your first kill: how difficult was it for you?

My first kill was an Iraqi insurgent with an RPG... a little off topic, I know. But every animal I've killed since then hasn't bothered me as much as I thought.

My first big game kill was a 150 kilo Russian boar... stalked and killed with 9 foot boar spears.
 
The animal changes for me

My first kill was a squirrel with a .22 and it didnt really bother me at all. For some reason when I am hunting and see game (deer, squirrel, rabbit, etc) I admire them and respect them but as soon as I kill one the animal turns to food in my mind. Maybe this is not politically correct or moral but it is just how it goes for me. It is like how when I sit here and read and reply on these forums i refer to my weapons (shotgun, rifle, bow) but when I get into the woods I know longer think of them as a weapon I am carrying but as a tool I am using to harvest food for my family...as for the original poster, I think you need to give some serious thought to your whole "think I wanna see if I can kill something" attitude....you better be sure one way or the other before you even step foot into the woods with a firearm or bow
 
Well, since it wasn't designed to be either impressive or amusing, do what you need to do. The post was about first kills, and that was mine.
 
Yep, Namlot, The guy posted a legal kill in the hunt section regarding "how hard was it..." He did state that since whackin' a human, the animal kills ain't so hard... Just the opposite of me explaining to my teen daughter who was holding a rabbit in her hand she had just killed, that if you can kill that innocent bunny, you should feel no emotion before shooting a person intent on doing you harm and the emotion following the event should be trumped with the satisfaction that you took matters into your own hands to prevent another from imposing their intentions on her while trying to over ride her GOD GIVEN RIGHTS as an american citizen...

Leave if you wish! But the guy wasn't a free lance merc posting kill stories in S.O.F. magazine!

Brent
 
for me it's just one interest among many interests that I have gained over the years. the idea of hunting has only become a recent thing for me. I don't know what it was exactly but the idea of hunting my own 'food' was appealing. again, I think it's because i've never killed anything in my life that I'm asking these questions. it isn't necessarily about right or wrong either, but more about whether or not I have the stomach for it. I think I do, but I won't really know till I try.
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Really? You've never killed anything before? You've never been fishing and kept a fish? You've never put out a mouse trap or poison? You've never swatted a fly? You've never squashed a bug or spider at all? You've never smacked a mosquito?

Even insects are animals. They are a part of nature and have just as much a right to live as a deer or rabbit or elk. But you kill them without a thought. Why? because they bother you, and no other reason. Do you eat the mosquito? I don't. Oh, but insects don't count. Why? They're still animals. Just because they're not large and furry they don't count? That's a bit hypocritical.

I admire that you're venturing out into a new sport, and a new way of thinking. Don't think that you've never taken a life. You have, I'm sure. One life is as important as the next.
I do hunt and I enjoy it. I kill deer and eat them, but I also kill gophers by the hundreds and do not eat them. I have to admit that when I put down a large ungulate I do feel a smidge of remorse. But I also do when I nail a gopher and it flops all over. I also do when I smack a trout in the head and I feel the life leave it. I still eat the trout, and it tastes great. But there is as smidge of remorse there. Last night I squashed 3 spiders in my yard. I felt a lot less remorse than when I kill a deer. But, logically there should be no reason for less remorse, just because it is an arachnid and not a mammal.

If you didn't kill and eat the deer, you'd be killing and eating a cow. Maybe not killing it in person, but you'd be paying for the meat, and so killing the cow vicariously. Just like if I pay a hitman to kill someone, I'm still resposible even though I didn't pull the trigger.

Life feeds on life. If we didn't feed on life [whether plant or animal] then we'd die. It is the way it is.

Go shoot a deer, and be thankful it gave its life to support yours, and be thankful things weren't the other way around.

Cheers
 
MIne was pretty tough i had to shoot a rabbit off my dads shoulder. Waving all over the place. I was 6 years old...............
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Why was a rabbit on your Dad's shoulder? Good shot, though, especially for a 6 yr old.
 
