The pros against hunting:
1. On the surface, it seems to be this violent, barbaric act. Since I typically shy away from barbaric actions and violence in general, this 'hobby' seems to be unnecessary and belittling to a human’s intelligence (read a book, get involved in your community, help others, evolve.)
2. As a sport, it seems even more ridiculous. Where is the sport? Where is the even playing field of competitor vs. competitor? The idea of killing an innocent animal and then to hang it as a trophy seems disrespectful, mocking, and egotistical.
3. It disrupts the natural balance of things. The circle of life has worked for years, why are we playing God?
4. And this was always my personal argument: we need to rid ourselves of unnecessary violence/potential accidents and there is no sport in hunting. It is egotistical and self-serving way to pass the time and many, many people are accidently shot every year from guns. This is why we need to stop this.
The other side
1. I am a meat-eater. I may not eat much of it, but I never plan on giving it up either. Why is it widely accepted to eat meat neatly packaged from the supermarket, but not take the responsibility of one’s on food chain? Why are farm-raised animals deemed ok by society to eat?
I started to explore my thoughts on hunting when I briefly dated a hunter. His respect for the hunt, guns, and view on the whole process was remarkable. He took more time and care in hunting than I have ever put into an activity (my activities don’t usually have the potential to kill someone either). It wasn’t even the way he talked about hunting; it was his actions that spoke the respect and reverence. I still argued that no matter what, he was taking a life and that made me uncomfortable.
But I am a meat-eater, I am not taking responsibility for what is on my plate. I am not acknowledging that I am taking a life about three times a week. If you can’t take the responsibility, you should not have the privilege of enjoying that juicy prime rib.
My next step in this process was listening to NPR’s ‘To The Best Of Our Knowledge.’ They did a show on hunting in early 2009. It really explored what I needed to hear. Stories about why different people hunt. One man was a conservationist. He saw how deer were destroying trees and all their natural predators were gone, outnumbered, or killed. The deer continued to over-populate and continued to destroy plants and trees, which were destroying the landscape and other animal’s foods. The conservationist saw how he could contribute to reconciling the landscape and order and decided he needed to hunt. Whatever the reason was, they all seemed respectable and reasonable. One woman talked about the need for taking responsibility of what is on your dinner plate. This is the one point that obviously stayed with me.
As I was listening to the program, I had my aha moment. As I was listening, I heard people give the different reasons about why they hunt. Intelligent, educated, and evolved people. I have reached a conclusion that has made me feel a little more at ease with hunting. I think I have confused my opinions on hunting with my opinions on a certain lifestyle. The clothes, the lack of amenities, the typical conversations that are involved with hunters have really jaded me towards the whole situation. My exposure to hunting has been very one sided and I am realizing that now. You can hunt and realize that Obama is not a Muslim (aka terrorist) just because his middle name is Hussein. This spoke volumes to me.
Yes, there are some things about hunting that I will never understand: why get up at 4am in single digit weather to sit outside for 4 hours? Why are taxidermists still in business? I know men that have never changed their child's diapers but will pull all the guts out of an 600 lb animal without blinking an eye. These are the eternal questions that will never be answered and we need to accept that.
Am I going to hunt? I don’t know. I feel the need to take responsibility, but my dis-connected American mentality is still screaming to stay naïve and ignorant to the whole situation: cows come from the supermarket.
