ugly kill

Examples that support my point rather than refute it. No emotion/saddness or moral duty, just instinctive reaction.

The emotion is ours and it doesn't come from modern generations being "enlightened" or something, it comes from humanizing animals, thanks to the likes of Walt Disney and others.
 
I've had a bad kill. It eventually fades emotionally, but not as a memory in general.
Not because of that, but because I'm lazy, I've quit hunting for the most part. I got to where I'd think before pulling the trigger and ask myself if I really in the mood to kill it, gut it, haul and clean it.:o If the answer was 'Yes." I'd do it. If not, I'd let it walk away.
I still pop one every now and then for food though.
 
When I was in school I had Teachers tell me animals can't think. That is about when I figured out a lot of Teachers can't think. Animals are not in an environment that promotes emotional development. I have been in an environment where people actually start to lose their emotions, and it does not take long for most.
 
Agree Peetza

(I hate Disney too) but if we didn't have those emotions... we'd be animals too;) I don't dwell on my mistakes but i do remember them and hopefully learn. I do pass up many more iffy shots than i used to. I believe validating the OP's feelings is important. Hunting is by and large a solitary pursuit its nice to come together here and share. While everybody does it their own way I do think we benefit from finding those commonalities. Esp those of us who live among many antihunters:eek:

btw i love my dogs but I always remind them they are a potential food source;)
 
at this time last year i was in Wyoming for my first out west hunt. my buddy mike ,this is his 32 year on the same ranch, his nephew and myself made the 30 hr trip driving straight thru. we were hunting pronghorn and mullies. i quickly learned that shooting off bipods on top of a trunk on my shiny new polaris 850 had nothing but nothing to do with what im used to. which is bench rest paper killing. so my winchester m-70 in .264 win mag with a 6-24x50 black diamond bowed to the pros. the nephew who quickly earned the name legman was shooting a rem 700 in 7mm rum. we chased everything he shot with a front leg dangling in the air. when he shot a jack rabbit with the same results it was more than mike and i could take. we ribbed that dude for the rest of the hunt. things didnt come together so well while chasing the mullie for mike tho. while coming up out of a draw the sun blinded him and rolled his 750 polaris. dislocated shoulder, bike laying on top him, and worst of all a bruised ego. so humane kills are not just for the animals. theyre for mike to.
 
I have been deer hunting every year since I was 24 and I am now 61 years old.
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The rifle was way off zero and I don't think any chambering would have made a difference.
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Obviously not a bad kill due to inexperience or for lack of wanting to do what is right, but a bad kill due to negligence. The equipment/zero were not properly maintained/verified.

I have never figured out why hunters go hunting without verifying their zero and doing it well. I was surprised when I learned of this phenomenon and even more shocked when folks here responded with stories indicating that it is a widespread and common problem.
 
unverified zero

OP,
I am a bit confused by this as well. Are you saying that the zero went bad inadvertantly during your hunt and you were unaware or are you saying that it might have been bad before ever leaving camp?

Regards, Vermonter
 
OP here,

I arrived the night before opening day.

No daylight to do any target practicing.

The SKS had a peep sight that was fine the year before, spent a year in the safe and then came out.

The morning of opening day, I slung it over my shoulder and walked to my stand.

When I reached my ground stand, I leaned it against a fallen tree, and put my heat seat on same fallen tree and picked up the rifle.

I did not ever bump, drop, or scrape the rifle on anything.

When I hunt with scoped firearms I always do a "sight-in."

This is the only time I've had irons come loose.

They have always been rock steady.

I see now, that that can change.

How it did, is a complete and utter mystery to me.

Rmocarsky
 
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The SKS had a peep sight that was fine the year before,
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There's the problem right there. Sorry, man, but that's negligence. I get the idea you couldn't shoot the night before, but what about the week before?

I have had some ugly kills. Anyone that has hunted any length of time likely has. Experiences like yours can be a harsh education.

I'll bet it will be sighted in next time.
 
I have never had irons come (loose) either.
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I have, and seen it more often than I've seen scopes die..... and the only scope issues I've had were mounting screws that came loose.

"It's an imperfect world, Sir..... screws fall out."


I get the idea you couldn't shoot the night before, but what about the week before?
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+1.

I find it hard to wrap my head around the idea that somone will go hunting with a rifle that their hand is less familiar with than they are with their income tax form ...... you have months to recheck your taxes before submitting them. You might only get one shot at that buck of a lifetime..... I know I'd sure hate to take it with a gun I had not even picked up since last November.
 
