Cyber Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi everyone, this might sound like a silly question but, do any of you feel remorse when you kill anything?? I'm not to bad when I get rabbits or pigeons as they can be eaten but I just killed a magpie and I felt quite bad as I feel it is abit of a waste?? Is it just me that feels like this?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taffygun Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Its the hunter's conscience(sp?)....I think it happens to most people sometime in their hunting life... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Some things like magpies, rats, squirrels, etc., are just pure vermin (inedible to most of us with any taste). By reducing their numbers you are giving song birds a chance and reducing the risk of diseases. There are a number of legal quarry species that I have no desire to kill (anymore), so I don't. They include hares, deer and jays, but I don't criticise others who shoot these species, its all a matter of personal choice. With regard to real remorse, I once shot a wigeon that was ringed. I sent the ring off and had the life history of the duck sent back. It had first been ringed in Russia, then caught in a census net in Finland, observed in Iceland and I shot it in Kent. It was a few months before I went duck shooting again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Posted February 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 hehe glad its not only me then, i suppose i would be abit cold blooded it I didn't feel any remorse. . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyjaimz Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 I always feel something like remorse whenever I take a life with my rifle, irrespective of the species. If I didnt then I think I would lose respect for my sport, and wouldnt appreciate or take the necessary time with the shot when i took it. Hope this makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Posted February 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 makes perfect sense, i think thats what I was trying to say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Get out more. See what magpies get upto. This will harden your resolve to pop as many off as you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08shooter Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 i have zero remorse especially for maggies just think how many nests you might have saved now.maggies are my favourite prey after the greyback crow.don t dwell on taking life think about what you are saving mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naddan28 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Thats the way I view it with the corvids and as for rabbits and pigeons when shooting them on a family farm protecting their crops I have no issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Everything I shoot gets my respect, its a life I have chosen to take away, but what allows me to make this choice is reason.. Squirrels can cause all sorts of problems, I take them to reduce the damage they do to other wildlife, this gives song birds a chance of a life that they would not have if the squirrel gobbled them pre hatched. I used to refer to them as 'tree rats' but after spending so much time hunting them, eating them, and watching them you learn they are just like us. I have felt remorse, but then I thought why am I hunting if I feel this? it all works out in the end, you will begin to build up hunting confidence. It has happened that after a bad shot taken on a larger animal such as wounding a Deer, people loose all their confidence and even lay down their guns for good. It happens! but learn as you go, and dont puch yourself further then feels right. Providing you always have good reason before you take the shot, and you know its going to help the countryside in some way, then you are ready for the shot. If it doesnt feel right, dont take the shot.. no one says you have to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Posted February 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 spot on replies hehe. I feel better now! like i said i don't really feel remorse for rabbits or anything that can be 'used' (eaten for example. i just felt bad as it was killed but there was no use for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CARBINE Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 some of you guys on here would make good head doctors and yes I feel it sometimes(remorse) but if you read the Bible it does give permission somewhere in there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGalway Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 I do get the odd twinge when I shoot a fox. Even though I'm a sheep farmer! I've shot a couple of lovely foxes since I started and I do sometimes wish that they'd just leave the lambs alone so I could leave them alone. Magpies and hoodies on the other hand Do we have a bazooka smilie As for the rabbits I shoot, I do that to try and keep the numbers under control rather than wipe them out. I feel myself that if they get out of control someone will drop in a mixy rabbit or three and we can't be having that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 The first time I ever shot a rabbit I was so over the moon after spending 3 months trying I was mentally preparing the recipe as I was walking to get it. However I have since felt the odd pang since. Like Cranfield I will not take a Jay as numbers are not sufficient to justify it. However everything else on the menu is up for grabs. I think that is one of the reasons I haven't gone for an SC or powder FAC, I don't want to kill for the sake of it, after all I can't eat a fox. However if foxes are causing a nuisance then they need to be controlled, like magpies and crows. The hardest shots are baby rabbits. I know they cause damage in the gardens I control but it is still a wrench sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirky640 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 bull **** baffels brains !!! you soft bunch of nancays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 The first time I ever shot a rabbit I was so over the moon after spending 3 months trying I was mentally preparing the recipe as I was walking to get it.However I have since felt the odd pang since. Like Cranfield I will not take a Jay as numbers are not sufficient to justify it. However everything else on the menu is up for grabs. I think that is one of the reasons I haven't gone for an SC or powder FAC, I don't want to kill for the sake of it, after all I can't eat a fox. However if foxes are causing a nuisance then they need to be controlled, like magpies and crows. The hardest shots are baby rabbits. I know they cause damage in the gardens I control but it is still a wrench sometimes. Have you noticed they never go down like the big 'uns? always lots of movement