Killing for Pleasure

I just got back from a hunting trip in the Texas Hill Country. I'm on a hunting lease and go several times a year during deer hunting season. We hunt deer, mostly. Sometimes there are other animals killed.

This is a bobcat taken by one of the other members of the hunting lease. I have to stop and ask, "why?".

I was taught as a boy that if you kill an animal, you do so for a purpose. The animal is to be used as best you can, i.e. eat the damn thing. It is a basic "game management" rule that is very effective. This poor cat was wasted for naught.

Now, you can justify this killing by reasoning that bobcats are dangerous for the local livestock. They may also take small, immature deer that would one day be fit for hunting. I say, so what?

We must remind ourselves that there is a natural cycle of things. There is a food chain and a normal balance to life in the wild. Humans are not the only predators. Killing one bobcat is a small act but will affect the "balance". What if the bobcat's primary food is mice? Since the cat is gone, what will eat the mice? More snakes? Think about it...

In the past years, I've taken to mostly photographing the animals instead of killing them. It seems much more impressive to hang a nice photo on your wall instead of a stuffed head:

The few deer I do shoot end up being eaten. Our deer kills are managed carefully. The management rules stem from the advice from biologists who have studied the area as well as laws imposed by the state.

We don't really need to hunt at all. But those of us who do have a responsibility to hunt carefully and for a purpose.