Gazing in the Mirror

November 10 - Deer Season

Hunting for sport is an
improvement over hunting
for food, in that there
has been added to the
test of skill an ethical code,
which the hunter formulates
for himself, and must live
up to without the moral
support of bystanders.
~ Aldo Leopold

God is life. Life cannot
produce death. Death is
but the shifting of a scene,
the moving from one place
to another, an impatient
gesture of the soul as
it seeks freedom.
~ Ernest Holmes

It was opening day of the 2012 Deer Season when I first wrote this essay. Living in a somewhat remote, rural, forested wilderness means that this conservation wildlife practice has a real impact on our lives. Just up the road, our neighbor opens up an active "deer camp" right there on his property complete with the recreational trailers of distant relatives who have arrived to be closer to the less inhabited areas adjoining our neighbor's home. It is remarkably absent any gunfire within hearing this morning but for safety's sake we will curtail our daily jogs and hikes and replace our usual routines for 10 days with family hikes after dark. We are often joined by our 3 outdoor cats who seem also to enjoy the adventure. Though all of us actually enjoy this alternative to cabin fever, we will only hike in the darkness of our forest (though with headlamps to see the trail ahead by) during this "forced" exile from daytime outdoor activities.

I thought about an article on oneness perspectives I read this morning in the Science of Mind magazine. Could I somehow apply that perspective about finding common ground with others and see them as "just like me" ? Can I lean upon the spiritual perspectives that I have spent a lifetime learning to transcend separation and align my awareness with the spiritual realm so that I can feel connected in a Taoist perspective with both the hunter and the hunted ? Can I see a wholeness in what is happening all around me for the next 10 days ?

In truth hunting connects with the core of human history. We are composed of 2 million years of evolution which began with our survival supported by hunting and few could argue that human beings have not evolved to become the most effective, most adaptable and most successful predators on the planet. One Vermont hunter named Robert F Smith describes his reason for participating in the practice this way – "Hunting is an ancient dance as old as life itself, written into the very core of what we are as humans". The classic Disney movie "Old Yeller" portrays our early pioneer life with a realistic inclusion of hunting as a necessity of existence by which young boys are initiated into manhood in bringing home meat for the family.

Hunter Smith goes even further to idealize a long ago time in human evolution describing it this way – "Hunting a deer or antelope or harvesting wild berries or nuts is only a few hours of intensive work for several days' worth of food, while raising, feeding, watering, and protecting a herd of sheep or goats, or planting, cultivating, and harvesting a field of grain, is unending labor. While the tribal system of hunter/gatherers led to equality and leisure time, agriculture brought in slavery, religion, caste and class systems, and the plight of poor peasants and field workers that continues today around the world." It is a perspective worth considering.

Missouri has a serious conservation ethic regarding all aspects of our natural world. In Missouri the deer and wild turkey were almost eradicated by over-hunting – even though the human population was much smaller then. With modern food distribution humans are no longer dependent upon hunting for basic survival but the season that brings many hunters into our community from the more populated areas of our state and even beyond is a significant source of revenue for many of the local businesses. I have also contemplated this practice as a need in some human beings for a particular kind of experience by killing a life even though it is not one that I personally yearn for myself. I am ever alert to the danger when driving on the state highway at night that deer represent and the more deer there are the more frequent will be interactions between deer and vehicles.

In Missouri the influx of settlers in the last half of the 19th century coincided with the rapid decline of the deer population. By 1925 the number of deer left in the entire state was estimated to be only around 400. By 1944 the deer population was estimated at 15,000 thanks to deliberate regulation by law and conservation efforts to restore the population by bringing new deer into the state. Currently approx 500,000 hunters participate each year in the harvest of approx 300,000 deer statewide. I think in the best of circumstances, the hunter is reverent, the hunter connects with the animal, even blesses it as some traditions do for being willing to give its life in the food chain that is our world's way. Hunters face mortality, face the reality of what death is and does. There is something truly somber about connecting with the eyes of an unarmed animal who you know will die in the next moment by your own hand. Personally I'd still prefer to forego such experiences but I do try to understand that hunters are just like me and so are the deer – even though deer are easier for me to feel connected to. The natural order includes predators and I understand that as part of wholeness as are prey.

~ perspective

I understand a circle of Life
that has ever been part of
the wholeness of this planet.
I sense the yin and yang, the
Taoist perspective of wholeness,
in the expression of the hunter
and the hunted.
I seek to understand the deep
roots that connect whole families
to the history of their intimate
tribe and to the fact that a
family's survival was dependent
upon hunting.
I am grateful for modern wildlife
management practices that consider
environmental conditions, population
changes, fairness and historical as
well as economic values, all inherent
in the practice of a deer hunting
season.
I am at peace with the realities of
life and death in all of the many
expressions upon this planet Earth –
I am of it, it is all just like me for
it is all one life force diversely
expressing.

#accidents #adventure #conservation #death #evolution #food #forest #guns #harvest #safety