Today has been a pretty dismal one, in all truth. But, you couldn’t have forecast that from the way it started.
I took to the trails as Circle B before sunrise and at the outset it seemed like a perfect day. The skies were clear, temperature perfect for a stroll, and life was awakening around me.
I was only on the trail ten or fifteen minutes when serious amounts of gun fire broke the silence and sent much of the wildlife around me into panic mode.
Over the course of about a half hour, there must have been nearly a hundred shots fires and if I had been confident where they were coming from, I would have returned to my car and abandoned the trail.
But I had no idea where they were and there were moments when I half expected to see some lunatic with a shotgun would appear in front of me. But, thankfully, I didn’t.
I don’t have a definitive answer to what all of this was, but according to one trail-traveler, it appears that there were duck-hunters on the other side of the lake and they were clearly having some murderous fun.
I do not agree with hunting in general, but I find it incredibly Florida that these blood-thirsty goons would be allowed to hunt right beside one of the county’s major reserves.
I mean, seriously, to whom does it make sense that birds flying within the geographic boundaries of the reserve are fine, but fair game once they cross some invisible line on a map? I somehow doubt that the ducks were afforded the luxury of being given a map to indicate where the no-fly zone was.
While I was shooting (with camera), I spotted three instances where Osprey suddenly flew scared from their perch, two of them were right in the middle of eating.
It is incredulous to me that these morons don’t understand that the chaos they cause among wildlife within hearing distance of their hunt, is very real and very damaging.
The reserve is supposed to offer a natural and peaceful home to wild creatures, but there was no peace today.
Or maybe they do understand and just don’t care. I oftentimes feel I am in a minority in a blood-red state like Florida. All I can do is shake my head.
Anyway, I did manage to get some decent pics with the new lens on the A7. This was my first time using the lens and I went out so early because I wanted to measure its performance in low light.
I was pretty pleased and hope you enjoy some of the shots at the end of the blog.
I was still annoyed as I drove home and my mind mainly wandered onto the whole blood-sport culture. And I mused as to how this culture and others like it have gotten savvy over the years to where they use positive wording to describe what they are doing.
For example, many say they are culling in order to save the animals from over-population. Now, this is very akin to those who say they are not anti-abortion, but pro-life. Or those that say they are not anti-gay, but are practicing their freedom of religion in refusing to serve those who find love in their same sex.
They get away with this shit because media and politicians alike generally refuse to call out any of these groups for their transparent spin.
But in the 50’s you were a sportsman with a telescopic sight, an anti-abortion crusader who shamed the “wayward and fallen” girls that needed help, and a righteous hetero that beat the queer guy that you felt was undressing you with his eyes.
You were equally despicable back then but at least you were honest about it. Today you hide your hate behind soft and holy words, but you are nonetheless hateful.
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, was a line from Romeo and Juliet. And man, do you smell!
When it comes to treatment of animals, humankind will never be able to make up for the damage we have done. We abuse them, eat them, vilify them. We eradicate their environment to where those that remain become crowded into smaller spaces. So then we murder them … oops, sorry, cull them, in order to avoid overpopulation in the remaining space.
Pacifist idiots like me fools ourselves into wandering a trail, thinking what a lovely environment we have created here for the animals to live naturally.
Lovely as long as they don’t stray off the reservation, that is.
Or lovely as long as they don’t get “too big”. Yes, they kill alligators that they fear have grown too big. Because of the danger they present, is what they tell us.
Why not kill the people that get too big? Can you imagine? “I’m sorry sir, but you are a hundred pounds too heavy, so we have to shoot you in the head. But don’t worry, we will tan your hide and make some really cool cowboy boots. Yes, the same boots on that guy with the shot-gun over there waiting on the ducks.”
See, it’s all well and good to rationalize how we mistreat animals, until we personalize it by imagining we did the same to people.
Truth is, cruelty is cruelty regardless of who the victim is. And I would argue that cruelty towards innocent creatures is the most cruel of all. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
… just a thought.
