Felt guitly after hunting Animals.

Question

Felt guitly after hunting Animals.

I went pigeon shooting and I shot a few Pigoens.Afterwards I felt sad and a little guilty. The thing is I like shooting and have been involved with fieldsports since I was about 10. I never actually shot anything though untill now. Im worried Im just not cut out for it and my shooting days are over.

Im 15 by the way.

Thanks

Answer 1

that is COMPLETELY normal. I  am 16 and started hunting with airguns and bows wen i was 14 and felt bad at the beggining. After the first few it just becomes routine. The thing is that you should feel bad if you just shoot something and leave it there but if you eat it you are putting it to good use and there is nothing to feel bad about.

Answer 2

Dont feel bad , just change the animals you hunt.

Answer 3

Perhaps hunting is not for you.  It isn't for everybody.  Nothing wrong with that.  You do not have to hunt to enjoy the shooting sports.  For rifle and pistol, there are all kinds of target shooting.  For shotgun, there is skeet, trap, sporting clays, etc.  Look into the other  shooting sports besides hunting.

Answer 4

Public education, the media and disney probably had a lot of influence on you. Everything you eat as a human has been killed at one point or another, the meat you eat, the vegetables you eat, something has to be sacrificed for you to exist. If you don't eat what you kill, then don't kill it unless it is a pest. If you like shooting, don't give up, shoot targets, a gun is a tool, you can use it as a weapon, or getting food or for fun. Your choice!

Answer 5

Well, I am sorry to hear that. I think it will become easier to do the more you do it. If the feeling never goes away, you may be cut out to be a non-hunter. Don't become an anti-hunter though, because then I will get angry.

Answer 6

When you need food and hunt for only that reason it's totally different, If you felt guilty maybe it's because you shot for the wrong reason!*

Answer 7

If you feel guilty about shooting animals, then you have NO business shooting them

Answer 8

Consider a career in interior decorating.

Answer 9

To let you feel better it's probably true that you saved someone from being pooped on.

Answer 10

I suspect what you identify as guilt isn't that at all, but regret. I've been hunting several times longer than you've been alive, and I always feel regret when I kill something. And if I ever stop feeling the regret, that's the day I'll stop hunting. You know that hunting is a positive sport, and it helps the game populations in general. But it doesn't do so for the animals you shoot, obviously. There's often a disconnect in life between the general and the specific, and complex thinking is one of the things you'll develop over the next ten years or so (we hope! some people never seem to grow up).

Think of this as a parallel: I'm a doctor, and often I give shots or even perform surgery. A needle or a knife isn't a nice thing to put to somebody's skin, but the overall good demands the little harm.

Answer 11

Hey I know how you feel. I'm 15 also and I felt a little nervous after I killed my first animal, which was actually a rabbit.

I've killed many squirrels and rats since then. It's more of a sport now, not a guilt trip.

This may sound odd, but once you shoot a few more, it will probably grow on you.