Oh crap. Clicked on this thread again to see if anyone has posted any new hunting pictures or stories, but I see this philosophical discussion continues. And I can’t stop reading and thinking. Trying to understand your questions, sprkplug, is as painful as doing math. But even with a difficult math problem, I find it difficult to just ignore. So here goes…
I consider myself a trophy hunter and a meat hunter, depending on the calendar. 1st week of bow season I let everything walk knowing that there is a chance a big buck will make a mistake not realizing hunting season has begun again. I beat myself up with the effort involved to access and hunt remote and often mountainous properties where you have a better chance of seeing a big one. 2nd week and I’m trying as hard as I can to put one or more does into the freezer. The month of November I am again in big buck mode.
Now to try to answer your trophy deer / stun gun question… I think I’d like to at least try it and would probably continue it if that were the only legal way, but I seriously doubt it would be very satisfying. In a way, I think it would be moving away from a real hunt and towards something like a video game.
You see, as much as I try to keep neat and clean, the inevitable blood on the clothes is part of the overall process and therefore is necessary. Time and effort and money spent improving your land, hanging stands, etc. is necessary. The occasional difficult drag is necessary. Bringing it home for the family to see is necessary. The skinning and methodical butchering is necessary. In the last couple days, I’ve put probably 8 or 9 hours into boiling and scraping clean the skull of a nice big buck my 16-year old son killed, and that was all necessary. Finally, reliving the hunt as we prepare and eat the venison or admire a trophy on the wall, is necessary. These are all parts of the process, and while the kill is not the only part, without it many of the other parts would not be there either.
It would not be the same. And I agree, it would be like getting to kiss a pretty girl, only she’s your sister.
