YOUR COMMENTS

How can these anti's come up with their logic. My wife, my family, and I LOVE deer and ALL animals. We also like to EAT them. Some of the best days of my life were spent with my father, father-in-law,brother, son, and lastly but MOST importantly, my WIFE. Yes, my WIFE. She goes on each and every deer hunt and kills at least 2 deer every year. If you don't like it here in NH the way it is,,,,,,,than LEAVE. But don't tell us how to live our honest lives,,,,especially from the yuppie capitol of NH,,,,,,,,Bartlett.
- Steve, from NH, Lyndeborough

"When a society desensitizes its own young to kill animals, a practice neither needed nor humane, it opens the doors to the myriad of behaviors plaguing children today."

In fact, hunting certainly never "desensitized" me to killing. I think approaching an animal I have just killed is about as serious as anything I have ever done. Perhaps having actually respectfully killed animals while hunting is what makes me less inclined toward violence to other people. It is a wild, unfounded assumption by the anti-hunters that teaching person to respectfully hunt sets them on the road to being a murder.
- Michael, Manchester

I love the line, "the animals they naturally have affinity with". Where did this "natural affinity" come from? Can't be the million, or so, years of hunting for subsistence, can it? Men and women have been hunting for millions of years, so the only natural affinity for animals I can see is for food. Or sometimes as prey.

Tarzan Mowgli are a fun stories, but our history with animals has been eat or be eaten. This whole vegetarian thing is a bit more recent.

I'm thinking the letter-writer is more guilty of coercion and keeping their kids from the true natural affinities.
- Marc, Derry

Wasn't there another article just like this around the same time last year? Seems like I'm reading the same things over and over.
- Chris, Manchester

Re: "hardly any child would take up killing helpless animals unless coerced by adults."

Oh really? Kids try to kill animals all the time. Personally, I'm not really fond of the wanton nature of it, but it's an instinctive drive that, properly nurtured, evolves into a more ethical, purpose-driven pursuit.

And to people who say we don't "need" to hunt, I say they don't "need" to get factory-farmed pork, chicken and beef at the grocery store. I prefer untainted meat whose production hasn't wrecked the environment. I don't mind working hard for it, either - which is what hunting is: hard work.
- Holly H, Sacramento, CA

I dislike terms such as "harvesting" when it comes to the killing of living, sentient animals.
The implication is that killing, whether by hunting or on the kill floors of factory farms, is that what is taken is on a par with corn or grain, which, I feel, is exactly what this term is intended to do.
When genocide becomes "ethnic cleansing", when civilian deaths become "collateral damage", when animals in factory farms become "raw protein units" and wild animals become what amounts to "produce" we are all diminished and densensitized.
When "hunting" can mean anything from a person alone in the woods with a bow and arrow or a knife, pitting him/herself against a bear, or a canned hunt where perfectly tame animals are herded to their death, there is something remiss in our use of language.
We are not only what we eat, we are what we think; what we say.
Euphemisms can be damaging and dangerous tings: In my opinion, we should be wary of them.
Words matter.
- Pati B, High Point NC

I wish you could see the strong bond that my daughters have with their dad because of his love of hunting and the outdoors and the fact that he is willing to share that with them. It is quality time that many children (especially daughters) do not get with their dads. We are a animal loving family, 2 dogs and 2 rats. We swerve when a squirrel runs in front of the car. Hunting does not teach our daughters to kill animals. It teaches them to respect nature and to love to eat venison or wild turkey. It teaches them gun safety which is important even if you don't own guns. It also teaches them that their dad loves them very much because he wants to be with them and share his life with them. They have never been coerced and always have the option to sleep in.
- Christine, Epsom, NH

Never was "coerced" by my father. After WWII he never touched a rifle. I started hunting after my friends and my cousin took me. I used to just go and watch, then decided it would be better to participate. Never regreted my decision. Nothing like being in the woods and watching everything come alive in the early morning. Wouldn't trade that for anything. To many "tree huggers" who don't know the first thing about nature except what they see on TV. They should try getting out and actually being part of nature.
- John, Manchester

John, I never went hunting with my grandfather. But now that I think about it I really missed something special.
- Ron Jansen, Ridgewood,NY

I feel these attitudes are prevalent among those who "just don't understand". I feel that most of these people are detached from the reality of where there food comes from. If they've grown up buying their meat in celophane wrapped foam packaging, they don't consider where that food was before it was neatly wrapped. They don't consider that the wildlife that we kill and eat lacks the chemicals and preservatives of some packaged meats. If they REALLY wanted to eat healthy, a lean venison or moose steak would be much healthier than the junk that they get at the fast food places.

