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Post by youp50 on Jan 25, 2009 6:12:24 GMT -5
How do you mentally prepare a new hunter for the taking of an animals life?
A member posted that he had coached his daughter to a high shoulder shot and the animal was not dead when they got to it.
Three of my children had the first kill dead with one shot. My wife and another child had animals that required a second shot. Both were not bothered by it. They were raised rurally and had helped with the slaughter of fowl and animals.
What do you think should be done for a new hunter who has only gotten meat in a wrapper? I would think failure in this aspect could ruin the chance for many enjoyable hours afield with someone you love.
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Post by whyohe on Jan 25, 2009 7:05:36 GMT -5
HONESTY! telll them what they can expect. though it some times is still shocking but at least they can be some what prepaired. i think we all have gotten or at least seen some one get a poor shots for what ever reason and had to do a finishing shot,weather it be a spine shot or what ever and seen the results and can teach them it CAN happed though we try our best for it not to happen.
then there is the biology of cleaning!! ;D
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Post by wilmsmeyer on Jan 25, 2009 8:16:38 GMT -5
My girlfriend hunted deer for the first time this fall. Shot a gun for the first time last spring. She works in a veternary clinic that does nothing but help animals live not die. So I was surprised to see that she wanted to do this. Raised in rural WNY was something she had on her side.
First of all, I think she saw how much fun I had shooting and hunting. The stories, pictures, equipment and friends sharing good times. So, she had an open mind and saw some potential for wholesome, goodness.
She got hooked on my .17 HMW last spring and once in a while she would go with me woodchuck hunting...but not shoot. Then she asked if she could do it. I asked her if she could kill something and would it mess up the fun we were having? She said no......Anyhow, she shot 5 or 6 last year and wanted to go whenever we could. The few that she missed made her mad! We would always have to go back to those spots and see if they came back out. Funny.
Deer season came and she wanted to do that too! Wow. We prepared with a small, light thunderhawk ML with a light charge and a light Barnes XPB. She shot well and hunted 5-6 times. One shot fired at about 90-100 yds at a standing doe. She hit the deer but not vitally. We had SO many conversations about not shooting unless you are SURE of your shot presentation and ability to make it. She felt that she disappointed me and herself by not harvesting the animal cleanly. So she felt bad. Not bad enough to stay home. That was her 3rd time out.
I think a person...child or adult....needs to have the desire to do it. I do not think that "dragging" someone into any sport will produce a complete hunter or outdoors person. Initial successes are a big help and coaching a newbie should involve close up, "guarenteed" results. I probably should have coached her not to take that shot.....it seemed so easy for me....but a new person has adrenaline and breathing issues that may make this way harder then that 100 yd target was!
I will say that this new hunting buddy has given my routine days of just doing my own things a real spark. Explaining EVERYTHING to a new person makes me relive things I thought I forgot and things that have become second nature to me. It's all good.
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Post by petev on Jan 25, 2009 9:10:44 GMT -5
Great post wilms. I think that young hunters should start out on small game, such as woodchucks in the previous post, and see if they enjoy hunting in general, and if gutting or skinning game bothers them. Then they can see when and if they are ready to move up to deer.
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Post by jims on Jan 25, 2009 9:37:08 GMT -5
My daughter was the one that had the deer down but not dead. How she got started was she watching me. She then wanted to try to shoot. We shot a rifle, at claybirds and she shot my crossbow. She said she did not think she could hunt though. That was fine and I did not push the issue. However last year she asked if she could go deer hunting. We saw some does and I would have had a shot based on experience but she had a bit of difficulty and did not take a shot. I was pleased, her first deer seen and she did not take a shot because she did not think she had a good shot.
This year she had the shot. The only thing is she wanted a buck. This is before she even had her first deer, I remember when I first started I just hoped to see a deer. There were alot less then.
She handled it well even when the yearling bleated. She helped with the butchering even though she admits she has a bit of a weak stomach but by the end was doing well. She even brought some venison back to school for fellow students. I suspect she still has a buck she will try to shoot.
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Post by ozark on Jan 25, 2009 14:49:21 GMT -5
Hunting, slaughtering animals for human consumption including the chicken for dinner when the preacher was eating with the family was a way of life fo our ancestors. Then it was moved to shops where animal carcasses were hung from hooks for buyers to view and select. Later still it was hid in boxes and cut into pieces that didn't resemble the animal or fowl that had to die to get to this point. Children were no longer used to help skin small animals, chop a chickens head off or simply wring its neck. The trend was to shelter or children from the realities that something had to die to supply the meat for their hamburgers.
Some when faced with the truth beome vegitarians and while moving along the highways criedd poor dog, poor deer, poor crasshopper, poor bug that splattered the windshield.
It is fine to have compassion for suffering but at the same time one must accept that whether it is grasshopper or Bamby death is certain. The fact that animals multiply to become to thick for the land to support, that being dragged down by coyotes when old and weak is worse than a mericiful death for human food. The more people sheltered from this reality the more will bash hunting and brand us as heathern killers for the sure fun of it.
As a lifetime hunter I naturally feel it is a human instinct no different than that in cats and dogs. Cats and dogs thoroughly enjoy the hunt as well as the kill and I see nothing wrong with me enjoying it. If some frown at what I do I often think of an old saying my Daddy used. People boil tea to make it hot, put ice in it to make it cold, put sugar in it to make it sweet, lemon in it to make it sour, burp and say excuse me, pass gas and laugh about it. If you do those things you should think twice before you call my hunting sport odd. Ozark
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Post by jims on Jan 25, 2009 15:39:13 GMT -5
Ozark: Your father sounds like a wise man.
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Post by tar12 on Feb 4, 2009 22:06:25 GMT -5
I hid nothing from them relating to the harvesting of game.Their lessons actually started at the Mcdonalds drive through and restaurant tables.I would ask them if they new how the cow or chicken or fish,ect..ect.. got to the table.They came to accept that it is a fact of life that something must die in one way or the other in order to eat. I explain things in the same manner to older people or people who have not been exposed to this way of life.
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Post by ozark on Feb 5, 2009 15:00:44 GMT -5
I think the bottom line is that it is a mistake to shelter children or others from the realities of life and death. How can they possibly know the reason for having guns for home protection without knowing what it causes if used? By sheltering our loved ones we develop a reason for shock when reality raises its head. The birth of a child can be made a wonderful event or a grusome ordeal. What is is. Lol..........
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Post by whyohe on Feb 5, 2009 17:33:37 GMT -5
How can they possibly know the reason for having guns for home protection without knowing what it causes if used?
you make a good point. me and my buddy took a couple of milk jugs filled with water and shot them in front of his kids with different guns including a .22. whatching the jugs explode made him go wow but when we told him that is what can happen to a person too, it made him think. we were teaching gun safty and what can happen if you accidently shoot some one and why gun safty is so important.
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