your first kill: how difficult was it for you?

[gaseousclay]

yes, I own this t-shirt

[hooligan1]

Gaseous is that a pink shirt???? Right on man!!!! I sport the Breast Cancer Pink also!!! Pretty cool dude!!

[Art Eatman]

BMP, it's not at all uncommon to sorta ease off of wanting to actually shoot something. My problem noadays is that I can't eat a whole deer. So, I'd rather set up hunting opportunities for friends, and mostly hunt the campfire. Sorta pass along what I've learned over nearly seventy years of messing around outdoors.

But there's always somebody who'd be happy to have a chunk of deer meat...

And horns nailed up on a garage joist are memories. As long as I'm alive, those bucks are sorta immortal, at least long beyond what nature would have given them.

[Prof Young]

Hunters:

I too "feel" that moment when I take a deer's life, but I also think it connects me to the real world. I don't feel for the cow, or chicken, or tuna I eat. Maybe i should. On the other hand cougars, sharks, and preying mantis don't feel a thing when they take down their prey.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young

[cole k]

I grew up with it. Grand Dad had a farm and I spent 2 to 3 months a year on the farm.
In those days “the country life” meant that you raised, killed, and butchered most of your meat and you raised, picked, and canned your vegetables and most fruits. Hunting and fishing was also part of it.
I guess was 3 when I saw my first animal killed and butchered.
The only time I felt bad was when I didn’t make a clean kill.

[tcox4freedom]

I really can't remember my 1st kill. It was either "gigging" frogs or killing a nest of baby "robins" with a brick when I was six. (The mother was either killed or had abandoned them.)

Today-
I don't hunt much anymore due to health reasons. But, my uncle is a "world" renown hunter. I also know a whole bunch of hunters. (blue collar to pro)

The experience of the hunters I know, as well as myself, has always been one of mixed feelings:

I've always experienced: comtemplation (of life & death), anticipation (of the harvest), admiration (of the quarry), satisfaction (of a "clean" kill) and sadness (nature has lost some of it's beauty and majesty).

Some feelings present themselves again later: contemplation (blessing from God), anticpation (of how it will be utilized) and again admiration (of it's sacrifice).

There is also a satisfaction you get from making provision for your family.

ALL of these feelings have been happening to me every time I've hunted since I was nine years old. They also happen irregardless of the species harvested.

ETA:
The one thing that NEEDS to be understood by all anti-hunters is: "Without hunting, MORE animals tha hunters take would die a MUCH, MUCH more horrible and slow death.

(We are beginning to see a LOT more cases "wildlife" starvation and disease taking place; especially in places that frown on hunting due to developement or animal rights activists influence.)

[Edward429451]

I have been killing small game my whole life and did go big game hunting for years before connecting. I forget my first small game kill, no big deal. My first big game kill was in 08 and was the easy classic standing broadside shot at ~ 80 yds at a mule deer. I hit her high left of the shoulder and took out her spine and she collapsed and rolled right there but did not die right away. SHe had her front legs goin and was flailing her head all over making a finishing shot from that distance unlikely so I began making my way toward her and she started crying and wailing with the most pitiful sound you have ever heard and it did make me feel bad for the moment. I quickly dispatched her with a followup but I wont forget that sound. It did not turn me off to hunting at all it was just sad to hear for the moment.

[nefprotector]

I dont mind killing game. But I hate cleaning game.....:barf:

[butta9999]

MIne was pretty tough i had to shoot a rabbit off my dads shoulder. Waving all over the place. I was 6 years old...............

[noelf2]

I dont mind killing game. But I hate cleaning game.....

+1 !!! PITA

[USAF_Vet]

My first kill was an Iraqi insurgent with an RPG... a little off topic, I know. But every animal I've killed since then hasn't bothered me as much as I thought.

My first big game kill was a 150 kilo Russian boar... stalked and killed with 9 foot boar spears.

[namlot1979]

My first kill was a squirrel with a .22 and it didnt really bother me at all. For some reason when I am hunting and see game (deer, squirrel, rabbit, etc) I admire them and respect them but as soon as I kill one the animal turns to food in my mind. Maybe this is not politically correct or moral but it is just how it goes for me. It is like how when I sit here and read and reply on these forums i refer to my weapons (shotgun, rifle, bow) but when I get into the woods I know longer think of them as a weapon I am carrying but as a tool I am using to harvest food for my family...as for the original poster, I think you need to give some serious thought to your whole "think I wanna see if I can kill something" attitude....you better be sure one way or the other before you even step foot into the woods with a firearm or bow

[namlot1979]

not impressed or even amused by #61's opening remark, giving great thought to leaving this forum

[USAF_Vet]

Well, since it wasn't designed to be either impressive or amusing, do what you need to do. The post was about first kills, and that was mine.

[hogdogs]

Yep, Namlot, The guy posted a legal kill in the hunt section regarding "how hard was it..." He did state that since whackin' a human, the animal kills ain't so hard... Just the opposite of me explaining to my teen daughter who was holding a rabbit in her hand she had just killed, that if you can kill that innocent bunny, you should feel no emotion before shooting a person intent on doing you harm and the emotion following the event should be trumped with the satisfaction that you took matters into your own hands to prevent another from imposing their intentions on her while trying to over ride her GOD GIVEN RIGHTS as an american citizen...

