Letting a critter slide

[Larro Darro]

The key: one shot, one kill. I don't like to see animals suffer.

That is why I gave up bow hunting. Too often the deer would go off to die, and I couldn't track it. Now by brother in law has Redbone coon dogs. We have been used them a couple of times when the shot was made after sunset, and the light gave out before the deer was found. We have quite a few turkey, and the folks who hunt on my land have to promise not to shoot them. Not sure if they always keep the promise, but they know how I feel about my turkeys. When I spent more time down at the river and creek camps, I would see the little ones grow up every year. That is neat.

 

[cqaigy2]

Yes, i used to hunt a lot. Raise livestock and butchered many many animals. Something changed in me so that I don't hunt anymore, and have nothing against those that do, and the last time i butchered something was three domestic geese. They trustingly allowed me to hold their heads down while i chopped them off with a hatchet and that memory still haunts me even after all these years.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

All the raccoons, possums and most of my cats have disappeared in the last 3 months. I don't hear much from coyotes either. Something is killing off the predators around my place. OTOH, with all the egg eaters dead the birds are having a great year. Good hatch of everything from tweeties to turkeys.

 

[tcreeley]

We had a young porcupine hiding out for an hour on our deck up against the step and wall. Its head was hidden. I gently poked it with my cane and got it moving. It went down the path and passed by the garden where my wife was. We haven't seen it recently. I don't mind them- something to see them at the top of a poplar eating leaves. A few years back we had one around eating the blackberry canes. You could pass within a few feet. Our neighbor shot it when it wandered onto his property.

...as a kid I got tired of seeing our animals turned into food- chickens, pigs, ducks, geese, calves, cows. It is why today I don't raise any animal for food- instead I do it only for the fun of it- and keep them until old age takes them.

 

[joshuabardwell]

They trustingly allowed me to hold their heads down while i chopped them off with a hatchet and that memory still haunts me even after all these years.

I think the relationship between livestock and man must always be a little bit adversarial. By the time the animal will hold still while you chop off its head, it may have already become a pet. Or to sell to somebody else. We raise a few pigs every year, and love them dearly, but I tell you, by the time they're big enough to go to the processor, I am glad to see them gone. Occasionally, I even think of the trouble they have caused me, whatever it may be, and look in the freezer and cackle a bit. WHO'S TEARING UP THE FENCE NOW, PORK CHOP!!!

Okay, maybe that was a little too revealing.

 

[Larro Darro]

Until last year my sister kept cows, goats, donkeys, rabbits, peacocks and chickens. She wanted to farm after Daddy died, so I let her have all the cows and use of the equipment. She would name every calf or kid when it was born. I told her they could all be named Hamburger or Shish Kabob, it would make it easier to take them to the sale. They worked full time jobs and farmed for 10 years, but last year they got rid of everything but the chickens and peacocks.

 

[cqaigy2]

WHO'S TEARING UP THE FENCE NOW, PORK CHOP!!!

Okay, maybe that was a little too revealing.

:laughing: