Now, I'm not anti-hunting, but nor am I pro-hunting. Frankly, I'm not sure where I am on hunting in general. I grew up in the rural Adirondacks in a non-hunting family. We had a special affinity to the animals around us (wild and domestic) and mostly tried to keep our goats in during hunting season for fear they'd be shot. We had good reason for that.
I remember a time when we were young, my brother, sister and I were standing outside with one of our goats. A car approached, slowed and stopped. The window rolled down, and the man driving asked us, "Where'd you get the tame deer?" My siblings and I looked at each other and then proceeded to tell him a tale about finding and raising the "deer". He bought it and drove on. To this day I hope that guy wasn't a hunter and never shot anyone's goat by mistake. But it was pretty funny.
I guess, if I really think about it, I'm not crazy about hunting season. Too many animals killed in their prime. And yes, I'm also aware of the fact that if we didn't have hunting season, many more would die of starvation due to overpopulation. But that's something we humans have caused anyway by killing off wolf populations in New England and restocking deer in the Northeast in the early 1900's after they were nearly wiped out by loss of habitat and overhunting to begin with. That, and the fact I always seem to root for the underdog, (things that can't shoot back, in this case...)
So, I felt a bit of relief the other morning, when I looked out the window and saw the lone hunter, a rifle with massive power scope slung under his arm, trodding up the road past the house. He had obviously missed his shot, and I was glad. Another one lives for a while longer.
All I can say is, "Run, Bambie, run..."
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