This discussion has ignored the overwhelming and obvious reason why sport hunters hunt: because they like to.
I doubt that any avid hunter wakes up in the morning and decides to hunt today because he feels like engaging in wildlife management, or because he wants to pay some license fees for wildlife preservation, or because he wants to save an animal from starvation, or because it is necessary to feed his family. He hunts for the same reason that golfers golf, bowlers bowl, fishermen fish, and people copulate: it gives him visceral and psychological pleasure to do so. He likes the stalk, he likes the wait, he likes the shot, and he likes the kill. It is pleasurable and psychologically rewarding. I am not being judgmental at all; but let's be real about motivations.
These thoughts came to my mind last night when I left this forum to go out and get a pizza at about 10 pm. There were 5 young deer in my front yard, probably chewing on my frazier fir. It hit me again that it is inconceivable -- to me -- that I could kill one these beautiful creatures, but yet many other ethical people not only can, but enjoy, doing so.
What I mean -- and this is the serious point I am trying to explore -- is that I have overwhelming psychological blocks and inhibitions against doing the same act that gives many other people psychological pleasure. The inhibitions and revulsion, in me, is almost as strong as the inhibition against killing a human. What accounts for these differing reactions among us?
I think it has to do both with nature and nurture, but mainly with nurture. Freud tried to explain human behavior by positing three constituents of human psychology: the id, the superego and the ego. The id represents the raw instincts and appetites we are born with genetically: appetite for food, sex, fear-flight, aggression, selfishness, etc. I would not be surprised if there were an inborn instinct to hunt, especially in males. If the childhood id remained unchecked, we would live in a state of natural war, aggression and violence, as Locke and Hobbes describe in their philosophies. Freud used the term superego to describe the civilizing forces -- such as family values, religion, morals and ethics -- that society imposes on id-driven children to mold them into civilized citizens. Our ego, in Freud's schema, is the individual personality we each develop as a result of the "battle" beteen our id and superego under each of our unique developmental circumstances.
To be more concrete and personal, I grew up in a family that valued pets and did not hunt nor have guns. Except for my grandfather, with whom I spent every summer in Maine from age 5 to 15. Those experiences in Maine with my grandfather gave me my lifetime love of the woods, the outdoors, hiking, and canoeing. If you look at my profile, you will see that all my avocations relate to the outdoors. My grandfather was a hunter. He had a gun rack made of deer hoofs. I felt this was cruel. He had a deer head on the wall. I was repulsed by the idea that someone would kill a deer and then scoop its brains out. He took me fishing all the time. I never liked it. Cleaning the fish disgusted me and I wouldn't eat them. I did not eat fish for 20 years. I cannot explain any of these reactions. He instilled in me a love of the outdoors, but I always reacted negatively to the hunting. I have always hated guns -- the way they look, feel, smell and sound. I realize many of you here cannot relate to that.
Two traumatic experiences stand out from my childhood development. Once I snuck into this queer looking building on farmer Day's property up in Maine. It was his abatoir, his slaugherhouse. The floor, walls and ceiling were covered with blood and the stench was awful. I got sick and dizzy and ran. Another incident was when I ordered a slingshot from Boys Life magazine. We were poor and I was proud of it. I shot at trees and things with marbles. I aimed at a squirrel, never believeing I could hit it, but I did. It fell on the ground, writhing and writhing and screeching and screeching in pain. I was paralyzed. I couldnt decide whether to try to shoot it with more marbles or to run away. I dont remember what I did, but I certainly ran away. I was profoundly ashamed and felt profoundly guilty. I threw the slingshot away.
I am not a vetetarian but my wife and daughter are. My wife was raised on a large rural property in upstate NY. Her father was a country doctor. They lived with many house pets and farm pets. Killing an animal was unthinkable. Her father taught just the opposite: heroic efforts must be made to save and protect all animals. So she grew up with a menagerie of injured, sick and abandoned animals. To this day, my wife will not even kill an insect. She tries to capture spiders and bees and shoo them outside. My children grew up in this kind of environment.
I don't draw the line in the same place as my wife. And this issue is about line drawing: where do you draw the line as to what living creatures you will kill and which you won't, and when. (This is similar to the line drawing that goes on in the unresolvable abortion debate. Some draw the line at conception and say that after that point society should not be able to terminate a fetus. Others draw the line later in the pregnancy to accomodate the circumstances of the woman. People who draw the line after birth are called murderers.)
I remember reading Albert Schweitzer's view on this when I was a boy. Schweitzer was not only a doctor, but had a Ph.D. in theology. He summed up his decision on line drawing and animal killing with his motto: "Reverence for life." He meant that we must revere as an equal anything that has been endowed by God with animal life force, including insects. Many religions have forms of this. Rats, for example. Killing rats may be above the line for most of us, including me, but in parts of India they are revered. They are all over the temples and town, living in harmony with the people.
This certainly is long-winded, even for me. What I am trying to sort out is why are some people pychologically enticed towards sport hunting while others are psychologically repelled by it. We all presumably are born with similar id urges. It has to be simply the way we were raised. If you were raised in a family where hunting was part of the common experience, and you engaged in it and were rewarded for it as a child, it is likely you get pleasure out of it as an adult.
But I can't quite explain the opposite development in myself. I was never exposed to any "animal rights" influences as a child, and my grandfather, who shaped me in many ways, was an avid hunter and fisherman. A puzzle.
I dont believe I have ever discussed this in my life before, but I think it is interesting to hear different points of view and experiences, and to respect the diversity of viewpoints among us. That is what distinguishes America from regimented societies like the Communist countries.
Glenn
