You know how the ancient hunter would put a sprig of grass in the mouth of their kill? Or, sprinkle tobacco? It seems to me if something is left at the place of the kill, it should be something of value to the hunter. I don't value tobacco but I have been trying to think of a suitable substitute. Do any of you do a tribute to the kill in this way and what do you do?
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I usually leave my knife, but not intentionally.... :smileystooges:
LOL! That's quite a tribute! If you're a good hunter that could get quite expensive!
At the price of tobacco these days (at least in these parts) It is still something of value! Moreover, the natives did that not only because of the value of the plant but because of it's hollynness (sp?). That being said, I intend to break my victory cigar in two and share it with my first deer!
It was the tradition of my people The Penobscot of coastal Maine,to return the heads (or leave them after the kill) to the woods and hang them on a tree limb.It was believed that if the animal's Spirit never left the woods it would come back to life insuring food for the coming years.
This would be consider unexceptable by todays P/C standards,and besides I value my collection of antlers. I usually place a mound of hair at the base of a tree,in hopes that the blood and hair will become whole again.
You could make a talisman,and wear or carry it with you. When you are successful,you could leave the talisman in place of the animal you take away.
Thaaat's more what I had in mind. I value my equipment, but let's be reasonable! ;)
Thank Chris and Chuck (and b.bassi for the laugh). I will reconsider the tobacco and I also like the tuft of hair/talisman thought.
Thanks again, Bona
i leave tabacco, it holds alot of meaning believe it or not. i frequently stop on the road and offer tabacco to road kill.
I think you guys should let me know where your kill spot was and leave your bows, I,d be sure to try to increase the mojo with them
Some places hunters will place a twig or leaf in the animals mouth out of respect. I think anything you do - where you stop for a minute and do something out of respect for the animals life is honorable.
Ken - that was a visual !!
Well you done put an arrow through him or her so just leave your arrow there. Then another hunter will come by and get the broad-head off it. Why you think there's so many stone head lying around? LOL Mike
not far from here the indians built huge "deer temples". Over 1000 skulls of white tailed deer in a few different locations. The only whole one I could see was a real trophy ten point. Pretty neat I think.
Only handful of shamans probably lived there but many hunters came to be blessed and leave tributes.
Anyway me being white and all the european prehistory for hunting is to cut a small branch. Touch the blood from the wound with it and put the stem in its mouth to signify the last meal. They do this all over europe and is beyond recorded history. They also put the other half of the bloody stem in their hat sometimes too. To show other hunters when the deer isn't around I suppose.
As chris mentioned tobacco was a sacrament not just something they traded. So if you wanted to get fancy with it maybe put down some cavendish or something instead of marlboro red. lol .
maybe thats why people find neat stuff while hunting. :)
I was thinking about asking my friend for one of her marlboros. :p
Well... guess I am not all that excesivly spiritual. Most of the stuff we believe about American Indian mystisism and beliefs were actually invented by white people for books and movies. Much of it was simply a corruption of new beliefs brought by missionarys as well.
I think the most respectful thing you can do after killing an animal is take good care of the meat and share it with folks. I don't really think the deer cares wether or not you use $15 a pound pipe tobacco or a menthol lite.
I can respect anyone's beliefs. Whatever makes you feel right is what is right for you. I just don't feel the need to thank the deer, as I doubt he would thank me for shooting him (assuming he could talk and all).
Take care of the meat, enjoy what it provides, share it with those who need it. That is how I show respect to the men and women who taught me to hunt and to the game I kill.
OkKeith
I believe the best tribute to the amazing fellow living creatures we occassionally are privileged to bring home -- as both art and food -- is what we DON'T do and leave at the kill site: trash, rude and stupid macho Ted-like whoops ringing upward to a listening and critical universe, rude and stupid macho photos of us "heroes" sitting cowboy-style on our "defeated enemies." Etc. Restraint is the greatest tribute. My thots, my nature, my spirituality. dave
Dave
I second that emotion...
Kinda with Dave.. its all about respect, no bloody pics, nothing that would take from the animals honor. I usually just spend a few quiet minutes givin thanks...
Gee OkKeith, You really must be well schooled in Native American tradition..... :rolleyes:
I hate to contribute to anything "spiritual" because my somewhat archaic traditional beliefs are usually poo-pooed on but here goes:
How about offering a prayer of thanks to God for allowing a successful day afield, strength, health and good fortune. Mix it up however you like. Anything else is just symbolism and may feel noble but adds nothing to any spirit but our own ... JMHO. I feel the same way about human loss. Too many people make gestures at someones passing when in fact the respect would have had far greater impact if shared in life.
I agree with you Jedimaster on Thanking God for everthing and for letting the animal be food for my table....He is the Creator of all....Keefers <")))><
-last year my son was hunting about 300 yds away when I got my deer. I called him on the walkie talkie to come over since it was starting to rain. We tracked the deer about 80 yds. We smiled and shook hands. Neither one of us jump up and down, laughing, and yelling. He then took his water bottle out, and poured a little in the deer's mouth, then put a sprig of leaves in also. We both took a minute, lost in our own thoughts, then got to work. That's just us.
I leave lungs, guts and usually a little sweat.
Steve
They used tobacco to carry their words to the Great Spirit.
Other then leaving the end trails & stuff I say this.
O. Great Spirit Take my Brother/Sister, For their Straight, courage & their speed is with me. Their Soul is with Mine, For we are now one in Life & Death.
QuoteOriginally posted by bbassi:
I usually leave my knife, but not intentionally.... :smileystooges:
LOL!!! Brent, my friend, that is just too funny a response! :biglaugh:
Hey, you signed up for QBIII?
I say a prayer that includes thanksgiving, a bit of remorse and also accomplishment to whomever it is that created this earth. I don't know about leaving anything behind, but I understand why someone would do it.
