Kill Thrill?
- Thread starter roy reali
- Start date
Harvesting an animal is different. I do that too, and I don’t see a single thing wrong with it. I also go out and hunt on occasion and it’s a whole different animal, even if the species you’re going after is the same.
Fishing can be the same way to a lesser extent. You can sit in one place and harvest bream off the bed … or you can go out hunting a monster bass with big obnoxious topwater baits. I hardly ever feel anything but a thrill in pulling a bass out of the water because there isn’t much in a fish to identify with, but … on occasion, a special one comes up, a monster one that’s thrown your plug a couple of times, or made a perfect run and gotten loose… then it becomes a hunt. When you finally catch the old boy, it’s kind of a let-down too. To tell the truth, I dunno if the letdown has anything to do with killing or with identifying with the prey. It might be just a little regret that the hunt is over, and knowing you’ll never be able to repeat exactly … the experience and challenge that was so much fun. There are more experiences to be had of course, but each hunt is different.
Harvesting just doesn’t do much emotionally beyond giving personal pride in the mechanics your own abilities. To me, there’s not much thrill in sitting on the edge of a green field with a scoped rifle but that’s where I’ve been pigeonholed due to modern ways, age, and the desire for the cleanest kill possible. Truth be told though, I miss the days of shotguns with a mixed pack of red bones and blue ticks running a deer full bore through the woods. (Beagles were like a slow, cheap imitation with anemic barking to me.) I went on the drive with the dogs every chance I got… which was a lot since most preferred to take a stand and wait for the deer to come to them. That, and free-range hunting with a recurve were my favorites. Nowadays, the main thrill comes when I get the chance to grab the 30-30 and track down a wounded one. Sometimes I almost wish that a kid or visitor to the club will screw up and gut shoot one so I can have a little fun… odd mix of feelings there. Feeling a little bit guilty and wondering if I’m desiring an animal to suffer just so I can put it out of its misery, and have fun tracking it down … or just wanting the excuse to hunt.
Fishing can be the same way to a lesser extent. You can sit in one place and harvest bream off the bed … or you can go out hunting a monster bass with big obnoxious topwater baits. I hardly ever feel anything but a thrill in pulling a bass out of the water because there isn’t much in a fish to identify with, but … on occasion, a special one comes up, a monster one that’s thrown your plug a couple of times, or made a perfect run and gotten loose… then it becomes a hunt. When you finally catch the old boy, it’s kind of a let-down too. To tell the truth, I dunno if the letdown has anything to do with killing or with identifying with the prey. It might be just a little regret that the hunt is over, and knowing you’ll never be able to repeat exactly … the experience and challenge that was so much fun. There are more experiences to be had of course, but each hunt is different.
Harvesting just doesn’t do much emotionally beyond giving personal pride in the mechanics your own abilities. To me, there’s not much thrill in sitting on the edge of a green field with a scoped rifle but that’s where I’ve been pigeonholed due to modern ways, age, and the desire for the cleanest kill possible. Truth be told though, I miss the days of shotguns with a mixed pack of red bones and blue ticks running a deer full bore through the woods. (Beagles were like a slow, cheap imitation with anemic barking to me.) I went on the drive with the dogs every chance I got… which was a lot since most preferred to take a stand and wait for the deer to come to them. That, and free-range hunting with a recurve were my favorites. Nowadays, the main thrill comes when I get the chance to grab the 30-30 and track down a wounded one. Sometimes I almost wish that a kid or visitor to the club will screw up and gut shoot one so I can have a little fun… odd mix of feelings there. Feeling a little bit guilty and wondering if I’m desiring an animal to suffer just so I can put it out of its misery, and have fun tracking it down … or just wanting the excuse to hunt.
In this part of this state you can kill six deer. And, where I hunt I'm not sure you couldn't do it in one day if you were determined. Plus, if you fill those tags you can send them $10 I believe it is, and they will send you some more tags.
I deer hunted a lot this year and never fired a shot. Didn't need the meat. Still have elk and deer from the year before. The other guys hunted a lot and killed a deer or two to eat, and one for a friend if they wanted it.
So, if the kill was a big thing for hunters the population explosion of deer in this area would not be a looming problem. The fact is most hunters don't just kill for any thrill of the kill itself.
But, it is a thrill to get a buck that is bigger than anything you have gotten before. And, hard to do.
I deer hunted a lot this year and never fired a shot. Didn't need the meat. Still have elk and deer from the year before. The other guys hunted a lot and killed a deer or two to eat, and one for a friend if they wanted it.
So, if the kill was a big thing for hunters the population explosion of deer in this area would not be a looming problem. The fact is most hunters don't just kill for any thrill of the kill itself.
