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On Hunting and Ethical Choices
Everyone has to deal with their own morality. The problem exists when humans, most of whom have a generally good opinion of themselves, rationalize behavior they know is wrong. This sets you up to continually lower your beliefs about right and wrong until you find yourself in the place you said you’d never be. I’m no stranger to this folly, but I remain vigilant about it and ask the Spirit to guide me when I’m not being an impulsive fool.
I wrote once about a bird I injured when I was a kid. I must have been about seven — and I was lethal with that Daisy BB gun on starlings and the other trash birds I was allowed to shoot. Then there was the jay up in some tree. I felt some need to prove something. Busted wing. The darn thing was everywhere outside my house that summer, it’s broken wing reminding me of how bad a person I was when I shot it. That blue jay served a purpose though: it was a fitting allegory for my shame. The story would have been easier to tell if I’d taken my finger off the trigger.
I killed an Atlantic Salmon ( I think ) on the Rapid River in Maine. I spent a third of an hour stalking into position to angle for her. My wiry 12-year-old body, balancing on a rock, flicked a fiberglass fly rod with a Mickey Finn streamer over and over until I got a take. I remember the fight and the landing. The legal limit was 13 inches and this one was 12.5. I spent a lot of time stretching and smashing that fish. In the end, I filleted a fish I should have let go. The story would have been better if I’d have let her go.
I am not an avid hunter. I spend only 5-15 days a year hunting, most of it for birds. I follow the laws because I love the challenge and the killing part. Following the rules makes it fun. There are other rules (not binding) that I find more important than the legal ones because they define who you are: Respecting the environment. Respecting the land owners. Respecting the safety of everyone. Respecting your prey. Understanding your role in the greater scheme of nature. You are an apex predator with responsibilities.
One of those responsibilities is to be an example for younger hunters and fisherman. Integrity happens. If Mr Dentist did what he’s accused of, he has no friends in any of the hunting circles I know.
I shot my first elk last fall. An older patient of mine paid for the pricey hunt ($6,000) and I was excited to do it, practicing much of the summer at the range. When I arrived at the elk camp, I developed a real dislike for the head guy. He advertised this fair chase hunt, but it turned out he had a relatively tame herd of elk ( between two ranches) and that he was used to letting old men dodder up to them and shoot. I declined to kill one and had his old down-and-out assistant take me 10 miles and 3,000 feet up on horseback to look for animals instead.
We got one and it was a rush beyond compare. Back at camp, the head outfitter scored the 7×6 at 298. Anything over 300 and it can be entered in the Safari Club for Idaho. He was trying to talk me into saying it was 315 so I could have my name in some stupid book. I told him he had the wrong person. This story is easy to tell.
In the quiet of the night a person alone can lay back and have all kinds of strange thoughts. Do you like the company you keep in those moments?
Published in General
Concretevol. It’s not that uncommon to have to track an animal after an arrow. That’s part of the reason that bow hunting is fun. Now applying the nuances of a crossbow to an apex predator means to me you shouldn’t be doing it without making a real good shot. Maybe a nice daylight one. Maybe not at night even if you baited a tame lion who is having his meow mix.
What a way to attempt to prove manhood and fail.
Well said Barfly. You too Doc. Thanks
Jay, you’re too important. We’ll need doctors if men like my have to take on these arduous tasks. Best leave it to the lesser skilled.
217 A.D.
[sssssshhhhhhrmph]
“Dude! What are You doing?!”
“What?! I’m killing that beast so I can hang His head in My hut.”
“You can’t kill a beast with honor using Yer crossbow. That’s for war and monkeys. You have to wait until the gun is invented.”
“What’s a gun?”
“I don’t know. But until then use a javelin…. or this sling and a bunch of rocks.”
“Oh. Ok.”
“Sheesh. If social media gets wind of this, They’re gonna run You outta town.”
Yes this is true….I have followed a blood trail a time or two. I can imagine a slight hesitation tracking a pissed off wounded lion however!
Follow the pom-poms.
Best leave it to me, the Allan Quatermain of cheerleader hunting!
I’m sure you would defeat them easily. They wouldn’t stand a chance.