Sunday, October 25, 2009

I'm subscribing to a Wesleyan way of conservation

I believe that John Wesley ( the founder of the Methodist Church) had the right idea as to how to live life. He had Three simple rules to live by. I think they transfer nicely to not only daily life but also wildlife management. Lets take them one at a time.

  1. DO NO HARM: Every action you take either as a management agency or a hunter should be determined by first making sure this action does no harm. If you are going to take actions to help a species like introducing a non-native species to a ecosystem, you should determine first that it does not harm others.
  2. DO GOOD: The only mind set that should determine the course of human stewardship should be one bound by only doing good. Politics should not play a role in conservation nor should feelings. For instance favoring one species over the health of the ecosystem based on the wants of a constituent or because it is cuter than another. All decisions should be made to improve the environment that man lives in. Everyone who is interested in the outdoors should also volunteer their time and money to projects that do good. Like any good charity, the outdoors is a worthy cause. Maybe shooting does to balance the herd is a good thing to do even if you only want to take trophies.
  3. STAY IN LOVE WITH GOD: Read God as nature. If we all got up everyday and had an attitude of putting a priority on the outdoors we would see a difference quickly. When you actively love something everyday you tend to act in its best interest.

I love the outdoors, it provides me with everything I need. Every time I shoot a deer, I thank God for his creation which not only nourishes my body but also my soul. If all people placed importance on the outdoors instead of just hunters (for the most part at least monetarily) we would be further along the trail of successful conservation and stewardship. If the anti-hunting crowd spent half the time on conservation and preservation as they do trying to stop hunting, they could probably make a real difference.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

May Be A New Record! Is it more important than any other deer?

Check out this article about a guy who may of killed the new non-typical record white-tail buck. Then read this post by Rick at Whitetail Woods, which describes a crazed anti-hunter not letting a man retrieve his deer from her property. I wonder what would have been the outcome if the deer in her backyard was a 32 point world record. I hate to say it, but even though I place equal importance on any deer I kill since I eat them, I would say that the hunter would have retrieved that deer if it had been the monster killed last week up north. Just a thought. Here is the staple of my diet......she doesn't have horns, but I would have gotten her off that crazy woman's property.