Serious hunting question

Question

how do you kill something and not feel bad about it, i have shot compound bows for about a year now & im thinking of going on my first hunting trip, but i dont think i can kill something without feeling bad about it, how do you get over it?

Answer 1

Trust me.

When you get up early, have a good breakfast, go out to your stand......rub a hand-warmer.....lay some scents down..... do a few calls......wait a few hours.,..,, see a squirrel or 2 wake up and scamper acrross the ground......you here something in the distance when....

ALL OF A SUDDEN!!!!..... boom, theirs a 8pointer in your sights..,,,, you draw back........

(All the "bad" will be replaced with a sense of joy and accomplishment.)

Answer 2

hunting is not always about the kill.my thought is that as long as your having a good time in the call of the wild youve spent your time well.my best part of the season is the time spent before season looking for sign and figuring out were to set my stand.its all about getting out.

Answer 3

Like my son he grew into it!*

Answer 4

Thumbs up to Sourdough. I've been hunting for half a century, and the day I stop feeling bad when I kill something is the day I'll stop hunting. I take it you're young and have led a fairly sheltered life. This is just one example of life's complexities, and you're likely to run into more later.

Answer 5

Don't hunt!

If its that much of a concern, you  run the risk of making a poor shot. The animal is just that, an animal, but it still deserved a clean kill.

Go buy your meat at the market. This is not a slam, I believe hunting is not for everyone.

Answer 6

sometimes when i miss i act like i am getting revenge but when you go just act like the animal did something to you and you are getting revenge.

Answer 7

The human mind is a funny thing. The more you ponder on a thought the more doubts and confusion come to play. Remember preparing for a test at school? You went over and over the study and yet could hardly sleep from anxiety. Then noticed others who could care less scored high. It’s about confidence and confidence comes with experience with the right attitude.

Instead of constantly thinking about the animal’s death, think about its home, all of the plants and animals. I have found myself studying an odd shaped mushroom only to look up and see a deer standing before me. Don’t ponder on death. Hunting is much more than death.

What you are doing is beating yourself silly for taking an animals life before you even do so. You are setting yourself up for gloom and doom.

So here is my suggestion to break free of this. Let go of the idea of killing an animal. I have gone on many hunts and the only thing I killed was a few mosquitoes. Just go on the hunt with your weapon and see how it feels to be in the great outdoors, relax and take it all in. When you do see a deer, just watch it, forget killing it, keep that out of your mind, just see how still and quiet you can be and enjoy the experience.

Now when you get home you had a great experience to think about. Then think where that deer could be; is it resting in a meadow with all of nature alive about it? Create a good vision of the deer that you could have killed that is still free. Now picture winter’s snow and that deer struggling for warmth and desperately looking for food. Will it survive? Will a car hit it on the highway? Will a predator kill it? Now analyze all that in your mind. Did you do the deer a favor not killing it or would have killing it prevented its suffering later on?

After some thought you will come to realize that nature doesn’t care one way or the other, only you do. Nature is coldly efficient, nature would care less if a bear killed and ate you.

As a hunter you are a harvester of game, if you don’t kill it nature will in time.

The more times you hunt with out killing the better you will become more in tuned to nature and will enjoy yourself.  Then the day will come when you will decide if you want to take the animal but you still don’t have to.

What I am saying is remove the “I have to kill” because you don’t have to kill. You only have to kill if you want the meat from that animal. After being close to several deer, you may find one that you want to take home. And by then you will not feel pressured to kill it, instead it will just be the natural thing to do for you.

So go hunting and forget about it! All you have is a bad case of premature buck fever.

Just remember this; hunters feel for the game they kill they are not like a guy in a slaughter house who is so numb from killing thousands of animals he could care less. We feel its death and celebrate the gift it is to us. A beautiful noble creature that we out smarted and prized. And one less to starve to death in a brutal winter. Every spring when I find the corpse of a winter kill deer I feel sad for it. That’s a tough way to go. If I was a deer I would not want to die that way.

Sorry this is so long.

Answer 8

Just remember this..>> " Hunting is Fun and Enjoyable, Killing is neither Fun or Enjoyable." We Hunters appreciate, honor, and respect the Life of each Animal that we Hunt for and Harvest.* All Life is precious to us true Hunters and Sportsman, even a Rabbits to us Hunters who Hunt and Harvest them for Sport and Food for ourselves, family, friends, and fellow Hunters.* Killing game is only part of the Hunting experience that one must come to accept within ones-self as a result of participating in the Sport of Hunting.* Best Wishes now and in the Future.*

Answer 9

You really shouldn't go hunting if you are having these feelings.  This is a hard question for anyone to answer, each person deals with things differently.

