The recent issue of Newsweek magazine carried an article about hunting titled "The Elusive Hunter." The author wrote that the number of hunting license holders has decreased by two million hunters over the last 20 years in the face of substantial population growth. He gave several reasons for the decline in the number of hunters: less hunting land - the growth of urban America removes acreage, more restrictions - landholders are charging for access or hunters are outright buying land, and more couch potatoes - home entertainment devices such as video games create vicarious thrills for younger people. To add to the mix, groups such as PETA and the Humane Society bring extra pressure.
I am not a hunter but am always glad to see the deer population thinned by hunting. I have had the experience of colliding with a deer that put a nice dent in the hood of my car. I was lucky since more serious accidents than that occur frequently. I find little to argue about in the article. It's easy to witness urban sprawl, land being reserved by people with money, and couch potatoes gaining weight.
The last time I tried to shoot a rifle, the cataract in my eye stood between the sights of the gun and the prairie dog. They weren't in much danger and were probably amused to hear the bullets whizzing overhead. In my teens I owned a Model 97 Winchester shotgun, but Ma wouldn't fix the game it hit. When elk hunting in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, I got stuck carrying out a quarter of meat belonging to someone else.
Hunting passed from being a necessity to being a luxury: the thicker the wallet, the better the hunting, it seems. I live in the potato couch category, and as long as someone else thins the deer population, I'm okay with that.
