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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Confessions Of A Deer Hunter

I have hunted deer for a good part of my life but I have never shot a deer. I have been on several private hunts, hunted at a hunting camp reserved for only the most serious deer hunters in Georgia, hunted deer all over, but I have never shot a deer. Some would say this is just bad luck but I have had more opportunities than most people would have in a lifetime of deer hunting. I chose not to shoot deer.

Why would I go deer hunting a person might ask if I had no intention of shooting a deer. The answer is simple I enjoy the camaraderie and good fellowship of deer hunters. These guys are fun loving, enjoy their time hunting deer and are just fun to be with. The good matured joking, the banter, the ribbing each other, the stories and the overall general atmosphere of a bunch of guys getting together to drink an adult beverage and eat well.

Regardless of where you stand on the sport of deer hunting getting together like this is just plain fun. Being with guys who know how to eat good, have an adult beverage, swap stories, joke and prank each other is just plain and simple having a good time. I don't believe there is anything more enjoyable than a bunch of guys getting together like they do with deer hunting.

I have no problem with someone else shooting a deer and I have helped drag them out of the woods and skin them out. I just don't shoot them. I do have a problem with poachers who hunt illegally and those who shoot deer for their impressive racks and wall mount ability and then leave the body in the woods. Those type people give me a real problem.

But for me I have enjoyed hundreds of hunts and I have never shot a deer nor do I intend to. I find them to be magnificent animals and therefore I simply do not shoot them. Do I hunt them - yes - but I pass up the shooting part. I enjoy being in the woods with the animals and and being with a bunch of good men as described above. Over the years my hunting pardners have just considered my bad luck at hunting but in truth it was never my intent to shoot a deer. The only way I would have killed a deer is if when I was dozing up against a tree if one had tripped over my gun and killed itself.

I am good as stalking and have gotten close enough to deer to actually touch them in the woods which is no easy feat. For me the enjoyment part was seeing the deer, being in the woods and with the guys. I mean where else can a guy go and burp, fart, tell wild stories and be not only accepted but believed and a 'good ole boy'?  I would venture to say that there are a lot of experienced deer hunters just like myself that have never shot a deer either or when they do shoot their sights are 'off'' or something ruined their shot.

2 comments:

Sakoieta said...

Deer hunting to us is a sacred responsibility that most of our men take part in. It is more than having the "right" to hunt deer. We take part on the "rite" of hunting which is something totally different. The hunt or act of taking part in the "rite" of hunting is done to make sure our families are fed with meat from an animal that we were instructed in our creation story how to use it and respect it as an important part of our food source. So there is a lot of respect shown and a lot of protocols followed when we take part in this "rite."

Sakoieta said...

Deer hunting to us is a sacred responsibility that most of our men take part in. It is more than having the "right" to hunt deer. We take part on the "rite" of hunting which is something totally different. The hunt or act of taking part in the "rite" of hunting is done to make sure our families are fed with meat from an animal that we were instructed in our creation story how to use it and respect it as an important part of our food source. So there is a lot of respect shown and a lot of protocols followed when we take part in this "rite."