Former vegetarian comes to new understanding of hunting

To the Editor:

I suspect that, in his editorial, Brent did not intend to tap into the tangled underworld of gastronomy in love and war.

But it happened, and I would like to offer another perspective on the issue and how hunting fits in.

Raised in Southern California, I became a vegetarian in grade school. College took me away from home, and after that I hopped around small towns in the West, following jobs in wildlife management. Now, I know what everyone who's made it this far is thinking: California, wildlife, vegetarian. I know.

Here is where the story begins: I began to talk. I spoke with people at the library, people at the bar, people at the market; I transcended my umwelt, stepped into the wider world, and understood really how complicated it is.

I ate my first hamburger, since the age of 12, at the age of 25 in Little Joes. It had been years in the works.

I did not then, nor do I now, agree with the system of meat production in our country. Meat that industry provides is tainted by the margin of profitability, disregard for the health of the land, animals and water, and cost of living issues for many Americans.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for plant products that agricultural industry provides as well.

James' avocation asserts that we, and even obligate carnivores such as our beloved house cats, can subsist through vegetarianism. I do not disagree, to a certain extent. But it takes resources to produce food for a population, regardless of the product.

Meat from animals that are farmed en masse and fed grain, among other things, is inherently unhealthy for the land and our diet. Crops of vegetables, grains, and legumes, whether organic or not, are stained with the blood of harvest casualties, damage control, even transportation road-kill.

Wild game, on the other hand, grazes or browses green plants, thrives in its natural environment, and can be obtained locally.

We are privileged in the West to have an abundance of natural resources, to have the ability to use those resources and to have the access to knowledge on how to do it intelligently. Montanans are even more fortunate to have open land enough to sustain a rich wildlife population.

Yet, as we enjoy all of this, it is important to recognize that this world has disappeared in other places, and it can disappear here.

Hunting is a way to keep us in touch with our world. It gives people incentive to conserve the landscape because without habitat, deer, elk, antelope, bears, big cats, sheep, goats, grouse, marten, beavers, trout, you name it, will be confined to reserves or treasured behind high fences. The common man will lose the last vestiges of an already tenuous link to wild nature.

Hunting does require the killing of an animal, but that does not implicate gladiatorial bloodlust. There are people inclined to violence in every facet of society: some of them are hunters, many are not.

Many hunters hold deep emotions about their relationship to the land and wildlife. Hunters, as a group, come from disparate backgrounds and philosophies, and it is a common ground around a subject that, in many other situations, is nerve-wracking: the value of our natural world.

I am proud not to participate in the meat industry in order to be able to eat animal protein. I am proud to know what it takes to hunt an animal in the woods and pack that meat up or down a mountain. Every time we eat, I know where that animal came from, that it lived free, died fast, and I am grateful.

What to do about the rest of the problems with feeding a nation? The insinuation of economics and ideals into this topic makes it a whole other ballgame. Read as much as you can about every aspect of life! Be involved, talk, listen, learn, teach, and make an educated decision for yourself.

Kris Boyd