The Word 'Kill'

Why do hunters avoid this honest word?

Once when I was addressing a group of hunters in a meeting, I said something about using the word “kill" instead of “harvest” when talking about what we do.

“But doesn't that offend people?” one gentleman asked, clearly a little rattled that I’d used the word, as if I'd blasphemed or said "Voldemort.”

“No!” I said a little too emphatically. (That’s a Heyser thing; I always cringe after I do it.)

“It’s the opposite. Using ‘harvest’ is what offends people.”

A duck is not a peach, and suggesting that killing a duck is like picking a peach off a tree doesn’t fool anyone.