Petting your trophy

[Islander]

If we treat a dead Polar Bear with respect and are nice to him, he will share this with other living bears and they will make themselves available to us. If we did not show respect and appreciation to the dead bear then living bears will hide from us.

therefore, I pet them, brush them, kiss them and use them to keep us warm and feed us and of course thank them for offering themselves up to us. When we run into a Polar Bear who tries to kill us we assume he was not in on the conference call that the dead bear made that we were good people

I have heard of this before and saw some video of an Inuit (I believe, forgive me if I have the wrong culture) hunter explaining the tradition. Gratitude is an important part of our culture. It's a beautiful philosophy.

 

[Randi]

There's an Aggie joke in there somewhere....

 

[JTHOMP]

Never put a lot of thought into until now....

I’m always amazed at how soft a whitetail deer is every time I lay hands on one. Dont consider it as petting but admiring it’s physical features. Similar reaction when observing the belly of a duck or goose.

Most small game usually go into a sack on to the next one. By the time they come out of the sack they usually loose the visual appeal. Just is what it is I guess. Thinking back I think I often give a pig a pat of appreciation. There’s nothing physically appealing to the touch of a pig. But I appreciate the meat and the hunt from it. It’s not the animal’s fault it’s where it’s not supposed to be.

But for actually “petting” I’m reminded of times with younger kids that are nervous whether it is a fish or mammal. The kid doesn’t want to be near it so you “pet” it to show that it’s not harmful just as they pet their dog or cat.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

 

[devon deer]

We are somewhat unique in that we don’t physically contact our prey until after we’ve killed it in most cases. That’s our first chance to use our sense of touch. Part of it is probably conscious for deliberate purposes, but some of it is probably not.

As you say 'most cases' but my friend is a female farmer, a tough old bird, she used to own Lurchers, she would use a spotlight on the deer, send off the dogs, jump on the deer, cut it's throat, @Dave N has met her, not sure if I told him that though, he might not have hunted her land with me, I thought she was going to jump on him when he mentioned he repaired JCB's!

It would be a sad day for me when I didn't feel a certain sadness when I take an animals life, but petting, er, no not me, what's the point, it's dead.
I have noticed as I am getting older I am getting more sentimental though, especially if I have watched the deer for sometime before taking the shot, watching it feeding away oblivious to the fact I am about to end it's life gets to me more these days.

But, we can't afford to get too sentimental in England, we have a job to do, try and reduce the deer numbers as we are getting overrun with them, so as soon as it's deer down it's on to the next one.

Cheers

Richard

 

[Pucky Freak]

On deer I touch the nose, muzzle, ears, neck, and shoulders. Birds I run fingers through the soft feathers. I feel the body warmth, think about the wild and free life the animal lived, and am thankful for being able to hunt.

Like anyone who’s hunted quite a bit, I’ve finished off animals at close range and seen the life drain from their eyes. There’s a kind of sadness to it mixed with the satisfaction of a completed kill.

I instinctively want to care for the carcass out of respect, which begins with learning about the exterior of the animal with my senses, and continues with field dressing, transport, butchering, and cooking/eating. As a young hunter these tasks were mostly done by adults and I didn’t develop much of a connection with the animal until I started doing the whole process myself.

 

[Dave N]

As you say 'most cases' but my friend is a female farmer, a tough old bird, she used to own Lurchers, she would use a spotlight on the deer, send off the dogs, jump on the deer, cut it's throat, @Dave N has met her, not sure if I told him that though, he might not have hunted her land with me, I thought she was going to jump on him when he mentioned he repaired JCB's!

It would be a sad day for me when I didn't feel a certain sadness when I take an animals life, but petting, er, no not me, what's the point, it's dead.
I have noticed as I am getting older I am getting more sentimental though, especially if I have watched the deer for sometime before taking the shot, watching it feeding away oblivious to the fact I am about to end it's life gets to me more these days.

But, we can't afford to get too sentimental in England, we have a job to do, try and reduce the deer numbers as we are getting overrun with them, so as soon as it's deer down it's on to the next one.

Cheers

Richard

I do think you told me that story about her. She sure was a pleasure to listen to. I'll agree with you that her face sure lit up when I said I worked repair at a Cat plant!

 

[The Hedgehog]

Elkcheese does more than pet them.

 

[noharleyyet]

^^^memory lane.

 

[devon deer]

I do think you told me that story about her. She sure was a pleasure to listen to. I'll agree with you that her face sure lit up when I said I worked repair at a Cat plant!

I'm meeting her for some fishing later, I'll remind her of your visit, she is 73 this year but still goes fishing with me a couple times a week chasing the Sea Trout at night.
Cheers
Richard