When I was a kid I followed my Dad when he went hunting a lot of years before I was old enough to carry the gun. One time he brought along a friend's son, who was excited to shoot a deer. After some walking we saw a doe standing broadside at about 60ish yards. The other kid lies prone to take the shot and says the gun won't fire. Dad takes it and looks it over. Dad gives the gun back and says 'It's fine. Shoot!' The kid still won't shoot and says the gun won't work. Dad takes it and looks again. "It's Fine! Shoot!" After what seems like forever the deer walks away. Dad takes the gun and asks the kid "Was it the gun, or was it you?" The kid looks at his feet and quitely says that he just couldn't kill the deer. Dad gets on his knee in front of the kid and looks at him straight, and says "That doesn't make you a bad person. That's fine. It may make you a bad hunter, but that's also fine. It's not for everyone, and you shouldn't feel bad. Just be honest with yourself."
So, to the OP, when it comes to the moment of truth, you'll know whether or not you want to end the deer's life. And if you don't then that's fine too.
 
I'm a hunter but to me, killing a deer or antelope is a hard thing to do. I've done it and I'll continue to do it, but its a damn serious business taking the life of another animal.

After the animal is down I have conflicted emotions. I'm proud, I'm happy, I'm thrilled but I'm also respectful of the life I've just taken and I'm also a bit sorry for what I've done.

In that sorrow, I've never once regretted pulling the trigger mind you. One can't truely hunt unless one kills and I'm a hunter.

You've got a lot of things to think through if you want to hunt and you'll certainly have a few more after the hunt is over. Good luck.
 
imacanuk
Thanks for sharing this with us and hope you don't mind if I use it during our next Hunter Safety Class. This is exatly one of the things we teach the young students and it really take the pressure off them. As long as we have a Walmart, we don't have to hunt but if we choose to do so, that's fine and ethical. I remember one mistake I made some time ago, by asking a young lad why he wanted to hunt. He replied; "I want to kill something". We had to give this lad a bit more attention than the others and eventually he understood that hunting has little to do with killing. .... ;)



Be Safe !!!
 
In my family, everyone cleans their first big game animal without gloves.
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Well in MY family we take off gloves to clean EVERY dead critter... Never know what is on them gloves...

Brent
 
"First Kill"? I don't remember the first squirrel or bird i killed with a slingshot or BB gun, but i remember the first i killed with a "real gun". On Christmas morning when i was six, i only opened one present (i did come back for the other stuff, i think) a .22 bolt action, single shot rifle, a youth-sized model. My father immediately escorted me outside for a test shot of .22 short HP; i used a squirrel as the test target, darned if the sites weren't just dead on.

Killing that squirrel didn't bother me a bit; he barely even twitched. Eventually, i flubbed a shot, only wounding the squirrel before it fell 75+ feet (in the front yard :rolleyes: ). I learned that day to take my time and make a good killing shot; that lesson was imprinted when my Dad handed me a brick to finish off the squirrel. I later found that it is possible to make regular head-shots on squirrels, with patience.
 
i took my first deer while hunting with my dad in eastern oergon, we spotted a nice small buck anout 100yds away but headed into a thicket, so we circled around and he ended up popping out about twenty yards in front of us and froze, i shouldered my rifle, and realized i had my scope zoomed in to 7 power (kinda high for 20yds) and adjusted it back to 2.5, but luckily the deer was still just standing there and staring at us. i took the shot, the deer just twitched than tan off down the hill, i thought i had missed until my father said that he thought he saw the deer go down as he crested the hill, so we went to look. turned out i hadn't missed at all, in fact my little .243 went straight through the deer's heart. it was dead by the time we got to it, but it was still kind of sad to see. i know several people who enjoy hunting, but find the actual moment of killing an animal somewhat sad.
 
thats been so long ago that I can hardly remember.. but...I love to watch deer even now... in the off season.. but it doesnt affect me shooting one during the season....thats just how our family was raised... Out of season is cute..during season is food.
 
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