It's nearly fall, which means it's time for my annual post about Pagans and hunting. Every year, usually around September or October, I get outraged emails from folks who are upset that the woods are crawling with hunters trying to get a deer. Much of the outrage is aimed at Pagans who participate in hunting season themselves.
For many hunters -- Pagan and otherwise -- the act of the hunt itself is ritual. It's not so much the killing the deer that drives them, but the spirituality of the pursuit, the tracking, and drawing the arrow back in the bow. The kill is simply the end result of this process, and this too is something many celebrate as ritual, honoring the deer after it goes down. An ethical hunter uses every part of the deer, and nothing goes to waste.
My friend BlakeTheBard, an avid hunter, has been Pagan for about two decades, and a hunter for even longer than that. He tells me, "I eat the meat of the animals I kill, and it's good, healthy meat with no preservatives or modified chemicals in it. Antlers or horns are saved for use in magical tools like runes or amulets. The skin gets tanned and I use that as well. The only thing I don't use is the innards, and those get left for the scavengers of the woods. If I kill a deer, you can go back in two days and there will be no sign that it was ever there. Also, I make a point of honoring the deer itself in a ritual afterwards - I thank it for its sacrifice, and thank the gods for a successful hunt."
Obviously, not everyone hunts, and that's okay. Much like "harm none" and "the threefold law", there's a lot of room for interpretation as to what's acceptable from one spiritual path to another. I think what it really comes down to is not "can you be Pagan and hunt" but "can you, as a hunter, do so responsibly and ethically"? For more on this, read Pagans and Hunting.
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For many hunters -- Pagan and otherwise -- the act of the hunt itself is ritual. It's not so much the killing the deer that drives them, but the spirituality of the pursuit, the tracking, and drawing the arrow back in the bow. The kill is simply the end result of this process, and this too is something many celebrate as ritual, honoring the deer after it goes down. An ethical hunter uses every part of the deer, and nothing goes to waste.
My friend BlakeTheBard, an avid hunter, has been Pagan for about two decades, and a hunter for even longer than that. He tells me, "I eat the meat of the animals I kill, and it's good, healthy meat with no preservatives or modified chemicals in it. Antlers or horns are saved for use in magical tools like runes or amulets. The skin gets tanned and I use that as well. The only thing I don't use is the innards, and those get left for the scavengers of the woods. If I kill a deer, you can go back in two days and there will be no sign that it was ever there. Also, I make a point of honoring the deer itself in a ritual afterwards - I thank it for its sacrifice, and thank the gods for a successful hunt."
Obviously, not everyone hunts, and that's okay. Much like "harm none" and "the threefold law", there's a lot of room for interpretation as to what's acceptable from one spiritual path to another. I think what it really comes down to is not "can you be Pagan and hunt" but "can you, as a hunter, do so responsibly and ethically"? For more on this, read Pagans and Hunting.
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There’s a lot of stigma as well as negative stereotypes attached to hunters. The media portray them as nature-hating, destructive boors who run down tiny, defenseless critters simply for the thrill of killing them. In reality, all the hunters I know (and I know many) are avid conservationists who want to preserve nature.
Hunting deer, for example, has a much smaller environmental impact than raising beef. Additionally, the controlled hunts in my state (Oregon) function as a way to keep the deer populations at sustainable levels.
Finally, I would remind those who don’t believe a pagan should hunt that our pagan ancestors certainly hunted for their food. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but please do not force it on others, or how are we any different from the bible-thumping crazies who burn the holy books of other faiths?
Thank you for a reasoned response to what many see as fraught issue for some reason. I eat meat, so I support hunters and the ethical use of fur and leather, bone and sinew.
