I’ve lived at my current home for most of my life. It is a beautiful area. A dead end dirt road, few houses, lots of woods and fields. At this time of year, I get frustrated. I can sum it up in 2 words – Deer Hunters – not all of them, but it seems that my area attracts some of the most disrespectful, rude, disgusting ones.

Today is the 3rd day of shotgun season. Every day bringing a new mess dumped on our road. Before shotgun season even started, my husband had already cleaned up 3 deer carcasses and 3 or 4 gut piles. Thing is, they left all this on the side of the road, just down from our house. This is where we walk Tigger, our German Shepherd Dog. She is a very good pooch. She DOES NOT run deer, but a big pile of rotting guts or a carcass is too tempting for her to pass up. You may not think this is no big deal. Besides the horrible smell of her breath, she gets incredibly sick – cleaning this up is the nastiest stuff I’ve ever had to deal with. I also don’t think it’s good for her to get sick. Besides, who wants to walk by that mess every day?

The hunters that were out Monday topped them all so far. They were asked what they were doing – they said they had permission to hunt there by “Bob Smith” (not his real name). Bob doesn’t own the property anymore, but they didn’t care, they went out anyway. Did the new owner “John Brown” (not his real name either) call the police, as he had every right to do? No, he put a note on their vehicle to let them know that they no longer have permission, he is the new owner. These hunters not only left a nasty note on “John’s” door, but they gutted their deer in the road and threw their bloody gloves, napkins and other garbage there as well.

I am not anti-hunting, I have many friends who hunt and I enjoy a lot of fish and game. I have also gone out hunting.

These types of people make hunters look bad. I am continuing surprised (well the jaded side of me is not) of the actions of these people. There doesn’t seem to be much you can do (but I’m going to be looking into this and talking to the D.E.C.) even if you are the land owner.

That’s all for now. To my hunter friends, good luck. To the disrespectful hunters – may all the deer elude you!

If you are reading this, then I am in all likelihood preaching to the converted, but allow me to go on. Shotgun season started this week (that means deer hunting with shotguns for the uninitiated) and already in the paper I have seen one report of a hunter, clad head-to-toe in blaze orange safety gear, shot dead on opening day. People, this is unacceptable.

I live on a dead end dirt road in the country for a reason. You know "the country"? That is the place all the city hunters go about this time of year to "shoot somethin'." I have no problem with hunting or hunters, just with ignorance, and that is what makes me worry this time of year, when city folks start to come out this way to party and "go hunting."

During bow season, I let my dog run freely on my land during the day. She knows to stay close to the house, and I have no fear that a bow hunter will shoot her. Bow hunters are usually local people, folks who know and respect the land and who use their eyes before they shoot. A bow hunter spends a lot of hours practicing that perfect shot so they can take a deer, just like the martial artist does.

During shotgun season, though, I have to keep poor Tigg indoors (and that means one big pouting German Shepherd). There are too many people out there who I do not know, who all feel that they have some need to tramp around and shoot something. People who, even as I write this, I hear shooting 5 and 6 rounds in quick succession. A bow hunter or muzzle loading black powder hunter needs only one shot; what are these people doing?

If you are a hunter like the ones I call friends, I hope you have a safe, enjoyable, and respectful time in the woods. I hope the experience brings you closer to the deer, and that your family enjoys the venison for the rest of the year. If you are simply a trophy hunter, however, then I hope you freeze, stumble, and find nothing but frustration. The deer are not their for your amusement, and no enlightened being takes pleasure in suffering. For a freezer full of meat to last all year? Hurrah! For a trophy on a wall? No way!

If you are a city dweller who is going hunting in someone else's home (i.e. "the country") then I hope you will have respect for the land, the animals, and the people you encounter. We are not all what we appear, so think twice and act once in dealing with us. Walk softly and listen well. Hunting can be an enjoyable, rewarding experience or can be an ignorant, brutal act - this all has to do with your mind. Get that straight before you head out the door.