Hunting Hunters. A grotesque but funny story (in a Black Humor sort of way) came out in the news over the weekend: a dispute over a deer-hunting tree stand led to the death of five hunters and wounding of three more by gunfire from an "SKS 7.62 mm semiautomatic rifle, a common hunting weapon". I'm delited. The NRA should be so proud! Hunters killed hunters instead of deer, and the lie was put to the preposterous notion that semiautomatic weapons in the hands of hunters aren't dangerous to people.
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I despise hunters and would be glad to see us forbid hunting as recreation entirely. Let hunters hunt only each other. That would be a challenge. Hiding in a platform up a tree to kill unsuspecting, harmless, sweet, grass-eating, doe-eyed deer with semiautomatic weapons is detestable cowardice and savagery. Let hunters use their 'cunning' with truly exciting and challenging prey. Let them put their lives on the line and stop slaughtering defenseless animals. The more dead hunters, the happier I am. Five dead and three wounded is a good start. But there are lots more savages wandering loose in the woods. I'd like them all to be killed. Then innocent animals and the occasional innocent person shot by hunters might live out their normal lifespan.
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There was a notorious incident in Maine some years ago in which a woman who had recently moved to Maine from some urban area (New York City?) was shot dead within 200 feet of her house by hunters, and a jury of hunter-defending savages found the killer not guilty. She shouldn't have been 200 feet from her house in hunting season, you see! I resolved then never again set foot in Maine, a state that, before then, I had found very appealing. (Even if I run for President, I won't set foot in Maine. Its few electoral votes don't amount to a hill of beans, and decent Mainers don't need a candidate to come to their area to vote for him.)
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There is neither economic need nor environmental nor social wisdom in allowing individual nonprofessional hunters to slaughter deer or bears (here in New Jersey there is actually a legal bear hunt!) or anything else. I'm not convinced we can't keep numbers of such animals in check thru sterilization programs, and to the extent we do need "culling", it should be done by professionals using humane methods, with the meat being distributed fairly to the poor and any economically valuable byproducts being sold to benefit the poor. Having violent lunatics wandering loose, sometimes drunk, with semiautomatic rifles in hand is madness and must be stopped.
- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 1:08 PM