Tribute to the kill

[hockey7]

-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.

[SteveB]

I leave lungs, guts and usually a little sweat.

Steve

[**DONOTDELETE**]

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.

[Curveman]

Originally posted by bbassi:
I usually leave my knife, but not intentionally....    

LOL!!! Brent, my friend, that is just too funny a response!      
Hey, you signed up for QBIII?

[buckeye_hunter]

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

[bbassi]

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.  

[gregg dudley]

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

[adkmountainken]

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.

[JoeM]

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..

[b.glass]

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.

[DeerSpotter]

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

[Dillon]

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..

[Don Stokes]

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.

[SteveMcD]

A good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot seems appropriate enough to do justice to the animal and the meal to me.    :cool:

[Pluck Yew]

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..

[Pat B]

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

[Killdeer]

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  

[OkKeith]

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

[b.glass]

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.
>>>--------->

[OkKeith]

Sure thing, glad to help...

Good luck this season.

OkKeith