“That’s so cruel!”
It is a response that any hunter has heard many times from others when
the others find out that the hunter kills animals.
And let me digress
a minute and talk about Killing game v taking, harvesting, bagging, etc. I kill
game. That is what it is. To sugar coat it by saying I take game, harvest game,
bag game, reduce game to possession (honest, I actually read that last one
somewhere, WTF?) is a dishonor to the animal. If I am not willing to call it
what it is, then I am ashamed of what I do and am not giving the proper respect
to that which I kill. Similarly, I do not do buck poles nor do I parade the
buck around on my hood for all to see doing so shows a lack of respect for the
animal and can be offensive to those who are not comfortable with hunting..
Now back to
the issue at hand. Is hunting really cruel? No. Not when done ethically.
What is
ethical hunting? Hunting is ethical when; you use a weapon which is capable of
a quick kill, you practice with said weapon until your skill is sufficient, you
do not take shots that you have not practiced (and how many deer hunters
actually practice shooting moving targets?), you make every effort to find any
game that does not drop where shot, and you use as much of the animal you kill
as you can.
Is ethical
hunting any more cruel than Mother Nature?
The other
day I heard a cacophony near the boulder wall behind the house. Investigating,
I saw a mother wren and a not-quite-ready-to-fly youngster on the gravel. On
the wall I saw another youngster with its back end partially in the jaw of a
snake. The young bird was carrying on mightily as the snake held on. The snake
was unable to swallow the bird and was holding on until the bird became too
tired to fight so it could turn the bird around and swallow it.
Yep, this is
more humane than shooting a deer.
I saw part
of a time-lapse video of a pack of wolves killing a mother bison and her calf.
The mother fought to protect the baby as the wolves circled and slowly wore her
down. It was an all-day affair to finally bring down the mother. The terrified
calf succumbed sooner. The wolves took bites and tore at the animals as other
wolves surrounded and distracted them. Finally, as the animals were down, the
wolves started eating on them as other wolves were still finishing the kill.
Yep, this is
more humane that shooting a deer.
What about
store-bought meats? Are the animals raised in a good environment? Are they
treated well? Are they penned and unable to move freely?
I get teased
while playing volleyball. I tell people that when I hit a spike I try to
project Chi energy into the ball. Others laugh. I am serious. Part of Chi
energy comes from food. I have read, and tend to believe, that meat from poorly
treated animals has poor and/or less Chi than free range, well-treated animals’
meat. I think a deer or other animal that is killed quickly and then handled
well will have better meat than will a mistreated cow.
In the end,
there are some people who will never agree with me. This is America and I love
that they can have their own opinions just as I have mine. I only ask that they
do not try to impose their beliefs on me just as I try to respect their
beliefs by not parading the dead buck around.
Hunting
season will soon be upon us. I hope you all get a chance to get out into the
woods and that you have a safe, successful, and ethical hunting experience.