Sign up, and you can make all message times appear in your timezone. Sign up
Jun 28, 2017
11:24:44pm
Homercles Contributor
I voted none, but I was present for one that turned me off from needlessly...
... killing things. My dad was a teacher's quorum advisor and even though I was 12, I'd go on whatever cool campouts they went on. For one of them, he took them out rabbit hunting somewhere in the west desert with .22s, and of course since I loved to shoot I came with.

For whatever reason we hardly saw anything worth shooting at, and in the morning we were all kind of antsy. Dad threw us in the back of his pickup and we drove through the desert with firing lines on each side of the truck bed. If someone saw something (which was rare, I only remember 3-4 animals), someone would slap the roof of the cab, dad would stop, and we'd take aim like Revolutionary War soldiers: two ranks, first row kneeling, second row standing. (This was all outrageously unsafe, particularly with hindsight, but also ridiculously fun for the most part. This was also not close to the most danger we were in on this campout.) We'd take aim but usually the bird or animal would be out of range by the time that whole setup happened, so we didn't really get any shots off.

Finally we saw some little bird about 20 yards off that didn't fly away. We stopped, formed up, and all fired. Only one of us hit it, but he only winged it and it ended up flopping around (I suspect, despite our bravado, many of us decided to throw our shots--I know I did). We all jumped out, and the first guy there finished it off. Then we all approached and took turns viewing our handiwork.

It was a tiny little bird, about 4-5 inches long. Black on the back and wings, white belly, little yellow beak, and some tufts of blue/green (kind of like the color on a mallard, but just little patches). All in all, quite a pretty little bird. As I looked at it, I couldn't help but think how profoundly stupid it was that we'd shot it for nothing more than bloodlust. I was quite sad and decided I'd never shoot at a living thing without a good reason.

I don't begrudge hunters--people can do what they wish, whether their motivations are for food, conservation, pest eradication, or pleasure. For me, I've never wanted to shoot anything living since.
Homercles
Bio page
Homercles
Joined
May 5, 2015
Last login
Mar 28, 2024
Total posts
5,358 (1,489 FO)
Messages
Author
Time

Posting on CougarBoard

In order to post, you will need to either sign up or log in.