I WOULDN’T HURT A FLY
It’s September and hunting seasons are opening across the country. That either made you smile or cringe, right? I posted this last year and boy this year a lot has changed, but not here, not yet. Maybe someday we’ll turn our backs on tribalism instead of each other and the home we all share,but today while we’re still playing this game of my way or the highway, I thought this may bear repeating. If you’re here for the plants, and animal death makes you uncomfortable - just stick with me through the season - I’ll still make you tea. And come on, you know me - I wouldn’t hurt a fly, well, unless I could eat it, then I’ll kill it dead for sure. But I’ll lay flowers around it’s head, and my hand on its heart, and love it more than you can never know a killer could, until one day you fall to your knees to worship even your lettuce while it’s living.
*Original post*
This was my first deer. I’ve never shown anyone these photos before. I didn’t have many hunters in my life then and I wasn’t sure people would understand. I didn’t even understand. I was full to the gills with big feelings that I don’t know the names of but they’re still with me. I did share photos of the many meals I made with her body because food is easy common ground. The silent companion to each of those meals, though, was my memory of this doe moving through her life and then my acknowledgement of killing her. Talk about a grapple in the gut. There’s killing in all of our meals - even if it’s not meat. Fields of green might seem serene without the gunfire but they pack their own kind of ecological punch. Why not look at it - call it what it is - and then do it the best we can.
Tomorrow is the first day to hunt deer with firearms in Maine. You’ll be seeing many of your neighbors and colleagues trade their plain clothes for camouflage and blaze orange. You might see them with blood on their hands and smiles on their faces and this might make you uneasy. Don’t stop there. Maybe ask about their hunt - like you’d ask about their garden, or their family. They’ll have more to tell than killing, and you might go home with a meal.
Hunters - wake early, walk softly, shoot safely, respect landowners, cherish the land, honor life, feed people, have fun, share it all.