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Reader's
Choice Column Index
Hunt
the way you want and let others do the same
Where
I stand
on crossbows
The
sience of hunting and the good old days
The
economics of
hunting
Merritt
ice fishing derby - Fun times
Ducks
Unlimited - Wings over Canada
April
Fools day shoot - Where modern times meet with history
A
muzzleloader by any name is still a muzzleloader |
Hunt the way you want
and
let others do the same
(Originally published in the Merritt News, May 2011)
© Othmar Vohringer
I’ve noticed over the past two years that letters to hunting
magazine editors and posts on online forums against “trophy
hunting” and “unnecessary large bag
limits” are on a steady increase. The implications of these
often self-serving comments are that hunters who seek out a very
special animal - a trophy - and those that take full advantage of
regional bag limits throughout the province by shooting more than one
animal per given season are “unethical”,
“not sportsmanlike”, or “not respecting
the true spirit of hunting”. Usually such comments end with
something like “the anti’s will be all over
this”.
I often wonder where we as a society have gone wrong and became so
intolerant of others that we feel entitled to engage in what
essentially amounts to a witch-hunt. Who do these people think they are
that they feel entitled to tell another hunter how many animals he can
shoot per season or dictate what a “real hunter”
is? Frankly I find this pointless babble very tiresome. For those that
fear the anti’s let me tell you this: the anti hunting fringe
of society doesn’t care if a hunter shoots one deer or ten
deer in a given season and neither do they care if a hunter shoots a
small meat buck or the biggest trophy buck in the woods. Anti hunters
don’t agree with hunting, any hunting, period.
What’s wrong with a hunter taking advantage of all the
hunting opportunities available and ends his season with several deer,
elk and moose in his freezer and a few antlers on the wall? Absolutely
nothing. Just as there is nothing wrong with a hunter shooting a single
deer and who is happy with that. Don’t we have enough
problems in the hunting community without some of us feeling the need
to ridicule our own people just because their styles and goals differ
with someone’s personal opinion of what hunting should be
about?
I am a hunter and I don’t feel that I have to justify to
anyone how many animals I take or how big or small they are and neither
should anyone of us. To those of you who feel the desire to complain
and bash others hunters I will say this: enjoy hunting any way you like
but do not make the mistake in thinking that your standard is somehow a
norm by which others should hunt too. It’s not for you to
decide what hunting is or how it should be done. We have game laws and
established bag limits that regulate these things sufficiently. As long
as a hunter acts within that framework of law it is of no business to
anyone else how other hunters pursue their outdoor happiness. For those
that worry about the “the anti’s will be all over
this”, don’t. The majority of the real world people
recognize anti’s for what they are. Enjoy your hunting
excursions and our wonderful hunting heritage to your heart’s
content and let others do the same.
###
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