I eat fish; I use fish glue. ;D
Hunters are not true conservationist, most of them have it backwards on what mother nature is trying to do. When hunters go looking for something to kill they go looking for something to eat. In the laws of Mother Nature it is the old, sick, lame and weak that are taken out. Not the young and healthy which are what hunters are going after.
in response to Winterchill’s comment, according to the laws of nature the old, sick, lame and weak ARE taken out. the hunters take out healthy animals that are presently over-run, due to man’s encroachment upon their territory with new homes/subdivisions etc. being built. some years are more productive than others with regard to the number of offspring produced. hunters help to keep the balance of nature so that the healthy animals do not starve during the winter due to lack of food source, and as has been stated previously, a respectful hunter not only honours the life of the animal he/she has killed, but also uses every part of that animal’s body. the weak/lame/sick/old animals that may be left after the couple of weeks of hunting season are often taken by wolves and coyotes in the winter months because they need to eat too. thus, the cycle of life continues, nature’s balance is retained. speaking for myself and other hunters whom i know, we ARE conservationists and do not take more than we need.
Where I live hunting on Sundays is now legal (a few years ago it wasn’t). During hunting season you have to be really careful and make sure you wear hunters’ orange whenever you go out (even if you don’t hunt). Now, not even Sundays are safe days.
I dread hunting season every year about as much as I dread blackfly season in the Spring/Summer. It takes some of the joy out of Fall.
When we ran a boarding stable, during hunting season we always outfitted the horses with sleighbells. That way, they made noise when they moved, and it helped keep them safe. (Couldn’t find a reflective vest large enought for them, LOL!)
You might try wearing bells on your ankles or something like that, along with the vest, if you have to be out.
The “harm none” law offers an interesting paradox. How can you “harm none”? It is not physically possible.
For example; If you eat anything except for berries (even then it’s questionable) you have harmed. Eat meat? You (or someone) harmed that animal to allow you to have it (unless you wait for it to die of natural causes). Eat plants? You (or someone) had to cut it down and kill it. However, if you don’t eat, you are harming yourself.
For me; “harm none” is more of a guideline you should strive for instead of a steadfast rule (since it is technically impossible). Also, for those who say “How can you be Pagan and think it’s okay to kill animals?” ; I ask “How can you not?”. Whether we like it or not, killing for food is part of the natural cycle of the world. We already disturb the natural cycle enough with our blatant waste, our cars, and over-indulgence; we shouldn’t continue to disturb it by eliminating yet another natural predator, us.
Harm none is indeed impossible, but Brahmanism explains it; milk the cow and feed the cow, don’t disturb the balance by taking too much, eat life not death. The hunter from the article does not waste anything, he pays his respect and leaves something for the scavengers. An experienced hunter also knows what game to kill. So in my opinion he harms none. While factories never give anything back, they only take, so consumers eat death and harm the world.
I take Harm None to mean do your best not to cause anymore harm than nessesacry. I don’t have a problem with hunters even though I am a new vegitarian. Hunting is a hell of a lot less cruel and horrifying than factory meat.
Agreed. I’m not a vegetarian, but I try to minimize the amount of meat I eat because of the horrors of factory farming. I’d rather eat a hunted deer, because at least it lived a decent, natural life and died the same way it probably would have died anyway – from a predator. Anyone who believes hunting is cruel should seriously consider going veggie, because what you’re eating is much worse. Check out Diet for a New America by John Robbins.
I agree totally!
Probably because of the culture of my town, I’ve never had a religious issue with hunting, as long as it is done with respect to the animal. Also as a conservation major I know that hunting helps control a population, and yes I’m aware that the reason behind it is due to us destroying the population of predators of the animal in question.
Since everyone on the planets history started out as “pagan” and the original professions of all peoples were hunter/gathers I always find it a little amusing when modern pagans assume a pagan hunter isn’t doing it with the same mindfulness as our ancestors. And for some to be a vegan because plants allegedly don’t have feelings when a lot of recent research indicates they do have some sensory ability toward pain and danger is to make an incorrect assumptions. Humans have to eat and nourish themselves and as long as it’s done with respect there is nothing wrong with hunting.
I take issue with the common explanation of hunters “thanking the animal for its sacrifice”. It had no choice. How is it a sacrifice if you don’t have a choice?
