How many of you do this?

[roundball]

I always figured that I would be excited, happy, have an adrennelin rush. When I shot my first deer I sat where I was for a few minutes thinking about how I now had to drag the deer out clean and process it. No elation whatsoever anyone else had similar experiences?

I still thoroughly enjoy deer hunting enough that my heart still kicks up when I see a buck approaching...I still get a great sense of accomplishment in taking a buck, particularly with a flintlock...and I'm ready for this fall's season to get here so I can go again.

However, after going through a number of years of dressing/skinning/butchering enough deer to prove my manhood, and without ever having developed a taste for venison personally, I reached a point where I began to tire of it.

Then I got an idea and haven't processed a deer in years now...I give them all away to needy families out in the country where I hunt.

So it's been a win-win situation...I enjoy a lot of time throughout the year planning, practicing, and deer hunting which is what I enjoy the most...and I get to provide a very appreciated grocery supplement to some needy families...and I no longer have to deal with the processing part of it.

I stop in and renew my contacts with a half dozen families in the weeks just before the season opens, make sure I have their phone numbers, if I shoot a deer all I do is drag out the deer, call in for my registration number, then call those families until I get a hit, and deliver it to them.

I think if I had to start personally processing every deer I took again, I'm not sure I'd keep deer hunting...as much as I love hunting, particularly with flintlocks, I'd probably just switch fulltime to small game like squirrels, rabbits, coyotes...or whatever.

So if you like deer hunting, but aren't crazy about the processing, you might consider donating them to needy families (or any families that might want them)...or you might try just going after small game for a season...spending a beautiful fall morning in the woods with a muzzleloader across your lap waiting for squirrels is not a bad way to enjoy the woods either.
:m2c:

 

[onefeather]

its like my first rabit when i was little i wanted to get one but i was told to eat it and skin it but when i got one the hard truth of blood and work sat in but once i got started it wasnt that bad :results:

 

[noahmercy]

How do, Whitebear. I have also experienced the "what have I done?" pause after the kill. There have been times I've passed on a shot because I realized that getting the animal out would be problematic at best and might result in meat being wasted because of depredation by Coyotes and Magpies before I could get it all packed out. And I too expected to feel elation and excitement after the kill, but when I put my first deer on the ground, my initial overwhelming feeling was one of relief. Relief that I had cleanly harvested the animal...that my gun and load had performed properly...that I hadn't frozen at the penultimate moment. I don't think anyone knows what they'll feel during their first kill, but I'll bet none of us will ever forget it! :winking:

And to all of you who have been so kind as to chime in on this topic, my heartfelt thanks. You make me feel like a part of something much greater than myself and something which is honorable and intrinsically good. It gladdens my spirit to be counted among the hunters on this forum. :hatsoff:

 

[brushbuster]

i made a couple of replies on this thread a while back,but i am honored and elated to see this thread still going.
the spirit of the wild is within each and every one of us and as long as we tap into that spirit, the connection will stay with you forever.
it matters not whether you harvest with modern or traditional weapons. what matters is taking on the responsibility of proper hunting ethics and teaching those ethics to our children .
each and every one of you would be welcome in my camp. :hatsoff:

 

[sniper68]

,

it matters not whether you harvest with modern or traditional weapons. what matters is taking on the responsibility of proper hunting ethics and teaching those ethics to our children .

Some great posts, I think they just reflect the caliber of the folks on this forum.. :imo: :hatsoff:
I would like to share the following quote from the writing of the late Max Vickery. It sure struck home with me and I think it will with most of ya'll also.
"I don't mean to make the shot sound like a religious ritual; yet there is a code of ethics, a giving, an awareness, that may border on the blessed arrow an Indian sent to feed a hungry, cold and waiting family. there are no careless shots fired in hunting, for if you cripple, you carry the shame.
If you hunt in this light, you reach a fulfillment that the cartridge hunter seldom feels. As you approach your game, you thank it with your hands and mind.If all is as it should be you nod in agreement with the shot.
I don't know if it's a holy thing or not, but I have most sincerely been closer to my God with gun and game than I have ever been in the stone and mortared buildings erected in His honor.
I don't know what passes through each mans mind when he's afield, but I know what I feel. In just a few steps from the fence, I revert and become very close to the timber, ground and smells. The woods are a beautiful place in time. I don't say that I don't go to hunt but first, I go to be there."

 

[roundball]

,

it matters not whether you harvest with modern or traditional weapons. what matters is taking on the responsibility of proper hunting ethics and teaching those ethics to our children .

