My neighbors like some wild meat for their freezer. Nothing wrong with that. Alas, my latent paranoia flares up sometimes. My favorite fall coat is brown. One of my dogs who accompanies me on my walks is tall, gray and long legged.
I'm surrounded by No Trespassing signs and Keep Out signs and Private Property signs. Thus, I'm not afraid of some stranger wandering by and mistaking me for a deer. I'm worried that one of the neighbors on the other side of the treeline might get sloppy. Such is the trouble with irrational fears- they tend toward the irrational.
Just to be clear. I'm not anti gun or anti hunter. I like venison. It's just that my do-it-yourselfer tendencies don't apply to shooting the deer I've been observing all year in my backyard. I understand that others don't share that policy. That's why they have venison in their freezer and I don't.
Maybe it's the difference between country people and people who happen to live in the country. I am the latter. My suburban background is a stain that won't wash off. While I'm no wild eyed kid looking to save wild animals (I know about overcrowding. I've seen the bodies of deer on the side of the road. I've seen skinny deer in winter). I just can't imagine shooting that buck when I remember him when his rack was just two little bumps between his ears.
Or one of the does... There was the one with two fawns. She was large with a face more horse than deer. The other doe was smaller, prettier. I am careful not to name the deer as some people do, so as not to get attached. Alas, that doesn't change the fact that I recognize them individually.
Should some desperate doomsday apocalypse scenario arise where I'd be forced to shoot to survive, Little Buck and Big Buck and Pretty Doe and Horse Face might be in danger from this neighbor.
Sure hope it doesn't come to that.
I remember a documentary with a war veteran saying he could never hunt again. He said it seemed wrong to shoot something that couldn't shoot back.
ReplyDeleteI am with you I really am eating less animals and eat more and more veggies. Most of all eating one of the lovely dear would be very hard.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens here is there are groups of people who shoot animals and the drag them thru the streets shooting off their guns. I try not to say the word hate but I hate them and their lack of compassion.They are into dog and chicken fights too.
Lovely photos.
cheers, parsnip and badger