To be honest I never did understand this “honor” thing that is thrown around. I never could see how blowing a hole through a perfectly healthy – in its prime animal – was in any way honoring it. I never did understand how eating it or mounting it would also further “honor” that animal.

From the animals perspective:

That buck doesn’t want to be honored or shot by you – and it holds hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to do just that – not get killed by a predator. And if the predator kills it and eats it – that buck has doubly failed. It died and feed its enemy, so it can hunt again. Probably the biggest slap in the face for a deer. Then go and mount it – so you can remember its kill…………

I think if deer could talk – we would get an earful about honoring the animal.

If I was murdered, I sure wouldn’t want to be eating also, And I sure wouldn’t want my mug hung on some cereal killers wall.

Now, I fully believe in honoring the tradition, act, history, responsibility, and obligation of hunting and what we as hunters do.

I see “honoring” and “respect” as having different meanings – and showing respect to ones kill is a very important part of being a hunter. If you guys are using honor and respect interchangeably - then I understand why you “honor” your game.

I just never felt I was doing any deer I shot a favor – no matter what I did after the kill.

So do what you want with the horns – that buck won’t care a bit.

So if you are not going to mount the deer you should' nt shoot it?.Outsmarting a mature buck is the challenge of hunting.What you do with the antlers is your own business.One of the best deer hunters I know has a shed full of antlers that would make anyone proud.He has a couple of nice mounts but you can' t mount every deer you shoot.He certainly means no disrespect to the animal.He just does' nt see the need to impress anyone else with a deer mount.


CB

I believe if I was a deer, I' d rather be shot and killed quickly by a hunter rather than grow old and crippled to the point I' d be easy for a pack of coyotes to catch and start eating on me before I was dead; or get to the point I' m not able to feed and then slowly starve to death. In that way, I do think we' re doing the deer we kill a big favor.

I don' t know about others, but I' ve always considered ' honor' and ' respect' interchangeable when talking about animals. Completely different story when it comes to humans though.

I can understand that 100%

Again I understand what you are saying. But in a way thats like killing someone when they are 35 yrs old because he has health issues and will probably die in a bad way 10 yrs from now. I would choose to live another day.

Again, completely different story when we' re talking about humans. I' ve got health issues, but anybody coming around with the idea to put me out of my misery is going to wind up with worse health issues than I' ve got.

O.K. then - I won' t take that flight out to Texas to do you a favor

Hey Rack, wait a minute now.[:@] I Honor deer every bow season when I MISS them.[]
I purposely do this to increase their survival instincts so I can honor them again next year.[:-][:-]

Not in one minute. You mount the animal if you feel so inclined. I have a pet dog mounted and would mount he wife if it was legal.

Benhuntin practices catch and release hunting. I' m not sure what cardeer is practicing if it' s illegal to mount the wife. Ahem...

the last few post gave me a real good laugh, thanks guys!