I feel awfull

we've got a very bad gopher problem here, especially bad within the last 2 years. using traps i've gotten 82 of the rats since then. it's also fun to sit out early and try and get them with a bb gun when they occasionally pop up. sitting in my shop this morning I noticed a ground squirrel eating some bird seed and took a random shot through the doorway to see if the rifle was still sighted in. it was!
God, I feel bad!

gophers and prairie dogs are one thing, but that little ground squirrel never did anything but give me moments of pleasure watching him scoot around the place looking for food and hiking up on all fours scouting out the landscape. guess I just want to ask forgiveness from THE BIG GUY and it will not happen again.

 

It's best not to dwell on these things. The sooner forgotten the better. It's because you have the weapon, that you allow yourself to wallow in the indulgences of compassion for the poor defenceless creatures that mother nature has provided for your viewing pleasure.

Well, you can put that idea out of your head right now and forever. If creatures had the guns and people were walking around naked, creatures would eventually kill 4 billion people and eat them, and the remaining world population of hiding humans would become 'sport'. Occasionally, the creatures would 'feel bad' because they'd accidentally shot another one of those pesky humans, vermin though they may be.

So my advice: Rejoice that you are big brained and gun trained. The death of the prey should hold little emotional significance for you. However, you should always be willing to eat what you kill, unless you are also a vegetarian. Vegetarians can kill for pleasure, and without remorse, for this has always been their way.

 

A long time ago, my Grandfather took me out in the woods with my pellet gun. We had fun shooting stuff in the woods. Then this annoying blackbird showed up. I shot the bird. We walked over to it, it was not dead, but suffering.

He gave me the look only a Grandfather can give a grandson, killed the bird (it had no chance to live), and told me to think before I shoot again. I still remember it, and I think before I shoot.

Some lessons are hard to learn. But once learned, you never forget.

I miss my Grandfather. He taught me many things.

E

 

yea, I'll get over it. I just feel bad.
and here I am, an old, hardcore curmudgeon, with no feelings.
I get a kick out of watching the wildlife through my dining room
windows during the day. gonna think more carefully from now on about what I shoot at. but prairie dogs and, especially gophers, take notice.

 

GET OFF MY LAWN! Oops. Keep in mind the thing you shot was just a tree rat...


E

 

@oldandconfusedagain 82 gophers?! :eek I was glad we caught the two we had quickly and relocated them.

I have a similar story to Prank's, I was 15 and going through the woods around my house, shot a squirrel, looked at it and thought 'What the heck am I going to with it now?'. Covered it with some leaves and left, never to hunt again. Now, if it had been a rabbit, we would have had stew that evening but if I had shown or told mom I killed a squirrel, she would have torn my hide off first and then dad for useless waste!