing a fair chance. I have never ground shot a bird once the bird was in flight and if I missed thats the way it goes.
I hunt with a Bow,Pistol,Rifle and Shotgun I enjoy the whole experiance the ground work all the prep from scouting to loading my own ammo to tuning my bow. So that when I make the choice to pull the trigger it will be as clean and ethical as possible.
I have seen people who dont know where there meat,milk,eggs and other items that you get from the your local market come from. They think that it is made there.
I was raised on a farm so killing a cow,pig,and a chicken happend when needed and wasent given a second thought.
As for killing a deer,duck,phesent or what ever I feel excitement and im thankful for the experiance as I have stated before actually killing the game is the icing on the cake.
Now ther is another thought back in the early 80's in Idaho there was a major problem with Jackrabbits (verry distrutive)
we would kill them just as fast as we could and as many as we could the magpies and other critters ate verry well.
Its the same as the pig problem now you watch on youtube about shooting pigs out of a chopper running them over with trucks traping,shooting them and leaving them lay.
When wild animals become a problem they need to be controled any way you can just as long as it is ethical.
Dose this make me a bad hunter I dont think so.
I gues this is the farmer comming out of me.
Its not all about the kill but the whole experiance the camp fire and the prep the comradarey
I also have mounts in my house in my mind it is all part of the experiance.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

I feal something too............ recoil!

J.B.

Ha Ha How original

 

[hunt]

"quote"/ One of the girls commented that I should stop talking before she went "PETA on my ass." \ "quote"
i have been in this position as well, however i had asked her how she knew the plants
she loved to kill and eat had no feelings as she felt the "hunted" animal did
she could not then or now for that matter 15 yrs later answer the question

i am and have been a hunter since i could walk through the woods and fields with my dad
i hunt deer,waterfowl, varmints,small game, etc etc ...
i am like the other person here between stage 5-6 i believe it was
sportsman\educator
the excitement of anticipation is still there as it was when i was a kid waiting in the dark
sleepless to hear my dads alarm go off signaling the time to arise and retrieve his ducks
on opening day
but now its in the excitement to teach a willing student in my daughter in law to be,
my son being taught since he was very young to shoot once make it count and if need be the followup must be quick and effective. as well as not to kill it just because you can

 

[dadof6]

its a serious thing to take a life of any kind. I would be concerned for those that feel *nothing*. I don't think a calloused heart makes us more 'manly' or whatever. Just cold. that kind of attitude scares me a little.

Without a sober acknowledgment of the seriousness of death - I wonder how we could really appreciate life to its fullest?

 

[X-Rap]

I have trapped and hunted for over 40 yrs and in that time I guess I have stopped thousands of hearts. I don't know if it's calloused or not but having been raised to understand mans place in the food chain and nature I don't really have great emotion when I take an animal with the exception of putting a dog down who has shared his life with me.
As I sit here I have a constant companion of 12 yrs lying in the doorway and just thinking of what will soon befall us brings waves of emotion.
Is it hypocritical to value a good dog or horse but be able to burn up a barrel shooting prairie dogs? How about taking fur bearers only for the value of their skins? Or an bull or buck for its rack?
I hunt for food and trophy and try to keep store bought meat to a minimum but have never gotten real spiritual about it but I have over the years definitely put beings other than humans into separate classes or categories and that dictates their value to me.

 

[biggameballs]

I usually feel bad for a bit and try not to kill young deer. I figure if I let them live until they're mature at least they got to experience life for a while. Plus it makes me much happier to know I out smarted a wise old buck and be able to honor the majestic animal on my wall.