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Thread: Hunting hesitation

  1. #1
    Backyard Bushcrafter Dross's Avatar
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    Default Hunting hesitation

    Ok so I really feel like I should be a hunter. I've never been but I feel like I should be able to put food on the table, and be ready for anything ext... The problem is, if I'm going out long term, I'm most likely going to be packing food in with me. The fact is I don't know what would happen if I was truly lost with no food. I guess my problem really is that the idea of hunting as an activity really just doesn't appeal to me, and I kinda feel like I'm being a wuss because of that. Anyone else been there?


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    Coming through klkak's Avatar
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    "The world needs ditch diggers too".

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    Last edited by klkak; 12-12-2009 at 01:28 AM.
    1. If it's in your kit and you don't know how to use it....It's useless.
    2. If you can't reach your kit when you need it....Its useless.

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    Quality Control Director Ken's Avatar
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    You may want to start off with some serious fishing.
    “Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.”
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    "Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils."
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    Coming through klkak's Avatar
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    Fishing and trapping are more effective ways to get meat for the short term. If you are a hunter and have the ready means (gun or bow) to take large game for long term survival then go for it. Other wise just concentrate on getting out of the survival situation as soon as possible.
    1. If it's in your kit and you don't know how to use it....It's useless.
    2. If you can't reach your kit when you need it....Its useless.

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    Backyard Bushcrafter Dross's Avatar
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    I hear ya Ken, and yeah the fish and I are well known to each other. And I do agree with you klkak. on your own I don't see anyway to get the amount of meat needed to perserve for a long term situation. So is the goal to be able to walk out my back door and not look back? That's why this issue sticks with me, because it really shouldn't be just surviving, but thriving in the wild. God did say to Peter "Rise kill and eat." So is that the answer... I am a spineless sappy yuppie modern man...

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    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    This world is about looking in the mirror and being happy with who you see. It's not about fitting some role or model that you think you should fit into. Spend some time in the woods, alone, and discover who you are. Once you know the answer to that then the rest of life's answers will come pretty easy.
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    Quality Control Director Ken's Avatar
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    Okay. When I was younger, I didn't have much use for guns, even though I considered myself an outdoorsman. Until 1979. That was the second time I had witnessed, first hand, what the violence could be like in Boston.

    A year earlier, I saw a guy try to stab a cop in Boston's Chinatown section.

    On February 15, 1979, I was in Boston Common at around 11:00 AM. and wound up literally in the middle of a gun battle between Boston Police and two azzhats who had robbed a jewelry store with shotguns. Both perps were shot. I was training EMTs at the time, and at the request of the police I attended to these guys. One lived to go to trial. The second had two relatively small holes in his chest and one gaping large hole in his back - that was the exit wound. He died on Boston Common.

    The next day, my picture was on the front page of the Boston Herald, with another one, under the headline "DEATH ON THE COMMON."

    I was only dropping off my law school application that day, but I learned more in a few short minutes on the Common than I learned in any class I ever attended. By the date of my first class 7 months later, I had qualified as an expert with a handgun and carried one whenever I was in Boston. It changed other people's attitudes 4 times. But that's another story.

    Hunting with friends came next, and ....... have you ever eaten venison tenderloin with Bearnaise sauce?
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    Yeah, if god had not wanted us to hunt deer, he wouldn't have made them taste so good!

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    Senior Member Camp10's Avatar
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    As a hunter, I'm glad not everyone is a hunter! Everyone is different and what you may be good at someone else may struggle with. I am a lucky hunter..I would say good but being a hunter am to superstitious to claim this. I am also a good firemaker. I struggle to make a dry shelter and I dont know many eatible plants. In a long term survival situation being a hunter will only help me if I can team up with others that have the skills I dont. In the meantime I will learn and practice the basics on the skills I lack and hope to be "good enough" should the situation arise.

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    Senior Member gryffynklm's Avatar
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    Dross,

    You are not a wuss, well maybe not completely. I'm at the same place you are. I have never hunted primarily because I haven't had to and because I have not had the opportunity. I'm uncomfortable with the killing part of it because I can go to the market and afford it right now. I don't need to kill (I let the butcher do it for me).

    There is a part of me that says I should learn by doing because some day I may have a need to be proficient in hunting.

    When the opportunity to go hunting comes and if I manage to take a what I'm hunting for it will likely bother me. I will be grateful to the animals spirit for the harvest then I'll cook it and eat it. It will bother me but its something I feel I should learn. I will both dread and look forward to it. My buddy says well start small. MMMM hasenpfeffer
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    Senior Member Ole WV Coot's Avatar
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    Well, I have hunted & trapped for many years and started so young I never gave it much thought. I never was a trophy hunter, strictly meat and if I killed it consider it eaten. You might practice with a firearm or bow on targets only, you might even enjoy it. Try spending your time in the woods stalking animals with a camera, see how close you can get. Grandpa told me during WWI pacifists trained with them without firearms and when the ship docked in France a Sgt handed out rifles and everyone took one. If you have to you will, so learn how. Nothing worse than getting killed with a firearm with the safety on or unloaded. If you eat meat someone had to kill it. I have heard folks say they would never kill anything or anyone. Well it just comes down to if you want to live or die, or worse do you want to protect your family? I don't enjoy killing for the thrill of it, never did but nothing says you have to enjoy it.
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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    Dross, hunting isn't for everyone, eating meat isn't for everyone for that matter.
    No shame in that.

    One of my saddest hunts was with a friend of mine and his son on his 13th birthday.
    I had traveled out of state, and I could tell it was a big deal for the father.

