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"Killing"

Old 03-15-2007, 02:05 PM
  #31  
 
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In some small way, yes I do enjoy the killing aspect of hunting.

If I were so filled with remorse and sympathy for the animal whose life I had just taken, I wouldn't hunt. Yes, I love the meat it puts in my freezer, however that is no longer the sole reason I hunt.

I hunt for the challenge.
I hunt for the excitement.
I hunt for the peace it brings me.
And yes, I hunt for the kill.
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Old 03-15-2007, 02:09 PM
  #32  
 
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I agree, I love the experience, and just being outdoors experiencing nature first hand. The entire experience is incredible. I think that one of the reasons we hunt is to become part of nature and participare in an ecosystem, rather than be passive observers, separate entities that differentiate themselves from nature.I feel that italso has alot to do with independence and self reliance. Wepursue and kill something and weconsume it. We didn't pay a farmer or slaughterhouse to do anything, we did it ourselves. Furthermore, hunting brings a certain sense of reality. When I am hunting, I get the feeling that "this is the way things are supposed to be." When you think aboutit, just abouteverything else in our lives is to a degree a fabrication of human society to better progress and support human society. Everything fromgetting an education to working to paying taxes.It all seems somewhat artificial. But by participatingin nature, we are being true to ourselves and adding a crucial element to our lives that we were never meant to be without.I think there is alot to what KP has said. I find it very difficult to describe. When you really think about it, it is a fact that we are predators. It is a fact that predators kill. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. It is just part of nature. When considering that, it is hard for me to say that I don't enjoy the kill. I agree that something just doesn't sound right whenone says that he enjoyskilling. Butthen again, killing isn't just plain killing. There is something wrong when someone enjoys malicious killing. But when we hunt and kill an animal, it is something totally disconnected with the principles of human violence and malice. It is not killing in general that we enjoy. I think it is The Kill that we enjoy, something that is part of the hunt, part of nature, that has so many other elements than simply death, and none related to malice. We were biologically programmed to hunt and kill. Should we try to deny that and find flaw with it? If we did that, wouldn't we be in reality finding flaw with nature? That is just as twisted as anything else. I think OHbowhntr made a great analogy relating the kill to watching a birth. Although they are inverse in nature, there is something very similar, or rather some deep relationshipbetween the two, something that makes them both special. Perhaps it is the continuation of a cycle. Birth leads through life ultimately to death, and out of death is born new life. I think there is something deeply spiritual about the hunt and the kill thathas beenengraved within ourselves through ages of evolution and countless lifetimes dating back to our earliest ancestors. When it comes to this I think Ted Nugent actually does a wonderful job describing it. Sometimes he is a little over the top for me, but I will not go there. When it comes to this I think he is right on the target.

I love deep spiritual and philosophical thought. Great topic.
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Old 03-15-2007, 02:24 PM
  #33  
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Default RE: "Killing"

What ever you call it when a hunt comes together, and the buck is finally in sight and offering a shot, then making a good well placed shot . . . .thats when the adrenalin is pumping . . . .yeah, I like that part.
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Old 03-15-2007, 02:28 PM
  #34  
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This thread really has me thinking......

I enjoy the science of the kill as well .... picturing in my mind the broadheads travel into the hide, through the lungs and arteries, and ultimately exiting the deer. I imagine the incredible effectiveness of a razor sharp broadhead in the killing of an animal .... man, I love it all!
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Old 03-15-2007, 02:37 PM
  #35  
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Default RE: "Killing"

I do not "enjoy" the kill, but I do understand its all part of the experience of hunting. I don't jump up and down or scream out loud when I do kill something, I have to much respect for the animals I hunt!
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Old 03-15-2007, 02:45 PM
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Default RE: "Killing"

I enjoy everything it's all part of the hunt. I don't think of it as killing I think of it as a harvest.Killing is the taking of a life but a harvest is the taking of a life for a better use. Such as food, I eat every life I take so it's more of a harvest than a kill.
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Old 03-15-2007, 02:53 PM
  #37  
 
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Be assured, we are killing. I don't think it is good to shy away from the reality of it. Call it what you want, but don't forget we are killing.I don't think that killing in this context is a bad concept at all. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, and really there is nothing wrong with taking some sort of enjoyment in the kill. I think that is what separates us from our opponents. They think it is wrong to kill, whereas on the other hand we understand the ramifications of the kill, understand what it and all of its elements mean, and embrace it. No, I am not talking about jumping up and down making a fool of yourself. I also believe that the hunt should be conducted with the utmost respectfor the animal. But there is nothing wrong with feeling a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment, excitement or positive reflection over the kill.
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Old 03-15-2007, 05:40 PM
  #38  
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Default RE: "Killing"

Great posts everyone...

Like was stated, there is not right or wrong answer for this question... in effect, all answers are right for everyone....

I for one have many mixed feelings about this.

I relish the kill, but not as entertainment, as experience. For death is as important an event in God's eyes as Life. It is how he made the world, to live and die. Nothing lasts forever, nothing but Him. That which dies gives live to others. In more ways than most realize. (see John 3:16). Though it pales in comparison to Christ, that creature's life, be it Whitetail or otherwise, was ended to pass life to me and my family. I know it seems like a reach to some, but Hunting is a reflection of God. Because hunting involves killing, and to kill is to bring death, to bring death is to give life. This is a state of natural affairs, leading to life. Death is a part of life. All things die, all things that die provide for life. Hunting, a predator his prey, is the way of the world as God intended it. By hunting, and killing, we are partaking of the world as God intended us to.

The other side of the coin: I anguish for the kill, but not for reasons one would think. This is my feeling and opinion only, and here it is. We, as humans raised in an age of detachment from the real world(a soapbox in and of itself), are conditioned from an early age to hold animals on a level similar, but not necessarily equal to our own. The similarity drawn between animals and humans in childrens media, lends itself to the misconception that to kill a animal is pantamount(spelling?) to murder of a human being. To kill other humans in war or in self-defense is excusable as it does not constitute murder, yet the public opinion of killing animals is portrayed as such. To draw to the point, it is this detachment from the killing of food that is what shapes and influences our impression of killing. Though we be hunters, and understand the cycle of life as God intended(see above), our phsycological subconcience still hangs to long formed emotional bonds. These subconcience thoughts are the roots of the anguish we all feel to some degree at the killing of our prey.

However, I do not think this anguish an improper emotion to feel for the life that ends for ours to continue. Quite the contrary, I feel it is key to respecting and honoring the entire experience. It is this reverence that we give that beasts life, that makes the hunt so much a part of what we do.


So I pose this to any and all who've not tuned me out by now. The well-heeled hunter, should feel at least some of both, and not be ashamed of a majority of either.
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Old 03-15-2007, 05:45 PM
  #39  
 
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Default RE: "Killing"

without reading 4 pages of replies, no, to me, hunting is not simply about the killing.

I can't hardly explain it but it's the feeling of euphoria when you know that a deer will walk within my "terrible twenty" yard zone and I know I've got him!
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Old 03-15-2007, 05:48 PM
  #40  
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Default RE: "Killing"

ORIGINAL: MidwestJ

without reading 4 pages of replies, no, to me, hunting is not simply about the killing.

I can't hardly explain it but it's the feeling of euphoria when you know that a deer will walk within my "terrible twenty" yard zone and I know I've got him!
MidwestJ ... the question was "do you enjoy the kill"
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