If someone killed me and then thanked me for my sacrifice, I’d be pretty pissed.
I tend to agree with you on that point, but for me it’s purely semantics (and words have power, so I don’t necessarily think that makes it trivial).
The sacrificer is the one who makes the decision to make a sacrifice. So while an animal might be a sacrifice, and it’s life might be sacrificed so you might eat, I don’t think the animals often sacrifice themselves, rather their lives are taken.
But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong or immoral to take that animals life so that you might live. That’s just life. It isn’t immoral when a tiger takes down a wild boar (and it isn’t immoral when the tiger takes down a human being). It’s the circle of life.
I don’t think more justification than that is necessary so long as everything is done as humanely as possible, and so long as the animal’s life is taken for food, not just for funsies.
LMAO….I certainly can see your point, and I don’t think I would be very pleased either. I really see it as an honoring of the meat and showing respect; instead of, as I have seen on some hunting shows: I got that sucker!
I’ve always found it baffling when a person can talk about the immorality cruelty of people hunting for meat one minute, and then the next go and eat a hamburger (or other meat product), as though hunting isn’t an infinitely more humane (and healthy) way to get meat.
And it’s not as though vegetarianism doesn’t have its own impact on the environment, particularly if said vegetarians consume a lot of soy (the way it’s planted and harvested takes a significant toll on the environment, and plenty of critters get killed in the process).
Not that I take issue with vegetarians (my sister is a vegetarian because of her strong position on animal rights, and frankly if I were a stronger person I would be too), or indeed people who eat farm-raised meat (I’m definitely guilty of that too). I just think it’s ridiculous to take issue with hunting as though it’s somehow worse than any of the other options.
If it was not for legal hunters and the Conservation departments in all states there would be more extinct animals. In Missouri I know it was legal hunting and conservation that brought back the wild turkey which was almost hunted to extinction in Mo. Now they are everywhere. I believe hunters do us a service. I believe that knowing where your food comes from is important, many think that our food comes from the grocery stores. Hunting gets us back to nature, back to our roots, and is very important for healthy populations of critters. Where do modern Pagans believe their ancestors got their food from anyway? I use to hunt and never felt more at one with nature than when I was out in the woods hunting for our food. Now I am unable to because of health reasons. I am upset at the term of ‘sport’ being applied to hunting, and I do not care for hunting of predator animals or trophy hunting at all, but if it is for food , I am all for it.
I have always thanked the spirt of the animal for providing for my family. We are hunters by nature, and to deny this is to deny being human.
I’ve never even thought that hunting would be against the ‘Harm none’ but then that could be because the way I look at the directive, ‘Harm None’ is all about intent. For me, it means to not wish to cause anyone physical or emotional harm, which includes words. I believe a hunter can enjoy the thrill of the hunt, being outdoors and using the skills, as long as the end is as clean a kill as possible and not wasteful of the sacrifice.
The issue here is not a Pagan one.
I am not hunter, nor do I wish to be one, as its not right for me personally, but we need to think beyond our own personal history.
Looking back 500 – 2000 years ago, we see that pagans (native tribes people) lived off the land and in harmony with the land for thousands of years and they were hunters. Look at the Native Americans- they hunted and never caused extinction issues. Same with early European tribespeople.
Of course, most of this is because the tribes people of europe and the america’s never had this much population. Part of the reason they didn’t was because they were in harmony with the land they lived on. They knew when the earth would and would not support more human children. They hunted and killed for survival, not for profit.
I personally feel that my moral dilemma around hunting comes from hunters that kill for the thrill, and waste what they don’t want. To me, that comes from not being connected to the earth. If today’s hunters acted like native tribes peoples and were in harmony with the land, I would have no issue with hunting.
I keep holding out hope that being a hunter will mean that person will develop their long dead connection with the land and the earth and feel the being they are taking the life from. Only then can they (or we) be in balance.
