Although I (and we) take many lives I wonder how often we think about that. Sometimes the situation prompts us;
1. that first animal
2. something unique/special - the world is now a poorer place without it
3. an animal/accident we aren't proud of, eg; shooting a swan thinking its a goose!
4. a wounded beast we either didn't get or did after days of tracking/suffering by the beast
5. for me at least, a larder with 4 or 5 plus animals in it
6. seeing others chucking birds in back of land rover
How often really do you reflect on what you have just done - irrespective of the absolutely (IMHO) right thing whether its a cull animal or a trophy?
Peter Scott once said a very profound thing I thought (I think in his autoB eye of the wind). You will all recall he was an absolute killer re wildfowling (with Kenzie) and then suddenly stopped and turned to WFT. This is a paraphrase...
Every man has so much killing in him. The problem is you don't know how much you have, so don't know when the desire will run out. I spent all mine very quickly in youth
So for me it is about figuring out how you ration what you have - because you enjoy it, to not run out before you are too infirm to kill any more
So linking the 2 points:
1. do you occasionally or all the time (hence last bite as per our German cousins) think about it at every kill
2. moderate your shooting/stalking behaviour to create personal rules that spin out what you think your own ration might be
D
1. that first animal
2. something unique/special - the world is now a poorer place without it
3. an animal/accident we aren't proud of, eg; shooting a swan thinking its a goose!
4. a wounded beast we either didn't get or did after days of tracking/suffering by the beast
5. for me at least, a larder with 4 or 5 plus animals in it
6. seeing others chucking birds in back of land rover
How often really do you reflect on what you have just done - irrespective of the absolutely (IMHO) right thing whether its a cull animal or a trophy?
Peter Scott once said a very profound thing I thought (I think in his autoB eye of the wind). You will all recall he was an absolute killer re wildfowling (with Kenzie) and then suddenly stopped and turned to WFT. This is a paraphrase...
Every man has so much killing in him. The problem is you don't know how much you have, so don't know when the desire will run out. I spent all mine very quickly in youth
So for me it is about figuring out how you ration what you have - because you enjoy it, to not run out before you are too infirm to kill any more
So linking the 2 points:
1. do you occasionally or all the time (hence last bite as per our German cousins) think about it at every kill
2. moderate your shooting/stalking behaviour to create personal rules that spin out what you think your own ration might be
D