The Deer Hunters

Amanda and I spent Thanksgiving weekend at her home in Pennsylvania, and the culture out there on that weekend seems to revolve entirely around the start of deer season the following Monday. School is even out on Monday and Tuesday so that kids can go with their parents. Such an emphasis on a deer hunt—any hunt, to be honest—was entirely alien to me. I am, if not a city mouse, at least a suburb mouse. I’ve never even tasted venison. But somehow, most conversations with Amanda’s male family members came back to the deer hunt.

I don’t know if I would describe myself as anti-hunting. I thought I recognized the necessity of thinning the herd in some circumstances, but I still found the whole idea at least…distasteful. There’s no way I could ever picture myself shooting a gun, let alone shooting at something alive.

The problem with science is that it sometimes indicates a course of action that seems very, very wrong. The deer population in Pennsylvania is exploding as deer rapidly adapt to the sub- and ex-urban environments, endangering themselves, human lives (in the form of the 200 deaths as a result of deer-related car accidents in the last year), and the long-term health of the forests. The deer hunt is an increasingly important component of animal- and forest-management, but I still can’t will myself into feeling anything even remotely resembling enthusiasm for it.

One of my college professors would talk about the disappointment in himself he felt for not doing everything in his power to practice what he preached. He called himself a hypocrite, and said he had to live with that knowledge every day. Even knowing the importance of the deer hunt, I still can’t really put my heart into supporting it. I try to pride myself on having a rational, scientific worldview. I just can’t live up to it.

December 05, 2004 - 08:42 AM