While there are certainly hunters that do it only for the thrill and waste what they kill, it’s a small number. I was raised in a hunting community, my family belonged to local and national associations for hunting, and for many years I worked at a company where hunting and fishing were some of the main off work activities. While the thrill is definitely part of the hunt, as it is for skateboarders, skydivers, and other sport enthusiasts, I have never met anyone that didn’t appreciate the animal killed and put it to good use, often sharing it with family, friends, and coworkers.
A hunter’s connection to the earth is often stronger than the average city dweller. You can not simply stroll into the woods and shoot a deer. The landscape must be read, understood, and listened to. I was happy to see that our state’s wildlife management areas are now charging a permit to non hunters to help fund them. Their sole source of income prior to this was hunting and fishing licenses.
Personally, I’m more upset with “catch & release” fishing. No one seems to care that fishermen are allowed to molest fish (often enough to kill them afterward) just so they can get their fishing fix.
I doubt if people 500 to 2,000 years ago took a headcount and said “Oops! We’re getting close to being out of harmony with the land, so we’d better stop having offspring.”
Lack of effective medicines, good nutrition, clean drinking water, all played a part in controlling the population, as did wars, disease, famine–all the things that control the human population today.
Due to our ancestry, my father followed a Native American path and never failed to pray before a hunt or after taking a deer, turkey, or rabbit. He thanked the animal for its life, thanked it for the nourishment it would provide his family (some winters it was all the meat we had to eat), and always tried to leave the environment better than he found it by picking up trash and things others would leave behind. The cardinal rule of hunting in our house was to never take more than we needed. Dad was a nature lover and conservationist who was recycling and the like well before most of the “green” mindset came to be so popular. He hunted for food purposes and, like a previous poster stated, used every part of the animal with the exception of the innards. For him, hunting was a spiritual experience and allowed him time to be close to nature and the Ancestors. Also, I would like to gently remind everyone that “Pagan” is an umbrella term, therefore, not all follow the Rede or even interpret it the same way. This fact doesn’t make these paths any less valid or Pagan.
I believe that hunting itself is not a bad thing. It is however all based on the actions of the hunter.
For instance – if you go out and kill an animal which is endangered, such as a wolf, just for the bragging rights to say you have, or to hang it’s head on your wall – well that is totally wrong and unforgivable. Part of being pagan is respecting nature and our fellow animals. This act is also stupid in the sense that to try to purposely wipe another species off the planet in an attempt to prove that humans are the dominant species is pointless. Besides, humans never will be, bacteria and viruses are.
But to hunt for food is natural, and if you use every possible part of the animal (including the antlers and bones), even better. I’m not particularly partial to venison, however will never be a vegetarian. And all the more power to the hunters who do try to use everything. At least they are being responsible about how they act. And it’s no different than nature. No one gets mad at a falcon for killing, it’s just the way it is. Well, people were given sharp teeth (canines) for a reason. We are meant to be omnivores, to eat meat and vegetables.
I don’t mind people hunting. Obviously I don’t like it, and wouldn’t do it myself. But I eat meat, I wear leather – I limit the amount of these things I eat/have/use but I do use them! And I am aware that it means somewhere along the way animals get killed. But as human beings we are meateaters by design. But I especially think that if people want to hunt, they should limit the hunting, make use of the kill as much as possible (use the skin, the meat, the bones, the teeth, as much as you can). Hunting and gathering has been basic survival for years and to be honest, at least the animals have time in the wild instead of horrible battery farms. But killing for fun is wrong, if you must kill, respect the animal and don’t let it go to waste.
I would never hunt, I freak out at the sight of a dead spider, let alone a huge deer. And the thought of taking away somethings life is horrible for me. I’m a coward who gets her meat from resteraunts and supermarkets and I’m happy with that.
