hunting season

 Most of you know that we live out in the sticks. It has its challenges, but is mostly wonderful. The worst time of the year just ended, the two weeks of the deer hunting season. My levels of agitation and paranoia rise greatly during this period of time. I'm so happy and relieved that it's over for another season.

About a week ago I looked out the window in the kitchen and saw a herd of about 10 deer walking across the back field. They were heading to a field on our property that has a number of wild apple trees. They were being led by a doe that was walking about 20 yards ahead of the others. Most of the deer displayed varying states of attention, some of the young ones were actually playing, but not the lead doe. She was totally focused on her environment, looking for signs of danger. Animals like deer desire life and fear death at least as much as we do. The image of their plight was with me during the entirety of the hunting season. Actually they reminded me of essential workers during this period of Covid-19. Essential workers don't really have any great options. Regardless of their personal circumstances, they can't afford to shelter in place. They need to go out into the world and work to sustain their lives and the lives of their families despite the risks involved.

Jim Fawns Pexels

This whole question of hunting, of killing, is a difficult one when you stop and examine it. The First Commandment says: Thou Shalt Not Kill. In Buddhism, the First Cardinal Precept says: I resolve not to kill but to cherish all life. In these two statements, there are no explanations, and there is no equivocation. What do they mean? How are we to make sense of them in relation to our actions in our lives? We need to eat in order to live, and that means that some things need to die in order for us to exist. What then, are we supposed to do?

 

The words of Ernest Hemingway are somewhat instructive. He said "if it's necessary it's moral, and if it's unnecessary it's immoral." I can survive and thrive quite nicely on a vegetarian diet. Does that mean that eating meat is immoral on some level? Is hunting immoral? In many areas, the predators that used to help maintain healthy levels of the deer population have disappeared. It's my understanding that without any kinds of control, deer populations can reach levels that deplete sources of food for all the deer in an area. Then all the deer suffer and many more of them perish. I think this is a reality that has to be taken into consideration when grappling with the ethical questions involved in hunting.

 

There aren't any easy answers, but it seems to me that people need to come to grips with these questions. How do we make our way in a world in which many of the world's major religions seem to prohibit the taking of another life. How we answer these questions should inform our actions in the world around us, especially in relation to the natural world and its creatures.