Leave if you wish! But the guy wasn't a free lance merc posting kill stories in S.O.F. magazine!

Brent

[imacanuk]

for me it's just one interest among many interests that I have gained over the years. the idea of hunting has only become a recent thing for me. I don't know what it was exactly but the idea of hunting my own 'food' was appealing. again, I think it's because i've never killed anything in my life that I'm asking these questions. it isn't necessarily about right or wrong either, but more about whether or not I have the stomach for it. I think I do, but I won't really know till I try.

Really? You've never killed anything before? You've never been fishing and kept a fish? You've never put out a mouse trap or poison? You've never swatted a fly? You've never squashed a bug or spider at all? You've never smacked a mosquito?

Even insects are animals. They are a part of nature and have just as much a right to live as a deer or rabbit or elk. But you kill them without a thought. Why? because they bother you, and no other reason. Do you eat the mosquito? I don't. Oh, but insects don't count. Why? They're still animals. Just because they're not large and furry they don't count? That's a bit hypocritical.

I admire that you're venturing out into a new sport, and a new way of thinking. Don't think that you've never taken a life. You have, I'm sure. One life is as important as the next.
I do hunt and I enjoy it. I kill deer and eat them, but I also kill gophers by the hundreds and do not eat them. I have to admit that when I put down a large ungulate I do feel a smidge of remorse. But I also do when I nail a gopher and it flops all over. I also do when I smack a trout in the head and I feel the life leave it. I still eat the trout, and it tastes great. But there is as smidge of remorse there. Last night I squashed 3 spiders in my yard. I felt a lot less remorse than when I kill a deer. But, logically there should be no reason for less remorse, just because it is an arachnid and not a mammal.

If you didn't kill and eat the deer, you'd be killing and eating a cow. Maybe not killing it in person, but you'd be paying for the meat, and so killing the cow vicariously. Just like if I pay a hitman to kill someone, I'm still resposible even though I didn't pull the trigger.

Life feeds on life. If we didn't feed on life [whether plant or animal] then we'd die. It is the way it is.

Go shoot a deer, and be thankful it gave its life to support yours, and be thankful things weren't the other way around.

Cheers

[imacanuk]

MIne was pretty tough i had to shoot a rabbit off my dads shoulder. Waving all over the place. I was 6 years old...............

Why was a rabbit on your Dad's shoulder? Good shot, though, especially for a 6 yr old.

[USAF_Vet]

"That rabbit's dynamite!"

"Run away!!!"

[markj]

USAF vet, thanks.

[imacanuk]

When I was a kid I followed my Dad when he went hunting a lot of years before I was old enough to carry the gun. One time he brought along a friend's son, who was excited to shoot a deer. After some walking we saw a doe standing broadside at about 60ish yards. The other kid lies prone to take the shot and says the gun won't fire. Dad takes it and looks it over. Dad gives the gun back and says 'It's fine. Shoot!' The kid still won't shoot and says the gun won't work. Dad takes it and looks again. "It's Fine! Shoot!" After what seems like forever the deer walks away. Dad takes the gun and asks the kid "Was it the gun, or was it you?" The kid looks at his feet and quitely says that he just couldn't kill the deer. Dad gets on his knee in front of the kid and looks at him straight, and says "That doesn't make you a bad person. That's fine. It may make you a bad hunter, but that's also fine. It's not for everyone, and you shouldn't feel bad. Just be honest with yourself."
So, to the OP, when it comes to the moment of truth, you'll know whether or not you want to end the deer's life. And if you don't then that's fine too.

[Kreyzhorse]

I'm a hunter but to me, killing a deer or antelope is a hard thing to do. I've done it and I'll continue to do it, but its a damn serious business taking the life of another animal.

After the animal is down I have conflicted emotions. I'm proud, I'm happy, I'm thrilled but I'm also respectful of the life I've just taken and I'm also a bit sorry for what I've done.

In that sorrow, I've never once regretted pulling the trigger mind you. One can't truely hunt unless one kills and I'm a hunter.

You've got a lot of things to think through if you want to hunt and you'll certainly have a few more after the hunt is over. Good luck.

[Pahoo]

imacanuk
Thanks for sharing this with us and hope you don't mind if I use it during our next Hunter Safety Class. This is exatly one of the things we teach the young students and it really take the pressure off them. As long as we have a Walmart, we don't have to hunt but if we choose to do so, that's fine and ethical. I remember one mistake I made some time ago, by asking a young lad why he wanted to hunt. He replied; "I want to kill something". We had to give this lad a bit more attention than the others and eventually he understood that hunting has little to do with killing. ....



Be Safe !!!

[Edward429451]

In my family, everyone cleans their first big game animal without gloves.

Pardon me, but what do gloves do? I've cleaned 2 deer and an elk and I was in em up to my elbows each time...

[hogdogs]

In my family, everyone cleans their first big game animal without gloves.

Well in MY family we take off gloves to clean EVERY dead critter... Never know what is on them gloves...

Brent

[cole k]

Gloves???
I've NEVER worn gloves when cleaning game. I've been cleaning game for over 50 years.