Killing because you can.

[treeman]

Same intro:
Took 5 High End Private school boys to go try get a Bush Pig for two of them. Interesting story in its own right seeing myself again at 15/16 years old. Things like sex, hidden beers and swearing came to the fore very quickly, but yea, not my first time with teens in the bush.
After not much effort the boys wanted to chase, kill spring hares, a thing I hate but was part of package from land owner.
Note the distaste for killing the hares for fun. (They do how ever get processed for chicken feed?)

Well here is my "bad" for this year, posted because it is really bothering me, I should know better. I should take whole picture into account. I should respect life. I should think before I shoot.

We were driving early morning looking for spring hares, and near 2 in morning I heard a lot of banging on the roof and "stop, stop - Lynx, Lynx!"

Literally 20 m in front of bakkie a Lynx passed by low, flat on ground, looked like a Rattel, (Badger) it was so flat on ground. I stopped bakkie, levelled rifle and Lynx turned straight at us, just tuft on ears sticking above grass. Kids are going mad on back with excitement, 4 inch down between tufts and it was dead.
I had not even lowered the rifle when the thought arrived, "why you do that?"
I could not reverse that one, no taking it back, big mouth Davie Boy, always crapping the kill for killing sake guys out, what now you dumb C***.

We could have watched it, looked, learnt, I could have taught the boys restraint - I failed I got caught up in the moment, saw it - could shoot it, did so.
TOTAL FAILURE
loser, fool, twot and abuser

So ye', guess that’s why I let the second and the 3rd pig go later that night, I know I could have shot 2, likely 3.
I just got caught up in the moment, it’s the only dairy farm I hunt on, should be a refuge area for our beautiful Lynx.
I will now ask one of my sheep farmer mates to let me know when he gets a caged Lynx again, I will then drive out and fetch it, release it in a safe area, hopefully make right with the gods that be.

[FNBROWNING]

There was a tame Lynx at a place I stayed at in the Berg many years back. A big very friendly cat. An absolutely stunning creature. Some prick on a neighboring farm shot it one day.

[driepootx]

I have also done some stupid things when out shooting.

We are part of nature. If you had been a leopard you might have killed the lynx.

The animal is dead and you cannot bring it back to life. Even at your age and with experience you can still make mistakes. Accept it as a life lesson and teach that to other hunters so that they can avoid your regrets. Call it a once off - it is not as though you are going to repeat this due to being blood thirsty. The fact that you placed this means you have a conscience and have remorse.

Hope you can digest and get peace with yourself.

[PietSkiet2]

My motto if you can't eat it don't shoot it.

[SoldierMan]

My motto if you can't eat it don't shoot it.

Yeah when we still lived on a farm we used to chase the baboons away as they used to eat our guavas. Eventually we waited for them as they weren't getting the message. I shot a female that had climbed a tree with a 16 gauge shotgun. Fell dead. I thought I would feel good as I loved the chase but I just felt nothing. It was then that I discovered that I was a biltong hunter and not a trophy hunter. We still had to take care of the baboons so that didn't stop but for me the chase and stalk was much better than the kill. Each to their own though.

[driepootx]

The Eastern Cape local population eat Lynx and proclaim it to have a very nice taste.

A lot of pests are not consumed.

[shooty]

My motto if you can't eat it don't shoot it.

So then what about jackal on Sheep farms that kill Sheep. Sometimes just biting a couple on hind legs and leaving them.

Should they just be left alone to breed?

[treeman]

My motto if you can't eat it don't shoot it.

***************************
Works when its fun, sport and games, not so much when dealing with problem animals.

[treeman]

We still had to take care of the baboons so that didn't stop but for me the chase and stalk was much better than the kill. Each to their own though.

*************************
Yea I still feel this way as well, I realized this while spear fishing as a kids 16/17 years old already.
The chase has always been far better than the kill, very few kill memories, thousands of stalk memories. That said, i have many memories of good shots.
I have often wondered how many times I would have if I could have, just pressed a reset button and "made it live again"
I have often felt the inkling of regret after a big bull or a lovely ewe goes down, not always, but sometimes the animal just sparks that desire to undo whats done. This usually occurs when shooting a animal at food ,water or sometimes when they in a resting position. Often with hogs in a group I feel like I have done wrong. The feeling pass's very quickly though, but there a few like this lynx that will be carried like a armband for years.
I have two very strong guilt trips that I carry 40 years later.
I got my first pellet gun for my b/day and the moment parents left for work I went outside and saw a Black Headed Oriol sitting on the highest branch of a blue gum tree. It was a absolutely impossible shot for a pellet gun (I only realized that years later, those B/Gums are 50 m + tall) . I recall that I aimed with just the head showing in bottom of scope, it was a one shot dead. At 11 years old, I cried for days, it was my first kill and it was horrible, such a pretty bird.
Second was a beautiful Malachite Sun Bird, all shiny metallic green, I think I shot it because it was so beautiful. Never forgot that regret.
After that it was kinda different going forward.

[Messor]

I see it, I shoot it, that’s it.
On sheep farms they simply don’t bother with natural prey, even if in abundance.
On a cattle farm, they just stay there, they catch on the sheep farm next door.

I am not a vegetarian nor is most folk here, if you want to have your choppie and eat it then just plainly accept that in some places they are just a pest and are dealt with as such.