Originally posted by IronDog
So we have a photo recon 38 in the area where Yamamoto was killed and the other 38's didn't know it?Something seems way wrong with that.
I agree with Filth,killing,just to be killing is wrong.Shooting a person in a cartoon airplane is a lot different than splattering a marmot just to be doing it.I been around firearms most my life.Marine Corps,Viet era,and as a police firearms instructor,and I have got to the point that I not only dislike guns,I actually deplore them.Gun lovers have a way of portraying guns in such a way,that the anti gun lobby doesn't have to work very hard for fuel to add to their fire.Lance I don't think that everyone likes killing things.The world would be in sorry arsed shape if that was the case.
ID
A big part of hunting is being an effective killer. Humans are the only predators that actually care about the animals they kill. I myself always strive to make a very clean and humane kill, that is close to instant, so the animal does not suffer. Other predators, have no such concern, and will even start to eat their prey while they are still alive.
I guess my words did indeed come across badly, due to my poor choice of words. I do get great satisfaction when I make a good shot that results in a clean and instant kill. And that is because I don't believe in making animals suffer. I would never hunt with a bow, for example, as I just don't consider that to a very humane way to hunt: to make an animal slowly bleed to death. I also know my limits hunting with either rifle or shotgun, and limit myself to shots that I'm confident I can make well.
One of my first hunting experiences was duck hunting, and my Dad and Granduncle were on one side of this big pond, and they put me over on the other side of it. They figured that any birds they shot at would flare across the pond to me, giving me another opportunity at them. They had my granduncle's dog with them, though, so I could only retrieve birds as far away as I could wade.
Well, sure enough, several ducks flew into the decoys, and my dad and granduncle opened up on them. And indeed, the survivors then headed right across the pond, straight towards me. I missed one, but connected solidly on the second, and his wings folded and he fell straight down. Usually that would indicate an instant death.
But in this case it unfortunately did not. The duck's body laid motionless floating on the water. But its head keep struggling up above the water, and it would let out a very faint and feeble sound, Then its head would fall back under the water. Only for the cycle to repeat itself over and over again. The bird's neck was so weak that it could not maintain keeping the head above water for more than a couple of seconds at a time.
This really started to bother me, as the animal was clearly suffering. As best as could be determined, a pellet must have severed the spin below the neck. The bird was still fully alive, and trying vainly to stop from drowning. But its body was totally paralyzed.
The bird had landed way too far out for me to reach it in my waders. And it would have taken a very long time for me to go around the pond, get the dog, and come back. So I pondered the situation for a few moments, and then stood up, lined up my sight on the bird, and blasted him. The shot charge totally ruined the bird for eating, as it peppered him with so many pellets. But it instantly put the bird out of its misery. My granduncle was upset and dismayed when he later discovered what I had done. He complained to me that I had totally wasted the bird, so that it was no longer edible.
Anyway, ever since that day as a 15 yr old kid, I vowed to make myself a much better killer, and avoid ever making any game suffer like that again. I've not always succeeded 100% of the time, but over the years I have got to be quite good at avoiding situations like that when I am hunting.
Hopefully sharing this story provides better context for my remark. I enjoy making good clean kills, is what I should have said, in retrospect. For as you point out, putting it more simply as I did, does not look very good. I do enjoy being an effective killer. And that is a part of my hunting ethics.
I do not enjoy wounding animals, and making them suffer. I shot a chukar two and half years ago, that managed to fly away from my hit. We never managed to retrieve it. My son and friend hunting with me could not believe it, as so many feathers exploded off the bird when I hit it. It was like a feather pillow exploding when the shot charge hit it.
But I had hit the bird in the rear part of his body, and not up front in the heart and lung area. So although mortaly wounded, it managed to fly away, and landed in some bushes about 200 yards away. We rushed over there, but the dog could never locate the bird.
Incidents like this are a part of hunting. But I take pride in keeping them very rare and infrequent.
Lance
