Published: December 01, 2008 09:42 am            

A Reader's View: In response to anti-hunting letter

Editor:

In response to Shirley Riley’s letter, Nov. 22, 2008, “Hunters are a Danger to People and Animals,” every year I see Mrs. Riley blast hunters and describe how many people have been shot or wounded.

So what is your solution? Get rid of all the guns, or outlaw the hunting or get rid of all the beer?

I kept a hunting and fishing license and bought a deer permit. I’m not much of a hunter anymore and I haven’t killed a deer in 20 years, nor much of any animal other than when my truck killed one. And more likely, everyone in your family has had a close encounter with hitting a deer.

Deer hunting is very Biblical, and so is fishing. I know a person that was shot out of a tree. The person that shot him said he thought the man was a crow. And I know a person from our church that was killed during bow season, shot with an arrow. Unfortunately, there are some bad accidents in hunting. Same as fishing or boating — when someone drowns; golfing — when lightening strikes someone; riding a bicycle — a child is killed by a car; train railroad cross — the list never ends.

If the deer population was not controlled, one could only imagine how disastrous that would be, especially when disease sets in.

And, if you ever have a loved one killed when a deer comes through their windshield, especially a grandchild, you might wish there were more deer hunters around. Let’s pray that doesn’t happen to anyone again.

Recently, I saw a deer get killed and the driver told me he did not want the deer. I called the sheriff’s office and they said they do not issue deer stickers anymore because there are so many being killed by vehicles. They said just to keep a record of the time, date and location where the road kill was picked up at.

If you have a spiritual conviction about hunting and killing animals, that’s between you and God — not you and the deer hunter.

If you need something to contribute to the animal kingdom, go on a campaign to get people to neuter their animals that run loose and often dump them on your front steps, then usually euthanized when the pound has to pick them up. I very often see animals starve to death, not very far from here, especially horses — they are skin and bones.

Again, hunting is Biblical. Genesis 27:3-5, “Jacob told his son, Take thou weapons, quiver and bow, go to the field and take some and hunt for venison.”

There is a commandment to protect animals. Before the 10 Commandments were given to Moses, there was a set of commandments called the seven Noahide commandments. The seventh one says don’t be cruel to animals, and hunting can’t be compared to dog fighting or rooster fighting where one animal usually dies.

There are over 80,000 entries on the Internet that describe the seven Noahide commandments. Key in the words “Noahide” or “Thy God is One.”

George Allen McCabe

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