“Santa has a message for holiday shoppers,” proclaimed a PETA poster campaign last Christmas: “You can avoid the 'naughty' list if you put down that hunting rifle. ... The message comes after a major camouflage gear supply company ranked the Duke City the top “hunting town” in the nation...'When it comes to feeling pain and fear, loving their families, and valuing their own lives, deer are just like you and me,' says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. 'PETA’s cheeky cartoon encourages holiday shoppers to give wild animals some peace on Earth by saying no to hunting'….Hunters kill millions of animals every year….Hunters have contributed to the extinction of species all over the world, including the Tasmanian tiger and the great auk…PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that 'animals are not ours to abuse in any way'—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.”
In fact, historically regulated sport hunting has had the exact opposite effect on endangered animals as PETA claims--for the simple reason that it gives animals actual value outside of the fleeting sentimental one created by Disney movies. Remember Cecil the Lion?
At any rate, fascinatingly enough, Heinrich Himmler (point man for the vegetarian Adolf Hitler’s holocaust) viewed deer hunting almost exactly as does Ingrid Newkirk and PETA. To wit:
"How can you, Dr. Kersten (Himmler’s personal physician), enjoy shooting from a shelter at the defenseless creatures that roam the forest, unable to protect themselves and free from all suspicion? It is a real crime. Nature is tremendously beautiful and every animal has the right to live. "
Among nature’s most beautiful products are Bambi Fajitas, as proclaimed by my grandson and budding speciesist Eli, who at aged 8 had graduated to a (gun-less, so far) stint in my deerstand recently, to which I was astounded to note that he brought no video games! WOW!
At any rate, we were in the stand the dawn after Thanksgiving with the horizon already pink. Daylight seeped slowly into the creek bottom and the squirrels and birds came alive. It was nice – brisk but not frigid. No bugs.
Eli was still, alert and vigilant. No whining or fidgeting….Wish I could claim the same. By 8:00 I was drowsing. "Wake me if you see something, Eli,”... I dozed off.
Then I felt something tugging at my shirt ... huh? ... what? ... I awoke. "Grandad!...GRANDAD! a wide-eyed Eli hissed, pointing toward the left at a patch of briars… I saw the tail flick. A DEER!
Eli ducked and covered his ears. The deer was probably 80 yards away but obscured by too much brush. The head came up and I saw little sprouts of antlers. Great, he’ll be good and tender. I was breathing in gasps. He took another step and his shoulder cleared the tree. BLAMMM!!
“YAAAY!” squealed Eli while high-fiving his still-shaking and notoriously speciesist grandad. “Bambi Fajitas tonight!”