But, it is a thrill to get a buck that is bigger than anything you have gotten before. And, hard to do.
FrontSight
New member
Success always brings enjoyment and contentment. Who doesn't get a good feeling of satisfaction after a successful anything and everything? We are driven to want to succeed, period.
22-rimfire
New member
I still get excited. When I was a kid, I remember getting buck fever so bad that I couldn't even hardly draw my bow back at a nice 8 pt whitetail buck that was maybe 6-8 yards away from me. I shot under him. The arrow was rattling on the rest. After that, I concentrated on controlling my emotions hunting and pretty much just get very excited after the kill. It is really primeval that something excites you so much.
Ted Nugent does it right based on what I see on his show.
Ted Nugent does it right based on what I see on his show.
Hog Buster
New member
I’ve enjoyed hunting for more years than some of you have been alive. Killing is just part of hunting, I never give it much thought.
Hunting deer, blasting a fox after my chickens, or whatever, my thoughts are hitting my target. My satisfaction comes from a well executed shot, not the fact that I have killed something.
Hunting deer, blasting a fox after my chickens, or whatever, my thoughts are hitting my target. My satisfaction comes from a well executed shot, not the fact that I have killed something.
Mike Irwin
Staff
Nope. No thrill at all.
In fact, killing an animal always made me feel a little sad.
That's one of the reasons why I ultimately gave up hunting.
In fact, killing an animal always made me feel a little sad.
That's one of the reasons why I ultimately gave up hunting.
Mixed emotion. I get a thrill that is similar to hitting a real good golf shot when I shoot. I get a little sad when I get to the animal and see it close up.
After I start cleaning the animal it's pretty much meat. Meat that's a lot more work than going to the butcher shop.
The lure of the discount butcher is getting stronger.
After I start cleaning the animal it's pretty much meat. Meat that's a lot more work than going to the butcher shop.
The lure of the discount butcher is getting stronger.
kodiakbeer
Moderator
Not any more. I used to get a kick and the bigger the critter the better, but as time passed I'm now just gathering meat. I won't even shoot big bucks any more. I limit myself to spike/forks because the younger animals are better eating.
I still love to hunt! Deer opens on August 1st here, so it's warm and pleasant. We (my son and I usually) will climb a mountain in the twilight that passes for night at that time of year and watch the sun rise, then glass for game below us. It's a beautiful thing.
I still love to hunt! Deer opens on August 1st here, so it's warm and pleasant. We (my son and I usually) will climb a mountain in the twilight that passes for night at that time of year and watch the sun rise, then glass for game below us. It's a beautiful thing.
kaylorinhi
New member
Carnivores
Depth perception, incisor's, canine's, stereo hearing!
I believe if you do not take some amount of pleasure from the hunt and kill you are either lying to yourself or making it way to easy. Just my 2 CENTS, I know that watching my quarry gives me great pleasure and knowing that that my intended quarry is no longer a threat or is now food does give me pleasure!
Major League Carnivore
Depth perception, incisor's, canine's, stereo hearing!
I believe if you do not take some amount of pleasure from the hunt and kill you are either lying to yourself or making it way to easy. Just my 2 CENTS, I know that watching my quarry gives me great pleasure and knowing that that my intended quarry is no longer a threat or is now food does give me pleasure!
Major League Carnivore
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
The word "thrill" at the kill itself doesn't work for me. It's a thrill to find a really nice buck, and I know up front that I'm gonna kill him, but there's no particular thrill in the shot. Satisfaction, certainly, at success of my intent.
I guess the closest to any thrill might--repeat, might--be on a feral cat. That's about the only animal for which my stinger is always out. Less so for feral dogs, but they're targets.
Prairie dogs? "Sorta fun". I'm not interested in how many I could kill in a session, or care to shoot fast and all that. I prefer a leisurely social session while holding down a pest population. And agronomists are discovering that with proper range management, the PDs can actually be beneficial to grazing. Farmlands? Different story.
I guess the closest to any thrill might--repeat, might--be on a feral cat. That's about the only animal for which my stinger is always out. Less so for feral dogs, but they're targets.
Prairie dogs? "Sorta fun". I'm not interested in how many I could kill in a session, or care to shoot fast and all that. I prefer a leisurely social session while holding down a pest population. And agronomists are discovering that with proper range management, the PDs can actually be beneficial to grazing. Farmlands? Different story.
johnwilliamson062
Moderator
It is the thrill of eating it for deer. I will cheat anyway I can within the law, no hunters honor for me when deer hunting. I would probably buy venison at a grocery store if it was available at all reasonably and save myself the trouble of hunting.
