The Ethics of the Hunt: When Pride Misses the Mark
Last night, I saw a photo shared with pride a 12-year-old boy posing with his
first deer. It was a fawn. The caption called it “good target practice.”
I posted my reaction, and the response from ethical hunters was swift and
clear: They do not hunt fawns. They teach their children to pass by
young deer and reproducing does. They wait for mature bucks and older does animals
past their reproductive prime. For them, hunting is about sustenance, not
spectacle. Precision, not thrill. Respect, not conquest.
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| Image captured at night this fawn born in August. (3 months old) too young to be hunted or considered "target practice" |
That distinction matters.
There’s a world of difference between harvesting a mature animal for food
and celebrating the harvest of a fawn. A fawn isn’t a meal it’s a moment of life
barely begun. To call its loss of life “target practice” is to strip away any pretense
of ethics. It’s not about feeding a family. It’s about the high of watching
something fall.
We shape our children by what we glorify. If we teach them to find joy in
the harvest of the young and the innocent, we teach them to ignore the weight of
life itself.
Ethical hunters know this. They pass down restraint. They pass down
reverence.
Let’s make sure that’s the legacy we amplify.