Watch Him Die...Or Not?

backinthegame

backinthegame

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This same subject is being discussed on another forum, and it creating some really good dialouge. I figured I'd pose the question here...the subject is how we feel when an animal we've taken is dying right in front of our eyes.

Probably happens more with archery gear than with the rifle, but both can be the same. Do you prefer to see an animal stumble, struggle, kick, etc. as he takes his last breath, or would you rather follow a good bloodtrail to the downed animal?

I guess it's a matter of emotions that come into play with hunting. We're all hunters, we all kill. It's obviously an intregal part of our sport. But what is there for you when it happens?

My personal feelings...

From a pure "hunter's" standpoint...I like to have the animal go down in sight. No matter how good a bloodtrail, an animal down in sight is always an easier recovery, and that is always the goal.

Now from the "other" standpoint...watching an animal fight it's last fight will stir up a little emotion in me. Every time. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, but it's there for sure.

The good news for those of us who feel some sadness is that generally if the animal is going down in sight the shot was lethal, and the kill will be relatively quick and clean.

I've had to leave poorly-hit deer for extended periods of time in the past in order to have the best chance of recovery. I'm not ashamed to say that it made me literally feel sick. Maybe I'm just a "softy?" I dunno. I had made a poor hit and now the animal suffered. Not a good feeling.

How do other MM'ers feel?
 
I've never really felt any emotion either way. I would only feel bad if I wounded an animal and didn't recover it. Not that the animal was suffering but because the animals meat was wasted. Thankfully that has only happened to me one time in 30 years of hunting. But then again, I've had to put my own hunting dogs down on a few occasions and that didn't bother me either.


_____________________________________
A Peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than that of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.- Aldo Leopold.
 
Quick follow up to that, I do have a chocolate lab right now that is about a year old. He is the fist hunting dog that I've owned that is a 100% spoiled house dog. Sleeps on the leather couch, in my bed, where ever he wants. All my other hunting dogs have been kennel dogs. One that I put down was a 3 time pheasant champ. Any way I even made a comment to my buddy while pheasant hunting yesterday that it will probably be the first time I will be sad over a dog the day I lose this pup. I just turned 42 so it must be an old age thing.


_____________________________________
A Peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than that of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.- Aldo Leopold.
 
Let me say I love hunting as much as the next guy. I watch about 30 animals die a year with my job, and hunting a year. I have to personally kill 5 to ten a year that are wounded or not completely dead when I arrive to the animal. I would be lying if I didn't say that sucks to watch an animal suffer right in front of your eyes before death. I never really give it a second thought after the animal is dead but I have watched some serious brutal last seconds of an animals life that have really got me messed up for for a few minutes afterwards.
 
Shot a buck last year with a muzzle loader that dropped right in his tracks. I expected him to be dead when I got to him, but for some reason he wouldn't die. I had a great shot through the shoulder and clipped the lungs, but that ol boy hung on for several minutes. I had to walk away and then come back, didn't enjoy that at all.
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-08 AT 11:12AM (MST)[p]All i have in common with this post is, i have to wait a week or so to eat the animal, why, it takes that long for my mind to transisition into the food for eating mode from the adventure mode....weird I know.......
 
I don't like to watch them die. A quote from a past Bugle magazine, "Every animal we harvest, is a gift from the creator, and should be taken with humility and honor". As much as I love to hunt, still hate to see any animal suffer.
 
I would prefer not to watch an animal take its last few breaths but I think everyone should be exposed to it during their hunting career.

When you have to watch an animal finish his life or struggle to move from a non lethal wound, it should elicit at least a little emotion. I would like to think that no one enjoys watching death over take a living animal. Granted it is part of life and it takes a death to measure a succesful harvest (maybe not a successful hunt though).

If you have witnessed death up close and personal, it should effect your decisions in the future. If you made a mistake and blew the leg off a deer and then had to watch it struggle before you finished it off, hopefully that memory will make you second guess a 80 yard bow shot or an unprepared 500 yard rifle shot. (I believe long range bow shots and people TRYING rifle shots without knowing what there doing are unethical acts)
 
I like to see them go down within my sight so the recovery is easier......but, I don't enjoy watching them die. This last elk season, I walked into a cow which had been gut shot. She was sick but still very much aware what was going on. Long story short, I ended up gettng within range after one or two failed attempts and finishing her off. I thought about leaving her to lay and then coming back the next morning, (it was evening) but decided she deserved to be put down. Like posts above mentioned, she just took her time dying after I put a good hit on her. It was not a pretty sight. Made me think, I never want to wound an animal like that.