I don’t hunt myself (except for bargains lol ) but my Dad and brother and a good chunk of the family and some assorted friends do. They’re not a bunch of drunk yahoos out in the woods firing off a million shots to take down a deer. And they’ve always been careful to make sure the animal doesn’t suffer. Given the large size of the deer population in Wisconsin, those hunters are actually taking away some suffering. Better a quick bullet than starving to death. So it gives the remaining deer a much better chance. I also see it closely linked to being part of the food chain, since we eat what is caught.
I don’t think I have read such nonsense – appalling nonsense – I don’t even know where to begin to challenge some of this stuff – it would take too long and haven’t got the energy to enter into a discussion about killing deer and the spiritual-we-use-every-bit-of-the-animal – it breaks my heart to read the comments and the justification for killing animals for food/clothes/or the ‘hunt’ – oh dear we have such a long way to go as humans …….. so sad.
Nonsense? Killing animals for food/clothes/or the ‘hunt’ is nonsense? …and, in fact, makes us less human, according to what you wrote. Okay. So, humans are omnivores. Not herbivores. We have been eating some sort of meat since before we knew we were human. If we weren’t supposed to kill animals for clothes, we would still look like our primate cousins. If there was not supposed to be a ‘hunt’ there would be no God or Goddess of the Hunt. And every culture has or had one of each. So, to be more ‘human’ we have to be better than the gods and goddesses?
I’m sorry. I can understand the descent against trophy hunters and the ‘let’s-see-how-many-we-can-kill’ hunters. I can agree with those against killing lions and tigers and bears, ohmy, simply so we can look fashionable. But to never kill an animal for food? To never kill an animal for clothing? There are many ‘critters’ whom the Powers That Be gave to us solely for that puprose. What are we to do with them? Make them pets? Let them starve and go extinct? There has to be a happy medium here someplace. The ‘stuff-as-many-as-we-can-per-square-foot’ idiology is definitley wrong, but, like I said, we are not herbivores. Saying that the killing of a deer (one of our genetic markers) is nonsense is…….nonsense. If we, as a species, were to insist that no fish, birds or animals would/should ever be killed again for food, then we would have to permanently remove said animals from our planet because we would not be able to allow them to eat what we are now eating or live in the places we now need to grow all those many plants (soy?) we will have to grow to live and flourish. And don’t forget the fields of cotton and flax for clothes. Or the pastures for sheep for their wool. And the gazillion chemical plants to make the plastics for shoes and belts and purses and pouches that we need and use. If this is what it is going to take to make us more ‘human’ then I don’t want to be human.
Nonsense? Killing animals for food/clothes/or the ‘hunt’ is nonsense? …and, in fact, makes us less human, according to what you wrote. Okay. So, humans are omnivores. Not herbivores. We have been eating some sort of meat since before we knew we were human. If we weren’t supposed to kill animals for clothes, we would still look like our primate cousins. If there was not supposed to be a ‘hunt’ there would be no God or Goddess of the Hunt. And every culture has or had one of each. So, to be more ‘human’ we have to be better than the gods and goddesses?
I’m sorry. I can understand the descent against trophy hunters and the ‘let’s-see-how-many-we-can-kill’ hunters. I can agree with those against killing lions and tigers and bears, ohmy, simply so we can look fashionable. But to never kill an animal for food? To never kill an animal for clothing? There are many ‘critters’ whom the Powers That Be gave to us solely for that puprose. What are we to do with them? Make them pets? Let them starve and go extinct? There has to be a happy medium here someplace. The ‘stuff-as-many-as-we-can-per-square-foot’ idiology is definitley wrong, but, like I said, we are not herbivores. Saying that the killing of a deer (one of our genetic markers) is nonsense is…….nonsense. If we, as a species, were to insist that no fish, birds or animals would/should ever be killed again for food, then we would have to permanently remove said animals from our planet because we would not be able to allow them to eat what we are now eating or live in the places we now need to grow all those many plants (soy?) we will have to grow to live and flourish. And don’t forget the fields of cotton and flax for clothes. Or the pastures for sheep for their wool. And the gazillion chemical plants to make the plastics for shoes and belts and purses and pouches that we need and use. If this is what it is going to take to make us more ‘human’ then I don’t want to be human.
