Hunting

I grew up in a household of men. Rural, manly, farming, sports-playing, car-fixing, burping, farting, belching, hunting, men. My dad had a couple of shotguns (used for hunting) and at a certain age, my brothers were taught to shoot as well. They liked to hunt quail, shoot clay pigeons, and maybe go deer-hunting.

From my earliest memory, I grew up loving animals. Especially cats and dogs, but I also had an affinity for dolphins, which I collected. I would get so ANGRY when my brother Michael would go out to my grandpa's woods and shoot at rabbits and squirrels. I could never understand why he wanted to kill animals for fun.

I even went through a decade from age 15 to 25 where I didn't eat red meat (which my family raised). I didn't like it, particularly, and that's what I told people when they asked why, although the idea of eating a carcass still causes a certain amount of queasiness. I'll never forget when I found out my dad had killed some puppies (out of compassion) after my Golden Retriever, Lucy, had a very large litter.  He did it because he didn't think she'd be able to feed them all. I still can't picture my gentle father killing puppies (and I try not to), but that's life on the farm. Hunting for survival is one thing, but hunting as a sport is something I just don't get. Yes, deer are a problem if they are overgrown. Yes, I still think it makes it only a modicum better if you actually eat what you kill. I've heard those arguments about a zillion times.

But mainly what bothers me is that this is something people do for fun, for entertainment. Taking the life of another living creature for the fun of it is something I don't get and never want to get. I've quizzed a number of people about this through the years, including my former pastor, a great guy who really loves to go hunting and who even has lots of "trophies" hanging in his house. He's a very gentle, mild-mannered person as well, so I was interested in hearing his point of view. He said for him, it was something he enjoyed doing with his brother, as well as the "excitement" or thrill of the chase.

I was in a auto repair shop in Shipshewana today, picking up a light bulb for my husband's car, holding Audrey while we waited to pay. She was the first to notice 2 deer trophies hanging on the wall. She wanted to go and pet them, which kind of made me tear up. I wonder what she thought about them, what she'll think when she learns someone killed them, chopped their heads off, and hung them on a wall as a symbol for their big penis for decoration. I wonder if she will cringe because she's a tender-heart like her mother. I kind of hope so. I kind of think my boys will be, too. It turns out their dad is a bigger tender-heart than me when it comes to animals.

Yes, I eat red meat, chicken, sea food, and pork. And yes, most of the time I try not to think about how it came to be on my plate. I agree that I am not always philosophically consistent (I'm to work on it). However, I continue to puzzle over recreational hunting, and why so many accept it without much thought. I get male bonding, and I get the "thrill of the chase" but can't those things be  found elsewhere, in non-blood sport activities? I don't know. My husband has Chronic Lyme Disease, I know deer can carry ticks which can devastate people's lives. I know that human life comes before animal life. And yet, I still worry that the joy that people seem to find through hunting makes us...well, a little less human.

And just so you know, if my heart breaks over Bambi, it breaks and breaks again and again for the suffering of people all over this Earth. I do believe that God gave us dominion over the animals, but I think this longing I have must be a longing I have for Heaven, where the Lion will lay down with the Lamb. I'm not a member of PETA, I love my family, I love and respect my former pastor. All of them are good men. But these are the things I think about when I wait in line at the auto repair shop and contemplate the deer heads hanging on the wall.






Not all hunters are men!