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Hunters Remorse After the hunt

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posted on Jun, 23 2013 @ 08:55 AM
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This may sound a bit crazy.... but, get a ferret. I have one, she's friendly, loves people and playing with them, never bitten anyone. Watching her "weasel war dance" is hilarious.Some you get at pet stores haven't been handled much, so watch your fingers til they get used to you. Collect the urine and spread it around the property. I had moles til I tried that. I just took her out on the property and let her roam while I kept an eye on her. I let her mark or investigate where ever she wanted, but didn't let her go down a hole. They got the message and cleared out.

en.wikipedia.org...


For millennia, the main use of ferrets was for hunting, or ferreting. With their long, lean build, and inquisitive nature, ferrets are very well equipped for getting down holes and chasing rodents, rabbits and moles out of their burrows.



posted on Jun, 23 2013 @ 09:07 AM
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reply to post by camaro68ss
 



I have a 30-30 Marlin that was my dads. It was the gun i got my first kill with, a hog back when I was a kid.

It was early morning and we were out hunting. I had been in my spot for about an hour, and the sun was just starting to break. Very, very cold.

All of a sudden i see half a dozen small hogs come out of a tree line. I know that more will follow, and the longer you wait the bigger they are. So i waited, and waited. First those little piglets. Next a few 30lb oens. Then a couple more 60-70 pounders. Then when I could wait not more, a 130 pounder walked out of the tree line.

Knowing you only get 1 shot before they scatter, I made sure I sighted him in well. I breathed deeply, reminding my self to squeeze the trigger, not pull the trigger. Went through the entire mental checklist, then set my aim right behind his left ear. Even a 30-30 round can deflect off that thick coat of armor on the skull. And a body shot spoils the meat. Right behind the ear....that is the sweet spot.

Then i squeezed. BAM....a loud recoil. Since i wasn't at the range, i didn't have ear protection on, and my ears started ringing.

The bullet hit him right where i was aiming. It hit him hard, having only gone about 100 yards. He went airborn, flew in a helicopter pattern, and then landed after doing a full 360 in the air. When he landed he twitched. A lot. For a long time. "Twitch" doesn't do justice. He kicked violently for a while. With it being my first kill, i was unsure if he was dead or not, and wanted to stop the kicking. THere was no squealing. So i took out my sidearm and put another 3 or 4 rounds in his head (i was carrying a 38 that day). He didn't stop kicking, and dust was flying everywhere.

It was a life altering event. The realness of life and death became completely focused. And I understood that killing was not a sport. You don't high five over it. YOu do it somberly, with respect. With reason. With good reason.

If you had to eat, you would kill that deer without pause.



posted on Jun, 23 2013 @ 09:10 AM
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Originally posted by blupblup

Originally posted by TheRedneck
I am a big proponent of hunting; I love venison, and like about any kind of critter we have around here: rabbit, squirrel, turtle, snake, even possum and raccoon. But I don't think I have ever killed an animal without some part of me wishing it hadn't had to be. That doesn't stop me from killing it, if it must be killed, but even putting down a rogue dog that is attacking makes me somewhat sorrowful for the animal.




But you don't have to kill them?

You have stores/shops near you I'm guessing?

So you don't have to shoot any animal, saying that you wish it didn't have to be seems like lip service, it doesn't have to be, you're choosing to do it.
edit on 23/6/13 by blupblup because: (no reason given)


You don't think that ground beef and chicken quarters you buy at the store is picked off the "dinner tree" do you? Regardless of how it is procured anytime you eat meat you are responsible either directly or indirectly for taking a life.

I would personally rather eat grouse and pheasant or chicken that we raise than to eat chicken from the store and same goes for our beef and lamb. Besides lacking the hormones and antibiotics of farm raised meat, there is the fact in my mind that at least the animal I kill out in the wild for food has lived a free life and been free to enjoy its life in the natural setting that nature intended it to live in.

