dipping my toes in...

"I'm arranging to shoot something with a family that hunts in the fall."


You have mentioned nothing about studying the Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Education course or getting your hunter number and hunting licence.

Without those you cannot "arrange to shoot something."
 
I haven't read all the replies, but I doubt if anyone else has said this,so here goes.
You are used to store bought meat. I will suggest you are in for a big surprise when you eat your first deer meat. I will guess you will not like it. Sorry.
 
I don't agree with you there H4831, I routinely feed guests deer steaks and get nothing but shocked faces when realize how good it tastes. It all depends on how it is cut and by who. I honestly do not enjoy beef at all now, tastes like feedlot to me.

I even had a friend's new wife, who is a total city girl, turn to him after devouring half a deer loin steak and state "you should start hunting with Ian." Did I mention my friend is a veterinarian? He later said it was tempting if they could get that kind of quality meat, but maybe he would start with game birds.
 
H4831 said:
I haven't read all the replies, but I doubt if anyone else has said this,so here goes.
You are used to store bought meat. I will suggest you are in for a big surprise when you eat your first deer meat. I will guess you will not like it. Sorry.
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I disagree also. I have yet to have any negative comments about the taste of deer meat. Most non-hunters that taste it just love it. If they are looking for the taste of beef they will taste the difference but I've yet to have anyone flat out hate it.
 
Every time I've fed a guest who is unaccustomed to deer, moose, elk or bear, they all remark how fantastic it tastes.

Although I do cool animals down quick and I'm a pretty competent cook.:p
 
I knew I would get those kind of responses, and I am well aware of wild meat of many varieties. I have written that a northern bull moose, shot from about the middle of August to September the tenth, properly butchered and cared for, is just like the choicest of beef.
I also know that a big mule deer buck shot in the height of the rut is pretty well unedible, unless it is so spiced up that all taste of it is burried.
I once went in November on a mule deer hunting trip with three partners. Two of them were professional big game guides and the third was a veteran BC game warden. We had a tremendous choice of deer, because the game warden got us hunting on a ranch that normally didn't allow hunting. Those three shot huge big bucks, while I turned down several big bucks and shot a forkhorn.
Sometime after we were home I found out that all three of the other fellows threw out, discarded, their big bucks. The game warden was one who always bragged about eating everything he shot, but the one guide that knew him very well, told me the game warden couldn't eat his buck, either.
I also know that store bought beef is not like it once was. The big stores get the beef cut into large pieces, shipped to them in plastic bags. I told the butcher in a store that beef nas never tasted as good as it used to when the retail meat shops got it in by the quarter. The butcher stated emphatically that he fully agreed with me.
At one time prime beef was from an animal at least three years old, and preferrably four years. Now it is a doubtful 18 months old and has been stuffed to bring it up to weight. Also, until after WW2, beef went from the Chilcotin bunch grass lands to the slaughter house, directly. These where highly advertised and the best hotels in Vancouver would advertise, "Choice Chilcotin beef, right off the range."
Most wild meat, especially deer, has a gamy flavour, and a lot of people who have never eaten it, don't like it when they taste it. That was why I made my guess that the OP wouldn't like it.
 
Candychikita said:
i'm probably going to have some sort of reaction about killing the thing dead. not hysterics, but maybe some sadness/taking of a life thing. i hear that goes away after the first kill, but a recommendation on how to deal with this would help too HA. does it help to think of all the venison steaks/stews/stirfries you can get out of the animal...visions of 10 course meals dancing in your heads?
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After I killed my first moose (last year), I radio'ed my hunting buddy to come and join me. While I waited for him, I walked over to the moose to see what it looked like from up close. When I saw it, I said a little prayer (believe me, I'm far from the religious type) thanking it for giving up her life so I could feed my family for the next year.

Fish
 
I have read this entire thread and must say that, for the most part, I am very pleased with the responses.
Candy, no true hunter will be able to kill indiscriminately. Each of us will leave something behind when we take a life. To offer a prayer, or a moment's reflection, upon reaching the animal is normal. Emotions run high, but clean kills are satisfying. Knowing that suffering was kept to a minimum, animal will help feed the family, and you have done your part in all phases of the harvest will all come together and help you to deal with all of the emotions that will culminate with seeing your harvest on the ground.
Good luck to you. Wish you were closer, I took my wife out for the first time last year and she bagged her first deer. She is still close enough to that experience that she could mentor another quite easily.
 
Candychikita said:
i think this is the fourth time i've attempted to write a response, and perhaps i might actually post this one. i must say that i'm in awe at the depth of feeling that remain long after your first kills, as well as pleasantly surprised. hunters are not the 'cold blooded killers' that the media always portrays! heh i'm game for wrecking all my hunting-related preconceived notions and am looking forward to my first hunt :D (albeit nervously and with ultimate respect)

i think if i can eat what i shoot, i may feel somewhat better about it. if i start with small game, is there enough left over to eat? it would seem like a waste of a life, in my mind, if i didn't put the bits to use. even if my first attempts at cooking them may not be gourmet masterpieces...

being so new to the shooting sports in general, i may be just trudging through the wild in full gear and watching this family do their thing, unless i'm sure of my shot. judging from the amount of animal heads on their walls, and their full freezers, they have potential to teach a lot of hands-on skills.

until then, i'll be researching and practicing for my fall debut. thanks to you all for the answers!
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Hunting is as much spiritual as it is physically going out after game, some remorse should always be had as well as the respect for the animal.If it comes to the point that you do not have any feelings after taking the animal whatever it may be then it is time to quit hunting.

Once those feelings go away you are no longer hunting, you are simply just killing.
 
heavyBullet said:
I do not experience sadness, but I always run my hand over the deer and look at it from different angles and really appreciate its beauty, and strength.

I think if you start off on hunts where you are not the shooter, but are there for the kills, it prepares you more, for when you yourself have killed a deer. This is how I started out over 25yrs. ago.

The one time where I did just feel horrible, was when I shot my first rabbit when I was around 14 or 15, and I did not make a great shot, and only wounded to poor thing, and it cried just like a baby.:(
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^^^^
I'm with heavyBullet on this one. I'm not sad when i kill something unless i hit it poorly. I get mad sometimes if i don't hit it at all. :redface: Whatever type of emotion you feel after pulling that trigger it'll probably be the right one and you can decide what to do with your hunting career after that. We're all glad you're willing to try it. Good luck.

Dorian
 
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