The first thing I ever killed was a bird with a Daisy Powerline 880. It was sitting on the top of a telephone pole. Hit it in the head.

Hunted doves and quail too as a kid.

Killed a deer a couple of years ago.

Sniped a gopher in my mom's yard a couple of years ago with a pellet gun.

Tony.

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Originally posted by parabellum:
Since then, no, nothing else, and you can laugh or roll your eyes, but I still think about that bird and I still feel bad about it.

Killed all manner of critter with a Daisy BB gun when I was younger.

Started feeling a bit bad when I was out at night once on my grandfathers property hunting with that gun and a flashlight. Came across a possum or some such critter and took aim, finger on the trigger. Thing just looked at me. He was dead. I knew it, he/she knew it. All that needed doing was pull the trigger. Couldn't. Finger was frozen. It dawned on me that there was no point to it.

Few years later dove hunting in the fields of Imperial County by myself. Nailed a dove with another grandfathers Browning A5 16GA. Wounded, not dead. Grandfather had shown me how to rip the head off a wounded bird quickly to end it's suffering. Couldn't do it at first. Tried to drown it in a pocket of water. Fucker wouldn't die and I felt terrible it was suffering so bad. Put its head between my fingers, looked away, and with a yell pulled off its head.

Finally got used to that and hunted a few times more. I had enough. Told mom I didn't want to hunt anymore and that was that.

I may have helped my aunt and uncle slaughter some chickens for food after that, or maybe before. Can't remember now.

I could do it if starving, but these days I kill only things made out of clay, paper, metal, or plastic.

So no roll eyes or laughing from me.

Several ground hogs and squirrels because they were nuisances. Probably around 15 pheasant, 3 antelope and 2 elk.

I have been a bird hunter for years. Ducks, geese, a few quail, and lots of doves. I have killed the occasional rabbit when I was also hunting birds. All eaten.

I have no regrets, but one should treat any game animal with respect and gratitude.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jhe888,

I have hunted nearly my entire life. Probably killed hundreds, if not thousands of animals. All game animals were for the dinner table, and also killed plenty of vermin along the way.
That said, now I kill a deer or two a year to eat on, and give my folks some deer meat since Dad can't hunt anymore.

I have never gotten over the little twang of regret when I kill one, but I pray over it and thank God for giving me the opportunity to harvest a fine animal to feed my family. Someday, maybe soon, I'll hang it up. But not quite yet.

My Crosman 760 and I ended many a bird's life, a long with turtles, rats and frogs. Squirrel, duck, deer and rabbit were taken with something a little more powerful. Oh, and I killed an injured cow while on duty.

I'm another one with a bird and BB gun story.
I got one, I think it may have been a birthday around 10 years old.
A few days later I was walking around like the great white hunter and spotted a woodpecker and couldn't resist the temptation.
Like Para, I was sort of horrified when I actually hit it and it was still walking around, seemingly sort of OK except for the wounded wing.
Other than some fishing, I've never shot, or had the desire to shoot anything else.

Maybe a bird or two with a bb gun.

Other than bugs and spiders, nothing on purpose. Stepped on frog before accidentally and I felt bad about killing it. Never hunted, unless Safeway and Costco close, probably never will.

Only once have I pulled a gun on someone, it was a cop who decided to just walk into my house. Luckily my finger was on the slide and not the trigger or else I would have probably shot him accidentally and would have needed to shoot his partner too if I wanted to live. Surprisingly they completely understood and apologized to me.

ETA, I've fished before, so I've killed fish. Don't really like cleaning them, so I don't fish any more. If I lived somewhere with better fishing, maybe I'd do it again.

Small game, varmints of all sorts, deer, too many upland birds to even guess at.

If I could ever get drawn for elk, I'd add that to the list.

Small birds and the occasional rodent.

I usually had one of the family cats along with me to 'take care' of the remains, which they gladly did.

I tried deer hunting for several seasons while I was stationed up in northern NY state, but I found out I was a lousy hunter.