Ever been to a chicken farm, or dairy farm? The chickens are kept in small crowded cages, sometimes millions to a chicken house, with no chance ever in their lives to move or enjoy any symblance of truly living. Same holds true of many dairy, turkey, and dairy farms. And don't even get me started on veal, those animals are treated in a way that IMO is torture.



posted on Jun, 23 2013 @ 09:31 AM
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Originally posted by Nucleardiver
You don't think that ground beef and chicken quarters you buy at the store is picked off the "dinner tree" do you?



I'm not a retard, of course I don't.

But I don't spout off about how guilty I feel about buying meat and how awful it is, and then go and keep eating meat, which was my objection to the post I quoted.





Regardless of how it is procured anytime you eat meat you are responsible either directly or indirectly for taking a life.



Yes, the animals that I eat are bred specifically for food, they wouldn't exist were it not for farming.
I don't go into their environment or into the woods and kill stuff.

And I am not the person who said I feel awful when killing stuff.

It's like a psychopathic killer saying they feel remorse for their last victim, while then going out killing more people.





I would personally rather eat grouse and pheasant or chicken that we raise than to eat chicken from the store and same goes for our beef and lamb. Besides lacking the hormones and antibiotics of farm raised meat, there is the fact in my mind that at least the animal I kill out in the wild for food has lived a free life and been free to enjoy its life in the natural setting that nature intended it to live in.



I absolutely agree with you on that,
Rearing your own animals is absolutely the way to go.... no problem with that at all.

I'm lucky that in my country, hormones aren't used and we actually have a ban on importing US beef because of the crap that's pumped into it.
We also banned battery hens/chickens and they have to have a decent amount of room, sunlight and activities too... not just crammed in a cage and left to stew in their own filth, those days are long gone.

Buying farm animals or rearing your own, in my mind, is not the same as going out and just shooting whatever you feel like eating, as the guy I quoted said he did.

And I don't feel bad every time I eat meat.... I don't weep for my food, If I did, I'd stop eating it.

It's completely hypocritical what the guy said, which is why I pointed it out.





Ever been to a chicken farm, or dairy farm? The chickens are kept in small crowded cages, sometimes millions to a chicken house, with no chance ever in their lives to move or enjoy any symblance of truly living. Same holds true of many dairy, turkey, and dairy farms. And don't even get me started on veal, those animals are treated in a way that IMO is torture.



As I said, not in my country, thankfully.

If I lived in the US, knowing the crap that you pump your animals full of, I would be veggie by now I'm sure.



posted on Jun, 26 2013 @ 12:29 PM
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Sometimes hunting is not for food but to protect food populations.

Not long ago they reintroduced wolves into the northern part of my state.. Needless to say as that population exploded they expanded into territories to which they were not intended to be re-introduced.

Outside of the control area in my state they are considered predatory and are basically a "shoot on sight" animal.

The issue is they did not reintroduce American Timberwolf but instead the larger and much more aggressive Canadian grey wolf.

They are decimating elk populations that serve as a food source for many of us around here.

In my hunt area there is an extremely large pack of wolves that I will be doing my part to cull this year.

------------------------------------------------

Personally OP I would be gravely disheartened were you not to feel remorse after taking a life. That would make you a sociopath.

I never feel good after I take a life, but I do what I must in order to either preserve the beautiful wildlife around here or to feed my family.

It is important to make that distinction..

I personally have a huge problem with "horn hunters".. You know... people that kill for fun.



posted on Jun, 26 2013 @ 12:34 PM
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taking a life is never an easy thing to do.

remorse is a good sign.



posted on Jun, 26 2013 @ 12:54 PM
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reply to post by camaro68ss
 


Bless your heart. I know what you are feeling.

When I was a teenager, I was with my boyfriend at his ranch. Before then, I have never handled a gun. He handed me his gun to teach me. There was a rabbit in the distance and he told me to aim for it. In some freak twist of 'luck' I made the shot and hit the rabbit but did not kill it. It let out the worst sound I've ever heard like a wheezing scream and made a dash into the brush. His dogs went after it and finished it off.