    Son got a new rifle for his birthday (as all his brothers before him did).
    You could tell that as much as he tried to tell his father he didn't want anything to do with it.
    He finally went along with the family and shot a small doe, put up a good front, till we arrived at his home.
    At that point he announced that this was it, he didn't care to do this, and if everyone else in the family was going to be down on him, so be it, but this was it.
    I let him know that I thought that took more guts (non wuss) than blindly putting up with this year after year.

    Later, as I was talking with the father, who was angry at first, realized that his boy had become a man that day, just sticking up for what he believed.

    As far as I know he never hunted again, unless you count flying an Marine Apache Gunship, as hunting.

    Grab a sandwich and a camera and head out for a walk, and just see what grand things await you.
    It's not necessary to kill stuff, to appreciate them.
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    Quality Control Director Ken's Avatar
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    Good post, hunter. Real good post.
    “Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.”
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  14. #14
    naturalist primitive your_comforting_company's Avatar
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    I am a hunter. I hunt for food. I don't enjoy killing any of His creations. I was raised up hunting and gardening and what we call "makin meat" which basically just means "getting food". I was taught to do whatever is necessary to feed myself and my family.
    I dont shoot anything I don't intend to eat, and when I do, I thank the animal for the food, apologize for killing it, and I say a prayer. Every time.
    Do I enjoy hunting? I see lots of amazing things out there. For me it's about being out there away from the machinations of modern society and being a little closer to the earth, and our ancient life-ways as a species. I enjoy the hunt, not the kill. For me it's everything else about the hunt that I love, not the killing. If I am so lucky as to procure a meal, I count my blessings, take a deep breath, and squeeze.
    I have a freezer stocked with plenty of food and since I've taken 3 deer already this year, I have let 3 walk.

    I agree with OWVC and h63. take a walk in the woods. pretend you are hunting with your camera. If you simply want to have the skill, practice on targets. If you are proficient with a firearm you will be able to hunt should the survival need come. From the time I was about 9 or 10 till around 14, I had a .22 that I only shot at targets. You gotta learn to shoot before you can "hunt", so practice the skill.. not the kill. And if you do ever need to kill for food, remember to thank He who makes it all possible.

    If "not liking to kill" makes you a wuss, then I'm the biggest wuss you'll ever meet, but I do hunt and I do eat everything I kill. Most times I use more than the meat off the animal, but thats a whole different frame of mind... something for another discussion.

    Best of luck with your target practicing, and don't forget to take some pics of what you see out in the woods to share with us!
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    Senior Member aflineman's Avatar
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    I enjoy hunting. I really don't care if I get anything, I still count it a good day by just getting out there. If I do get something, it gets ate. My Son has tried it, and found that it is not really for him. I have no issues with that, it is just not for him. He likes shooting skeet better. My Daughter goes out with me sometimes, she is a borderline vegetarian, so I would never kill anything when we are out. We still have a good time tracking critters, picking berries, and scouting. (She calls it hiking with a rifle). She had found that she likes to shoot my 20ga and my AR15 (and is really good with both). She has also found an affinity for my .357mag.
    Just because I do something the way that I do it, does not mean it is for others. Life is about finding things that you enjoy doing and doing them your own way.
    Last edited by aflineman; 12-12-2009 at 04:46 PM.
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    When you become lost, one of your last needs is food. Sure, you will experience hunger in short order but you can last many days - even a month - without food if you start out in a healthy condition. What you will need is proper clothing, shelter (or the knowledge to make one), and the ability to make a fire.

    It is exceedingly rare that a lost person succumbs due to lack of food. It is cold, panic, and poor decision making that will do you in.

    The best hunters respect the game they are hunting. You will find that most native hunters - the worlds best survival experts - would never think of killing for pleasure and have a genuine feeling for the animals they take.

    I agree, fishing and trapping are a much more reliable means of bringing in meat for food than hunting. Surviving off the land, I'd be more inclined to use the rifle for targets of opportunity happened upon while following the trap line or fishing the streams and ponds.
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    The more I hunted, (34 years as a Professional Alaska Big Game Hunting Guide), the more it repulsed me. Most hunters evolve into naturalist, too some degree, and some stop hunting, but they never stop being a naturalist.
    About 6 or 8 years ago I stopped referring to myself as a hunter, stopped even thinking of myself as a hunter. If someone asks, I say, "I am an Explorer", rare is the day that I do not take a firearm, and go explore the Wilderness.
    Last edited by Sourdough; 01-07-2010 at 08:22 AM.

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    You're not being a wuss. When I was in my teens I hated the idea of hunting, but that's changed. Over the years, the old man would come home with a deer and I'd get a little more interested in the animal and the cleaning process so I started helping him clean. Seeing the amount of food that came off of a deer was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I then started scouting for deer and target shooting. From there, I went out on my first hunt and I haven't looked back. So I guess for me, it was all a matter of getting my feet wet first. Some people just need to get acclimated to the change in settings from getting your meat from a deli to taking it yourself in the woods. If you're interested in getting involved or getting your feet wet so to speak, find a friend or family member that hunts and ask them to teach you about it.

  19. #19

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    Dross, I agree (mostly) with sourdough!
    dont take up hunting! just try fishing.

    btw: Dross is the name of a small village in the province of Lower Austria,
    approx. 50 miles NNW of Vienna, Austria.

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    Quality Control Director Ken's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stony View Post
    btw: Dross is the name of a small village in the province of Lower Austria, approx. 50 miles NNW of Vienna, Austria.
    It's also the name for "a mass of solid impurities floating on a molten metal."

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