Rachel Lucas gets a giggle out of ignorant non-hunters. Actually, neither she or I have actually been hunting, but at least we're not as wildly ignorant on this topic as the average liberal suburbanite. (And, yes: after a few years at Petersen's Hunting, I do have an odd stash of arcane facts in the back of my tiny little brain.)

Anyway, Rachel is responding to a flotilla of letters on the subject of hunting that ran in "Dear Abbey" today—

I just love Walter M. From FloridaÂ’s very thoughtful expression of his knowledge of human history:

Before the industrialized age, people were forced to hunt to put food on their tables. Today, whether they consume the meat or not, the majority of hunters (I use the term very loosely) are not “hunting.” They are camouflaged, hiding in blinds or in tree stands waiting for the prey to wander by. Some even put out bait to lure the animals to their location.
There is no skill in hiding, waiting for an animal to wander by to be shot. These people are animal snipers. A true hunter would stalk prey using a bow and arrow for the kill.

Well all rightee then. According to Walter, all those millions of humans over the last 150,000 years who killed animals with any weapon other than a bow and arrow weren’t “true hunters.” I bet it sure felt like hunting to them, using spears and clubs.

It's worse than that, Rachel: not only is Walter an incurable romantic, but he also doesn't seem to realize that using bait to lure animals is not permitted in most areas, and for most species. Some areas that allow the hunting of bears permit this, but not many.

I'd still like to take a deer before I die, or some other diminutive form of "large game."

But I suppose if I'm going to take to the trail with a .30-.30 I should first acquire a freezer; most hunters I know either possess freezers, or relationships with Hunters for the Hungry.

One could take Walter's logic still further, and proclaim that not only is stand-hunting inauthentic, but so is bowhunting itself. The true hunter confines him- or herself to employing a very large rock. It should not have a point on the end, for that would give the weak, slow, physically vulnerable upright predator an unfair advantage. Spears are abusive; they should be outlawed.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:25 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I almost forgot what day it is.

I'm off to buy a gun.

h/t: Double-Plus Undead

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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. . . that ducks are generally taken with a scattergun? I mean, I understand that he wanted to use the "Annie Oakley" image as a sardonic reference to Hillary (by which, of course, she can only be flattered). And I know he was burned up by her anecdote about the duck blind, which could be true but more likely is not.

Conflating shotguns with sidearms, however, is hardly any way to prove he's not as out-of-touch with hunters and the gun-owning community as he looked last week.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 11:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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