Bottom line though, it happens, even to the best of us.
 
I dont think anyone in their right mind wants to see a animal or anything suffer. I personally love the shots where the animal just drops in his tracks. One of my biggest fears and it is one my dad instilled in me is if you wound something and it gets away, do what ever it takes to find the animal so it suffers the least. Luckily in 30 years of hunting I have never lost a animal. Again I have to agree with Manny15, I too have to wait a while until the image and though of the field dressing and kill gets out of my mind to eat the meat. Might seem weird but true.
 
I don't like killing, period. But, when I've hunted hard and found an animal I'd like to take home I want to make a "perfect" shot and drop him in his tracks or have him take a few steps then fall down dead. No other way is better in my opinion...
 
I like to put em down stone cold dead with one shot, but if you hunt long enough you will see a few suffer or struggle to live. That aint the part of hunting I relish.

Mike
 
prefer to have the critter dead when I get there......I've defineately felt pangs of remorse after arriving at a struggling buck or bull. "I did this to him" is usually what runs through my head.
 
If it bothers you to see them suffer why the hell don't you just walk up and put one behind the ear? Instant solution to the suffering. Some of the stuff you guys come up with is beyond me....
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-08 AT 03:18PM (MST)[p]Like most I imagine, I would prefer to see the animal die. Not for some morbid reason but rather to put my mind at ease that the pain and suffering on the animals behalf is over. If the animal disappears into trees my mind will start to wander, and it I'd rather not let it wander.

I know a guy who enjoys hunting for cows and does and I can't understand it; where's the challenge? So I asked him one day why he hunts females and why wouldn't he rather hunt a big buck or big bull? His answer was, "I just like to watch something die" I think and hope he is in the minority among hunters.

hey Elk_nuts
You really don't feel any emotion when you kill something? Even your own dog? Wow I guess I'm a big softy then, because when I kill something its a rollercoaster of emotions I can't really explain. Happiness-> excitement-> sadness-> guilt-> remorse-> accomplishment-> etc. I guess its kinda of hard to explain.
 
Okay well I guess that I am the BarBarian here It does not bother me at all to watch and animal that I am hunting die. I have put it through my head that its totally different than other deaths I don't want anything to suffer but if I have to put a few shots into an animal to keep it from getting away and watch it drag legs, paralyze it or whatever it doesn't really bother me!! I guess I am sick and twisted but I don't ever remember crying so hard ever like the time my dog got ran over, to me hunting is totally different I think this is like comparing apples to oranges.
 
I had shot a doe antelope in Wyoming about 10 years ago and I had hit her too far back. She was struggling to get up and I realized she wasn't going to be able to go anywhere so I got to about 30 yards of her and tried to put a well placed bullet in her head to put her out. After two shots and the sickening feeling that I was simply putting bullets through her head and not doing the job, I walked up to her quickly and put one in the back of her head from about two feet. That was the worst hunting experience I've ever had. I had to walk away, leaving her there. I went and found my Dad and told him that he'd have to go field dress her because I was so distraught. I then filled his tag!!! HaHa Just kidding. Seriously, we all want to put the perfect shot on our target but it doesn't always happen. It's part of hunting and if you can't handle the consequences, you shouldn't be out there. This situation hasn't come up again...luckily...and I will definately do things differently next time. That experience truly wrecked that hunt and the "great" memories that hunting is supposed to create.

Steve
 
Andyman, how do you live with yourself? A fricken whale......

I certainly dont want anything i've shot to suffer.

But i think it goes back to what is this animal really thinking? I dont believe that it has the cognitive thought process to know what exactly has happened to it. I think that it knows something is wrong, but doesn't know what or why, and in a survival panick to get away from these feelings its movement can be seen as suffering.

In its life i give these creatures all the respect in the world, they are amazing animals. In the hunt i am respectful in the fact that I take only (self imposed ethics) ethical shots. So too in the death of a creature i respect it, by using all of the meat. By knowing i've not done anything to disrespect the animal during the entire process i can be guilt free if the first shot isn't the last.

I've had to double tap a couple of deer....when done properly it only takes one shot. I've never lost a second of peace in my heart over having to do this, or of the killing of any animal. I'm not doing anything wrong, why feel bad about nothing?



48696fc97cd60c01.jpg
 
Who wants to watch the animal they are killing suffer? I sure don't and it doesn't make you any less of a man if you do not enjoy seeing an animal suffer. If the animal is still alive and kicking when you walk up to it, do not walk away and wait for it to die, do the animal a favor, and and put your rifle barrel 2 feet behind its head, and pull the trigger. The animal will die immediately.

