respect or no respect?

Only animals that really "need to be killed" are those that are old, starving or sick/injured.
Click to expand...

Well the deer/hog/bear certainly get upset with you if you try to cook and eat them while they are still alive. They need to be killed first. Some might say this is done out of "respect." I just see it as a practical matter.

Depredating animals need to be killed as well given that nobody seems to be encouraging relocation of millions of hogs and coyotes to their state that just doesn't seem to have enough of them, LOL.
 
I respect them by making sure I take them humanly and also respecting the carcass because the meat will taste better when you handle it properly.

I don't however do any rituals or say any prayers or anything like that. I'm not a spiritual man, but a practical one. To me, humans are animals too. Animals have been hunting each other for millions of years, none of them ever said any prayers. It's nature.
 
Other topics and potential discussions aside...

Nearly every shot that I have ever chosen not to take on an animal* was out of respect for them. I didn't believe, 100%, that the shot would be exactly as lethal and effective as I desired; so I let them walk.
I don't want the animal to be gut-shot and running for its life as its intestines snag on shrubbery; or to run 3 miles (or more) with half of its face missing; or to spend three nights on the mountain with three broken legs and a grenaded knee, because of me. (I've seen it. Dirt-bag 'hunter', cow elk, seventeen bullet holes, three broken legs [two with compound fractures], a grenaded knee, guts hanging out, three days to track it down, and it was still alive and trying to run. Broke my heart.)


If I can't take them cleanly, I will let them live.
They are living beings, and I respect their daily struggle to exist. (I hunt out west. I understand it sometimes isn't quite such a 'struggle' in other parts of the country.)


*(I will admit that there have been a few shots not taken simply because the situation would have meant tremendously more work for me, even though I had confidence in the shot itself. Sometimes, I'd rather be lazy than fill a tag. :rolleyes:)
 
Well the deer/hog/bear certainly get upset with you if you try to cook and eat them while they are still alive. They need to be killed first. Some might say this is done out of "respect." I just see it as a practical matter.
Click to expand...

Most of us in the lower 48 hunt for sport, not for subsistence. Thus we eat game animals because the meat is a by-product of our sport. Even those folks that insist they only hunt for the meat, in most cases, could buy meat that costs less and is more easily obtained than what they shoot. IMHO, The difference between respecting our quarry or not is one of the things that dictates the difference between a hunter/sportsman and a shooter. In the case of Hogs and other nuisance animals, it's hard to have much respect. For many it's hard to respect animals like coyotes and wolves that compete with us for game. Me, I have little respect for those urban cottontails that destroy my Blueberry bushes every winter. Still, the idea that they can exist in the wild without us, unlike domesticated animals, deserves some respect. Funny how many folks have more respect for their household pets and other animals like horses, that are so dependent upon us to survive.
 
If I walk up to you as you are going about your day, and shoot you in the face, do I respect you? I think it is impossible to respect something you kill but you can still respect nature by actually eating it, killing it quick, and not sticking your hand up its butt and using it as a hand puppet.
 
As I've grown older, I've come to feel differently about killing. In younger years, the amount of game in the bag was important. In later years HOW the game was "reduced to possession"(as the bunny cop rule book describes it)has become a factor.
I fed my family for years with the game I killed(and still do). Livestock had a monetary value which was needed to pay bills while wild game was simply a food source. Yeah, I enjoyed the hunt for the most part but enjoyment wains when you have a "shopping list" of meat to fill.
I watch some of the "reality shows" from Alaska and even though the show is dramatized/contrived, the underlying feeling is that game is a "food source" first and a renewable resource several steps down the ladder.
Sport hunters most likely haven't felt this side of hunting, considering many feel the meat is a small part of the harvest. Sure, you eat some but you're not concerned about going hungry if you don't kill something.
 
Sure you should respect them.
Don't shoot them in the gut or cripple them.
A clean kill is giving them respect.
If you don't eat them then make sure you give them to some one that will appreciate the meet and eat it.
Never allow the meet to spoil.

Then there are those that don't want you to hunt.
It's a free Country if they don't want to hunt ok. Although they have no business telling you that you shouldn't hunt.

Don't take them hunting and don't give them any meet and leave it at that.
 
I've read what you guys are saying about respecting game animals. I've asked myself if respect is what I feel for squirrels, ducks, rabbits, dove, pigs and deer that I hunt, shoot and eat. And, no, it isn't. It just isn't. I appreciate that I can hunt them. And I don't respect carrots either. Or broccoli.

I've deer hunted for over 50 years and shot hundreds of them. I love the thrill of the hunt and I love the meat. I respect my doctor and dentist, my stockbroker, and the folks I used to work with. But respect isn't what I feel for game animals. And I don't "harvest" them. I kill them and we eat them. Respecting them and harvesting them is too millennial and smacks of PC speak.

I appreciate the opportunity to hunt them.

And no way am I saying that you guys are wrong in the way you feel respect. But personally, I just can't get there. I'm a meat hunter.
 
Having respect for the game is an extension of having respect for yourself.
Don't do things that make you feel ashamed.Don't do things you feel a need to lie about.Don't do things you don't want to get caught doing.
The foundation of that concept is who you see when you look in the mirror.
Those ashamed of who they are do not know how to be ashamed of what they do.

When we pass on tradition of hunting or fishing,teach those key elements to the young hunters.
Make it an Honor to be included.Impose standards.And then live up to them yourself.

A pretty good model can be found in Robert Ruark's book "The Old Man and the Boy"

How we treat the game matters.Perhaps most important is what we pass on .

Those lessons are applied throughout life. The Code.

The game gives up life. The meat? Its soon gone. Your conscience will last your lifetime.Your son or daughter will learn things,experience things that last generations.
As Ruark wrote,the quail is a gentleman's bird. He'll not shoot a covey down too much.He'll plant some peas..,gourds.Leave some cover.And listen to the Bob-White whistle as he smokes his pipe and sips some bourbon on the porch in the evening.
 
I can respect an animals intelligence, it's physical abilities and, in some cases, it's ability to cause a great deal of injury. Other than that, I really don't have any feelings for them. I try to kill them as quickly and as cleanly as possible. But, sometimes it doesn't work out that way and I have to track them, or shoot them one or two more times. Every now and then, I lose one. Those things happen and I don't lose any sleep over it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top