Meanwhile, for those of us who choose to kill –purposefully and cleanly in the art of the hunt–the switch should always be on…regulating the arm that draws the bow or the finger that warms the cold steel trigger…or caring for the lives of those things that die by our hands and not on the other end of a fair chase. Kudos to you for reminding us to think about such things…

Drew

These things were very much part of my transitions from vegetarianism back to flesh-eating and on to hunting. They remind me of Barry Lopez’s words in Arctic Dreams about the dilemma of “how to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in all life.”

For me, the questions are important: How to eat, feel compassion, and celebrate life despite the blood? How to fully inhabit both my body and my heart? More posts to come on related themes!

Sorry for being late to the conversation, Cork invited me to put forth my two coppers worth and my sentiments are this:

First, we can lament the death of any creature no matter how small (and no I am not going to get into Dr. Suess and Horton Hears a Who ) and to the point of completely missing and celebrating life entirely.

By that I mean that if we, as the sentient and conscientious creatures that we all aspire to be, really valued other life above or equal to our own, then we most definitely should take much better care of our own bodies than we currently do, because the human body plays host to a multitude of parasites, microbes and other living organisms with which we symbiotically coexist with.

So it really is incumbent upon us to eat a well rounded diet to remain in the best of health so that we do not (purposely) kill all of those organisms which share this body with us. Unfortunately, this also means that we must kill in order to survive because fresh meat would be included in that diet.

I, by no means am diminishing this post in the slightest but am merely pointing out the fact that we can ponder upon this circle of life only so much before we return right back to the starting point.

If we did not possess this ability to reason and feel compassion though, then we most certainly would quickly cease to exist as the human race altogether, because at that point we would all become psychopathic killers. And the conclusion to that sort of existence should be very obvious!

Personally, I always give thanks to the animals which must die so that I may live, and know that a part of them will continue to live on within my conscience and my soul.

This would include inadvertently killing any animal, reptile or organism be it with my “tractors plow” or with my truck.

And, here in Vermont, as in California, only a fraction of deer hunters fill their tags each year.

I don’t think of deer as adversaries. But I think I get what you mean, framing the challenge of the hunt as a contest.

Likewise, I’m bothered by the maiming (and starvation) of deer because I dislike unnecessary suffering, not because I wish those deer were still out there for us to hunt. But, again, I get what you’re saying.

Glad you enjoyed the post and discussion!

I resonate with both your observations: about the theoretical population versus the up-close individual, and about the value of emphasizing stories over kills.

I think all our relationships—with animals, with nature, with each other, and even with ourselves—revolve around stories. Let’s tell good ones!