Farewell Fellow.....

As in, take care, dear. The 9-day deer gun season begins on Saturday and this guy will have a target on him. He has lots of space to hide at our place. I don't know if Don will hunt or not. He usually takes a gun out for a walk, if that qualifies. As he puts it, "I've done enough hunting in my time." The moss backs seem to get this way over time, while some never seem to outgrow the need to kill something.

I was raised in a home where deer season was a family event and a successful hunt would feed our family for the year. These days more hunters just go for the killing part, the pictures and the party, and get rid of the deer by "giving" it to anyone who will take it. The phone calls will start coming with hunters trying to get rid of deer who mistakenly think they are doing us a big favor. Don steadfastly refuses these offers which means taking responsibility for their problem. Few seem to want the task of actually taking care of the meat and using it with the gratitude it should certainly deserve.

I'm not an anti-hunting, tree-hugging liberal. (Actually I do hug trees.) I just feel empathy for the creatures and how vastly different the whole enterprise is now. To the state it's all about money and selling licenses, to unscrupulous hunters it's a greed fest, to the non-hunters out there going through the motions of carrying a lethal weapon it is an accident waiting to happen. It's not just deer who will die in the next nine days.

Bless those who can participate with sportsmanship.