When we meet new people, we tend to bond with those whose interests coincide with our own..and generally tend not to take a shine to those whose interests are markedly different from ours.

But today, I met someone whom I really do like. He is excellent at his work, has a great sense of humour, and is excellent with people…but he is an avid huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ type. I was rather startled when he revealed this.

He tells me that in the US, there are strictly demarcated seasons for these activities. (I am sorry; he used the word “sport”, and for the…er….life of me, I cannot call killing any living thing a “sport”) During the non-season, the non-hunting ban is strictly enforced, he says. And he says that he, and other hunters, eat the meat of the deer they hunt.

I told him my theory, that wildlife photography and hunting possibly satisfy the same instinct in humans, to “capture” the animal, except that with photography, one doesn’t have to harm the animal, and that everyone can “aim” at the same animal.

I am struggling to make myself accept that I can like someone, one of whose activities makes me feel quite awful….

Reminds me of that quote, “We have met the enemy, and they are us…” (or something to that effect.) I have never met someone who hunts (I did know someone who shot maneaters, but that I think was different; he was called in ONLY when the tiger ate or attacked human beings.) and thought I would hate all of them on sight..but I don’t.

Someone else I know in the US went on a hunting trip, though his wife, son and daughter-in-law didn’t approve at all. He bought the moose-call thingummies, and all such extras….and ultimately got the moose in the cross-hairs of his gun…and says he could not bring himself to pull the trigger.

I know that animals are culled in many places in the world, that hunting is a legitimate activity in some areas, and the regulated hunt may be a better thing than the cruel poaching that takes place in our own country…

But…..