Kill or harvest?
 

I kill game. (farmers harvest and fishermen catch)

How about you? It puts me off when I hear about the deer harvest and creeps me out when I'm asked if I caught one yet. I havn't caught one yet but I've killed quite a few.

Bob

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

Harvest is one of those Saturday morning hunting show terms. Its how those idoit "come and get it" deer ranchers justify shooting deer. They say "Yep,thats a quality management buck". Manage this. Big money in raising deer. Get a bunch of city folk to spend their cash on what they like to call "Hunting". Yeah, right. Sit in an elevated porta-potty and wait for them to untie one to shoot. Worst I've ever seen is Ted Nugent. I used to be a fan of his, but when he is sitting in a stand with a laptop and shooting deer with ear tags over bait, screw him. Be a man, go in deep, get skunked when a monster catches your wind,come home empty-handed. Repeat.

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

You may take offence to the term harvest but that is how I look at it. Yes I have killed the animal but I am harvesting it from the wild. The entire experience of the hunt is important. I have never looked at it as going out for, "the kill". Venison is the primary red meat that my family eats. Besides getting out for the experience my main goal is to put meat in the freezer for the following year. As to the term, "city folk", that is a huge generalization. I spent much of my youth on the farm but have been living as "city folk", for the last 35 years. Is qualification of a hunter's skills based on where they live? Because I live and hunt in Canada where the average buck is 100 lbs. or more than the avg. buck in Texas, I'm a better hunter? I think not. (it's just the development of the species due to geographic location). Sure there are some that spend big money on, "canned hunts", and hunting shows in generalare produced for entertainment but there are many, "city folk", that spend uncountable hours scouting and prepping for the season ahead. It'sthat, "time in", that develops the quality hunter.

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

Kill

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

I've used both harvest and kill when talking about deer hunting. Probably about equally. I know the some hunters really don't like the word harvest, but it doesn't bother me a bit.

Now MY pet peeve is when people call antlers "horns". They are not horns people! Cattle have horns.Yeesh. Guess I can live with it though. LOL!!!!!!!! See, we all have speech patterns that annoy us individually. Oh well, it's the differences among us that are the spice of life, eh?

:D

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

Oh, and I had to chuckle about asking if you've "caught" one. I get asked that too sometimes. What's up with that?

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

I kill. I have never "harvested" anything.
Hunting is killing... It's a beautiful thing!

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

I use the term 'harvest' on here, but in conversation it is always 'kill'. I guess harvest is more of a PC term in hunting than kill.

Oh, andfor drdi- Igrew uphunting around older guys and my dad whorefer to antlers as horns, so it is just a habit for some of us that herethe term 'horns' on a daily basis for our whole life. Most southern hunters today grew up hearing them referred to as horns, I would suspect.

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

We rarely ever used either term. We refer to successful hunting a 'shooting' a deer.

I never feel when I enter the deer woods that my main goal is to kill. I understand that's the main
purposein order to put venison on the table but I try really hard - like most other hunters -to put myself
in position to take the good shot.

Last year I shot a nice buck. I never say... Last year I killed a nice buck or I harvested a nice buck.
Just my personal feeling and for those who always say they kill deer or harvest deer, well, good luck to them.

As far a horns vs antlers, I use both. We all know deer don't have horns but when talking to other hunters,
they understand completely.

My early years were spent hunting the great state of Maine, where I still spend time.There I heard many seasoned hunters use horns a lot.
They also referred to young deer as lambs and a really big deer as a cockah...(use Maine accent here ;))
So when I hear friends say they let a lamb walk and later shot a cockah with big horns, I know exactly
what they mean...especially if he has ballbats!

RE: Kill or harvest?
 

I use kill when talking with other hunters, I use harvest when I am talking around a mixed crowd of people and don't know if the work kill would offend. It is not that I am afraid of offending people (I do that way too often as it is), but as a hunter, I don't say anything that would give anyone a reason to complain.