Loading...Images fro the Id – Stupid is as Stupid Does or Does it Take Brains?
Anybody who knows me knows that have great respect for other people and their attitudes and biases. In general, people can do what they want with in a certain number of boundaries set by society. I even argue that the act of yelling fire in the crowded theater is not the problem but the damage it causes is. After all- there may be a fire.
Personally I dislike killing anything. Sometimes there is a necessity for food or safety. Hunting does not usually fit those in my mind but I except I understand its value in population control and the perceived sport it involves. There were two incidences recently which convert acceptance to just plan calling it stupid. In the first an elk affectionately known as “Big Boy” was killed by a “stupid” policeman in Boulder. The animal was about as tame as bull elk can get and was totally accustomed to humans. Trophy hunt? Sport? Just plan stupidity.
Last Saturday, a bow hunter killed a moose all perfectly legally. The problem was it was in an area where the moose are perfectly accustomed to people. In fact, I have been too close to them myself there. The areas willows are usually frequented by 5-10 bull moose and they have no concern about people. I quit going there because I really didn’t like the concept of large, dangerous, wild animals becoming humanized and “stupid” people tempting the inevitable. There was always the excuse “I didn’t approach him, he approached me” to get around the rules. People including many photographers of all levels were getting to adapted to the situation.
The story goes like this. The Forest Service allows the “taking” of 2 moose in the area each year. It is a contest for the rights to kill. The archer came in with a ranger picked out the one with the largest “rack” (makes me think of a high school junior picking out a prom date) and in front of a large number of spectators finished off the beast. There has been a huge response to the act. Most people defend the legality but condemn the location.
I have a different slant on both situations. First there was no “sport” involved in either unless killing just for the thrill of killing is sport. Second, There is no sport in killing almost tame and trusting wild animals. The raising of food animals has never been considered sport but a necessity and some have trouble with that. These are moral questions which dig in to the basic question of what the modern human believes. It is no longer, kill or be killed by our evolutionary cousins but let’s look to our selves if we need to feel threatened are plenty of threats. When killing fore killing sake is a sport, we lose the boundary between civilized and chaos.
This week’s photos are some more elk and moose. Nothing special about shooting them (with a camera) just remember they are wild and respect them for that. These guys were very close and some important decisions were made as to how much “contact “ is ok.
