Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Michigan Deer Hunter

We hear of these every year at hunting season.  I remember one unforgettable case in which the hunter reached down over a little cliff with his rifle to help his buddy climb up.  The gun went off and killed him.

What struck me in the article though was the huge number of hunters and the huge number of deer taken, and that's just Michigan.

Hunters in Michigan killed about 9 percent fewer deer last year than they did in 2008. About 444,000 deer were harvested last year, down from about 490,000 in 2008.

About 686,000 people went out to hunt in 2009, down about 1 percent from the previous season. 
I never did understand hunting. To me it's sick. I wonder how many of those Michigan hunters also subscribe to the general gun-rights arguments.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

3 comments:

  1. Without hunting the deer population would soon overrun the forest's ability to sustain them. Then things like deer starvation and more cars hitting deer in the road start occuring.

    Also, assuming the hunter uses the meat from the animals, what is the big deal? Do you eat any meat? Not much difference in hunting a deer and slaughtering a cow is there?

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  2. Deer are essentially rats with hooves. You can't kill enough of them.

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  3. Anonymous, Actually I don't eat meat and my reasons for going vegetarian were to protest the mass production of meat. As a result, I don't have a big moral problem with hunting for food. But, let's face it most aren't doing it for the meat. Most are enjoying a sick, violent endeavor that has nothing to do with feeding their families.

    And they can easily come up with glib justifications like AztecRed's.

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