The hunt or the kill ?

[vthunter52]

For most of us the big game season is over for the year. As I read the comments and congradulations on the successes of the season, a thaught occurred. What is more important to you, the hunt, or the actual procurement of the game? I will be the first to admit that venison of the one or two deer harvested during the season provides tasty and healthy eats for the next year. I also can say that simply being out in the solitude of the mountains, no matter what the success is as fulfilling. How do you think?

 

[Richard J.]

Just love being out there. After all these years I usually dont kill to often. End up leaving them go. Love deer meat so I guess I will have to shoot something before the end of Feb. Sure love the peace and quiet.

 

[kruzer1]

To put in perspective I prefer the hunt to the kill. I have gone with others who prefer "pickup hunting" which I detest. I know they can cover a lot of territory and increase the chance of the "kill" but I decline to go with them anymore as I prefer the "hunt" of working/stalking/or sitting by myself to just getting the deer in the back of the truck as fast as possible.

Probably another reason I am leaning toward going all black powder next year for firearms hunting. I can knock most any deer down up to 400 yards with my scoped 8mm mauser... the challenge factor is not there like it used to be. In fact I often stalk up on the deer with modern rifle just to see if I can, might as well go with a BP rifle

 

[hanshi]

considering I go out at least five or more times before I get a kill, I must just like being in the woods. Actually that is true. Still I do want to bring home the bacon from time to time. Truthfully, if it was all about bringing home game I'd be using a modern rifle.

 

[Sperit de bois]

I like to look at as "Catch and Release" for fur covered animals!!!! Nothing I like better than getting close enough to take an animal ,,then smile, set, watch and see just what a wild animal does. There can be a harvest ,,just not every time.I take "Mjolnir" out for more woods walks than hunts,nothing like black powder,snow shoes on a clean white canvas to restart your 'HAPPY meter"Look and see what went where and read all the sign and go back to a time when................

 

[SgtSchutzen]

Way more about the hunt than the kill for me. I pass on shots all the time because one thing or another isn`t right with the oportunity. I passed on several chances just this past season that I probably should have taken. Finished up with all my deer tags still in my pocket for it too.
I think it`s really more about hunting than killing for most of us here. That`s why were`r handicapping ourself`s with traditional style guns instead of using the most high tech weapons we can get our hands on.

 

[S.Kenton]

For me, I enjoy both the solitude in which the woods provides and the challenge that the kill provides. In the early season I will kill a doe or two..then relax and take my time passing on many smaller bucks, until I find the right one. However while I wait on that doe or buck, I always notice the Cardinals, Finches, Bluejays ,the occasional Owl and of course the Red Tail Hawk. The squirrels are always entertaining as well. I guess I just love it all...

 

[Roguedog]

The hunt for sure. While I enjoy eating venison, I don't mind if I don't kill an animal. Like others have said, just being there does something for me that is hard to articulate. It fulfills me and takes me back to a simpler time before the world went and got itself in such a dang big hurry! I love the beauty of my weapons, I love the smell of blackpowder smoke, I love the trees, the leaves, the animals that make their homes there. I guess I love it all. If you told me I could not kill a deer next season I would still go.

Jeff

 

[GreyWhiskers]

When I hunt birds, it's usually with family members. So the hunting pics on the wall of my office may show doves or pheasants but I'm the most proud of seeing my son and daughters standing by me. GW

 

[PA.1740]

It is the hunt! Anyone who drives a road can kill.
It is the hunt that gets the blood going.

 

[wattlebuster]

Its the hunt or the way ya hunt for me. Im almost certain Im the only one in my county that hunts everything with a flintlock. If I just wanted the kill Id be shootin suppository guns :thumbsup:

 

[vthunter52]

You guys have just confirmed one of the reasons that I, and all of you hunt. It's for the communion with the nature that surrounds us, and the bonding with family! When I see the modern trends in unneccesay gadgets ,calls, licks, stands and 300-400 yard rifles,I find that technology has replaced woodsmanship and perhaps even ethics.

 

[roundball]

Making kills with my Flintlocks are kind of bitter-sweet because on the one hand they affirm that I learned and did things right to take game kind of like the settlers did. On the other hand, depending on how many tags, therefore, how many more hunts I might have left, it can be the end of the hunting season.