I'm with Brian Pfleuger. No intentionally painful kills, but they are animals!
They can't fear death because they don't know what it is.

Projecting human emotions and fears onto animals is a foolish mistake.

Animals rarely die a peaceful death. There's no ICU for them. They usually die from an accident and becoming prey to a predator. Man is just a kinder predator.
 
They have always been rock steady.

I see now, that that can change.

How it did, is a complete and utter mystery to me.
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I fully understand. From a consequence standpoint, knowing that you will be trying to kill an animal in a manner where you don't wish to cause it suffering, then it should be proper practice to verify your gear before attempting to make a kill.

It is sort of like having your reliable car checked out by the mechanic before making a cross country road trip.

I referenced folks with issues above concerning sighting, hunting, and problems. Here it is.
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=401369
 
This is the only time I've had irons come loose.

They have always been rock steady.

I see now, that that can change.

How it did, is a complete and utter mystery to me.
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If one hunts long enough, they will see stranger things happen than just sights coming loose. Sights don't come loose or get off by sitting in the gun safe since last season. Scopes don't go bad that way either. The vibrations by the ride to one's hunting spot has probably loosened more irons and jiggle more scopes loose than all other reasons combined. Back in 1968 I bought a M1917 for $25. Stock sight was a peep sight, so I took it to the neighborhood gunsmith, had him cut down and re-crown the barrel and put a set of Williams sights on it. Got it back two weeks before season and sighted it in. Opening morning a nice ten point runs up and looks at me. I looked down the barrel at him and there was no rear sight. Somehow the screws had loosened up and the sight had fallen off on the walk to my stand in the dark. Thank goodness the buck was only 30 yards away and I was familiar with the gun. A good guesstimate and point blank range yielded me a dandy deer. A week later, a new rear sight firmly fastened with locktite and the gun never needed any adjustments for the next 20 years. In the eighties I broke down and put a cheap POS Tasco 3X9 scope on it. Sighted it in and have never had to take the adjustment caps off it again. Lucky maybe? I have a .32 Winchester Special that my grandpa bought after he came home from WWI. He gave it to me the second year I hunted deer. He had sighted it in when he got it in 1919. I've used it and taken deer, and my two sons have used it to take deer. The sights have never been changed since the first adjustment 93 years ago. Even tho grandpa ran over it once after forgetting he left it leaning on the bumper of the truck.

Yes sights loosen up and scopes go bad. One should always check their gun for accuracy before using it to hunt. But not just to check the sights, but to become familiar with it again if it has not been used for a while. I bet unfamiliarity with one's firearm has led to more misses/bad hits than sights/scopes knocked off. Over the years I have seen many situations other than apathy or laziness where a gun didn't get shot by the hunter before season. Sometimes it was a college student home for the first time since the beginning of the school year. They had shot the gun the year before.....but came home the night before season. Seen the same thing with GIs coming home from service or on leave just in time for hunting. I don't begrudge these folks for not shooting and I won't be the one to tell them they shouldn't hunt without shooting their gun first. In all of the cases I saw, they did just fine. I'm not saying it should be the norm, just saying odds are, if one misses or makes a bad hit, odds are it ain't the gun......even tho the gun usually gets the blame. Wish I had a nickle for every time I heard someone blame the scope for a clean miss or a bad hit, but when they sat down and shot at a stationary non-living target, they hit just fine.
 
I agree they are never perfect no matter how great the placement is. I downed a 6 pointer with a 12 gauge at 20 yards. Only really found pieces of heart left in its chest cavity. But that was after it still dropped instantly and kicked for a few seconds. This whole fold up and die peaceful thing I think rarely happens.
 
uwtriguy said:
I agree they are never perfect no matter how great the placement is. I downed a 6 pointer with a 12 gauge at 20 yards. Only really found pieces of heart left in its chest cavity. But that was after it still dropped instantly and kicked for a few seconds. This whole fold up and die peaceful thing I think rarely happens.
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Actually, that IS perfect. That is, unless we want to start farm raising them and killing them with electrodes through the forehead.

We're hunting. Any shot that destroys/disrupts the animals CNS or cardio-pulmonary system is "perfect". The fact that it took 5 or 10 seconds to fully succumb is irrelevant.
 
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