Curious if others on here dislike this word as much as I do as it relates to modern hunting and trapping .Caribou on his show nailed it for me when he said "these are not wheat we are going to kill them and eat them".Other words will work such as ;take ,get,limit ,legal limit ,you are allowed 1 .

Glad I got that sissy mod word off my chest,I feel better now.What ever grain or hay I cut next year will not killed it will be harvested .

I only take the harvestable surplus fur off the line every year so as not to hurt the line.

I use harvest, among other words you listed. I can't explain my aversion to the word kill, but I just don't use it much. I have no aversion to the act of killing animals I'm going to eat or wear, I'm completely aware of what I'm doing, just as I am aware I'm calling these snowshoe hares rabbits incorrectly. Neither is likely to change.

Look up harvest, one of the definitions is:
A quantity of animals caught or killed for human use.

Catch or kill (animals) for human consumption or use.

In Alaska we have "harvest tickets"

I don't have a problem with the word personally.

I never liked it in terms of teaching kids about hunting, they need to know there taking a life, it may be harvested but it's dead you took away all that animal ever had in this world and people should realize that and not take it lightly. The way a lot of people not all use the word harvest, it implys it's gonna grow back, that animal will be replaced but not him so don't waste him if your gonna kill him! That's just how I feel.
Colt

I very much agree with not wasting. But game is a renewable resource, if managed correctly.

I am very clear with my kids what happens, that the animal is dead from a bullet wound, and they see the trauma caused when they "help" butcher. It also makes a very convenient demonstration of the importance of firearms safety.

My kids are very clear that being carnivorous means another life ends to make meat. Still, harvest is my preferred verb for casual conversation.

Like I said not all people use it the same. I can yell my little girl harvested killed took what ever she knows it's dead, I can't for sure know when I talk with others children about hunting "when it's appropriate" if they know what harvest really means so I use killed and dead and real grown up words. I have seen kids that really had no idea what it meant to even kill so I thank they should know.(I've met adults like that as well)
My cousin has got a daughter 6 months older than mine, he used harvest and took and bla bla and sheltered her from blood and death, then last yr at 5 she wanted to go help him track a buck " at night, on an uncertain hit" let's just say she had know idea what was gonna happen!end game pc tromitized her and it was her dad's fault, now my little girl you've gotta make quit playing with dead stuff so she don't ruin her school cloths.
Please don't take this as chastisment I get what your saying I just prefer not to sugar coat it to most people,and I believe the only time I've ever got a bad reaction from the word kill is from fellow hunters. Theres a lot of d-bags in this part of the world that kill just to kill cause they don't value life. I feel as I educate potential hunters the word kill has more impact and meaning to what there doing,but in reality a dbag will most likely always be a dbag.
Again I get it, it's just not what I do.
Colt

Harvest implies the responsibility of management of the resource.
Kill just means kill.

I like that!

Like when somebody "harvest" a deer cuts it's head off and throws it over the cliff below my house, yeah most of the guys around here that do that deal like to quot stuff like management or, thin the heard or bull terms like that too. There really responsible!!! Leaving "harvested" headless wasted deer laying we're hunting or non hunting even anti hunters can see. They know there dead,they know they've been killed,and them people don't give a crap if you call it harvest or not they don't like it!
What words "implie" and what people do are two different things. You can crap in a box and put a fancy label on it. But when you open the box you know what it is?
Colt

Harvest is what you do to crops you produced. Being a hunter/gatherer (not a farmer), I kill stuff to eat. Wolves don't harvest either.

Unlike most on this sub-forum, I don't and can't really 'hunt' in a sense that does the word justice. I.e., 90% of my 'hunting' is shooting a deer in my backyard at a feeder in a controlled shot (i've only got 3 acres). So I prefer the word 'harvest' when referring to that. If I head to Colorado next year to pursue elk, I'll be hunting. Even on public land in Maryland, you can't really hunt in the truest sense - i.e. learn about animals and their patterns and then either track and shoot or ambush - there simply isn't enough land in most wildlife management areas.

I've always been averse to the term 'kill' in the presence of non-hunters. Yes, that's what I do, but I find those that use it openly often do so in a celebratory way, and I think among those that don't know it first hand, it is interpreted as a term of disrespect.

Sometimes... people argue about the dumbest things.

Hahahahah!

"Harvest" comes from the term "harvestable surplus", which indicates more than ample numbers above minimum needed to sustain a sound wildlife population. Use of these words & terms helps justify your hunting/trapping/fishing activities to the rest of the world (majority of which are antis). Game IS a renewable crop which should be harvested annually to maintain healthy population characteristics. Hunting is a selective harvest that is a very valuable tool to wildlife management.

You might have to think beyond your own personal likes/dislikes by taking care not to offend the general public... "harvest" will keep you hunting/trapping/fishing a lot longer than "kill, bag, shoot, trap, etc".

Wildlife Biologist

"Your contribution helps ensure that our game populations are healthy, abundant, and available to provide harvest opportunity today and for generations to come."

"opportunity " is the word that scares me. Always found "opportunity" soup mighty thin.

Wildlife biologist
Antis don't give a crap what you call it. I'm anti abortion doesn't matter what you call it I hate don't agree with never have never will.
Reasonable people will learn and understand for the most part anti won't reason nothing. You can't reason abortion to me. The more we bend too make them feel good about it the more we give up.
As far as my hunting trapping fishing rights. From my cold dead hands.

When the last buffalo falls on the plains

When the last elk disappears in the morning mist

I will hunt mice for I'm a hunter and I must have my freedom
Chief Joseph
Words too live by.

You can kill animals without harvesting the fur or meat,but you cannot harvest fur or meat without killing.Perhaps that might make you understand the difference.

Killing is just one part of the harvest. Some people put more emphasis on the killing part rather than the whole process. Harvesting to me means to take something from the land for your own use at the appropriate time of year similar to reaping your crops when they are at their best and have reached their potential. A guy could kill something and not take it at all.