I go on a pheasant hunt each year. It is a round of sporting clays to warm up, "European tower release," followed by a field hunt. I usually win the clays, always do terribly during the tower part, and clean up during the field hunt. I don't really care. I go mostly for the camaraderie as it is a trip with about 15-20 guys.
I squirrel hunt. For some reason I take my squirrel hunting fairly seriously. I really like squirrel, and no one else seems to. For some reason I get a big kick out of it. It isn't easy, but it also isn't all that difficult. Use a light gun with less recoil. Just walk around. Don't have to be silent, although it helps.
There was a time when I enjoyed shooting birds and such with BB guns when I was younger(7-12 maybe). More a feeling of power I would guess than the actual kill. Luckily I was a whole lot worse shot when I was younger. At this point I don't really feel very powerful killing a wild animal. I have done a number of more impressive things.
I go on a pheasant hunt each year. It is a round of sporting clays to warm up, "European tower release," followed by a field hunt. I usually win the clays, always do terribly during the tower part, and clean up during the field hunt. I don't really care. I go mostly for the camaraderie as it is a trip with about 15-20 guys.
I squirrel hunt. For some reason I take my squirrel hunting fairly seriously. I really like squirrel, and no one else seems to. For some reason I get a big kick out of it. It isn't easy, but it also isn't all that difficult. Use a light gun with less recoil. Just walk around. Don't have to be silent, although it helps.
There was a time when I enjoyed shooting birds and such with BB guns when I was younger(7-12 maybe). More a feeling of power I would guess than the actual kill. Luckily I was a whole lot worse shot when I was younger. At this point I don't really feel very powerful killing a wild animal. I have done a number of more impressive things.
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oneounceload
Moderator
The only thrill in killing I get is when it's a cockroach or some other unwanted creepy-crawly in my house. The sport is called "Hunting", not "Killing" for a reason. I don't need to max out my bag limit or tag to have had a good time hunting
Colorado Redneck
New member
I feel bad for the animal I killed if it is an antelope or deer or elk.
Prairie dogs are my favorite target. Darned if I can explain it. The ranchers grant me permission to shoot the things, and always tell me to get the very last one. It has been called an "ugly sport" by some. But I can get all worked up about spending a good day in the sun, shooting at these things. And after a good day it feels really peaceful.
Like one of the posters said above, I started on birds and field mice with a
BB gun when I was 9. When the snow was pretty much gone in the spring, I would go home after school, get the Daisy lever action and a box of BB's and go start kicking over planks and shooting the mice. Magpies and black birds were fair game at the feed bunks.
Guess it must be a sickness.
Prairie dogs are my favorite target. Darned if I can explain it. The ranchers grant me permission to shoot the things, and always tell me to get the very last one. It has been called an "ugly sport" by some. But I can get all worked up about spending a good day in the sun, shooting at these things. And after a good day it feels really peaceful.
Like one of the posters said above, I started on birds and field mice with a
BB gun when I was 9. When the snow was pretty much gone in the spring, I would go home after school, get the Daisy lever action and a box of BB's and go start kicking over planks and shooting the mice. Magpies and black birds were fair game at the feed bunks.
Guess it must be a sickness.
Art Eatman
Staff in Memoriam
Honest, sure--but irrelevant. Ya wanna eat meat? Okay, some critter's gonna die. Deer, cow, quail, chicken. Doesn't matter.
If you, yourself, don't want to do the killing, you do like we all do in the grocery store or restaurant: Enjoy the killing that somebody else did for you.
The problem in a thread like this is that "thrill" can be viewed in different ways by different people. The anti-hunter would tend to use it in the connotation of a lust for killing, an eagerness to pull the trigger. Others might well use the word in the sense of the excitement of the hunt as a package deal of outdoors, seeking, out-witting and finding, and finally the shot itself being somewhat anti-climactic.
If you, yourself, don't want to do the killing, you do like we all do in the grocery store or restaurant: Enjoy the killing that somebody else did for you.
The problem in a thread like this is that "thrill" can be viewed in different ways by different people. The anti-hunter would tend to use it in the connotation of a lust for killing, an eagerness to pull the trigger. Others might well use the word in the sense of the excitement of the hunt as a package deal of outdoors, seeking, out-witting and finding, and finally the shot itself being somewhat anti-climactic.
I don't really like killing anything so all my hunting is limited to the varmint class; hogs, coons, coyotes ect...
the raccoons are usually trapped.....call me crazy but sometimes I talk to the raccoons a little bit before I kill them.
I do, however, enjoy trying to figure out how to get a tricky critter...but I am easily out smarted
the raccoons are usually trapped.....call me crazy but sometimes I talk to the raccoons a little bit before I kill them.
I do, however, enjoy trying to figure out how to get a tricky critter...but I am easily out smarted