Here goes

Lastnight while out with myfriends, one ofmy friendsasked me " Bails how can you hunt deerfor sport and at the same time say you love to watch them and photo them " , to which i replied " i do love to watch deer and photo them , i think however i explain to you ..you will not understand " . To which a very heated arguement started .

I could quite easily spend a whole day spying on deer , but on the other hand i'd like to grab my bow if i was allowed to in the UK and go hunting .

Is it wrong tolove the game you practice to kill , in september i go on my first Bowhunt in colarado and my friend says i'm f-----d up for going ? .

IMO no. Because you are actually helping the deer herd by reducing the pop.

A lot of people talk about the birds, the squirrels, the sunsets, the sun rises, etc., etc. but if I didn't enjoy killing my Game I'd be a Bunny hugger of some sort. I enjoy the outdoors, but when I am bowhunting I am there to kill the pursued game. Period!![8D]Anything else I see or experience is a bonus

Go Get'em Bails!! Man was born a Predator!

Dan

I started out as a hunter then became a serious wildlife photographer for over 20 years. All the time I spent photographing wildlife I felt something was missing. Don't get me wrong, it was great selling photographs and seeing my work published on magazine covers but there was an aspect of the equation that wasn't being satisfied. I eventually suffered a burnout with photography and started hunting again. This is when I felt more at home with wildlife.
Sitting in a treestand, stillhunting up a river, huffing it up a mountainside or simply watching the sunrise with bow or gun in hand has put me into the life or death equation instead of sitting on the sidelines watching. I get as much satisfaction watching a small buck walk past without knowing I'm there, as releasing an arrow and dropping one.
The love of wildlife and all things natural does not stop with the release of the arrow! It does however, help me realize the consequences of my actions! Because of the love of the animal, I try my best to bring a quick and humane end to the life of that animal. I have on multiple occasions, watched the animal take its last breath! I have also thanked God for the gift that was provided and have sometimes apologized to the animal if death had taken too long! My love for nature runs deep!
In all my life, I can't recall feeling this experience while sitting at a steakhouse eating a ribeye!

Thanks guys for reinforcing what i thought was normal , i do love nature and spend many hours watching it go by . But i feel i don't have to prove anything to my friend , he loves climbing and i love Bowhunting and this year i will enjoy my first hunt PERIOD .

i love watching deer aswell, i think there amazing creatures, but i love to hunt them to.

If hunting's wrong then I don't want to be right!!!