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< 16ga. General Discussion ~ Feeling bad today! |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:40 am
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Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 26
Location: McFarland, WI
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This morning on the way to work there were three doves in my lane of traffic. I know I killed two for sure and think maybe one got away. You know how birds just sit in the roadway until the last second and then fly out of the way. These guys didn't move, period. I hunt birds and call it fair game but this is breaking me up.
Should I just man up to it or are these feelings okay? |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:48 am
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Member
Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 2172
Location: Kansas High Plains
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Probably more doves than I'll hit this weekend !
Fin |
_________________ I feel a warm spot in my heart when I meet a man whiling away an afternoon...and stopping to chat with him, hear the sleek lines of his double gun whisper "Sixteen." - Gene Hill, Shotgunner's Notebook |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:20 am
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Member
Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 596
Location: Massachusetts
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remorse is natural - shows you care about the critters |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:29 am
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Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 2016
Location: Glendale, AZ
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It wasn't malice aforethought (intentional), you've removed some of the less intellectually gifted dove (and they're already WAY down the curve) from the gene pool, and a neighborhood hawk, crow, or coyote will be thrilled with the lunch. And it could have been a deer that could have killed you.
As I get older and my brain more quishy-it's getting harder to kill birds (on purpose) but accidents (which is all that this was) happen in this fallen world. You're a good man and most of us have some ambivalence about killing that which the pursuit of, gives us such joy. |
_________________ Drew Hause
http://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:14 am
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Member
Joined: 06 Aug 2004
Posts: 2172
Location: Kansas High Plains
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jmeili,
OK, I was tryng to be funny but Rev and Sprocket have shamed me. I agree with their comments, and I understand your feelings. Interesting how we can hunt these wonderful game birds, and yet at the same time have a great deal of compassion for them.
I had a dove nest in my gutter last year. Not only could I not bring myself to tear it out until mama left, I checked on it after every rain to make sure it was OK.
Fin |
_________________ I feel a warm spot in my heart when I meet a man whiling away an afternoon...and stopping to chat with him, hear the sleek lines of his double gun whisper "Sixteen." - Gene Hill, Shotgunner's Notebook |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:34 am
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Member
Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 596
Location: Massachusetts
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Oh trust me, I almost asked what kind of car he used to score a double in one shot...
I once got into a very detailed discussion about ducks with a earthy-crunchy type. she was delighted that I knew so much about the birds, population, habitat, etc.
The look on her face when I told her I hunt was priceless - it only got better when I told her how wonderful they taste, her jaw just kept dropping. |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:13 am
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Member
Joined: 15 Mar 2005
Posts: 358
Location: Houston
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Fin,
I can relate. For two summers I watched a dove raise her broods in a nest in my rose arbor. It was so low I could reach up and touch it, and she never moved as I puttered around in the yard just a few feet from her.
Three broods the first summer, two the next, and then she disappeared, with eggs in the nest. Cat? Hawk? Old age? Will never know, but I took it personally. The back yard was never the same. |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:28 pm
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Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 2016
Location: Glendale, AZ
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Fin and 662: Good stories and powerful statements about that which is so hard to put into words. How can we have such affection ('love' being way over-used and cheapened because of it) for the animal we spend hours thinking about, preparing for, and seeking to kill? How to explain the bond with feel with guys who feel the same way? |
_________________ Drew Hause
http://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:39 pm
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Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 62
Location: Driftwood, TX
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This is really shows your compassion. I find distain in the hunting shows where the hosts laughs when a shot is made.
Nature is brutal... But we can still be humane. |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:09 pm
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Member
Joined: 09 Jul 2005
Posts: 132
Location: Harpswell, Maine
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Quote: |
I find distain in the hunting shows where the hosts laughs when a shot is made.
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I wouldn't get upset with them so easily. As was said or inferred previously, it's a complex set of emotions going on when we hunt [successfully]; the compassion for the prey, and the elation that comes with that success.
I don't think they're necessarily mutually exclusive. |
_________________ All we ever have to do to see the point and the flush is to close our eyes
Primrose Path
A Hunters Fireside Book
- Gene Hill |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:40 pm
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Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 2016
Location: Glendale, AZ
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Thanks to all for the intelligent and honest posts and I hope more guys participate because this whole thing is so hard to put into words. The topic of ambivalence about killing birds and 'respect' for wildlife has come up on several threads on Shooting Sportsman BB and usually gets hijacked by the 'stack em and whack em' and 'if it flys, it dies' crowd. I'm glad guys over here don't mind expressing honest emotion. |
_________________ Drew Hause
http://sites.google.com/a/damascusknowledge.com/www/home |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:42 pm
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Joined: 28 Dec 2005
Posts: 62
Location: Driftwood, TX
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Sebascodegan wrote: |
Quote: |
I find distain in the hunting shows where the hosts laughs when a shot is made.
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I wouldn't get upset with them so easily. As was said or inferred previously, it's a complex set of emotions going on when we hunt [successfully]; the compassion for the prey, and the elation that comes with that success.
I don't think they're necessarily mutually exclusive.
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I get your point. But the distain is over it being shown, which could be easily misinterpreted as being funny. Hence the conclusion lets go kill something for fun and leave it could be drawn. |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:49 pm
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Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 26
Location: McFarland, WI
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Thanks guys, I just needed to know that it wasn't just me getting old. I sometimes think of when the time will come and it will be the last day. Thank goodness we do not know when that will be. Those birds, even though they cannot rationalize it, had no idea that they would soon expire. And I was the one that caused it. It is in our nature to hunt and take game but this just seemed to be a waste. I would have felt the same for what ever species it would have been.
When I was young I would have not thought twice about it. But as I have gotten older certain things have become more pertinent to my way of life. |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:26 pm
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Member
Joined: 09 Jul 2005
Posts: 132
Location: Harpswell, Maine
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Quote: |
I get your point. But the distain is over it being shown, which could be easily misinterpreted as being funny. Hence the conclusion lets go kill something for fun and leave it could be drawn.
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DougK,
Yup. Something to be said for knowing your audience, or in their case, knowing there is an audience. Fact is though, different people react different ways to a given situation.
It's also a fact there are plenty of folks out there that would love any opportunity to collect examples of "game hogs" and [what seems to be] hunters that don't respect the quarry. |
_________________ All we ever have to do to see the point and the flush is to close our eyes
Primrose Path
A Hunters Fireside Book
- Gene Hill |
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Posted:
Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:32 pm
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Member
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
Posts: 740
Location: New England, home of fat teddy k.
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Rev, I'm kinda glad, in a way, that you find it hard to shoot birds. It'll make it easy for kat/dog to live up to his true lack of potential. And me and Brad can play rock,paper sissors for your limit at Mtz. |
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