A Discovery

My ex husband was a "hunter". I say that in quotations because he always said he liked to hunt, and talked about having guns handed down from his grandfather, but didn't actually do a lot of hunting.

The Boyfriend started out kind of the same way. It did seem that in his youth he did more hunting, and just didn't have quite as much time for it anymore. He also had another big hobby to fill a lot of his time. The hobby that just so happened to bring us together. The reason we met.

Now that he doesn't have his car anymore, it seems things have shifted. He is now full-out hunter. I think it's a bit overboard. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the new hunting craze coming to life with gigantic amounts of new Reality TV shows...

My whole life, I have never thought of hunting as "cool" or something I ever wanted to do. I think guns are dangerous and that way too many people have them, that shouldn't. This craze is beyond me. I did, live on a farm, and did know the life and death of many animals.

The other day I watched a video of a child, perhaps of 10 years old, and her father investigating a deer they shot. This child was literally vibrating with excitement. It then dawned on me, why all these years I have felt the way I do about hunting. The hunters close to me have disclosed that they take joy in hunting.

This child was so excited about killing something. The fact that they had shot and killed this deer.

Now, just wait a minute you may say. Killing is the natural thing we humans have done for hundreds of years. You would be completely right. I'm not saying that humans shouldn't kill things. I'm not against the death of animals for the sake of food, this is what we have done for hundreds of thousands of years to survive. It happens not only with our species but many, many others.

My problem is the fact that people take joy in killing. I don't think I will ever get that concept. I think that killing something for the sake of fun is disgusting and sadistic. I think now, that most people, hunt as a sport. I doubt that the majority of hunters are actually hunting for good reasons. I think that farmers have good reason to hunt the creatures that kill their livestock, and I think that there are a very few others that hunt solely to help feed their family (at least in the area I live in).

So there it is, my discovery of why all these years I have never liked hunting. One video made me realize this, after all this time. I'm pretty sure I've finally figured it out.