| Outdoor Truths: Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ August 18th |
Gary Miller ~ outdoortruths.org
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One of the shows I like to watch on occasion is called Whale Wars. It is the real-life adventure of those who are trying to stop Japanese merchant ships from killing whales in the name of research. According to the last episode, they may have won this war for good. I rejoiced with them. And while they may not understand a hunter being their ally; it perfectly fits into the real mindset of those who both kill and protect.
It bothers me how that many educated and talented people cannot understand that hunters have hearts and that the greatest majority of us are not interested in the random killing of animals. For some reason, so called animal-rights groups cannot fathom that we could actually love animals and at the same time enjoy a good hunt. It seems that those who sometimes claim superior education are really the ones who cannot appreciate the balance that our earth must have. Sure there are hunters and outfitters who give us a bad name, but this is, by and far, the exception and not the rule.
When properly understood, it is easy to compartmentalize the days I hunt and the days I provide and protect. I perfectly understand saving a whale or even a fawn and at the same time killing an elephant. I have learned that in the places where elephants are killed, they are not only in abundance, but they provide food for many, many people. It is a balance that not only God has allowed for, but that fish and game departments have carefully weighed.
I feel like that sometimes people see me watching deer and think I am plotting some surprise attack. They don’t see me simply enjoying their presence as the non hunters do. It really is ignorance.
One of the persons who gets it is my own National Park superintendent. He not only protects animals for a living, but enjoys hunting with his sons. He never got on the bandwagon of those parks that were quick to ban guns while on his premises because he understood, among other things, that just because a man or women had a conceal carry permit; he was now a hardened, animal killing, criminal. Please, someone, grow some brains!
I really wonder how much we all could accomplish if we worked at saving animals together. I can tell you this; most of us hunters are ready and willing. But it will take the anti-hunter becoming instead, a non-hunter and understanding that hunting is not a barbaric tradition for the unlearned, but a necessary activity – and yes, even a necessary sport, that provides balance for this God-given creation we have been given stewardship of.
It’s a shame that I don’t know if I would have been a welcomed partner on the ship with those on Whale Wars, but I know this; me and my hunting friends would have been as passionate and courageous as the last man or women standing. I’m just afraid that in the process, we would have been forced to walk the plank.
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