Search the Community

It's a rainy morning so you get what's on my mind: I had a conversation with a friend - a middle school teacher and non-hunter. She does not object to hunting, Actually, I keep her supplied with non-lead ammo literature. She gives to the hunters in her class. She invited the local paper's outdoor columnist to address her class. After his presentation, a student asked him "Mr. Outdoor Writer, isn't it wrong to kill things?". To this simple question Mr. Outdoor Writer said "God put those creatures on the earth for us to do with as we like" - or words to that effect. Without getting into anyone's religious beliefs, this has to be about one of the worst possible justifications to give to a public audience. It certainly raised my friend's hackles. He won't be invited back. I told my friend if someone asked me the same question, I would immediately ask them if they eat meat. Looking at hunting as a way of acquiring protein - the traditional reason for hunting and still a major factor in these rural areas - hunting is clearly more moral than buying food in a store. Hunters take personal responsibility for the death of the animal instead of buying it wrapped in plastic. I feel the same way about slaughtering livestock. In these cases, the animals had good lives "and one bad day". This may not be true of livestock raised on factory farms but it is true of the animals we raise. If the student was a vegetarian, that is a different set of values. It still raises questions of whether it is okay to kill plants and whether or not non-human predators are "wrong to kill things". I have no real justification for explaining trophy hunting since I don't really understand it. Maybe someone can help me with that.