All that being said.....I left an $80 knife in the woods after gutting my first buck. It was a black knife with a black handle. Never did find it and I have hunted that same spot dozens of times since.
-Charlie
Curveman - Funny but true. Do you remember 4 of us going looking for my knife Friday morning after I got my bear? Not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. :)
I like to find and recover game on my own because I like to spend a few quiet moments with the animal. I reflect on the hunt, the opportunity, and the experience with a great deal of appreciation and thanksgiving. When I recover game with friends, I sometimes feel a bit rushed. I have to make myself slow down and enjoy the moment at the same level.
I don't have any special tribute or tradition. I just try to appreciate the beauty of the animal and store some mental images of the experience for future enjoyment.
Gregg
smoke from the tabacco carries your prayers to the great Creator, $15 pound cavendish, marbarlo red or dried tabacco leaf, it holds meaning to many. simple tabacco maybe, to me its special gift and heart felt.
Over the last few seasons I've found myself slowing down after the kill. I purposely look around the woods and take it all in before starting to care for the meat. I also find myself taking it slow while dressing out the animal and butchering to make sure things are done the roght way. Its funny even when dragging, I used to just grab an antler or hoof and pull until my lungs are about ready to pop. Now i find myself taking breaks and just lookin around the woods no sense in rushin. As far as doing something spiritual, not really, although i do have this funny connection with one knife I always use. The major thing for me is the meat, a couple years back while rushing to much I screwed up and spoiled the meat, I swore it would never happen again. Joe..
I believe in prayer and giving thanks to God for all things, but in the excitement and all of the deer I got I forgot to thank him on the spot. It was sometime later when I finally remembered. I would like to be more thankful from the time of the kill. I have always been interested in Native American culture and would like to bring a little of that to the woods with me. Having something with me to leave at the spot would slow me down and remind me to be appreciative right away. I is a really nice gesture.
Thanks to all who responded.
I don't wait until I harvest a deer, I'm thankful when I get up the tree, and I'm very thankful when I get back to the ground. !!!!
But the in-between times, the sunrise, Sunset, man there are so many things that we as hunters can be thankful for.
Last year I had the opportunity to watch a chocolate buck come within 20 yd. of me, and then walk out 40 yd. and it laid down in plain sight, that was one of my better hunts.
And hay, I'm very thankful for the experience, and willingness of all of you to pass on those experiences to the rest of us.
Carl
Maybe you can Get the arrow you used, and stab it in the ground at the seen of the kill, so when a respectable hunter walks up a year later. They know what happend..
And maybe somehow you can get some of the deers skin for intants, and stab the arrow into the peice of skin making the arrow skin and ground one so it would be like a memorial type thing...
I dont know it was just a crazy idea I had..
When I killed my first elk, my guide, who was part Native American, said that he always buries the heart of the beast on the spot where it died, to "grow" another one. I like that idea.
A good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot seems appropriate enough to do justice to the animal and the meal to me. :cool:
Wow B...lookwhat you did..I like to linger a momment and reflect on the hunt. to just sit and be quite and listen to the woods before I get busy..you've just taken away a life..no time to be hooting and hollering...
Shawn..
I anoint myself and my bow with a bit of the deers blood and thank him(her) for giving himself(her) to me. Every time I climb out of my tree stand I thank the tree for allowing me a good place to hunt.
Pat
I will place something I made somewhere in my hunting area, to show my love for all that has been created and given me, whether I kill an animal or not. I believe this is a thanks to the One Who created it, a blessing back and forth at one time, between Him and me. A gift created with one's hands must contain love, a feeble echo of the love that God must have felt as He created it all.
Respect for the animal, and all that conspire to bring this thing to pass, I try to show in all of my actions when moving through the place that God made, the place where all of this comes together. It can be a vacant lot, a pristine wilderness, it matters not. Wherever I see His works, I express my most common prayer, a Thank You and a smile at the wonder of it all.
Each of us brings a different facet of this to light, here, and yet another Thank You that I smile into His heart is that we are all different in our ways of expressing it. If we all sang the same note, what a boring drone that would be to His ears!
Killdeer :campfire:
I think Jedimaster has made a wise comment. Whatever is done must be meaningfull to the one doing it or your just going through the motions for ulterior motives.
In that vein, I guess it doesn't matter what you do as long as it is genuine and heart-felt.
OkKeith
Brokenarrow1,Dillon,Don,Steve,smonte,Pat,Killdeer,OkKeith.
All your thoughts are great. I guess I am more thankful throughout the hunt than I recalled. I do alot of the things that you all mentioned. Thanks for your comments.
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Sure thing, glad to help...
Good luck this season.
OkKeith
I thank The Lord for His bounty and blessing and leave a steamy gut pile for the other animals to eat.
I find myself slowing down too. I used to build the fire 1st and then cut out the backstraps. Now, I just cut the backstraps out, slower cause I used to leave some meat behind, and THEN I build the cook fire.....
I usually leave what I won't eat at the kill site for the coyotes and such.
I was out looking for squirrels this afternoon and walked past the bones of a doe for the 50th time since last fall. I started thinking about this thread and went back and grabbed a leg bone to take to the rodents to chew on. And paid respect to the doe. Some of us who are good at finding sheds, (not me!), should probably take more of the bones out to the woods.
I will be better prepared to give better respect to that doe the next time I pass her. Everytime I do, I look at her and think about her. In a way that is a show of respect. I wonder sometimes if she was poached, her carcass left by an abandoned house.
I give thanks to God for each and every deer I or my wife and friends take each year, and share some meat with people in need, there are some in any community if we look very hard. I also process a deer or to that people give me and give to some older folks on fixed income that really appreciate it.