after the shot, its never nice taking the tiddlers but sometimes its got to be done Plus side is, if you have the patiance, tiddlers make very good pan fry meat! if you get enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren m Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 i think it shows your human mate , its a good thing , some times feel remorse when i see a mixy rabbit suffering , wisheing i had controled them better before the mixy hit . the worst thing i ever did was wound a hare using a 12g while rough shooting, the way it screamed i,ll never forget got it with the second shot , but felt terrible , now i dont shoot them , total respect for them and love to see them frolicking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the hitman Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 I never have a problem with magpies ,or rat or carrion crows . In fact i get a feeling of satisfaction when i hang them on a fence for the keeper to see. I was waiting for geese one morning , when a fox came walking up the hedge towards me , i levelled the 12g at him , he came within 10ft then stopped , i lowered the gun and watched him run off .That kind of shot was to easy and my conscience would bother me for a while. Sometimes when pigeons are decoying to well , and dont seem sporting , i have the same feeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Have you noticed they never go down like the big 'uns? always lots of movement after the shot, its never nice taking the tiddlers but sometimes its got to be done Plus side is, if you have the patiance, tiddlers make very good pan fry meat! if you get enough. Good reason for that, rabbits are born without any sense at all, all they have is adrenaline, bucketloads of it on tap ready in case something happens. Natures way of helping them survive If the ferts catch a squidger I do feel bad, or if I take a milky doe. Sometimes when despatching pigeon those big eyes blink at you and I get a pang of guilt Its been said before, we control, we don't wipe out. We are human, and humans have emotions. I don't think I could gas rabbit warrens or set poison to take them, I understand in certain cases its the only way, but I am not sure I could do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnold Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 I show respect as a hunter when out hunting, but after clean kill i feel nothing for my actions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
col s10 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 great post,only twinge i get is when i dont get aclean kill sort of follows on from my jays post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatingisbest Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 i rarely feel remorse as i take the shot if im totally happy that i can deliver a clean kill first time however when i once saw a mxy bunny hopping its way along i could tell it was in the fairly late stages of the disease, i walked straight up to it, put a shot clean into its brain, it hopped on, as if nothing had happened, it threw up some blood then hopped on oblivious, by which time i had reloaded and shot again, it simply went to ground and there it lay stone dead. I felt very bad that i couldnt of found and dispatched it earlier, that bunny had a big impact on me, and the way i hunt is slightly different now. A few weeks later i came across a healthy bunny, sat by its hole and presented a shot at around 15 yards, i lay, lining the shot up, when a mxy youngun hopped in, and noticed it through my scope at around 12 yards, i didnt think once about which bunny to go for, the choice was clear... I ended that day with only one bunny.... and it wasnt for the pot, i shot the mxy one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiercel Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 The biggest pang of regret I ever had was when fishing. Quiet a few years ago I spent a few seasons exclusively fishing for Sewin, (Sea trout). One night I was fishing a pool down when the moon came over a hill directly opposite me casting it's glow over the river. There were trees on the opposite bank that were casting a shadow over the tail of the pool. I decided to give that a go before I packed up for the night. First go down and I hooked into a large Sewin. The fish fought like a demon up and down the pool with spectacular jumps in the moonlight. My heart was racing; my mind was on fire, how am I going to land this fish? Will it get off before I land it? Eventually I beached the fish, dived on it and administered the last rights. Then I sat down rolled a fag waiting for the adrenalin to subside (stop shaking) and just looked at the fish lying on the pebbles in the moonlight. Then the remorse set in, I started thinking how old the fish was, how many times she had run this river to spawn, how beautiful she looked lying there in the moonlight. Why did I have to kill her? I had had my sport by catching her why had I not released her to carry on her life’s work. To this day I have never killed another Sewin over 4lb. I honestly believe that there is a gene in people who hunt, that makes hunting a compulsion, but it also makes us more aware of life and death. To feel remorse having killed an animal for whatever reason is the most natural feeling in the world, because as hunters we should have the utmost respect for the quarry. The best hunters are always the ones that know the most about their prey. You cannot get to know any animal without admiring their sagacity, that ability to survive where others of their species has failed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirky640 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 however when i once saw a mxy bunny hopping its way along i could tell it was in the fairly late stages of the disease, i walked straight up to it, put a shot clean into its brain, it hopped on, as if nothing had happened, it threw up some blood then hopped on oblivious, by which time i had reloaded and shot again, it simply went to ground and there it lay stone dead. you shot it in the brain then it hopped on yes so it did any more jokes thats the stupidest thing i ever heard kirky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njc110381 Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 I always feel a small amount of sadness for the creature I've just killed, no matter what it is. I've just taken somethings life, even if it's for good reason it's still a sad moment. It's a respect thing I think. It's not right to see vermin as worthless. Any living creature has it's faults, even man. I'm sure we do more damage to the environment than any other living thing on this planet. We have the power to destroy things for our gain or even just for amusement, so we do. The same as the magpie does, but worse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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