WTF? Why did I do it? What harm was that little rabbit doing to me? What was going through my mind? Why such a needless use of an innocent creature as target practice? What was wrong with me that I picked up a gun and shot one of God's animals so carelessly?

I was never able to forgive myself and to this day I make it my mission to 'harm none' including insects. I would only make an exception for self defense.

I don't hunt, fish, kill bugs, and as of recently, converted to veganism. I just don't like the thought of taking another creature's life force to sustain my own. That rabbit incident haunts me to this day. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and club myself in the back of the head with a 2x4 to prevent me from shooting the rabbit.



posted on Nov, 5 2014 @ 11:17 AM
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I had to try and overcome this problem. I get the job done now, but I can't say I feel good about it in the way I see other hunters behave.

I began shooting all types of firearms as a kid. In North Georgia, there were plenty of opportunities to shoot and hunt, but my Dad wasn't a hunter, so I shot at targets exclusively well into my 30's. I've always revered all types of life, so it was with mixed emotions when I accepted an invitation to go on a guided pheasant hunt with a couple of buddies.

They were both hunting types, and I had long heard about their weekends shooting ducks, deer, and whatever else was in season. They had no idea that I was - and am - a very good shot, so I think they thought they were going to have a little fun at my expense watching me blast at air or whatever. That was most decidedly not the case.

We arrived at the property in western Arkansas and hooked up with the guide and his dogs. Off we went, the dogs scurrying around in the brush trying to scare up the birds that had been raised for this purpose. Finally, a dog went on point and the first pheasant took flight. My initial thought was, 'Wow, that thing is slow!' (not to mention huge) so I was surprised when my buddy shot and missed the crossing bird from about 75'. He made some lame excuse, but my mind was now 'in the hunt'.

It was decided that I would take the next shot. It wasn't long before one of the dogs scared up another bird, and I put it down easily. Yes, there was an adrenaline rush, and so it went while we all bagged our five bird limit. The hunt wasn't without incident, though. I took my five with five shots, all immediate kills. One of my friends clipped a bird and I watched it hit the ground, then stand and begin running across a field. It was about a hundred yards away and my friend was just sort of ambling towards it. Man, I was hot. I said, "You've got to hurry up and get to that bird. It's suffering."

"I ain't running after a bird."

I gave him my gun and jogged to the pheasant. By the time I got there, it was still very much alive and doing its damnedest to get away from me. I carry a razor sharp knife, and I was finally able to step on its wing and I quickly cut its throat. First time for that, too.

It had been explained to me that after the hunt, the guide would exchange our birds for others that had been fully dressed. When we were done, the guide said he didn't have fifteen birds dressed and ready, so we popped the birds in some large garbage bags, threw them in the back of the truck and headed back to Memphis, about an hour away.

When we got home, the bags had expanded quite a bit due to the release of gasses from the birds. As I had never hunted critters before, I didn't know not to tie off the bags tightly so the gas could escape. Apparently neither did my buddies. Anyway, I was soured on the entire experience. I gave them my kill to split and I went home empty handed.

It's not like I cried or anything, but I definitely felt remorse, mostly because I was not in anywhere close to the right mindset regarding the hunt from the beginning. At that point in my life, all of my meat came with plastic wrapping over it and I wasn't hunting for survival. I was just killing for the sake of killing. That still doesn't sit well with me to this day.

Later in life I would face financial hardship and would be faced with either doing without or securing meat for the price of gas and bullets. I grabbed a VERY different friend and explained my situation. I wanted to learn to hunt and dress a few different animals that year and asked for his help. He obliged, and we spent that winter and spring getting duck, turkey, deer, boar, and rabbits. Aside from a very angry pig that I was more than happy to shoot (eager would be the wrong word, though), I dealt with the emotion of killing the way I would hope most hunters do, with a sense of awe, humility, and thankfulness that we are put in a position to hunt and provide for our families. Every kill I made then - even the 330# hog - and every kill I make now is followed by me thanking, either aloud or to myself, whatever entity put these animals here for our use.

