Priest vs. Pith: What's the most humane way to kill your catch?
So I'm no bleeding heart, but I'm also no psychopath; I'd rather not inflict extra pain and distress on a creature if it can be avoided easily. I've been doing a lot of research, and most agree suffocation, freezing, or bleeding without stunning are all pretty brutal ways to die. The two methods I found that seem most promising are the whack-and-bleed and ike-jime and other pithing methods. Bludgeoning is less messy and makes me less uncomfortable, but there's also the chance you'll mess it up and have to whack it a few times; on the other hand, pithing the brain just feels so savage even though it's probably less suffering on average. So I'm leaning towards getting a priest, or just using a long-handled wrench to dispatch them before bleeding. What are your thoughts on this?
Also to clarify, I eat my catches, I'm not a trophy fisherman, so potentially damaging the fish's head isn't a concern in my case. I would imagine pithing would be better for trophy fishing.
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by KushlungsMcBone
Just bring some syringes of morphine with you. Make sure that you also have a nice pillow and maybe a blanket for them to get comfortable in their deathbed. Ask what their favorite song is and quietly hum it while holding their pectoral fin and softly brushing it with your thumb. Slowly pull out the syringe once they're nice and relaxed and inject it. Be sure to keep humming and stroking until you see it pass. That's probably the most humane way to kill your catch, but I usually just whack it in the head or stab its brain.
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by white_as_a_whistle
Quote:
I usually just whack it in the head or stab its brain.
...yeah but that's my whole question, which?
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by KushlungsMcBone
I would say pick whichever one that you're best at. If you're bad at finding the brain on the first stab then the fish is going to be a lot more stressed out as you keep stabbing around its head. If you're pretty good at knocking the fish out with a smack or two then I'd go with that. Basically whichever is quicker depending on the species and your ability to kill it.
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by white_as_a_whistle
Then I think I will stick with a wrench. If you're not sure how much force to use, you can always err on the side of overdoing it, which might crush the skull, but will definitely stun / destroy the brain; with pithing, if you miss the brain a little bit, you can't just stab harder to make up the difference. So I think I'll just whack 'em hard as I can right over the eyes. Seems like less of a chance of things going wrong.
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by KushlungsMcBone
Spearfishing :)
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by lawlawlandrover
Club the head then rip the gills. It's not pretty but I was raised to always bleed your fish to make them more edible.
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by buy_my_blades
rip the gills? I thought you just slit the throat right behind the gills to bleed them, am I doing it wrong?
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by KushlungsMcBone
this is cleaner (cut) some people just rip out the gills because its easy and you can do it with the same pliers your probably already holding to remove hook.
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by walterh3
You can do either, I rip them because it's faster and I don't need to bring out my knife.
It may seem more barbaric and more messy but the fish is already gone after you club them, it really makes no difference as far as unnecessary suffering.
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by buy_my_blades
Get a billy club, rap one stroke across head you will hear the crunch. Rip gills, place on stringer let bleed than on ice.
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by KnobbCreek
I've heard some people also kill fish pretty quickly with alcohol. A small spray of vokda to the gills will cease their heart pretty quick.
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by D_VoN
Eh, I'd rather get my head crushed instantaneously than be poisoned, even if it is fast-acting. Plus I don't want alcohol on my meat, that'll dry it out.
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by KushlungsMcBone
It's an insanely small amount we're talking here. Most fish will take a few drops, and a few seconds to absorb into their bloodstream.
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by D_VoN
Oh, okay. So not really a concern of drying it out. Still though, a few seconds of burning organs compared to a fraction of a second of concussive force... I know which I'd pick.
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by KushlungsMcBone
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