Friday, November 4, 2011

Deer Season in Texas

Well, it's deer season her in the Lone Star State and considering that I work for a painting contractor, things are a bit slow here in the office today.  All the guys that work here in the office are gone so it's just us ladies.

With a little luck, our boss will let us go home early....    who knows.


On a personal level, I don't know that I could ever shoot a deer unless I knew that was going to be my only chance for meat.  It's not that I'm opposed to people hunting wild game, not at all, in fact I enjoy most venison dishes (as long as it's field dressed and/or bled properly so that it's not so gamey tasting).  I think that it has more to do with seeing those beautiful, soft eyes in a scope and then snuffing out that light for good that bothers me.

Fishing doesn't bother me, though I do admit that if the fish are still alive when hubby filets them, it's hard for me to eat that fish in the same night.  Now, instead of using a stringer, we put the fish in a garbage bag and put them on ice so that they're dead when they're being fileted.  I know, suffocation isn't a pleasant way to die, but the brain of a fish is so small that with every breath it struggles to breathe it thinks it's his first...  you know, short memories and all.

I think that the main source of my tender heartedness when it comes to killing animals has somewhat to do with the personficiation of animals that have been prevolent on the big screen.

I've seen just about every Disney cartoon and movie there is.  When you grow up with Bambi talking and his mother being gunned down by 'evil hunters' and little Thumper icescating on his large bunny feet, Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey and Lewis and Mickey and Mini Mouse, then there's Nemo, Dorie, and Flounder (the little Mermaid) and of course let us not forget Simba, Nala, Timone and Pumba, it makes it really hard to not see other animals as having the capacity of emotions like humans.

Studies have shown that animals that we consider food do mourn their lost mates, parents or offspring.  Some of them show great intelligence.  I think that my reservations for killing animals by my own hand depend on the complexity of the animal itself.  In my mind I have an easier time killing a fish, than I would a duck turkey or chicken, easier time killing fowl than I would a squirrel, an easier time killing a squirrel than I would a rabbit...  easier time killing a rabbit than I would a cow, cow is easier than deer.  Pigs or hogs, while they're intelligent killing and eating them just doesn't really bother me at all really.  They're nasty and destructive (wild hogs) and not to mention mean as hell.  In fact, I could kill one of those before a I could a squirrel.

There are types of mammal that I could absolutely not kill and eat....  monkeys and sea mammals.  To me, monkeys are too close to a human being, so close that it would almost be cannabalistic.  Sea mammals have such complex brains and are so intelligent that I could never kill and eat one.  I have see dolphins up close and their eyes show a deep intelligence that can be a little unnerving. 

Something else that I couldn't kill and eat...    a dog or a cat... well at least my dog or my cat...  as a rule, I would do my best to find something else to eat other than any dog or cat.  I would only resort to that if I were literally starving to death.

So while all the hunters in and around Texas are going to be sitting in their stands, freezing and peeing in a coffee can, waiting for that 8 point buck to appear at the feeder (unfair IMO) so that they can gun it down, I am going to be on the golf course tomorrow with some tastey brew and barbecue in the afternoon, enjoying life.


**  Okay, so what I find unfair above is setting up a feeder and luring the deer to a spot of an easy kill.  While it's not illegal and it's no different than chumming the waters to attract fish, I just don't think that it's very sporting.  This of course is just my opinion and if someone were hunting because they can't afford to buy meat from the store and they rely on it for sustinance thoughout the year, I have no problem with deer feeders.  However, since the majority of hunters do it for the sport of it (the meat is of course a bonus), then I think that they should enjoy that sport to its fullest and track their prey, rather than lure it.

3 comments:

  1. Nice description on hunting safari. It looks like a literature.
    (www.lucky-vagabond.blogspot.com)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ...and here I sit lamenting the fact that I'm not going to be one of those out there freezing my tuckus off at o-dark-thirty in the morning.

    I've hunted from stands over feeders, and I've hunted via stalk and spot. For myself personally, I much prefer to stalk and spot. I'm not one for sitting still, but I won't begrudge those who set up over a feeder. Just because there's corn on the ground is no guarantee that a deer will show up, nor even that it will be a legal deer to shoot. Some may argue that the chances of spotting a good deer over a feeder are greater, but in my experience a skilled stalker will see more deer than the hunter who sits in one place and waits for them to come to him.

    I see no difference between setting up duck decoys and calling in a flight of birds and carefully scouting a location, setting up a feeder and blind, and luring in a deer.

    But that's just me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, Lucky you are very kind.

    Daniels... it's all good. Like I said, I'm not a fan of feeders, but then that just goes to my tender heart. I really don't begrudge anyone who chooses to hunt like that.

    I'm not a hunter myself but am an angler so fishing is my thing.

    It's really all chance encounters no matter how you look at it.

    Thank the both of you for reading and for commenting! I'll go and check out your blogs as well.

    ReplyDelete

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