Every time I shoot something in the Head?

[LockenLoad]

I don't think I could kill even a Feral cat. That being said I understand the danger they can pose. Thanks for doing it cleanly.

There is an SOB around here who seems to take pleasure in not being humane. Sometime soon he is going to be on the receiving end of some no so humane treatment if he keeps up.

I can't do it either, even though I probably have a worse problem than Gemini, and I totally understand doing it just a wuss I guess.

[Pilgrim]

I've been using spine shots lately... some were unintentional .. the critter drops like a rock every time.

You will still get some head movement depending on how far up the spine you land the bullet, and sometimes a front leg will still try to move, but the critter ain't going anywhere.

Killing things seems to bother me more and more the older I get. I recon that's a good thing.

[Frank Castle]

I'm always a bit leery about headshots to wild animals for fear of possibly infecting myself, or another, with rabies. It may be the most humane, but suffering is minimal if you bring enough gun to the fight and place your shots effectively.

[Mac5.56]

Not very realistic. Trapping is far more harmful to an animal and has much higher stress levels than simply killing it.

Human shooting is one of the least stressful manner to put an animal down. If it needs to be done this is about the best option for a wild animal. It's also less risky for the person doing the job.
A "pet" or other animal used to contact can be handled with minimum stress so gassing is reasonable.

Where in the hell did you come up with that load of balarcky??? I am amazed at how many people just make up information on the internet and state it as fact.

First let me state that I have killed animals before I haven't eaten, it happens as a reality of life some times when you live in the country and actually interact with the world, but that doesn't change how I was raised, or the underlining fact that I don't think you should kill something unless you absolutely have to.

But where the hell are you coming up with the conclusion that killing something is actually less stressful then trapping it? Yea it's less stressful, because the animal is dead!!! What a random play on logic, it's baffling really.

[geminidglocker]

Well, the ground was frozen today, but I managed to use an already dug hole to dispose of the carcass. I agree, the older I get, the less able I am to tolerate killing stuff. I hope that I don't ever have to do this again. Catching this thing and bringing it to a Vet would have been impossible. It was in rough shape, and I'm lucky that it did'nt get a chance to bite me or my cat. If my dog had gotten out I don't know how this would have turned out. She's friendly with cats, but this cat was not acting friendly.

[PRGGodfather]

There is an interesting paradox as to the perceived innocence of animals, compared to the inhumanity of our fellow man. Dead body calls (except for little children) don't bother me; while dead animals hit by cars or killed due to animal abuse bother me quite a bit.

I have kept all manner of pets, and yet, I hunt big game, upland game and varmints. I stopped duck hunting because I don't really like duck, but pheasant and turkey are at the top of the list. As a varminter, I don't eat everything I kill -- even as I have NO doubt Mother Nature will put all of us carbon-based life forms to good use when we are done driving the shells. She cares little for guilt or innocence, perceived or otherwise. Such moralistic models prove confusing, to me at least.

We kill billions of rodents and insects annually, just to preserve our grain stores.

So why do I hunt?

In a sense, it is part of my "church." I hunt to remind myself at the core, I am a tribal carnivore; and so I will appreciate given the right stressors and circumstances, most humans WILL become tribal carnivores once again. I am sensitive to it, even as I come to terms with my own mortality. It holds me closer to the truth.

And I do this, living on the Left Coast, where IMHO, the original denial and pussification of America was spawned.

Life is precious, and good people should not experience joy in killing.

Conversely, to say there is no excitement during the stalk and taking an animal humanely through skill would be a lie. To say it does not help us develop the mindset to survive is also a lie. Look at America's military heroes: Alvin York, Carlos Hathcock, and Audie Murphy. All hunted as boys -- all heroes to a man -- and none took joy in killing.

I am grateful for all the times I have taken the animal cleanly, and we should be respectful by sighting in ahead of time and only taking a shot we know we can make. Of course, life is not always that clean. Life is not always clear, or black and white.

I am reminded of a hunt several years ago. My former brother in-law is a decent fellow and we went hunting together after securing permits for depredation. Wildlife management issued them because there were no predators, and lack of competition caused more sick deer, more does who drop more does, and no bucks to strengthen the lines.

Never having hunted, my former brother in-law thought he was prepared -- but he had been too lazy to sight in his rifle before the hunt, and ended up taking multiple shots on a sickly doe because he did not have the appropriate experience or skill. He severely wounded her and yet, she got away.

Initially, I was extremely pissed off and HE felt like real crap.

We looked for nearby water, knowing she would seek comfort from the biting flies attacking her wounds, and we found her in a pond -- when we finally put her down with a head shot -- the following day. I helped him drag her out of the water, even as pissed off as I was that he had not taken her cleanly. He was even harder on himself, than I was on him.

Why?

For all of his incompetence, I know he had no malice aforethought, just a lack of experience -- which inspired more discipline. His citification resulted in lack of respect for a life to be taken. He had not visualized what death would look like, smell like or feel like...

We both learned an important lesson that day about respect and perspective. We both saw the water was anything but clear...

Still, you know what really pisses ME off? Knowing, after watching -- a bunch of extremist a-holes saw off a man's head with a knife, all in very recent history and all in God's name -- and how quickly we all seem to forget about it.

Haven't gotten over that yet.

[snappy]

Great post PRG

[geminidglocker]

Great post PRG

Agreed, If you can't take a clean shot, you should'nt shoot. Not fair to the animal. I love animals, and as proof of this, I've been Deer hunting more times than I can remember, but usually find myself just staring through the scope at the Deer. As to this day, I've still never shot one. This is due to the fact that I've never had a clean shot. It's not a big deal to me, as I find that the thrills of the hunt are mostly before the hunt is over. Squirrels are different, I headshoot them and they drop like rocks. I eat them. Unless they are Red Squirrels, those I kill because they encroach on the Greys territory.

[AJS]

Where in the hell did you come up with that load of balarcky??? I am amazed at how many people just make up information on the internet and state it as fact.
......
But where the hell are you coming up with the conclusion that killing something is actually less stressful then trapping it? Yea it's less stressful, because the animal is dead!!! What a random play on logic, it's baffling really.

So it's better to torment an animal by trapping and moving it before it's killed?
It might make you feel better but it's simply not an accurate opinion of what goes on. You think having an animal freak out in a cage or while being moved is much better than simply putting it down? What you are doing is transferring your guilt and ignoring what is best for the animal.

Having had a fair bit of experience on this subject enables me to have a reasonably good idea of what goes on. Knowing people who spend hours every day putting animals down, people who have to trap them, seeing how the animal stresses out or hurts itself in a trap and other factors put some weight on my "opinion".


I would suggest you spend some time reading a few of the decent studies done on this before further rants about what I have posted being rubbish. You can learn something. It may not be what you want to hear, it might mean you need to decide on having "dirty" hands or understanding you simply pass the problem onto someone else at the expense of the animal but this is better than fooling yourself.

[Alpha Sierra]

Still, you know what really pisses ME off? Knowing, after watching -- a bunch of extremist a-holes saw off a man's head with a knife, all in very recent history and all in God's name -- and how quickly we all seem to forget about it.

Haven't gotten over that yet.

+1 There SHOULD be no getting over that.