He Shot the Elk on Saturday. It Killed Him the Next Day

[GulfCoast66]

98. I'm still not sure we disagree. I don't bow hunt.

I think it is normally done by folks who are really good hunters and who have forgotten their basic responsibility. To insure a quick, clean kill.

And I actually agree with you on one of your main points. When I shoot a deer at 200 yards it is not the same as a spike to the head like a steer gets in a slaughter plant. Even if I hit them in the heart and lungs, which only once in 54 years I have failed to do, they take a minute or so to bleed out. May run 100 yards.

But you are focusing on the few minutes when the animal is actually dispatched. You forget the dumb ass steer first being loaded on a truck to go to market. Then on a train to the feed pens in the Midwest. Then being loaded up to take them to the slaughterhouse. Every step which created stress. So when that bolt goes into their brain and before they are actually killed they are oblivious. I’ll grant you that. But every step leading to that is hard on them.

And hogs? They are smart. They know what’s coming. I’ve been to a hog slaughter plant. Those guys know they are about to be killed.

And it’s not like the deer that are not shot and live out their natural lifespans get a comfortable retirement. They are destined to get eaten alive by coyotes or wild dogs where I live. I’ve seen the results. It’s obvious they were still fighting as they were consumed. Nature is often cruel.

But back to the subject at hand. I don’t like bow hunting. Where I hunt it is a way for people to get more deer per year.

I choose to eat meat. I don’t alway leave the dirty work to someone else to absolve myself of the responsibility.

And I take that responsibility seriously. I consume as much as I can. Heart, liver and tongue. Been looking at kidney recipes lately. If I’m going to kill it the least I can do is respect it by using all of it.

Be safe and have a nice week