Dumps are filled with plastic that will lay their forever and a lot of other human waste in fact, and they do pollute our drinking water all the trash comes from people in the cities out to the country close to were I live and now two towns cannot drink the water. I do think you misunderstood my scream!
We do use every bit of the animal, and not just the ones we hunt. We also raise a few just to slaughter. But as for the hunting, when was the last time you drove down the highway? How many deer did you see on the side of the road? How many humans were seriously injured due to overpopulation? Oh, there is also the problem of the lovely creatures getting into my crops and depriving my children and grandchildren of food. So yes, we hunt. We live off of the land here. Give up your job, give up your bank account and become self sustaining and then talk to me about how we should not eat the herd animals (deer) that were created specifically for that purpose. Do you believe in vegan dog food too?
Thank you so much Jo and Brietta for your replies to Barbara. I took her comments personally since my family and ancestors (Cherokee and Seminole) have hunted this way for generations. Those who have never lived in the country, grown their own food, and hunted for food have no basis of comparison. As an aside, my father was the owner of a bait and tackle shop (enough to get me flamed by the likes of Barbara, I’m sure), and refused to sell high powered automatic rifles or armor piercing bullets. The last time a young man asked for armor piercing bullets, my father’s reply was, “Son, show me a deer wearing a bullet-proof vest, and I’ll get you those bullets.” The fellow left and didn’t return. My point is that some hunters are ethical while others are not. And, yes, hunting for those of us descended from Native American tribes can be a spiritual time/experience. My father embraced his heritage fully, even to the point of learning the traditional ways of making arrows and tanning hides among numerous skills for survival – thankfully, he passed those traditions on before his death. For someone to flippantly say that another’s ancestry, heritage, and religion isn’t real or valid simply because it doesn’t suit that person’s own agenda is just ignorance gone to seed.
How much of the earth is being destroyed because of human over population? Much of it is..
Hunters are not true conservationist, only Mother Nature can do that. She takes down the old, the sick, the lame and the weak, not what a hunter is looking for. The hunter wants a young strong animal to eat. The hunter is not doing the planet a service.
Oh I see, we are not supposed to hurt the feelings of the people who are pro-hunting but it is okay to slam anyone who chooses the better path of being vegan? yea you go ahead and blame the deer for your problems with their crops, if you were all that smart you could solve the problem with non lethal means. Any problems we have are all caused by humans and over population of our own species.
For years I was against hunting. Then one spring I stopped at a rest area and and was greeted with a strong stench of rotting meat. On investigation I found a field that was littered with rotting deer carcasses.
A couple miles up the road I noticed a fish and wildlife vehicle and stopped and found the game warden to mention it to him. I thought someone had poisoned the deer. What he told me is that it was a starve off. A combination of record low numbers of hunters, and a very hot dry summer meaning little food came together with record high deer numbers. There was not food available to support the population or deer, so as a result deer in some areas starved to death over the winter.
We have all but eradicated the natural predators for the large animal species and now we ARE the population check for the grazing species. I still don’t hunt, but I do feel much different about hunters now.
I think I can accept a person (any person, pagan or not) hunting for food, and making sure that they do it in the most humane way possible. But what I simply cannot tolerate, for example, is people coming to South Africa to trophy hunt our big 5. Those animals are hunted in the most cruel manner i have ever seen. They get placed into a 20metre squared (20metres is approximately 65feet) enclosure, with no shrubbery to hide, it is mildly sedated – enough to make it shaky on its feet but not enough to numb any pain. A scoped rifle is given to the paying customer, and the game guide has one as well (apparently it’s an effort to make it humane, so that if the customer doesn’t deliver a kill shot, the guide can). The animal is cornered, shot and decapitated so the customer can hang it on their wall. That..is barbaric.
I agree with you completely. As a hunter I try to make sure that I get a kill shot so that the animal does not suffer.