Opening day 2009 was an example in the extreme. 3 days before deer season opened I received my first TVM built Early Virginia...had to learn about it, cram all the load development / sight adjustment filing learning curve into 72 hours.
Then miraculously, in the first 90 minutes of opening day morning I punched both buck tags, season over. Thrilled at the accomplishment from the POV of bringing the new Early Virginia to bear, and definitely pleased at 2 above average bucks along with the uniqueness of such a 'double'. But the down side of "the kill" was that the highlight of my season was over in one outing.

Same with Turkey...wouldn't trade 100 turkey "kills" with a modern Remington 1100 for just the few long beards I've taken after getting up to speed with smoothbore Flintlocks. And same thing using my smoothbore Flintlocks on dove shoots back in September.
So no question the learning / planning / preparation / and actual hunting aspects of this hobby are where the satisfaction is for me...the kill is anti-climactic, sort of "game over". It's not about how many, it’s all about the how.

 

[gjr902]

Its a good question. My sister-in-law always complains that we spend so much time in the woods and never get anything. I laugh and tell her you obviously dont understand hunting. We are hunters, not killers. Yes we take game when we can, but the time I spend in the woods with my brother, son-in-laws and my CT buddy, is the best time I spend all year long. The scouting, the prepwork, the time together, is whats the best part of every season. She still doesnt get it.

 

[George T.]

My priorities have changed as I got older. There was a time when getting game was much more important than it is today! Geo. T.

 

[Trench]

It must be the hunt I prefer, since the kills I make are few and far inbetween. :wink:

 

[Walks with fire]

The reason I hunt whitetail deer here in PA is for the meat and have no interest in antlers other than making things for hunting with them. I love being in the woods with my flinters but at the same time I want a deer too. I enjoy the deer drives we do in the big groups but I truely enjoy hunting in solitude or with just a few friends; I like it best after a nice clean snowfall. Wow; I sure am sorry our season is over but now is when I tune up my guns, loads, and just woodswalk and shoot stumps and such on my property.

I get at least one deer every year with the flinters and most years could take another because I usually have 2 tags. I save a couple packages of stew meat to the end of the year and make up a big crockpot of venision stew Christmas eve. Our season starts the day after Christmas and the stew reminds you that you want more meat. It really makes me want another deer. :grin:

 

[Little Wattsy]

To me it s a win - win... I love to be out and about but I am serious about "the kill" as well...
I love to experiance new country. Hiking one more ridge, going around one more bend, I really feel like I can appreciate what the early pioneers felt as they explored west untill they met the Pacific ocean.
I am also very results driven. I spend (way to much) time each year planning for my one week of hunting. I typically go alone. Ive gone days without saying a single word. Maximum solitude. I plan to give it daylight to dark for 5 or 6 days and/but I REALLY want a new set of horns to admirereminise over for the next 51 weeks as I wait for the next season.
In 32 years of deer hunting I have only come up dry 3 times and that was only after I started raising my own personal bar to mature bucks VS any buck. Elk hunting I believe I am tagged out 6 out of 8 years but hunt them more sporadically due to time restraints.

 

[Stumpkiller]

If deer were inedible I wouldn't kill them. So I have to say it is primarily about the meat.

I bow hunt through October and early November and if I get one it changes how I hunt during regular season (I use a flintlock during regular and m/l season).

This year we had three 15 month old "lambs" in the freezer and a good buck from bow season, but I still went out. Observed several doe but took no shot. I just like being out. And had a 12 point buck turned up I certainly would have found room to fit the meat in or can it. ;-)

 

[Archie]

All of it together make the experience what it is. It all works together, the people and companionship, weeks and months of preparation, the guns and loads, equipment, the working together to gut, drag and hang the animal. Then skinning, butchering and making meat in all its forms of steaks, roasts, sausages and bacons. We hunt to put meat in the freezer and when there is a year with little or no game taken that is part of the experience too. There have been many season where I have not fired my rifle except to verify sight and function. There have also been seasons where I was the only one to take or even see deer. So when you ask the question of of "the hunt or the kill?" the answer is "YES!"