One time I guided a young man named Jimmy who made a fine shot a nice buck. As the deer wobbled and pitched over dead, he looked at me and started hollering and shaking his fist, “He’s down, he’s down…!”
Yes, I can see that.
As we walked up to the deer, Jimmy strutted round and round, pumping his fist and screaming, “Yeah, yeah, hell yeah!” Like he was performing an end zone dance in a football game. I thought he might spike his rifle any minute.
Okay, now that is enough. I took the gun from Jimmy and double checked that it was unloaded.
Jimmy is a good “kid,” 20 something, but he had watched too many hunting shows and videos. He was emulating “celebrities” he’d seen shoot a buck and then jump up and down and laugh and shout and fist pump like they just scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Celebrity or average Joe, strutting around and hollering over a dead animal is not a good look for any hunter, and does not portray our blood sport in a positive way.
When you shoot the life out of a deer, calm down and show some respect. You are excited and happy, I get that, and you should be. But no need to throw a celebration. No need to bark, “He’s down!” like some hunters still do on TV, though I cannot imagine why. You didn’t just slay the giant you killed a deer. Show respect!
What you should do is walk to your buck and look him over. What a magnificent animal! Kneel and smooth his still warm coat; wrap your hands around those wonderful antlers. Smile. If you feel a tinge of sadness, maybe even feel a tear well up, that is okay. That is the ultimate respect and how hunting is supposed to feel.
Great article, agree with all the comments too, celebrate as you wish but keep it classy. I feel the hunting shows have been a degradation on real hunting values and ethics. Everyone wants to be the next so and so, if that’s what you pull the trigger for you already lost.
Im sorry, but telling someone how they should celebrate their harvest is none of our friggen business. To you, it might just be another deer that you shoot year after year. To some its their first or first one in 20 years. Its someone shooting their first mature buck that they have worked for all summer by making a food plot. Telling someone how they should celebrate their success is the most un-American thing i can think of. I have the same mindset as you and most hunters. My biggest concern is giving that animal a clean, quick death and i thank the deer. I would never say someone should have to think the same way i do
I love this post…for years I thought it was just me disappointed with the “touchdown” celebrations by T.V hunters. I had a coach many years ago tell me “act like you have been there before” and the same applies to hunting. When I take an animal life I always remove my cap, take a knee and offer a prayer of thankfulness. The other point of disrespect I see in pic’s is hunters sitting on the backs of animals
Great post Mike. Agreed 100%. I thank God first, with humility and appreciation. The killing of a whitetail deer should illicit both sorrow and joy.