Thread: Taking the Hunt out of Hunting.

Originally Posted by John Duxbury

I object to it personally because its an attempt to take the killing out of hunting, which means its no longer hunting. I think using the word "harvest" both makes hunting itself sound banal, and it also demeans the death of the animal. It's also an Americanism, and I am wary of adopting American cultural tics.

(The Grim Reaper is a quite different metaphor, also associated with harvests - death in great swathes. (swathes - sythe) And implies regular seasonal carrying off of the population - like a harvest. From memory mostly associated with the plague. But nothing to do with hunting at all.)

Here is an article about it from Outdoor Life: (It puts both sides of the debate over substituting harvest for either kill or hunting, just for further reading. But it does illustrate how purely American it is.)
https://www.outdoorlife.com/opinion/...-kill-hunting/

You mean to say you've never schlocked a few animals in your time? I can just see you fist pumping and going Booya after a mean harvest!

I think in all seriousness, we all use a euphemism or two in our hunt descriptions. Lets face it, Killing something is and should be hard and harsh and unnerving in a positive manor.

I myself will unconsciously avoid the word kill. It dropped on the spot, collapsed dead, slumped, tumbled etc. Though Ill happily kill possums.

Like you I used to have concerns about the word harvest. Ive grown used too it so that it no longer concerns me as much.