Sunday, December 7, 2008

Is this hunting?

I'm a shooter. I like to put holes in targets. I like to group those little holes as close together as possible. It forces me to concentrate, to relax. It's fun.

I have little interest in shooting animals. For one thing I don't have the energy for a real hunt, and I refuse to indulge in "canned hunts" where they drive you out to fenced off place to shoot an animal - as opposed to hunting it. As Lewis Black once put it, "they took a petting zoo, and turned it into Auschwitz.".

I'm also a little concerned about the "farming" of deer. It seems in Texas here, folks get a "hunting lease" from a land owner for the right to hunt on the property. Then they set about clearing land, planting crops, setting out feeders, motion sensitive cameras, and deer stands (to shoot the "crop" from).

These deer have great food, vitamins, minerals, supplements for bigger, better, healthier -- then they are "harvested" (shot).

Is this hunting? Or, is it farming with guns? It is a lot of work -- but, is it "sport"?

In any case, I think I'll stick to putting holes in paper.

1 comment:

SuzyQ said...

Even worse are the hunts of "exotic animals" often retired zoo and circus animals brought to the site and released to pens for the 'hunt" actually murder at close range with a fancy rifle.