RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

I prefer that my deer either drop dead instantly or run out of sight and die quickly. I don't like watching a deer in it's death throes.

However, relasing the string and watching my arrow pass thru the sweet spot of a buck (or doe) that I've targeted is the culmination of all my efforts leading up to that moment. There are normally a number of steps and any one of them can keep you from getting off an accurate shot. After you successfully complete all the steps, then and ONLY then, you get to claim possession of the animal. Until you actually kill the animal and recover it, you cannot claim possession.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

I call it Harvesting Jimmy.

Genesis 9:3
Everything that lives and move's will be food for you.
Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

Hmmmm, I don't agree with that one. Maybe I would if I didn't swerve out of the way to avoid killing a squirrel, rabbit or dog in the road but I don't needlessly kill an animal. If I did, then I would say it was in my blood.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

wow Im stumped, I never gave the killing part much thought before, just always considered it a normal part of the hunt. I mean you have to kill it to get what you are after wether it be the meat or the rack off a trophy buck. I personally am a meat hunter, just never gave the killin part any thought especially from that aspect. I think its just our nature as humans, you know there are gatherers aka non hunters and hunters I just have a natural feeling that pushes me to hunt. Ive always felt taking a deer was a great accomplishment, I always look forward to that freezer full of meat. guess ya gotta have your buddy ask the folks at a slaughter house the same question. I mean you cant exactly skin and butcher an animal alive that would just be cruel. This would be my answer, Killing the deer is a natural part of the harvest.just leave it at that. wheres your friend think a t-bone steak comes from?? the meat factory?

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

Most replys here are right on the money, at least to my way of thinking. I just wanted to make note of replys like the above.. There was no hypocracy in the question. I stated he is a non-hunter and he understands that killing is part of the hunt. His comment was that if you're a deer hunter, then you must like the killing part...if you didn't like it, you wouldn't do it. I never suggested that hesaid killing anything was bad.

There's no trick question here...I would think most of us have heard people, evenfriends and family members, say they would like to hunt but they just couldn't kill anything, espeacially something as beautiful as a deer. Why do some people dance around a question like this?..Sure, call it part of the harvest, say it's in our blood, the bottom line is the main part of out hunting strategy is to try to outwit that deer so we can kill him.

We even use cover scents, attractants, cough suppresants, camo, hi powered scopes, decoys, grunt tubes, rattling antlers, etc, etc, etc....why?.....so we can kill that animal. If you didn't likedoing that, you would use a35 mm, not a 35 rem.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

Hunting is kind of like drinking booze to me. I dislike hangovers just as much as killing but it comes with the territory. If youwant to eat venison you have to kil it.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

Well, the logic does not hold that if you choose to hunt, then you must like killing. There are many things we willingly do -- go to the dentist, go to work, sit through a school presentation featuring 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders, getting married-- that we don't necessarily like "per se." This strange word or expression -- "per se" -- is very much to the point. It means, correct me Latin scholars if I am wrong, 'in itself.'

Each of the above activities which we "willingly" participate in require some thinking about to understand what is happening. I'm not sure I can render the needed analysis of killing as part of hunting, but my inadequacy does not weaken the point that hunters do not seek to kill or enjoy killing "per se."

What hunters participate willingly in is a much larger, broader activity than killing. Killing is a necessary concommitant of taking game to prepare a feast for the table. My daughter, who has no interest in going hunting, has requested pronghorn backstrap for her birthday dinner when out-of-town family come to our home to celebrate her dinner. She didn't ask for hot dogs or hamburgers or steak or a nice beef roast. Game meat is, when properly prepared, delicious without peer. If you want this for your table, generally you are going to have to go kill it.

But this is not the sole reason for hunting. The thrill of sitting in the cold, listening to owls hoot in the pre-dawn darkness, wondering what will happen when light comes cannot be replaced by rock climbing, playing football, bowling, backpacking, you name it. There is something right to it. There is a connection that is established with our ancient ancestors, a connection made with our innermost nature -- before we were farmers we were hunters and gatherers. This connection with this innermost nature clues us in to what life, our life, is all about and what is meaningful. Again, my failure to articulate this well does not lessen either the truth of what I am saying or its applicability to the present question.

There is a satisfaction of self-reliance of taking your own animal, field dressing it, skinning it, butchering it, and later cooking it entirely yourself. I believe a fair proportion of hunters do this complete operation themselves. I do and always have. And I like to cook my game myself, also.

Anyway, it is not the killing "per se" that people enjoy.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

It's not at all about the kill to me, death is horrid anyway you look at it. Most of us who are real hunters don't like death but understand that it is part of the territory, just like a job, their are things we do at our jobs that are sometimes unsettleing and we don't want to do them, but if we want to get paid we do it. We work to feed our families and we hunt to feed our families. I understand there is a big difference between our jobs and killing something. We as hunters get a real bad rap from some yahoo who screws up real bad and are labeled killers. It's kind of like racism in a way, ones bad so they all must be. Stereotypes are uwful but very real. People have to be open to all aspects of life and not shun someone because they are different. I guess the bottom line is this, I would rather kill deer and feed my family, rather than watch a family of 4 get killed by a deer crossing the road.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

My primary goal in hunting is to put meat on my family's dinner table, just as surely as walking into Food Lion for beef steaks. Toaccomplish either of those goals, an animal has to die. I take some pride in my ability to track/stalk/lure an animal and harvest it, but I certainly don't take any pleasure from its death.That death isa necessary part of the process - just like at the slaughterhouse that supplies Food Lion. The idea thatyour average, ethicalhunter likes to kill is laughable.

RE: Why do hunters... "Like to Kill"?
 

Pehaps, "It's in our blood," is not technically accurate. Hunting is in our genetic makeup. We have a long history as a species of utilizing game animals for food. To do this, killing them is necessary, unless we wish to return to being scavengers. Earliest man became a sentient being when he began to make tools and consider his existance. Most of the early tools were used to harvest and prepare food (read meat). Survival of the fittest dictated that the best hunters survived and the poorest ones did not. Hunting was probably the oldest profession. The highly talented hunter made it possible for his village/family group to survive. The earliest art seems to be focused on the hunt.

I don't hunt just to kill, but I do kill in order to have hunted. Killing is as much a part of hunting as is walking to your treestand. I hunt also because I am a part of nature, not apart from it. Those who think hunting is cruel or mean have a perverted view of what nature is all about. Probably this view was fostered by the Disney portrayal of nature as cute, benign, and cuddly. Those who think I am cruel when I kill a whitetail should be forced to watch a pack of wolves take down a cow elk in Yellowstone. The elk suffers horribly.

Only a small percentage of our population in this country (USA) are true vegetarians. They can be dismissed as fringe looneys, since they are not realistic nor rational. The vast majority of our people do eat meat, but don't like to get their hands dirty in the actual killing and butchering process. That doesn't make them cleaner. It makes them parasites who live off another's labor and/or effort.