RE: The Kill
Interesting thread indeed. You know, I’ve never mounted a head. I’ve never hunted deer for the rack. I take no offense of those that do, and I’m very appreciative of a nice mount. It’s just not me. I take the same pleasure in killing a young doe, as I do a mature buck. I hunt deer for the sport of killing them, to eat. I’ve said a prayer and thanked the Lord over every kill I’ve made. I believe animals feel pain, whether at the end of an arrow, or in the slaughter house. My goal is to end their lives quickly, but it is to end their lives. I feel I owe them that. If I didn’t love to do it, I wouldn’t do it. That’s where my understanding problem comes in. I have also watched deer from my stand for hours, just to watch them, without ever raising my waepon. I love em'.
Nobody has any more respect an admiration for wildlife than I do. Nobody. I really don’t mind the tree rats all the much either; until there’s 20 of them on the feeders. They’re not good at sharing. I’ve got a raccoon that comes by every evening for about 15 minutes of seed. He could care less what I’m doing in the yard anymore. I got a bear that keeps taking down the feeders if there’s any seed left after the birds, squirrels, and coon get done. I don’t kill animals indiscriminately, just to kill them. That’s what targets and clay pidgins are for. Anybody got a chicken coop? A fruit orchard? Live and let live, until it becomes a problem. Coyotes,copperheads, rats, andmiceare a problem around the house, right from the get go.
We are wired differently. Which is why some of us could put a bullet into a child molesters head, and others couldn’t. Some look at it as still a human life; others look at it as preventing the destruction of another young person’s life. Some of us don’t believe in giving copperheads a second chance to strike.