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Thread: Somethings wrong! Am I a TRAITOR?

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    nekshot's Avatar
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    Somethings wrong! Am I a TRAITOR?

    I took my 50-95 bolt action that dreamed up and I some how got to work this past buck season and had a young buck walk past me at 16 yards. I rested the crosshairs on his neck and could not pull the trigger! I honestly felt he needed a more dignified way to end than getting blown around from a 385 gr slug plowing thru his neck. I harvested many deer in my years but now most of the time I really feel sick from pain control and with my sons deer in the freezer I could not do it. I just looked at calendar and realised doe season is open. I was contemplating baking a fruit cake and I looked over at the rifle hanging on wall with the BIG bore and was tempted(I know where some doe are) but the cake is more appealing. I almost feel like a traitor to the fraternity here!
    Look twice, shoot once.

  2. #2
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    I understand perfectly. It happens to a lot of us. One day we're hunters and suddenly it's gone. I can't say why, just that it is so. I do know that as one gets older their remaining life becomes more valuable to them, and one develops an appreciation for other life and an aversion to taking it unnecessarily. It doesn't mean that you no longer like guns and shooting. I used to be an avid deer hunter and would travel from one end of a very long state to the other where there was prime hunting, at the expense of the cost of the travel, using vacation days, and any new gear required.
    One day I was sitting beneath a large fir tree waiting for Bambi to come along, and it came to me that I like guns and really like being out in the woods, fresh air, etc., but had no longer any desire to kill. I never went again.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    Have not shot a Buck for many years! I enjoy just watching them and looking at the pictures on my trail cameras. If I want meat for the freezer I will take an old Doe.
    Larry

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    I hunted deer and other game animals constantly in my youth. One day, I just lost my taste for it. I would still happily hunt nuisance species (coyote, feral hog) as they need removing but today, I only hunt paper and steel at ever increasing ranges. If the need to hunt for survival occurs, I am more than willing and capable of resuming but will no longer hunt for sport.
    Last edited by Bohica793; 12-01-2017 at 11:49 AM.
    Make no mistake -- They will remember how easily you surrendered your rights.

  5. #5
    Banned

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    you ain't the only one.
    I had a nice 6x7 bull elk dead to rights at 40 yards last fall.
    I put the rifle down and went home.
    I shot a nice 3x4 mule deer a couple of day's later.

    I don't know why I didn't shoot the Elk.
    I prefer elk meat to anything else, he was just hitting full maturity, and had the rack I have wanted for 35 years.
    we just stood there looking at him go about his business unaware me and Littlegirl was standing there watching him.
    she had a cow tag otherwise she would have shot him instantly and almost did anyway, but I just couldn't do it that day.
    maybe next year? [shrug]

  6. #6
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    ShooterAZ's Avatar
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    Nothing is wrong, I have done it too more than once. For me it's just getting out there, no work, no phone, and no pressure to take an animal either. I have already taken my share of trophy worthy critters. The novelty hasn't worn off altogether, but the pressure just isn't there any more and that's fine with me.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    This is why tree-huggers have hunters all wrong. Many of us hunt for meat. If my freezer is full of meat, I'd much rather watch them than hunt them.
    A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms *shall not be infringed*.

    "The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
    - Thomas Jefferson

    "While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of noble spirit, the most corrupt Congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."
    - Rev. Nicholas Collin, Fayetteville Gazette (N.C.), October 12, 1789

  8. #8
    Boolit Master 308Jeff's Avatar
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    Happened to me too. Was an avid hunter, but it's just not my thing anymore. Like others above I still love the camping, outdoors, and getting away from life, just no desire to hunt.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
    Tom W.'s Avatar
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    I lost a lot of my desire after my dad died. I was in the top of a hill at my truck drinking coffee and saw a buck walking through the gully an bed down in a blowdown. The wind was swirling and he never saw me. I started to stalk and got about halfway when I said "why?"
    Haven't been hunting since. My son wants me to go with him sometime this season. I'm still easily tired, but took my rifle and .44 to the range to make sure it was sighted in. I love to shoot, just don't care too much about killing anymore. If I do manage to kill one I'll have to buy a freezer
    to put it in. The good thing is that after this season I won't have to buy another hunting license again!
    Tom
    μολὼν λαβέ


    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've been that way for a few seasons now. Put the crosshair on them, whisper "bang" and head on back to the truck.