Now we raise chickens, goats, finish cattle occasionally, and I'll take a hog off of someone's hands if they've run into a problem or just changed their minds about raising it. I don't hunt much anymore, and I don't really care for killing, but I fish quite a bit and will hunt if we need the meat. I don't get 'excited' about hunting, but I do enjoy knowing and understanding exactly what's going into to my body. We spend very little money on food, and my criteria for buying food is pretty simple: I look at the ingredients list and if it has more than one, I try to avoid it. I do all the cooking in our house (both my mother and father were excellent cooks), and I've never felt better since ditching all processed foods and opting for fresh/fresh frozen/canned foods that I prepare from scratch, including all of our baked goods, bread, and dairy. Yes, there are days when running to the store for some milk sounds better than dragging my ass out of bed before sunrise to milk a goat, but as soon as I get up and moving, it's all good.

I say this: If you get a thrill out of hunting/killing, you're missing the point. It's okay to feel humble about taking a life. If you're normal, that's exactly how you should feel.

Best of luck ~ LR



posted on Nov, 5 2014 @ 11:55 AM
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originally posted by: camaro68ss
This weekend I went up to the family retreat for father’s day. We did a lot of target shooting and had a really fun time. At the retreat we have 140 cattle that graze in an open field. In that field are ground squirrels that burrow holes in the ground. The problem with this is the cows could take a miss step and break a leg in these holes the squeals dig. They also burrow under the house and can lead to poor integrity of the foundation. So they need to be eliminated.

So yesterday, we were packing up and getting ready to head home when a ground squirrels came out of a hole under the house and jumped on a rail and started to head to the backyard. I pulled out my .22 leaver action browning with iron sights and ran to the back yard to take him out. I was about 40 feet from him and shot him in the upper body. He fell into the dry creek, I lost him, found him after about 15 seconds and pulled one last shot to put him out for good, shooting him in his upper spine/neck.

I’ve target practiced my whole life. I’m a great shot but have never hunted before. At that moment I’ve felt the most dread I’ve ever felt in my life. I got tunnel vision and wanted to throw up but all my buddies were yelling and giving me high fives for my great shot. I could not sleep last night and all I could think about was the emptiness of death. I feel so bad, I can see the squirrels now, looking at me right before I took the shoot. I can’t justify the kill in my own head, even if they are ruining the foundation of the house and killing livestock indirectly because of their holes they dig and the cows break their legs in them. The only way I can rationalize it is, it’s better than dying from you guts melting from the poison they eat that’s out there right? And I know he did not go to waste because there is a family of coyotes out there that will eat him.

Anyways, this leads to a larger question. How the heck am I going to take down a deer in a survival situation when I can’t even shot a ground squirrels? Have you ever had hunters’ remorse? How do you get over it?

God forbid if you had to make the call to end another person’s life that’s trying to kill you or a loved one in a survival situation. I don’t know how I would deal this that after. I want to throw up thinking about it.


If I may suggest - you are evolving, & congratulations. Please consider living vegan from now on, you have had a deep expeieince of the inter-connectedness of all life. Many never have this opportunity.



posted on Nov, 5 2014 @ 12:13 PM
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Growing up in a hunting family I had a bb gun when I was 7 and it wasn't long before shooting targets grew boring for me. First it was bugs in the yard but then one day a sparrow landed in a bush a pretty fair distance away, enough that I didn't really think I would hit it, no less kill it. But it dropped like a rock and didn't move. Like you I felt awful, I knew I did a very bad thing. But that's how we learn in the RW, especially if you're learning to hunt. Anything wasted should never be shot unless like your ground squirrels they're a hazard of some kind.

If it's a life or death situation you'll do what you need to do and that's ok, all animals will kill for self-preservation.




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