Palmer Events Center
Hunting Is Not Cowardly
RECEIVED Tue., Aug. 9, 2005
Louis Black,
I read with interest Michael Ventura's musings on chimps [“Letters@3AM,” Aug. 5]. He describes “those beings who sit in camouflage suits and offer food to deer and then, in a profound act of betrayal, shoot the dear. These cowards call that 'hunting.'”
Since I don camo, I got to thinking: sitting in a ground blind near an oak mott, I wait for deer to move in for easy acorns. Is the oak mott a betrayer for its profligate mast? Am I the coward for killing the deer? Rawlings' yearling jumps the fence to take out a corn patch. Is the Baxter family guilty of both betrayal and cowardice? Indians once smoked wild aster to replicate the smell of deer hooves. Others wore skinned-out deer heads (camo?) to aid in stalks. Modern hunters use bottled doe scent. Cowards and betrayers all? Come to think of it, does Michael believe deer ruminate on betrayal and cowardice or on the wad in their four-chambered gut?
As for “cowardice,” what role does this (and by implication, courage) play in hunting deer? Except, perhaps, for consciously taking direct responsibility for killing to eat, deer hunter “beings” have little use for Michael's straw coward. One species is well-developed for predation, the other for avoiding same. Some chimps prey on weaker primates in collective hunts, others make war on other chimps, perhaps courageously. They, at any rate, seem to know the difference.
Baiting is less difficult than still-hunting, but whether for the ecologically well-managed Texas ranch or for reducing overwhelming deer numbers, one must specially cull does, spike horns, and old, spent “trophy bucks.” And the deed is done in the safest, quickest, and most effective manner consistent with sound biology: over bait. Bring back wolves, Michael, but can they take the 40% experts say is needed for herd balance?
The deer explosion is mainly due to development, clear cutting, farming, game laws, and anti-hunting activism. So, what do you “call [courageous] hunting,” Michael? Will your method(s) keep Noah's Ark afloat (or even deer populations in check), or are you just looking for Eden? I got a feeling Noah was neither fleeing from nor sailing for the Garden.
I read with interest Michael Ventura's musings on chimps [“Letters@3AM,” Aug. 5]. He describes “those beings who sit in camouflage suits and offer food to deer and then, in a profound act of betrayal, shoot the dear. These cowards call that 'hunting.'”
Since I don camo, I got to thinking: sitting in a ground blind near an oak mott, I wait for deer to move in for easy acorns. Is the oak mott a betrayer for its profligate mast? Am I the coward for killing the deer? Rawlings' yearling jumps the fence to take out a corn patch. Is the Baxter family guilty of both betrayal and cowardice? Indians once smoked wild aster to replicate the smell of deer hooves. Others wore skinned-out deer heads (camo?) to aid in stalks. Modern hunters use bottled doe scent. Cowards and betrayers all? Come to think of it, does Michael believe deer ruminate on betrayal and cowardice or on the wad in their four-chambered gut?
As for “cowardice,” what role does this (and by implication, courage) play in hunting deer? Except, perhaps, for consciously taking direct responsibility for killing to eat, deer hunter “beings” have little use for Michael's straw coward. One species is well-developed for predation, the other for avoiding same. Some chimps prey on weaker primates in collective hunts, others make war on other chimps, perhaps courageously. They, at any rate, seem to know the difference.
Baiting is less difficult than still-hunting, but whether for the ecologically well-managed Texas ranch or for reducing overwhelming deer numbers, one must specially cull does, spike horns, and old, spent “trophy bucks.” And the deed is done in the safest, quickest, and most effective manner consistent with sound biology: over bait. Bring back wolves, Michael, but can they take the 40% experts say is needed for herd balance?
The deer explosion is mainly due to development, clear cutting, farming, game laws, and anti-hunting activism. So, what do you “call [courageous] hunting,” Michael? Will your method(s) keep Noah's Ark afloat (or even deer populations in check), or are you just looking for Eden? I got a feeling Noah was neither fleeing from nor sailing for the Garden.
Stephen W. McGuire
