Thread: Hunting Commandments

"Drop it" or words to that affect was my grandpa's #1 rule. If you weren't 99.9% sure you could drop the animal on the spot, don't take a shot. There was a little bit of latitude in this approach, but not a lot. A runner of more than say 20 yds was viewed as a fail.

He indoctrinated his grandkids with lots of sensible, practical attitudes towards hunting safety and so on, but he was in a different league when it came to fast, humane killing of deer. And he got that from the kiwis, who couldn't afford to lose animals in the steep bush, as no tail or no hide meant one less beer at the end of the week. And a kick up the arse from the area Chief.

Like I said in the other post today, the difference between the way we were taught shot placement, and the way most of the Poms did it, and many still do it to this day, was chalk and cheese. They often had this hard wired hatred of shooting a deer in the shoulder, citing meat damage, yet seemed willing to risk losing the whole animal if they were off by even a couple of inches. To the stuffy poms, the idea of neck shooting a deer was such a horrific idea that you were viewed as some kind of savage throwback to Viking times, or maybe cavemen.

Anyway, glad the old man was so strict about the Drop It rule. The long run here in NZ terrain can be a complete bloody disaster from a recovery point of view.