I can tell you this though, I don't really enjoy killing something.  20 years ago, I didn't give it a second thought.  I hunted, killed deer, turkeys and piles of small game.  I also trapped and took a lot of raccoon, fox, mink, muskrat, beaver, etc. and never thought about any of it.  Now, in my mid 40's, I guess you could say I've softened a bit.

I still hunt, and take at least one deer a year.  I turkey hunt and want to go bear hunting.  I know I will take a deer if I get a chance, hopefully I'll get a chance to take a bear some year.

Next year I'm going to Alaska caribou hunting, I definitely want a caribou!  I don't really think about the killing part of the hunt, there is so much leading up to the kill, the hunt.  Being in the outdoors is as important to me as the actual pulling the trigger.  I'd have no problem taking a ton of pictures and would not loose a minutes sleep if I did not take a caribou.

When your'e ready, you won't have to think about the kill, you'll just do it and that will be that.

Any person who goes to the woods and needs to kill something really isn't the kind of a person I would be comfortable hanging with.  The hunt, being in the outdoors and smelling all the smells, hearing all the sounds, seeing all the beautiful things there is in the outdoors is the actual hunt.  The final act of hunting is pulling the trigger.  A person better be happy when they pull the trigger, there is no taking that back!!

If you spend the entire hunting season hunting and don't kill anything, will you be, I mean really be, upset?  If the answer is no, then how can that be a bad thing?  Hunting is the pursuit of the animal you are looking for.  If the time comes to shoot the animal you have pursued (hunted) and you decide not to shoot, that is ok.

Maybe just being in the outdoors is enough?  I don't know, you have to ask yourself that.

I don't ever feel giddy and happy I killed an animal. I am a bit sad I took an animal, but also happy I've put food on the table and helped control an ever growing deer population.  I am doing my part to establish a healthy deer herd and keep populations in check.  I've hunted deer since 1976 and taken over 25 bucks and more than that amount of doe's.  I am grateful I had the chance to hunt and whether I am successful or not is all the gratification I need.

Good luck with whatever choice you make.

Answer 10

all ethical hunters should have that sympathetic feeling after harvesting an animal or they shouldn't hunt.  go on the hunt but don't feel obligated to shoot something if you don't want to.

Answer 11

In many states hunting is how they manage the game.  Look at examples of where there is no hunting season and the problems that result.

Bears.  All the states out west have a black bear hunting season except for Nevada.  And Nevada around Carson City and Reno have hundreds of bear encounters each year.   Out east they were having a similar problem and opened up a bear hunting season and the bear problems were greatly reduced.

Wild Horse.  Not a game animal and we can not round them up for food or slaughter.  There are now 30,000 in the wild and they are not doing so well and another 30,000 in BLM horse corrals and they do not know what to do with them.

Wolves.   Reintroduced in Montana years ago and now they are causing problems with live stock.  They wanted to open up a hunting season for them but the wolf huggers put a block to it.  So expect a lot more problems.

Now look at the big game animals.  Deer, Elk, Moose,  They are controlled in numbers by hunters so they are not out there starving to death and they are not causing problems with farmers or ranchers.   The population is healthy.   Hunters make that happen.

So do not feel bad.  If you hunt under the law, follow the rules of game management you are helping the species.   However if you are a poacher or do not follow the laws you should be hunted yourself.  You are harming the game management plan.  

Answer 12

If you don't feel bad then there something wrong with you, but don't worry you wont feel bad when your eating that tasty fresh harvested meat.

Happy hunting

Answer 13

You need to realize that man was meant to hunt.  With that knowledge, someone has to kill dinner.  Do you step up and become one in the food chain or do you let someone else feed you.  You need to think of yourself as the provider.  For me it's just a job that puts food on the table.  

Answer 14

do you feel bad when you eat a hamburger? it was once a living thing,and buy buying it you killed the animal(a cow in this case)..so look at it as shopping for dinner...fresh meat,better than any butcher shop has to offer....good luck and happy hunting

Answer 15

I agree with the other answers.You should feel compassion for the animal. That shows that you are a true sportsman ! I hate to hear someone say they are going to "bust the h**l out of one". That sounds so cruel to me. They are God's creatures and should be treated with the utmost respect. That comes when you take it quick and clean with no suffering. I am glad to see someone with a heart for nature and you are a great asset to this planet ! Thank You !