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    I am struggling with this myself. Passed up 3 bucks last year. I hunted deer only 3 or 4 times this year. I still love hunting birds especially turkeys.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I never had any desire to kill. My dad hunted a long time ago, probably before I was born, but didn't continue after he had a family. Both of my grandfathers hunted. One used a Win 94 30-30 and now I hunt steel silhouettes with that one and have a small bag with the top covered in pins from that match. It works great with cast boolits. My other grandfather used a Win 54 30-06, made in 1926, and had a leather scabbard as he hunted from horse back. I still have the rifle and scabbard with the little weaver scope and peep sights and use it for fun shooting. The same boolit and powder load that works in the 30-30, makes a nice plinking load in the 54.

    The only thing I have killed is insects and a few fish. When it comes to fishing, I don't bother to keep them unless I know we will eat it right away or it isn't healthy enough to survive if thrown back.

    I am an animal lover and service the animal industry for a living. If the only way to eat decent, was to hunt, then I would do it. If I have to defend myself and I can't get away, then I'll do what I have to, but short of that I don't have a desire to hurt the living. Even the sports where people beat the **** out of each other are pointless........well, I hate watching any sport, but I don't get off on that sort of thing. Life is fragile and short and injuries have consequences even if not until later in life.

    Anti gun or non shooters assume that someone who likes guns, likes to kill or harm. Demolition Ranch is a youtube channel of a veterinarian, who has a channel dedicated to helping animals with donated money (vet ranch), having fun with guns and doing experiments.

    Hunting for food is a way of life and controlling population numbers of animals can be necessary, but I have no respect for people who hunt for the kill or to have a trophy on the wall.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master


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    I think the older you are the more apt you are to feel the weight of your years and how important your remaining years are to you. To deprive an animal of life becomes something to give one pause. Not always, but often, you will give them a pass. Harder to explain than to understand.
    “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
    ― Mark Twain
    W8SOB

  14. #14
    Boolit Master



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    Sure wish I could catch and release,
    as I get older, the hunter in me wanes
    but the shooter in me grows
    Mike
    NRA Benefactor 2004 USAF RET 1971-95

  15. #15
    Boolit Master


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    The hunt is the reason;being out doors, seeing the landscape and animals ,putting your wits and know how against something biologically designed to see smell hear you and run away.! Getting close enough for the shot knowing your gear is good tested and sighted in,you are successful. The killing is becoming more unpalatable ,though game is a huge part of our diet, and I wouldn't trade anything for time spent afield with my daughter or father ,other than the doe I took with the bow this year because her back leg was ruined the act of killing is harder and harder

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    I had my 6 y.o. Grandson out with me last Saturday. We saw a yearling spike buck with about 6inch spikes. I was out for a spike, but not him. My thought was that if I shoot him the boy is going to think deer hunting is easy. We had only been in the ground blind about 15 minutes. Now, I had seen a bruiser of a buck with wide antlers, easily making the min. spread required by the county, about a week earlier. He was after a doe. I thought, "Go on! Do your job!", and let him go. It would have been like shooting your best herd bull.

    In the end, it is about the hunt, not the kill.
    USMC 6638

  17. #17
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
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    You are an honorable guy, Nekshot. Those of us who have lived long enough to see many deaths, can appreciate life more.
    Wayne
    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
    Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free

  18. #18
    Boolit Mold
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    Last year I killed 2 deer. One because it was crippled,the other because someone that I knew was going through some bad times asked for one. This year I have put the cross hairs on two and said bang. I don't feel the least bit bad about it. If I needed the meat I'd have already filled the freezer.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy

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    Lots of good posts here fellas. Same boat here, limited time, Blue tongue been through 2x, didn't even see a deer 2yr ago. Now find that I am passing on deer more and more, need to get our numbers up but we count on the meat as well. Wife got a nice doe last yr and I was glad the pressure was off. We have a standing rule to always let doe with twins walk, sure the guy down the road mite shoot her, but we do our part. So guys, you are not alone. Now, I will break a leg getting to my rifle to shoot a coyote.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master hicard's Avatar
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    I was a young teenager, not ready to hunt yet, when my father came back from a rare successful deer hunt and put away his rifle for ever. Seems the deer he shot sounded like a baby crying and my father never got over it.
    This country has gone to hell but now there is hope for us.

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