Barbaric is too gentle of a word! Even a barbarian had an ethic…
THEY ATE MEAT!
I second that…pure awfulness!!!!
I’m in Italy and here too the hunting is beginning within 10 days. I live in the country and I think that what Goatess suggests is really a good one for who’s in the country/woods an hour or two/day. For those who live 24/7 in a hunting place, wearing bells 24/7 is a bit too much. Hunters, here, don’t do it for a ritual, they just do it for the killing. In the nature, they walk on cultivated fields with unleashed dogs running around with no control. Last year, 2 of them were training their 4 dogs that went running through my paddocks, barking and chasing my horses. Mad, I called the police, because these hunters, afraid of my horses, couldn’t catch their dogs. Ironically, by law, I can’t walk in the country with my well-trained dogs unleashed!
In the past, it was a fair hunt with bows and arrows, nowadays, not anymore with these precision guns. They don’t kill just an animal, but all the pheasants and hares they can see. Besides, they don’t respect their boundaries. Very seldom, I saw them shooting with their backs to my property. The week-ends are beginning at 5:30/6 am and it is like a war zone! The only possibility is calling the authorities to check for these criminals. Last year, nearby, a mother opened the door at 8 am to bring her children to school and she was shot with some bullets entering also the house; the kids weren’t injured. She called, in pain and surprise, the police and identify the hunter that was escaping… they arrested him!
Even the authorities are fed up with these people, which in Italy, are a lobby. It is quite impossible fight them.
I am already preparing mentally myself to bare these next 3 months of hunting folly… And, until next summer, I won’t see anymore the hare and the pheasant walking in front of my door! Yesterday a majestically beautiful pheasant came to call her female in front of my kitchen windows… I am so sad because, I know, his days are counted now!
I eat meat but alot of my friends are vegetarians or vegans they dont judge me as I dont judge them. Its personal choice.
I bow hunt, not only for deer, but my thing is, yes you are killing a deer, but like Patti’s friend, you should use every part of the deer or leave some as an offering to nature. I believe in hunting deer, not only because they’re sacred, not only because they’re healthy, not only because I’m honoring the hunting that my ancestors did, but also to help keep the deer population healthy. If the population of a species gets too large, then disease, starvation, and other nasty things can happen to that particular population. I hear that the racoon population has gotten out of control, it’s so bad that they’ve got this disease that causes them to get diarrhea so bad that they die from dehydration (caused by the diarrhea), which can happen to people who catch a really bad case of the flu. So yes, my family kill deer, but we do it respectfully and we always give thanks to the dearly departed, not to mention we also thank the god and goddess. Blessed be my friends!
Hunting is as much a tradition of our past as it is a pass time or hobby now, it all just depends on how you look at it. If we think about the celebrations that many of us in different pagan communities celebrate, we honor the god and or goddess of the hunt. This to me is a good sign that hunting is acceptable, and sometimes even necessary for survival in some areas. yes, the weapons used now have changed from those used many decades and centuries ago, but the principle behind WHY we (and when I say we, I mean myself and people who believe like I do) hunt has not. when I bring home an animal from a successful hunt, the meat gets eaten, other parts such as antlers and skulls etc. become not ornaments but useful objects (ie.coat hangers, hat racks, things I can use on a daily basis as a helpful part of my life, to honor that of the animal.) As I said, the weapons used in today’s hunt are far more advanced, far more adapted to their purpose. but this is the process we see everywhere else in life as well. How many of you drive? How about fly? Do you own several outfits of clothing, have heat and/or air conditioning in your house? and the internet? This is not really any different. it is a modern definition of an ancient way of life.. Our lives have advanced many times over of that of our ancestors of old, and most of us take this for granted (as I have done many times myself).
A few weeks ago I accidentally hit a deer on the palisades parkway. It happened so fast that I didn’t realize what had happened. I just found the hair in my headlight a realized what had finally happened. Luckily the car was not totaled but I would really like to something to guide the hurt or deceased animal any suggestions