Some great posts, I think they just reflect the caliber of the folks on this forum.. :imo: :hatsoff:
I would like to share the following quote from the writing of the late Max Vickery. It sure struck home with me and I think it will with most of ya'll also.
"I don't mean to make the shot sound like a religious ritual; yet there is a code of ethics, a giving, an awareness, that may border on the blessed arrow an Indian sent to feed a hungry, cold and waiting family. there are no careless shots fired in hunting, for if you cripple, you carry the shame.
If you hunt in this light, you reach a fulfillment that the cartridge hunter seldom feels. As you approach your game, you thank it with your hands and mind.If all is as it should be you nod in agreement with the shot.
I don't know if it's a holy thing or not, but I have most sincerely been closer to my God with gun and game than I have ever been in the stone and mortared buildings erected in His honor.
I don't know what passes through each mans mind when he's afield, but I know what I feel. In just a few steps from the fence, I revert and become very close to the timber, ground and smells. The woods are a beautiful place in time. I don't say that I don't go to hunt but first, I go to be there."

That lays it out very well

 

[Stumpkiller]

I deer hunted for years before I ever killed a deer, I always figured that I would be excited, happy, have an adrennelin rush. When I shot my first deer I sat where I was for a few minutes thinking about how I now had to drag the deer out clean and process it. No elation whatsoever anyone else had similar experiences?

Nope. God forbid. Like atrophy of the enthusiasm and relief centers in the brain? Hunting Hansen's Disease (leprocy). No thanks. When I lose the passion of the hunt I'll take up golf or something.

I imagine in your case it was the sadness of the animal's death overweighing the elation of the kill. There are some shots that have just a grim, unglorious business-like quality. I still have a great sense of relief even with these. Typically, from my ground blind on opening day.

Some are easy (8:15AM opening day), some come hard (4:00PM last day), but every one has always set my heart pounding and my hands shaking after the shot. The first deer I see for the season always gets me rattled; not enough to quailfy as buck fever or to blow the opportunity, but my heart does race. After that, I can be ice-for-blood for the shot but on an adrenalin high once the deer is down.

Try a different approach. Still-hunting, bow hunting from the ground with a traditional bow, flintlock, something that adds a challenge and makes the victory sweet.

If should be better than pushing a shopping cart.

 

[flintlockmdj]

Noah, Stumpkiller,
Thanks for the peptalk. Although I have been shooting B.P. since 1974, when I maid my first kill I was using an SKS. I remember thinking before I pulled the trigger "this would be a beautiful shot for a flintlock. Alas at the time I didn't own a flintlock that was legal to hunt deer with. Now I do I'll try again this year.
Thanks Again

 

[Bob J]

Noah, Stumpkiller,
Thanks for the peptalk. Although I have been shooting B.P. since 1974, when I maid my first kill I was using an SKS. I remember thinking before I pulled the trigger "this would be a beautiful shot for a flintlock.

When I put the modern rifle in the rack for the last time and started using MLs in the regular season, there were times I was "tempted" to break out the scoped bolt action. Then I would imagine "big boy" coming by the stand, that elusive large-antlered deer i'm still hunting for. And I would consider what it would be like to take "big boy" with the modern rifle and be thinking, "if only I had packed in with the muzzleloader, he'd really be a trophy" :shake: So how to solve this hypothetical situation, hunt with muzzleloader all the time :front: :m2c:

 

[Maestro]

The first deer I killed was with a bow and was the most SURREAL experience of my life! First, waiting for the deer to come into range, I was shaking like Barney Fife - my arrow was rattling on the rest! I had to compose myself and take a deep breath & draw. After I made my 9 yard shot from 20 feet up in a tree stand and the deer ran off, I was asking myself, "Did that just happen?" I even had to count my arrows to convince myself! The arrow went in over the shoulder and came out right down through the heart. After I tracked the deer down and realized what came next, I have to admit that the thought passed through my mind of leaving it there but I knew that I owed it to the animal to make use of it. I've tried to explain to non-hunters that for me, when hiking out in the woods you're an observer but when you're hunting, you become PART of it! The whole circle of life thing I guess. I don't consider it a "kill-thrill" but there certainly is a rush involved! I now make a habit of kneeling over the kill and thanking the Lord for the harvest before field dressing.

 

[KyFlintlock]

More truer posts I have not seen. Good stuff! :thumbsup:

I also get a high degree of satisfaction when butchering my game for the table. But, without a doubt my greatest feeling afield comes when my boys go along and show respect for HIS creation. Last year my son shot a smaller doe and was starting to make excuses for its size. I told him she sure would be tender and easy to pack out! He smiled, then bowed his head and thanked the good Lord for His successful hunt and the opportunity just to be there.