My Dad lived to hunt: mostly deer, but also quail, pheasant, and ducks. I went out with him a lot when I was in grammar school, remember tramping through adobe soil getting six inches thick on my boot soles.

A couple of years ago, living in Maui, I decided I wanted to hunt axis deer which are in abundance there. Took the hunter education course; bought a nice Tikka T3 Stainless Lite and a Nikon scope. A patient had a friend who ran a private “ranch” where he took tourists who hunted axis deer with rifle or bow.
This guide drove us around in a Jeep, I took several shots from long range without success, then we came across a whole herd and were within 50 yards of it. On instruction, I picked out a doe and shot. Didn’t see what happened, but when we walked over there was the dead doe. During this whole time I felt no excitement, no joy. We did eat some of the deer meat (it’s extremely lean). Because of the circumstances (deer herd cooped up in a fence) it did not feel sporting or exciting as it did when I was with my Dad as a boy, when it was a real challenge.
I doubt I will hunt again.

Sure, lots of deer and squirrel and a few other critters here and there. Lots of fish, but I didn't shoot any of them. And most of them I field dressed and processed myself. It's a strange sensation, having your hands up inside the still warm body of a critter you killed.

We ate most of them, fwiw. No trophies on my walls. Just life experience, fun, and food.

A lot of deer and turkey. A couple of armadillos. No humans thank GOD.

I have been hunting for over 50 years, small and large game as well as multiple bird species.

Yes, thousands of them.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Yes, a damn near impossible shot (which is why I took it, I guess) at a Blue Jay. Crosman BB gun when I was ten years old. When it hit the bird, I thought I had missed, because it flew off the branch it was sitting on and made a slow, lazy circle to the ground, then didn't move any more. No one- including the bird- was more surprised than me. The next day, the woman who lived in the house chastised me and asked me the point of doing that. I coudn't answer her. Since then, no, nothing else, and you can laugh or roll your eyes, but I still think about that bird and I still feel bad about it.

Your experience is remarkably close to mine. When I was 8 my dad bought me a Crossman CO2 charged BB gun. I used it in the expected ways for a kid. One day I spotted a dove sitting eye level on a branch of a sapling my mom had planted. It was about 20ft away. I aimed and shot.......nothing happened. The bird didn't fall. It didn't fly away......nothing. I thought I missed. I shot again with the same result. So I walked up to the bird. To my surprise, it didn't fly away. Looking closer, I noted two dark red holes in its chest. I supposed the mechanics of instant death made the bird stiff and grasp the branch. I instantly felt the guilt and sting of gratuitous killing. Not able to process the shame, I took the bird from its perch walked to the edge of the terrace that comprised our property line and tossed the body over the edge far away from sight. I walked into my room and put the gun away. I didn't pick it up again for quite some time. Like you, I still think of that bird dead and staring at me. a lifetime later I still feel that guilt. I haven't wantonly killed anything since.

Building on the Daisy BB gun story...

My first kill was when i was about 13. Myself and two friends hitchhiked up to our summer cabin on Merrymeeting Lake in NH during Spring break. We had enough provisions to last us a week but actually made it up there in 5 hours. The next day my Mom brought our BB guns up the the cabin so we could go shooting. That day I shot a chipmunk and we decided to skin and gut it and cook it. To this day I still remember that the little chipmunk looked like a miniature greyhound! I don't remember if it tasted like chicken or not...

I am probably in the minority here, but I've never shot any living thing in my life. Hunting has no appeal to me whatsoever. I'm not anti-hunting. I get that it's a thing. I don't moralize about it, and I don't have a problem with people doing it. Doesn't mean I understand it as a sport, especially trophy hunting. I just don't see the point in killing a creature like a lion or rhino just to see it die. I know there is a food chain, but I also believe that animals are one of the most magnificent blessings of life on earth.

I also think you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals, even in the act of taking their lives.

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or rhino just to see it die

What about a man in Reno?