RE: Remorse?
 

Well said! I do feel remorse when I didn't put the shot where I wanted.

RE: Remorse?
 

Well said Rybo. That pretty much sums up how I feel.

RE: Remorse?
 

I may get flamed for this, but I just think this is kind of lame. I mean seriously, for literally thousands of years there has been apreadtor/prey relationship,and we are the ultimate predator. If you believe God createdthe world he put us in charge of animals, and their primary purpose is for nutritional value.Conversely, if you believe in evolution then nature constructed a predator/prey system. In short, you just can't get around that this is the way it is supposed to be from any point of view.[8D]

My wife hates that I hunt, but I don't care. I tell her to pipe down especially when she just ate a cheeseburger the day before. :D;)

Now, I in no way condone cruelty to animals!!! I think anyone that treats animals inhumane are sick and in need of serioushelp. However, if you are harvesting an animal to either control the population or for a food source I just don't see how that can be wrong.

RE: Remorse?
 

It happens for me every time with deer.Appreciation for the food and experience,gratitude and compassion,all those feelings come across me.Deep respect for the grace,beauty and cunning of the animal.That will never go away for me and I certainly don't want it to

RE: Remorse?
 

No remorse at all.

Hunting is hunting. It wouldn't be hunting without the killing.

We all go out to kill, everbody. Sure we take in the sights and sounds of nature but in the long run we all want one thing in the end, a dead animal.

I've killed does that had fawns with them with the fawn only to run a few yards and stop and watch her mother fall over and die. I don't get sappy or have an ounce of regret, and thats the truth. No bull.

I know that because I killed this one, there will be another just like it again and that makes me happy because I know i'm taking advantage of this great renewableresource.

The circle continues...

RE: Remorse?
 

I have only shot one deer, and, I never found it. Yes I felt remorse because, that doe was suffering. I can't tell you, if I would have remorse for an animal that I have harvested, because, I have never had that experience yet. But I can tell you that I would have respect for that animal, and I would thank the creator for such a beautiful animal.

RE: Remorse?
 

Well said guys!

RE: Remorse?
 

I remember when I was very young and new to hunting the first few kills werevery emotional.Excitement, empathy towards the animal, happiness, sadness,pride, etc. As I got a little more fade in my camo andmany morekills under my beltI still find a successful hunt very emotional but more because of the happiness and excitement of it all it seems.And even though I have a great amount of respect for my prey the remorse/empathy(whatever we might label it) has been dulled a lot. Almost likeI have beendesensitized to the act of killing the animal because I no longer "humanize" them like Ithink Idid in my younger years.
I am very thankful for every animalI take but as I've grown as a hunter Ilook at it more simply, predator vs. prey.

I have to put my doberman down this week,I have been putting it off for a few days as I just can't bring myself to doit. He's almost 13 and has cancer and it's time. Now he's an animal but he's family so I know when I am goingto and leaving from the vetI will feel very remorseful, sad, sorry, depressed, just plain miserable. So yeah, he's just an animal but it's different, I don't knowif this makes sense but Ijust don'tview deer or game animals like that.

RE: Remorse?
 

No one said it was wrong ..... .what are you saying is lame?

RE: Remorse?
 

That last sentences is perfect Rob.

RE: Remorse?
 

I'm trying to say I don't see how it is wrong to take an animals life. I mean why be sad over something if it is not wrong? Predation has been happening since the dawn of time and that is not going to change. God intended for man to eat animals for survival, so forgive me if I am a little confused as to why someone would be sad when they put food on the table.[&:]Can you imagine a caveman getting teary eyed after killing a woolly mammoth? :eek:My oh my.. how the times have changed.

I never feel any remorse, and it seems likethe peta mind-setcreeps into everything anymore. [:'(]

Maybe lame was the wrong word, but this thread is starting to sound a little "girly" to me. :D:D

RE: Remorse?
 

I've been hunting ever since 69' and found out that hunting can be cruel and down right ugly. I have seen and had to deal with some situations were I could not and would not let emotions get the better part of me. I have total respect for the animals I harvest but I've learned to aleinate my emotions from that animal. I just diassiociate my feelings from that animal and don't dwell on it. PERIOD!!! I don't let my mind take me thru the personal life of the animal or I would become to sensitive and emotions would get the best of me. This is whysome peoplecan't hunt or choose not too, they just get too emotionally caught up in the life of the animal. Don't go there. Respect the harvest but don't let your emotions go there.
Good luck.