Mr. Alix, I had a similar experience. My dad had no interest or experience in the outdoors. I was fortunate that a neighbor tood me "under his wing", taught me to safely handle firearms and took me hunting. I've spent almost 30 years in the woods. I have more of an appreciation for the woods than I would have otherwise had. I worked one summer to save money for my first .22. I still have that rifle and all of the memories with it. It shall never be sold or traded.
My dad didn't know the first thing about fishing but I was "hooked" when my grandfather brought me fishing at age 5. I can still remember the 3 yellow perch that I caught that day. I've since taught myself and now I teach others.
Lastly, my experience has been that many in the self-righteous enviro-crowd think that they are the "original" environmentalists. Their knowledge of history is severely lacking as the need only look up "Pittman Robertson Act" to find out that the sporting crowd initiated a self-imposed a tax to benefit our natural resources.
- Jim Powers, Bedford

Some of the best memories of my dad are fishing with him when I was 4 or 5. I never needed to be "coerced" to go.
To say that hunting at an early age leads to bad behavior later is bogus beyond belief.
- John, Manchester

I couldn't agree more with Albert. "The myriad of behaviors plaguing children today" seem to be exponentially worse as we are further removed from traditions, but apparently none of these people seem to recognize that. If these people really had their way and the sportsman as we know him today were abolished, how are they going to feel when their taxes skyrocket as we will no longer be footing the bill for them to be able to gaze upon their "helpless animals"?
- Peter, Lancaster

I have been hunting since I was 7 years of age. I am now 37. Some of the best times of my life were out in the woods with my father and grandfather. Not only did I enjoy family time. I learned. I learned responsibility. I was taught to handle a firearm correctly. I was taught patience. I was taught tolerance and I was taught to enjoy all living things. Yes killing is a part of hunting. But where do you get your meat/ Poultry? At least we do it ourselves and dont have some in humane way of killing our food.
- Richard, Manchester

Unfortunately, we now have a whole population of people who believe that somewhere out in the wild is a large herd of animals running around in styrofoam shrink wrapped containers.
- Wayne S, Manchester

Coerced?!?!? My father did everything in his power to talk me out of hunting. He thought it was a waste of time. I'm glad I didn't take his advice. I'll be cooking a few partridges and woodcock for dinner this week.
- Mike, Dunbarton

No one "coerced" me to start hunting when I was young. I wanted to learn and have been spending every spare hour in the woods or on the water for most of my adult life. I rest easy knowing that we have more knowledge of, and appreciation for wildlife than most of the anti's ever could. Thank you for your column Mr. Harrigan.
- Matt F, Center Barnstead

I suppose that person was "coerced" into hugging trees by his/her parents. Oh well and its Partridge, not Grouse. I did not know what a grouse was until I joined the "Ruffed Grouse Society" when I was in my 30's. I had been a Partridge hunter since the age of 12.
- Art Titus, Hamburg, NY

Interesting article John. I started hunting as a teenager. There was no history of hunting in my family, but we lived near a big piece of hay fields and woods and I found myself wandering around outdoors with every sliver of free time. I bought my first shotgun for thirty five bucks with money I earned cutting my neighbors' lawns and I went hunting with the first person who would take me, my future brother-in-law as it turned out. I've hunted ever since and had the great joy just yesterday of helping my son drag a nice deer from the woods (his sixth).
Coerced by adults? Not a chance. The desire to hunt resides deep within me. It's almost as compelling as..., well lets just say it's very compelling.
I wonder if your writer realizes that every time they buy a pound of hamburger, they are "coercing" some desensitized rancher to slaughter yet another one of his helpless animals.
Regarding the "myriad of behaviors plaguing children today," I don't see that the problem has gotten any better as we have gotten further removed from our agricultural roots and the hunting traditions that naturally go along with them.
- Albert Alix, Fremont, NH

I am so thankful that my father "coerced" me into hunting and fishing at an early age.Kudos to you John on a another great article.
- dave, littleton