Originally Posted by
ZEUS
It was pretty traumatic at the time but I got over it after awhile. From growing up in Texas, dove hunting, and then moving to Wyoming with my dad, I was always around hunting. Guns and animals just fit now, I guess. :confused: Even a couple of months ago, my uncle took his old dying horse up in the mountains one last time, shot him, and left him up there somewhere. He never said anything about it or mentioned he was going to do it. Nobody questioned his actions because everyone could relate to leaving your hunting horse in it's element. I don't know what to say about hunting - it's a way of life that works for many people just like religion works for some and disgusts others. My dad gets all his meat for the year from the elk and deer he kills. It is a leaner, healthier food and just like eating a meal you have prepared for yourself gives you a certain pride; well hunting, killing, and dressing the animal you are going to eat increases that experience. The big horn sheep I took down after high school provided the greatest meals I had during college and was an awesome bonding experience with my dad. Riding horseback 20 miles into Wyoming high country, navigating fully loaded horses with packs through a washed out mountainside trail, surviving unpredictable mountain snow storms, camping with minimal essentials for 2 weeks, taking in everything around you, then taking down a big horn sheep when you are down to your last scraps allowing you to stay another day... I don't think anyone can say anything about "the sport of it" until they themselves have been a part of it. Besides, the animals we have killed died much more humanely than the burger you just bought at the store. Like I said, it's simply just a way of life, it works for some of us and doesn't harm anyone else.
