atlasman

I have been dwelling on certain things lately with the WHA bringing these thoughts even more often into my head.

I think the whole idea of the WHA is moronic..........actually I wonder sometimes if everyone tried really hard if they could even come up with something worse. Having said that, my thoughts revolve around the non lethal end of those hunts.

Over the years I would say well over 95% of people I have met who do not like hunting..........really have nothing against hunting. They don't like killing. No matter how many times or how logically it is explained to them they still can not remove from their minds that an animal gets killed (assuming success). I have struggled in the upstream swim of explaining a million times how I don't love to kill things........I love to hunt. If I loved to kill I would just shoot every critter I saw and leave them lay there. I do kill and I have killed a lot and will hopefully kill a lot more..........but it is more of a piece of the pie then it is the focal point. Some people understand and some people don't.........I can't even say I blame them. It makes sense to me and that is all I know.

So how do we make people understand it's not about killing something?

My wife said to me the other day while watching Stan Potts kill a deer that she could see how people think it is sick to get that excited over killing something. I said to her that he is not that excited becuase he killed something. Any knucklehead can hit a deer's vitals from 15 yards away..........that is not the accomplishment......it's just the icing on the cake......or in the deer's case, the nail in the coffin. She understands that because she is my wife and knows more then average. Her observation made me look closer at some shows lately though and I could see how people who don't know any better would think it's anywhere from odd to down right sick to "celebrate" killing something.

Or is it about killing something?............maybe I am speaking out of school and not as many people feel the same as I do.

To me it is about the hunt.........and everything that went into it. I make no excuses for the kill and don't think for a second that I need to. However, it would be nice if people understood there is 99.99% of hunting that they are overlooking when they focus on the split second a kill shot is made.

Maybe if a few of these morons on TV took a more respectful approach to a post kill reaction rather then looking like a teenager who just felt his first boob...........we wouldn't have to be coming up with idiotic ideas like the WHA.


Just felt like ranting

farmcntry

Isn't the whole point of going hunting to kill something? If you didn't intend to kill something you would never leave the house at 4:00am would you?
So yeah, people who don't hunt pretty much are correct believing that we enjoy killing.

But therein lies the problem. I do enjoy killing my prey. I enjoy scouting before the season, taking my son with me scouting, looking for new stand placements, looking for new land to hunt, walking the land, actually being in the stand hunting, (kill or no kill), going home, doing it again day after day.
I do enjoy the kill. I enjoy cleaning the animal and teaching my son about it. I especially enjoy eating the animal as well.

Now that I've said all the above, here is what the un-hunter heard.
See the problem?

txmarshmonkey

Good post atlasman!

I really don't know how to respond but, I know what you mean and I understand what you're asking. I have the same problem with most of the Non-hunters that I run into.
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I'll have to think on this one for a while!

Fieldmouse

Easy, I tell them I could kill a bunch every time I go out. I don't anymore because 1 I don't have the time to deal with the kill afterwards and 2 I want something huge. Therefore, I just enjoy watching the deer play their little games in the woods.

It works for me every time.

tsoc

For me the kill is the conclusion of a particular hunt.Most of my hunts conclude with out a kill,I would expect that most everyone's do.Yet I enjoy every hunt for every aspect of the hunt.The preparation,the walk to my stand,the observing the wild world while the creatures are unaware of me being there,the excitement when I hear something coming,in some instances the camraderie of deer camp.For me that is what drives the passion.To say I like to kill sounds weird to me,I expect to kill,my goal is to kill,I am very happy when I have killed,not fist pumping,screaming,doing cart wheels kind of idiotic happy,but a sense of satisfaction,I figured this area out or animal out and got it done happy.
These made for TV over the top displays of excitement are to much in my opinion,they don't seem real to me.I have been involved in the trailing and tracking of animals for a couple of close friends who are accomplished hunters and i have never witnessed those types of antics.
I have no problem with someone being excited if it is pure and personal and isn't demeaning to the animal.A lot of the TV stuff goes way to far beyond that for my tastes!

Antler Eater

All right who are you, and what have you done to Atlasman.......


He is back, that is the Atlasman we know....

It has gotten to the point where a lot of the videos has to be looked upon as another reality show forentertainmentpurposes (if any) only. I have had girlfriends that could fake excitement more genuinely than some of these people. It gets old quick for me personally.

Don't get me wrong, if the "rush" of the kill ever leaves me than I will hang up the old stick and string and walk away. But what I am seeing now from so many shows makes me want to puke. Somebody wrote an article about this very issue that I read somewhere. They used the words of coach Bear Bryant I believe, "Act like you been there before". I thought the author made a very good point.

Your wife is just pointing out the obvious and I think she is right on.

Good post..............


farmcntry, you illustrated yourpoint beautifully.....

Rob/PA Bowyer

I hunted many a bow season and never spent an arrow. It certainly not about the actuall kill or I would like Atlas mentioned, shoot the first legal animal that came by. I don't look back at those seasons as unsuccessful so I don't narrow my success to the kill but to the hunt. I am a hunter, I don't consider myself a killer. A kill is not the success of my hunts but a kill is the end result of my season with a single tag to fill.

I like Atlasman feel a sense of saddness when I first lay my hand on my animal. Mixed feelings pour over me, I'm elated, sorry, happy, sad, thankful, mornful, proud, humble...that's what makes me human.

I like situations such as you see sometimes....a hunter would be the first person to rescue a deer in danger, like on broken ice...I've seen it before on TV in the news etc....if it were all the kill our hearts wouldn't have that compassion for the life of said animal. But saddly there are those that live in our society that a life means nothing to then, be it human or otherwise, there is good and bad in every walk of life.

As for TV shows, it would be very difficult to contain the footage post shot....each and every one of us knows what comes over us and it's not something you can harness all that well.

Finch

That is very true. In the eyes of some, we all seem to be killers until such a situation arises.

I love the fact of outwitting an animal and all the preparation that goes into that. Thats the fun part.

jmbuckhunter

This is why I love to hunt-kill. Because I get to go back and look at those pictures of the hunt and relive it all again ahhhh the memories. I have pictures of every animal I have killed with my bow. No matter what the size. I believe that shows the respect we need have for the animals we take. I have been hunting for quite a while now, but could tell you details of most of my hunts. Some include only hunting some hunting and killingboth have a special place in my mind.I will never forget my firts buck harvested with a bow!!! SEE PIC

Arrowmaster

I have to agree with Rob/Pa. I have many emotions once I retrive the animal. I dont hoot and hollar like these guys and gals do on these hunting shows. One other thing that irratates me with the hunting show are how they hoot and hollar and then when walking up to the animal (which has already been found) they have it all nice and cleaned up with the tounge placed back in its mouth and never show hardly any blood. Not that Im wanting to see blood and guts everywhere. But if they are going to clean that aspect up then look for other things to clean up as well like the hootin and hollaring... Just my opinion.