ORIGINAL: GMMAT
PT.....
It's hard for me to explain.....but I'll try...
I know full well the ending to a truly (totally) successful hunti results in a dead animal. I'm OK with that. I have no regrets when I kill an animal....and I never have. I also know that not every hunt (far from it) will end in a kill. If they all ended that way......I'd hate it. If I read you correctly.....this wouldn't bother you. Is that fair?
Sometimes just being out there is AWESOME! Sometimes it's cool when it ends in a kill. Do I go each time....hoping to kill? Sure. But I'll go back to your statement......kill the intended target. It's all a big game, to me. It starts opening day and ends on the closer......and along the way I have a few kills. Honestly....killing as many deer as I did last year wasn't that "fun". It took something away from the overall experience. It's no "happenstance" that I'm switching up my tactics, this year. I'd like it if I killed less deer.....and other people killed more.
If I wanted to.....I think I could kill 15 deer this year. I know I could have, last year. Some people might find that "fun". I wouldn't.
The "Kill" is the crescendo to a perfect hunt.....IF it's an animal you're after. Simply killing for the sake of killing isn't "hunting" (IMO). It's exactly what it sounds like......killing. I tell my wife I'm going "hunting"....and that entails a myriad of things, to me. Believe it or not....I had a GREAT time out there, yesterday.....and I didn't even SEE a deer (OK....other than THE deer I'm after that I bumped, going in
). What a hunt, though. I learned a lot from it. It'll make the next one....or maybe the next one.....or maybe even 10-20 hunts from now that much more special.
Saying one enjoys the kill says to me that they view hunting as individual battles. I'm trying to keep it fun by looking at the season as an index of battles.......with the intention of winning the big one.
When and if you come down.....I'l try to make sure you get your fix.
Pick some future November dates......and I can almost assure you you'll get your shot at one.
Don't take the fact that some of us don't "enjoy" killing as a sign of regret or remorse when we do it. It's not that, at all. It's just not a requirement for me to have enjoyed a successful hunt.