Bobby

RE: Remorse?
 

ArthurP, what i would do to come across your old ass in the middle of the woods. You are a disgrace to the human species! I have never seen another person so quick to snap and lose there cool. I wish you would hurry up and just get locked away for life before we see on the news for a mass killing spree.

RE: Remorse?
 

I thank God for all of the blessings in my life, and I consider bowhunting and killing animals as one of those blessings. Unless I make a bad shot and the animal suffers longer than it should I feel nothing but excitement when I let my arrow fly. Of all the deer that I've killed there has onlybeen three that have made me feel bad, two that I hit solid and couldn't find and one that I made a bad shot on and when I tracke it down it was still alive and I had to put another shot in it. I've killed somewhere between 40-50 deer and those are the only three that have bothered me at all.

RE: Remorse?
 

Arthur, if there is anything I am not, it is a chicken****. You my friend have a serious anger problem. Again, I was totally kidding. I am a person that means what I say when I apologize if I offended someone. I don't do it for the "innocent act" because frankly I don't really care to ever play that part in my life. I man up. You haven't "blocked" me, you've blocked yourself off from someone who was willing to try and poke a little fun at what was once a serious issue so that we can all move on as friends on this forum. Again, best of luck this hunting season. I guess that is a third time....now what is that?

RE: Remorse?
 

EBJ Good rag!

It's always struck me as wierd when I read or hear someone refer to an animal in an endering term like sweetheart. I've wondered how a person who did, could then kill it. Seems twisted to me. People who do often suffer over killing an animal.

RE: Remorse?
 

Threatening now?
Who needs the anger management?
Careful what you wish for - sometimes it comes true.

Steve

RE: Remorse?
 

Childish.

You could have PM'd him. He mighthave thought yourapology was a little more sincere ;).


From the Thesaurus: Remorse;

regret, sorrow, sorriness, contritness, compuntion, penitence, repentance, bad/guilty conscience, guilt, shame, self-reproach, ruefulness, pangs of conscience.

I'm thinking remorse is the wrong word.

The very first definition from MY Websters says, Remorse; Deep and painful regret for wrong doing.

Again, I'mthinking remorse is the wrong word. Every hunter, of human integrity, feels compassion for the animals they hunt. Compassion is a good word. If you really feel remorse, might really be time for you to evaluate what your doing, and why your doing it. I know some manly men that would lay down their life for you, defend you at all costs, and they couldn't swat a spider. They don't hunt. Certainly doesn't make them any less of a man.

RE: Remorse?
 

I agree with Rob and Shultzy and feel the same way. It really bugged me a few weeks back watching Michael Waddel and him shooting Does left and right and then commenting 'she had to die' or something to that effect, all because she busted him. To me it was totally disrespectful in his wording and actions.

RE: Remorse?
 

Sadness, remorse, compassion, its hard to really find a precise word for what i feel after i kill something. The immediate reaction is happiness, elation even, but this is quickly tempered by the fact that i have just taken something's life. Now i certainly don't feel like there is anything "wrong" with having killed an animal, especially if it was a quick and clean kill, but it is still something to be taken seriously. Additionally I always feel it is hardest when you see the animal actually die right in front of you, i would rather they run off a short distance and be able to die without me standing over them.
The absolute worst was about 7 seasons ago it was the opening day of shotgun season and a nice little fat 5 pointer snuck in behind my stand, and i ended up taking the shot with him 12 paces away from the foot of the tree i was in. Needless to say those 3 inch copper solids drove him into the ground, but he immediately started thrashing his front legs and bawling. Maybe i'm a wuss but i'm telling you that was the most heartbreaking, desperate sound i had ever heard in my life. He then started gasping for air but he had no lungs left and when he would exhale you could hear the hair coming out of the entrance hole behind his shoulder and it was making a small piece of skin flap. This whole production only lasted maybe ten seconds, but it seemed longer. I remember sitting there in my treestand saying something like "shhhhh, be still little guy, just go to sleep" over and over, haha...very emotionally conflicting for a 17 year old!