Opinion - Animal pain

[H Rhodes]

Hmmm, now I sound like a Serial Killer. 

No, I don't buy it!    If you were all that "stone cold" about it, you wouldn't give these critters such an awesome advantage over you by hunting with a stick and a string

[mullet]

Steve;
Like I told you when we talked the other night, I think the biggest mistake was showing off. If you had been hunting you would have probably concentrated more and killed the little booger. And never do that in front of a woman that has never seen something get pierced with an arrow

Howard, thanks for the nice words,, but I do pull out the Flintlocks, cap and balls, .300 WinMag, 44mag, AR-15, blow guns, sling shots, pellet rifles, spears, or whatever the situation dictates or tickles my fancy .

[PEARL DRUMS]

See! Stone Cold Eddie. Get the t-shirts made.

[H Rhodes]

I am no purist - when the freezer gets low or the need arises I have no problem going to the rifle.  It is all the same to me, I just like shooting a bow!  Regardless of our viewpoints, hunters need to stand up for each other now days.  Like someone mentioned above, we do live in a society that is getting further and further removed from nature.  This button pushing, technological, civilization that gets more insulated from the natural world every passing day, will start to look at us all like we are aliens, or maybe relics from another age.  Either way, we got to stick together and keep our hunting traditions alive, or they could easily be lost.  I applaud all of you who are passing it on to the next generations.     

[mullet]

So right, Howard.

[Zuma]

This ain't about you guys feeling pain.
The question was --- Do the gritters feel it?
Zuma

[Parnell]

Agreed, Eddie.

[mullet]

This ain't about you guys feeling pain.
The question was --- Do the gritters feel it?
Zuma

Not if you kill them.

[H Rhodes]

 

[sleek]

Gues after they are dead it dont matter no more. Only pain left is draggin them out and cleaning them...

[Sidewinder]

This has been an interesting thread. I suppose I will chime in. I think they probabley do feel pain but don't process it the same way we do. I'm sure there desire to survive and live, which is instinctive does not include " I'm going to miss junior  when I'm gone" like ours would be if we were gut shot my an ill placed arrow. I don't believe that animals have the ability to reason quite that far as we humans do.
 Its interesting, it seems like warm blooded animals effect me waaay different than birds or fish or snakes. I remember the first warm blooded animal I ever killed. It was a moving experience for me.  I did'nt grow up hunting, we fished and I never ever remember feeling remorse or sorrow at fileting the fish while its  gills were still moving. Never felt remorse at cutting off the head of the snake and skinning it and its still wriggling likes its alive. Never felt remorse at putting a turkey down with my self bow unless I did'nt get it recovered until the next morning and found that the coyotes enjoyed my offering instead of it gracing my dinner table. I still feel some form of melancholy emotion whenever I take a deer. So although this topic was about animals and whether they feel the pain, I like the comments on how we feel about it when we inflict it. I think the more we do it the less we feel. It puts it into a different perspective and so it has less effect on us than it did in the beginning of our killing. So I think that our taking a life is not a light thing, but so long as we are not reveling in the pain we bring, our seared conscience is not completely with out the ability to continue to feel. If we are into blood sport and enjoy inflicting pain we are already lost. I hunt and then therefore I kill. If needed I will kill to defend my loved ones or myself but it does'nt mean I enjoy it, its just how it is. I think there is value in the tenderness of one that does not kill and does not have the desire to kill but I also recognize that in this world, something has to die so that others might live.

[Pappy]

Very well said sidewinder.
   Pappy

[Parnell]

I agree, well stated.

[crooketarrow]

  Untill a animal tells someone well never know will we. In the mean time I'll get arrowing gobblers and bucks. Where I grew up I'm not that far my fokes useing animals for needed food. So

[Marks]

This ain't about you guys feeling pain.
The question was --- Do the gritters feel it?
Zuma

You guys are so vain, you probably think this thread is about you.

For sure they feel pain. Pappy's comment about stray dogs is comical but right on. I've watched archery bear hunts on TV and the bears scream out when they get shot. I think some animals are more cognitive of pain and how they perceive it than others but they are not incapacitated by it like humans sometimes are. Kick the average human male in the groin and he will curl up in the fetal position and cry and be completely defenseless. Shoot deer with buckshot and he will use all his power to run and evade whatever danger just threatened him. He can't afford to curl up and cry about it but once he gets to safety he will lay down and lick his wounds and deal with the pain. Anyone who has a dog knows they have emotion too. When you hurt and fell bad they know it and react accordingly. They relate at least somewhat. Try to make it as quick and ethical as possible.

Now about me. lol. I'm in the boat with mullet. I not happy when I wound an animal but no tears are shed. The only sleep I lose is from frustration over a missed opportunity and replaying it in my head. I always try to kill quick and clean and spend as much time as I feel is necessary to find a lost animal but in the end if it does happen.....coyotes have to eat too. I've only lost 2 deer that I know were hit since I've been hunting and I think 1 of those wasn't a fatal hit. I've missed my share. I do get a little lump in my throat if I have to finish off a deer by hand which has only happened a time or 3 but I do what is necessary. Only 1 was an animal I shot. When I was little I shot a dove with my BB gun and it just lodged in the breast. I caught the bird and put him in a cage because I felt bad. I kept him a couple of days and cleaned out the wound and let him go in the corn field. I'm sure the first possum that came along had a good lunch but I thought I had done the right thing but that was a long time ago. Like a shirt I saw said....The only thing I feel when I shoot a deer is recoil.