BB
 
Mixed Emotions... but I say yes.

As a woman hunter... some things just set me off.

One year I shot a nice Buck but he didn't die quickly... I probably was a bit too close when I shot him... I sat next to the buck as he was taking his last few breaths... now I have harvested well over 30 bucks... but as it looked at me and I looked at him... the girl thing took over and I started to cry... no real reason but the tears were gushing... the men that I was hunting with came up to me and asked if I was okay.. girl sitting over a nice buck and crying... I said yup and four burly men got the heck out of dodge as fast as they could. I cleaned and got the Buck into the truck and hung in a tree all by myself.

They didn't say a word.

Another extreme Buck.... I had shot a Buck... chest shot but it was still alive... standing in a creek at the bottom of a steep canyon... the water ran blood red like a scene from Apocolypse Now... The guys are up the hill yelling don't ruin the meat... take a head shot... The deer actually ran through camp and I grabbed the closest rifle and when running... I was out of ammo and the Buck was trying to gore me... the guys were laughing so hard they were rolling down the canyon... It seemed like it lasted forever for the Buck to die... I kept it at bay by grabbing one of the antlers and tried to knock it unconcious with the barrel of the empty gun.

Now I carry a pistol... last year a finishing shot into the head... no tears and no more wrestling matches.

Destiny
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-15-08 AT 11:19PM (MST)[p]This may sound weird but a lot of it depends on the hunt. If i'm hunting a big ol trophy buck, i don't care at all of the deer as much as me getting that sucker down on the ground. If i'm taking a buck just for the sake of taking one, bound for the freezer..., i want it over clean and fast. Nothing worse than a shot wounded deer sounding like a wounded rabbit. Ugghh! Creeps me out!!!

Edit; BeardBuster said; "put your rifle barrel 2 feet behind its head, and pull the trigger. The animal will die immediately."

I say, sounds good but not so good advice IMO. Muzzle blast and if there is anything hard, like rock, on the other side could very well cause major injury to yourself, as well as the deer. Been there/done that, never again!!

Joey
 
I don't think that anyone wants an animal to suffer but personally i have a very hard time watching an animal take its last breath. In most cases the kill is anticlimatic. There are many reasons i hunt and "watching something die" definately isn't one of them
 
after working on the kill floor in a meatpacking plant I guess I don't feel much one way or the other about a animal dieing.
Always like to get it done right no matter if it was at work or out in the woods.
 
Watching the passing of an animal has been more spiritual for me than saddening. I realize that this amazing animal was a gift from God for me to feed my family, and I acknowledge his blessing of giving.

This didn't come to me as this way the first kill I walked up on. In fact my first deer hunt, another hunter's deer was still kickin, and he had to put another bullet in the buck to end his life. It was powerful.

As a kid I hunted anything with my BB gun, and I wastefully killed several birds, squirrels and even a muskrat or two.

Today, I only hunt what I can eat. Sport hunting isn't my thing. The larger the animal the more I have a sense of feeling for it.... Sorry ants, bugs, spiders, no thought process on your passing... Too many to care, too small to notice. (Being honest)

Recently, I ever Big Game animal that I have taken with my Bow, has been moving spiritually, I have had powerful prayers with my maker of gratitude and reference for the life in which I had taken.

My Two cents...

Midnight
 
Let me say right off that I love to hunt. I love the anticipation, the preparation, the stalk...everything but the actual kill. When I was younger, it really didn't bother me but after 40 years of hunting, the kill is definitely not what I enjoy about hunting.

Now that is out of the way, I've adopted a new role - mentor. I enjoy teaching others and letting them have a chance. That gives me the opportunity to enjoy hunting much more than if I was dependent on my own "kills."

5 years ago, I drew an LE hunt in Utah that resulted in the harvest a 183 gross typical. Absolutely great buck and memorable time. However, I still get a lump in my throat when I think about the actual kill. I've had the opportunity to take similar bucks since that time but opted to pass.

Just my 2-cents worth....

