Hunting Season

Every place you live in has its own personality.  Sometimes it may be influenced by the culture of a group that lives there, like the Cajun culture in Southern Louisiana.  In Southwestern Idaho, the way people earn their livelihood gives the place its unique flavor.  Ranching and farming are the primary industries here, and life revolves around growing and marketing agricultural products.

Things are changing.  Idaho’s tax structure is business-friendly, and the state and local government use restraint regarding regulatory activities.  Consequently, the economy is growing, and with it the population.  As with Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and Montana, a lot of the population growth here is coming from California, New York, Mexico, and Central America.  As the demography changes in places like the Boise Metropolitan Area, it affects Idaho’s politics and social environment.  Not all of that change is welcome.  A lot of Idahoans want Idaho to stay Idaho.

The small farming community where I live is a busy place.  People get their groceries and gas here when it is not convenient to go to the larger towns where prices are lower.  A lot of people just don’t want to deal with the “traffic” and “crowds” (relatively speaking) in the larger towns.  In the smaller towns there is a lot of community spirit that is linked to the athletic activities at the schools.  People know each other, and they have known each other for a long time.

On the opening day of the rifle seasons for deer and elk … everything stops.  Our town is almost deserted.  Fathers, sons, uncles, friends, and to a lesser extent wives and daughters are all involved.  People look forward to hunting season all year.  Game is relatively plentiful, and much of the state is public land where access is open to all.

So, when you say that you are a hunter here, the attitude is generally … isn’t everybody?  People wish each other good luck for the hunt, and they mean it.  It isn’t the foolish, high five, whoop and holler nonsense you see on the so-called hunting programs on TV.  It’s just a good time when people enjoy a few days away from work with family and friends; or the solitude of hunting alone.  Most people hunt safely here and respect the ethics of fair chase.

I wasn’t able to hunt last year.  The carpal tunnel in my hands made it too painful to manage removing an animal from the field and butchering the meat.  I had a successful surgery, and I am glad to say that I’m planning on hunting this year.

I do not mean to go out of my way to offend anyone.  I am just telling it like it is.  I know that a lot of people object to hunting.  However, I have seen the damage caused by  over-browsing, and I have observed the carcasses of animals that have been the victims of winter kill.  Harvesting an animal by hunting is much more humane. 

Those who oppose hunting often favor the use of “natural” predators like wolves, bears, mountain lions, and coyotes to control animal populations, and they have their place.  A lot of each year’s fawn crop becomes coyote food, and the reintroduction of the gray wolf has decimated the elk population in some areas of the Mountain West.  When predator species thin out the deer and elk, they get hungry and go after livestock and pets.  That doesn’t win them a lot of friends. 

Businesses like guiding services, sporting goods stores, restaurants, grocery stores, motels, bars, and hardware stores depend on income from hunting and other outdoor activities.  The viability of these businesses is adversely impacted (they go out of business) when hunters stay away because the game is no longer there.  People are less likely to take their kids camping, go bird watching, go hiking and mountain biking, or whatever in areas where there is a risk of encounters with dangerous predators.  A balance between hunting and “natural” predators seems to be the best policy for common sense wildlife management.

Engineering game crossings into highway construction, so animals may safely cross highways, would save lives (human and animal).  Restricting development in the areas the animals call home, especially along migration routes, would limit a major cause of the recent declines in the numbers of some animals, like mule deer.  Those who want to drive 75 mph (about 120 kmph)  on paved roads to spend a weekend at their “summer home” or RV park in the mountains shouldn’t point their fingers at hunters.

I have hunted all my life, and I will continue to do so as long as I am able.  When I buy a hunting license, some of the money goes to wildlife conservation programs.  When hunters buy guns and ammunition, there is a special tax on their purchases that provides funding to help support wildlife conservation programs.  The money spent by hunters has contributed to the recovery of species like pronghorn antelope, bison, elk, and bears; and some from the brink of extinction.  So, I am proud to be a part of that.

I am grateful that I have been blessed with good health so that I can enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, and photography in God’s beautiful outdoors.  I encourage all that are able to do the same.  Please, just remember to protect the environment so that our children’s children can enjoy it, too.