Why is Hunting Part of Republican Culture?

[Cleita]

103. Really, you believe that?

I agree that people of present day judeo-christian background have lost whatever respect they had for lesser creatures. But the shepherd's prayer that many Christians recite as a matter of course today would indicate that back in those biblical times there was a reverence between the sheep and the shepherd so much so as they would regard God as their shepherd and themselves as the sheep because they would be protected and cared for just as the shepherd cared for his flock.

I lived up in the woods, and I mean deep in the woods in north Idaho and eastern Washington for five years. I got to know the locals, who were all hunters, pretty well. Yet, they were respectful of which prey they culled. They usually preferred bucks, not only for the rack but because the does usually had families and the hunters respected that the young needed their mothers. They tried not to break up a goose or duck couple because they knew they mated for life and mourned their lost mate. They killed and fished for what they needed, no more, and seemed to live in harmony with other predators, the lions and the bears. No one really thought of killing one of those guys unless they attacked and most of them didn't unless they were stressed. One year when the salmon couldn't swim upstream to spawn because the stream was too dry, they lifted them up in buckets to their spawning grounds so they could complete their cycle of life.

They were also aware of the "neighborhood" they lived in. Did you know animals know the families of other species they share the forest with? Many predators don't hunt in their neighborhood but go to another to hunt because they are familiar with their neighbor friends of other species and don't want to eat them unless they are starving. I knew most of the families in my neighborhood, the squirrel families, the raven and eagle family. The mother bear and her two cubs, the deer herd, and the elk herd and the cougar I never saw but whose paw prints I saw in the mud near the lake. They were all familiar individuals to me and well so many other species I can't recount here.

But if you want to snear down your nose at me because you think I've drank too much Avatar be my guest. Oh, btw I spent a good part of my early years living in South America away from the cities and among indigenous people. They may not seem at times to treat animals well, but they have a tremendous respect for their spirits.