-lgriffiti
 
>
>hey Elk_nuts
>You really don't feel any emotion when you kill something? Even your own dog? Wow I guess I'm a big softy then, because when I kill something its a rollercoaster of emotions I can't really explain. Happiness-> excitement-> sadness-> guilt-> remorse-> accomplishment-> etc. I guess its kinda of hard to explain.
>
>
>

As far as the animals I hunt, Nope. As far as my dogs, not yet. Like I said that might change with this new dog that I have. I have watched the lives of 5 different people come to an end. Including my own Dad all at the moments that they ended. No emotions. I'm sure if it was one of my 3 kids it would be a different story altogether. No Doubt about that.

quick story, I had a lab 14 or 15 years old that was in bad shape, Had to pick him up and carry him outside just to go to the bathroom. Old age caught up with him. Anyway my wife didnt want me to put him down the old fashion way and wanted me to take him to the vet. I dont live that close to any vets. I had my 16 year old take the tractor and dig a hole a few days prior. Anyway I beat the wife home from work one day and told the kid, who was playing xbox or something to go get the dog and set him by the hole. Bang end of story. Kid covers up the hole, plops right back down in the chair to finish his game like nothing had just happend. My other kid who never came out of the house cried for 3 days. Wife said the older one is just like me. Had to smile just a bit.




_____________________________________
A Peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience, rather than that of onlookers. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of this fact.- Aldo Leopold.
 
>This same subject is being discussed
>on another forum, and it
>creating some really good dialouge.
> I figured I'd pose
>the question here...the subject is
>how we feel when an
>animal we've taken is dying
>right in front of our
>eyes.
>
>Probably happens more with archery gear
>than with the rifle, but
>both can be the same.
> Do you prefer to
>see an animal stumble, struggle,
>kick, etc. as he takes
>his last breath, or would
>you rather follow a good
>bloodtrail to the downed animal?
>
>
>I guess it's a matter of
>emotions that come into play
>with hunting. We're all
>hunters, we all kill.
>It's obviously an intregal part
>of our sport. But
>what is there for you
>when it happens?
>
>My personal feelings...
>
>From a pure "hunter's" standpoint...I like
>to have the animal go
>down in sight. No matter
>how good a bloodtrail, an
>animal down in sight is
>always an easier recovery, and
>that is always the goal.
>
>
>Now from the "other" standpoint...watching an
>animal fight it's last fight
>will stir up a little
>emotion in me. Every time.
>It's hard to explain exactly
>what it is, but it's
>there for sure.
>
>The good news for those of
>us who feel some sadness
>is that generally if the
>animal is going down in
>sight the shot was lethal,
>and the kill will be
>relatively quick and clean.
>
>I've had to leave poorly-hit deer
>for extended periods of time
>in the past in order
>to have the best chance
>of recovery. I'm not ashamed
>to say that it made
>me literally feel sick. Maybe
>I'm just a "softy?" I
>dunno. I had made a
>poor hit and now the
>animal suffered. Not a good
>feeling.
>
>How do other MM'ers feel?

DIDDO!! well said, i feel happy but sad, excited but humbled, always very thankful for the animal its meat and its life,when i srew up i do everything in my power to make sure that it doesnt happen again.wounding an animal is the only thing powerful enough to make me think about not hunting any more or pursuing my favorite and only obsession.
 
If the animal is still alive when I get up to him I just hit him really hard over the head with my purse.


You would be sick and twisted to want to see an animal suffer (unless you where married to her) but really if you cant handle seeing an animal die you should take up eatin toffu and stop hunting.



---------------------------------------
"I needed a cheesy signature saying like everyone else"
 
I have no problem watching something die, what gets to me is if the death takes longer than it should because of poor performance on my end.
 
I've read everyone's remarks and I appreciate what's been said. It sounds like a mixed bag of emotions.

Personally, I too have had to play the blood trail game. Few years back I shot a buck that seemed to never die, I have to admit that I soon learned I was shooting poorly do to a equipment malfunction. However, point is that chasing that buck all over the mountain was hard, hard on me. And hard on him, I ended up shooting the deer at close range and dropped him in his tracks, but it was after a lenghty up and down, this way and that way.

I prefer the one shot, done deal! I've heard horror stories of wounded animals crying out, struggling, or a hunter's worse nightmare.. never found. I believe that as sportsmen we owe it to the animals we love to hunt. We make our shots count, and call it good.
 
Get it done ASAP, We owe that to the critter. I don't believe in walking away for any amount of time, Finish the job. If you can't finish the job leave the gun in the scabbard. + 1 on the quick shot in the back of the head. A little respect is all it is.......
 
As a bowhunter, I've had very few animals die almost instantly. I've had some that were fatally hit, and clueless. The shock is just different. If they offer another shot, I will take it in an effort to put them down as quickly as possible.

I've had to floow blood trails, and watched the animal go down quickly. I would much rather see the animal go down kicking and know that I got the job done quickly, than have to wait out a blood trail hoping for the best. I've lost animals that I were certain were fatally hit, and that is the worst feeling a hunter could possibly have IMHO.

