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: : If it's all about the mystical experience of entering the woods and pitting your natural senses against an animals, together with the benefits of sharing this with your children, and not about killing, as you say, then why kill? Why not stalk the animal with a camera? You still have to get within range to get a decent shot, except with a camera, that shot does not spill blood. Same experience, except without the blood sacrifice.: Not the same experience. A gun brings a sence of power to the experience. The incredible power of a gun is where you get the responsibility. A camera has no power which doesn't teach a kid anything. With a gun the kid learns how easily it can take away a life which is why most hunters don't end up killing humans, if they are taught right. You always have to be careful with a gun because of its power with a camera you don't have to be careful. Your father doesn't have to teach you how be safe and how to use the power responsibly.
So it's about power. Isn't it always about power? The killing of others, I mean. Caligula, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin...it's about the power to kill another. Bravo, proud hunter, you have the power to take life, and you do so readily. There's another kind of power, however, and that's the power of mercy. It takes a stronger person to spare life than to take it; too bad you're teaching your children to take the weak man's path.
