Re: Survey - Gun Control vs. Gun Rights

2587, just so you know, I'm not totally against hunting. Yeah, I sort of get a chuckle the way the average "sportsman" has been indoctrinated over the years, plus another chuckle when I see what the average state game commision beuracracy has evolved into. In Pennsylvania these days, a hunter pretty much needs a full-time secretary to help keep track of all the various laws and licensing restrictions in place :0 I was raised in rural country where hunting has always been prominent, less so of recent years due to one of the more trendy of trends - buying property and posting it as "no hunting, no tresspassin!, violators will be persecuted.... .and possibly prosecuted too!". I too was sort of indoctrinated in my teens, and while it taught me to enjoy walking in nature, and while I still enjoy eating wild game to this day, the indoctrination didn't take, I never developed a love for hunting. Yes, I like walking in nature, but don't see the need to be forced to freeze my butt off for hours at a time in hopes of ambushing game. Many in my family still hunt. I have no problem with the principle.

Anyway, back to the point I wanted to make, as far as I can tell, hunting people were never the primary natural predaor to wildlife, like deer. Yes, back in the olden days when times were simple, hunters and gatherers did hunt and gather but the impact on the numbers of wildlife was probably fairly minimal compared to those of natural predators - other wildlife. This was a more natural balance. In the case of the deer, it's natural predators are other wildlife like the coyote, wolf, bobcat, bears and such, each of which have also come close to being eradicated - not by their fellow wildlife, but by man and his establishment and institutions of man. Today the most common predator to deer are motorized vehicles travelligng 60 miles an hour. In many places of Pennsylvania this past hunting season, the number of deer available to hunt were way down, many are seriously starting to question the game-management skills of the aforementioned beaurocrats as the the hunters are none too happy about the situation. It seems that those deer that do not die from vehicular manslaugther have become wise enough to hang out on property (like residential neighborhoods, parks and the whole spectrum of the now infamous "private property") where hunting is prohibited.




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