As to watching them suffer, there is a difference between the animals reactions as it's putting up it's last fight or if it's wounded. I will not shoot up a dying animal as it's doing it's death dance, but will do whatever I can to finish a wounded animal.


The longest I've had to watch an animal die is hunting Oryx, with a rifle. I've watched several down and kicking for what had to have been 10 minutes. It would have been pointless to shoot them again and again.

I had a fiend who shot his first turkey perfectly with the first shot, emptied his shotgun on it, reloaded, and unloaded on it again in an effort to get it to stop moving!! Call me sick and twisted, but I still find that one to be funny...
 
In addition to my post way above by now, I think that alot of it is how we were raised I grew up always having animals and have had my share of dogs ran over. With every dog that I lost it got easier to moarn and get over it, age and maturity aided with it but still once I had this a few times it got easier, It is the same way with deer or elk or anything else to me. I remember the first deer I ever shot and it kinda made me feel bad in a weird way to tell ya the truth then after killing more it just no longer even phases me, This last summer my father in law asked me to shoot his horse that he has had since he was in highschool the horse was over 20 years old and had broke his hip or something and was no longer of use and was suffering he did not have the heart to shoot it. I don't blame him but it was very akwared as I lead this horse that has given my inlaws so many great experiences, pack trips, hunting trips, team roping, kids 4-H, and lots of just trail rides, they anyways I lead this horse to a pre dug hole and shot him at less than 3 feet away. It sucked he had no idea it was coming you could tell he was just curious as to what was going to happen that has been the hardest time killing anything for me. It was sad
 
I was born and raised on a farm in south central Utah.We killed and processed our own beef,pork,mutton and chickens.I remember at a young age,my grandpa would catch the chickens and chop their heads off.The bodies would flop around for awhile and then just stop.For some reason,killing the farm animals as well as wildlife never really bothered me.I had a shetland pony that I would ride and he was my responsibility to take care of.I was 14 yrs. when he got so lame and stogged up that we had to put him down.Grandpa said:He is your horse boy.It is up to you to put him down.Well,I led my pony up a draw to shoot him.Everything was ok.I raised my rifle up to shoot him and he looked up at me.Man the water works kicked in out of nowhere.All I could do was cry.Grandpa finally came to me and said he was sorry but wanted to teach me there was more to life than just killing for fun.He put my pony down and we both sat and cried for the longest time.I kept hunting and passed the tradition down to my children and grandchildren,teaching them also that their is more to an animals life than just killing it.Sorry for the long post.Just brought up alot of memories reading this post.Thanks(ROD)
 
OK , so i want to qualify as well from what i said above. About 10 or 15 years ago i killed a small Blacktail buck. it was a 3x3 but nothing really nice about the rack and it didnt weigh over 70 lbs after i field dressed it out. I made a decent shot on the animal but when i got to him at the time, i had two thoughts, it was much smaller than i thought it to be and the animal was still alive. I quickly shot him again. I sat beside the animal and mourned his life, I didn't absolutely need his meat, i could afford hamberger. He wasn't bothering anybody and i ended it for him. I knew at that precise time as i looked down at the poor bugger, that i don't hunt deer because of the meat.

Yeah, i use it ALL and winters like this i'm glad to have some. Yet, if i'm hungry i can go buy food or do a animal ranch kill. I actually prefer beef in most cases. My point is i hunt for the hunt and all that's involved in the process, for the chance that i'm going to find that really big ol boy that a lot of us want, only a few get, but keep trying year after year.

I take pride and enjoy All of the hunt from the tag selections, draw day, packing lists, new gear needed and shopped for, shooting and tuning the guns, the drive, the camping, the like minded friends you meet, make, and spend time with, the beautiful country be it high wide small or deep, the talk around the cooking or camp fires, the days you get weathered out, a side trip maybe, the animals you see, the ones you don't quite see, and hopefully, cleanly taking a animal to be proud of for whatever your own particular reason. That's why i love to go hunt bucks and when i take a buck under those conditions, i don't feel bad for the deer, at least not near as much.

Joey
 
I like to just break their spine then make them drag themselves to the truck before cutting their throat.....


great post/pic, thanks for sharing

JB
494742f95c53a850.jpg
 
It's never fun to have to see the death of any animal but being a hunter it is part of hunting. I do not like to see their last breath. I will after the kill say a pray and give thanks for the animal. I for one revisit the spot that the animal was killed. It may sound stupid but I go back to the spot at sometime and relive the hunt and the animal.
 

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