A thought on Hunting

Maybe more than just ‘a thought’. Perhaps it will be two or three. Maybe more.

I saw this photo going around on Facebook:

Let’s establish some facts:

I am pro-HUNTING. Why? We humans have killed off a good deal of the natural predators that keep the prey animal populations healthy. We also have subdivided and landscaped acres-upon-acres of land, creating prime habitat for wildlife that would normally avoid us.
The definition of HUNT from Dictionary.com:

hunt – [huhnt]

verb (used with object)

1. to chase or search for (game or other wild animals) for the purpose of catching or killing.

2.to pursue with force, hostility, etc., in order to capture(often followed by down ): They hunted him down and hanged him.

3. to search for; seek; endeavor to obtain or find (often followed by up or out ): to hunt up the most promising candidates for the position.

4. to search (a place) thoroughly.

5. to scour (an area) in pursuit of game.

verb (used without object)

8. to engage in the pursuit, capture, or killing of wild animals for food or in sport.

9. to make a search or quest (often followed by for or after ).

10.Change Ringing . to alter the place of a bell in its set according to certain rules.

Now that I’ve established those facts, let me elaborate that I do NOT think “hunting” is sitting up in a tree stand all day watching a pile of corn and apples that wouldn’t have normally been there for some hapless deer to wander past. Many people who “hunt” (and really, when you’re putting out bait and sitting around waiting all day… it’s not truly HUNTING), aren’t sportspeople, they are just guys and gals with guns (or bows and arrows) sitting around waiting on the opportunity to shoot something. Their survival doesn’t depend upon taking down a 10-point, trophy buck whose head they will have mounted so it can become the latest piece of “art” to grace their walls. They haven’t tracked a deer all morning over hill and over dale to catch it eating its last meal in some flower-strewn meadow. Nope. They put out a pile of corn and apples, or a deer block, and sit up in a tree, weapon at the ready, waiting to see if their whole “plan” falls into place.

Every year I hear these “hunters” complain about how they don’t see any deer anymore. Well, let’s ponder this for a moment…. Have you been sitting in the same location, year after year, and haven’t actually gone out to see (by see I mean look for signs of deer, or whatever they’re hunting) if the animals are in the area? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Now, before people get all “in my face” over this – I completed the Hunter’s Safety Course when I was 12 (it was required at the time) and was nailing the bulls-eye at 200 yards with a rifle (all the hits to the head as I grew older have thrown off my aim, I’m sure). Part of the course involved us learning how to track animals, not nearly to the depth that a lot of other tracking courses would teach, but enough that we’d know to recognize a deer print in the mud. I also don’t hunt. I don’t need to. I don’t think animal calls or using antlers to simulate bucks-in-rut are a bad thing, but if you’re just sitting in a tree stand, waiting for an unlucky animal to come across your path, you’re not a Hunter.