I know that I'm getting ready to get flamed but here it goes.To start I didn't read all 14 pages of this but there's know way that I could get out of bed and set in 5 degree weather for hours if Ididn't enjoy the kill. As far as the pet thing goes I have no love for animals, sorry I just don't. That doesn't mean that I go around the neighborhood abducted people cats and stangling them but in my family when something needs to be put down they know who to call because I have know emotional attachement and can do what needs to be done.Does that make me some kind of backwoods weirdo I don't think. It's not that I have a fettish for killing animals but I also don't have a problem with it.

You DO live in West Virginia ..... anyone else hear banjos?

Watch it Tony....did you just read that I didn't have a problem with killin'

Careful, Tony... I think you just made a "Wrong Turn".[&o]
(I'm sorry.... I just couldn't help it.)

Looks like I'll be needin' some "Deliverance"!

It comes down to extreams Gandi type and Jeff Darmer type and then you have everyone in between If someone broke in my house with a gun I would not hesatate to shoot them for extream effect would I feel bad no. I know this because of a similur incedent in my life.If I went hunting the next week and shot a buck when I walked over to it there would be mixed emotions.

I really don't see how difficult it is for some to understand that some of us can absolutely love to hunt (and kill) but not take so much glee in the killing part of it. Yes I know it's part of the way I hunt, and I would not want to hunt any other way or I'd have a camera in my hands instead of a bow/gun. It's just that I don't see where the kill has to be so joyfully exalted for the hunt to be a success or worthy of our pursuit.

Agreed.

I've never based success on a kill.. if that were true no less than two dozen deer a year would fall to my bow. One or two is perfectly okay with me. Don't need any more arrogance.. I believe I have enough of it already.

That's aconfusing sentence to me John .... I assume you meant, love to hunt but not take glee in the kill

I don't think anyone is saying it HAS to be .... for most it seems it is .......

No problem GMMAT. You start a lot of posts about hunting "ethics" and "morals". If you don't care whether I understand you or not, why do you seek the opinion or viewpoint of others? Isn't this about understanding each other?

Thanks PreacherTony. Couldn't have said it better.

No. Nobody needs to kill a deer for food. You voluntarily kill a deer for sport. For sport Bro! Cows and chickens are killed for food, not sport. How can you get those confused?

Pets? I held my old German Shepard in my arms while they stuck the needle in him. I watched the light extinguish in his eyes. I cried like a baby. When a deer drops off, I'm thinking "GET THE GRILL READY BABY!