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[fracguy]

Got this guy tonight and I honestly think it ruined hunting for me. Shot numerous animals and never made a bad shot until this one and is making me second guess my choices as a hunter. Was pouring rain and scope had water on it and knew I could barely see. Made a bad shot and hit him too far back, he didn't run or go far but when I got to him he was still alive. Worst feeling ever and honestly made me want to cry. I knew better than to pull the trigger but I did and made a horrible shot and feel like total shit for it and something I never want to experience again. Not fair to the animal. Just second guessing if I ever want to hunt again because I made a horrible choice to shoot knowing it wasn't 100 percent

 

[MolokoMan]

Everyone makes mistakes. It's how you learn from it and grow that makes you a better person than you were yesterday.

 

[realunlucky]

Sounds like you learned from this experience and will do better moving forward.

Reading the above applies to a lot more than just hunting.

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

 

[180ls1]

You can always shoot em with a camera going forward.

 

[fracguy]

You can always shoot em with a camera going forward.

It's actually much harder to get good pictures with a cellphone camera than it is to kill them. Really enjoy getting good pictures of critters.

 

[fracguy]

Sounds like you learned from this experience and will do better moving forward.

Reading the above applies to a lot more than just hunting.

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

Very much learned from it. I always push to not take a shot unless it's 100% and I failed myself and the animal on that. I dunno, got mixed feelings about myself now.

 

[fracguy]

Everyone makes mistakes. It's how you learn from it and grow that makes you a better person than you were yesterday.

Yeah I've always heard of you hunt long enough, you will make a bad shot, just never thought it would be myself that makes it I guess.

 

[180ls1]

It's actually much harder to get good pictures with a cellphone camera than it is to kill them. Really enjoy getting good pictures of critters.

Spending time in nature in all it's beauty is what it's all about.

I've really been enjoying lower quality "non-trophy" hunts recently just as much as the glory tags. They take you to the same places and on the same adventures. I don't see why that cant be the same with a camera if you want to step away from the killing aspect for a little bit.

 

[fracguy]

Spending time in nature in all it's beauty is what it's all about.

I've really been enjoying lower quality "non-trophy" hunts recently just as much as the glory tags. They take you to the same places and on the same adventures. I don't see why that cant be the same with a camera if you want to step away from the killing aspect for a little bit.

This is by far I think the best picture I've taken. He was about 30 yards and the wind swirled and was like ohhh you're busted lol

 

[Greenbelt]

Hunting is messy, life is messy, and no one ever promised it wouldn't be. I've slaughtered a lot of meat for myself (not in a hunting capacity) to fill the freezer and there has been moments when things did not go accordingly. But we as humans fix those problems as quick as possible and try our best to not make anything suffer. I think as we get older we start to get a little softer (not in a bad way). I know I have that's for sure. But I also think its our job to not get the lines blurred. If your learning from mistakes your doing the best you can. But you gotta do what feels right to you.

 

[fracguy]

Hunting is messy, life is messy, and no one ever promised it wouldn't be. I've slaughtered a lot of meat for myself (not in a hunting capacity) to fill the freezer and there has been moments when things did not go accordingly. But we as humans fix those problems as quick as possible and try our best to not make anything suffer. I think as we get older we start to get a little softer (not in a bad way). I know I have that's for sure. But I also think its our job to not get the lines blurred. If your learning from mistakes your doing the best you can. But you gotta do what feels right to you.

Oh no I fully agree with getting softer. Long time ago I don't think this would have bothered me nearly as much. Taking a life even if just an animal is still taking a life. I have noticed myself having 2nd guesses on going hunting anymore, even before this. Don't know why I started seeing my damn dog when I think about killing something. But I also eat meat and I know what slaughter houses are all about.

 

[Greenbelt]

Oh no I fully agree with getting softer. Long time ago I don't think this would have bothered me nearly as much. Taking a life even if just an animal is still taking a life. I have noticed myself having 2nd guesses on going hunting anymore, even before this. Don't know why I started seeing my damn dog when I think about killing something. But I also eat meat and I know what slaughter houses are all about.

Honestly its not surprising at all and there's no shame in it at all what so ever. If you grew up with hunters I'm sure you learned a long time ago (as we all did) that hunters tend to have an expiration date for killing stuff. Most the guys my dads age that I know, have all kind of walked away. I think they just get tired of killing stuff and start to look at it differently. There's a few left but not a lot. I hope to be one of the few left at the end of my days but I couldn't make a promise on that. Maybe just take the rest of the season off and see how you feel next year. I think this is a pretty common thing though.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

Everyone who hunts long enough eventually pulls the trigger and what follows is a bad experience. It is like everything else humans do, sometimes mistakes get made.

That said, we need guys like you, who do care, and work hard to do it right. We got too many of the other kind. If you give up, that's one less good guy in the woods, and leaves more game out there for the bad guys to chase.

I vote don't give up, just take some time to let the intensity of the emotions subside, get some perspective, learn from it, and then get back out there.