Killing of huge bear stirs emotions
Jerry Davis: Madison man reflects on hpatagonia fleece pullover amazonis days catching fish in each of Wisconsin s 72 countiesCollege football: Whitewater s Justin Howard a steadying force in time of change for WarhawksPatrick Durkin: Tis the season to hunt . for giftsJerry Davis: Hunterpatagonia womens better sweater s buck was a pleasant surpriseOutdoors: Nine day gun deer season closes as safest on recordSell Your Vehicle for FreeWhat s Your Vehicle Worth?Manufacturer RebatesNeed Financing Help?Auto Maintenance CouponsFour weeks ago I met, interviewed and wrote about a thoughtful, respectful Waupaca County hunter who shot a 780 pound black bear, one of the heaviest bruins ever killed in Wisconsin.Dennis Arndt, 35, of rural Manawa was down to his last hour or so of hunting time Sept. 21 when he decided the old bear was on to him, and wouldn t risk visiting Arndt s bait site in daylight. Therefore, Arndt made the bear think he was gone by noisily leaving the woods, banging his car doors, driving ahead a few feet, turning it off, and then sneaking back into the woods and quietly returning to his blind.Sure enough, the old bear left the adjacent cornfield about 15 minutes later, approached the bait and presented a good angle for a clean, short range shot. Arndt carefully aimed and fired a 12 gauge slug shot into its chest for a clean, ethical kill.But within hours of the article s publication, scores of people attacked Arndt online, even though they knew nothing about him or bear hunting beyond what appeared in my article. Some also emailed me. This email typified things: Your article is complete rubbish. No one wants to hear about how some backwater . tricked an innocent bear so he could kill it. That s supposed to be sporting? It s disgusting and pathetic that some loser needs to feel like a big man, so he kills something like that. For you to glorify it is even worse. What a joke. I ve complained to (the newspaper) about your article, and I know others who will as well. Your redneck stories of hicks shooting stuff have no place on such a website. Absolutely ridiculous. Whew. I didn t thipatagonia fleece discountnk it would do much good to counter such an angry, judgmental attack. I suppose I could have reminded himpatagonia men's reversible flannel jacket review that my article explained this bear was opatagonia rock guide pants test1ld and wary. In fact, I reported at least two other hunters targeted it in recent years without getting a shot.Plus, even many hunters don patagonia rock guide pants testt realize how thoroughly mature bears monitor what s happening at bait sites. Rather than acknowledge the bear s awareness, most hunters just put in their time and hope a bear might risk showing up. That strategy might work if they re not fussy about the bear they shoot. But when targeting a bear that s likely 10 to 15 years old, you should assume the bear is vigilant, even paranoid, and didn t get old by taking risks.Arndt proved himself a capable, deliberate woodsman. He analyzed the situation, tricked the bear into revealing itself in daylight, and waited for it to walk within 75 feet to increase the likelihood of a clean kill. This was a oncepatagonia rock guide pants test3 in a lifetime bear, and he refused to take chances that might wound or cripple it. Therefore, I only addressed his bigotry: I m sorry to read your many prejudices and false assumptions, but I guess you re entitled to share them. To my pleasant surprise, he answered promptly and reasonably: Thanks for killing me with kindness. I just don t understand why it s necessary to kill gentle, innocent animals, that s all. As you know, people get rather emotional about such things, and don t want it pushed down their throat. Peace. Hmm. Now we were talking, not yelling, so I continued the conversation, noting that even vegans kill other creatures in order to survive: Hey, I understand. If you read my column regularly, you know I often challenge hunters to calm down, too. But please consider this: What animals that provide meat for us aren t gentle and innocent ? And which birds, animals and creeppatagonia rock guide pants test0y crawlies that we kill and whose habitats we destroy in huge quantities when planting crops aren t also gentle and innocent? We don t have to like the process, but we must concede it s impossible to exist without harming/killing other beings. That generated a response I ve never before received in 30 years as an outdoors columnist: You made me think, and for that I give you credit because I never looked at it from that point of view before. I was just getting emotional about it like the other commenters on (the feedback forum). You know, it s funnypatagonia discount code alamo because in some strange way I took comfort in hearing them agree with me, but maybe they need exposure to the other side of story, too. I jumped to conclusions, but now I will continue to consider the way you explained it, and try to keep an open mind. That s an approach we all should consider if we truly want to understand views other than our own.I appreciate the dialog that Pat Durkin started. As a hunter (though not a bear hunter) I see both sides. I can appreciate thpatagonia discount code westernis hunter s strategic thinking and understand his joy at success. I think we need to harvest bears while managing the hunt to sustain a healthy population of our wonderful mammalian relative. Yet I question the use of trail cameras to tightly pattern individual animal behavior. When do we reach too much technology in the hunt? How about a wireless network of trail cameras, monitored from an iPad, showing in exactly how and when a targeted animal moves through the forest? Is it only a matter of time before a drone passes over the cornfield sending a real time video panorama back to the hunter? (Perhaps this is already being done as remote, internet based hunting and shooting has already been reported.) At some point I think we have to draw a line on technology. I think we need that.You make a living writing snuff pieces that glorify every slob hunting practice that there is. Hounding, baiting, trapping, etc., and you wonder why you get criticism? Maybe people are tired of seeing slob hunting over bait piles or with dogs being glamorized as ethical when in fact they are for the lapatagonia rock guide pants test2zy trophy seekers. I also love how you justify because this bear was old that it was okay for him to be killpatagonia guide jacket germanyed. If it s all about putting food on the table then there is no reason for news articles or grinning photographs over the killed animal.What particular purpose did shoopatagonia guide jacket onlineting and killing this magnificent bear satisfy? Did we have too many bears in the state? Were we managing the population? Was the hunter going to eat the bear because he and his family couldn t afford to shop at a grocery store? Or use it s coat for a blanket because he couldn t afford a trip to Wal Mart?What was this hunter trying to prove? Couldn t he have just bought some Viagra or Cialis if he felt he wasn t man enough ? Sitting around, waiting for a wonderful creation to take the bait and then shooting and killing it doesn t sound much like sportsmanship to me.Great story Pat. Maybe we can build back this level of civility to apatagonia guide pants zip off shortsll debates in Wisconsin after the election. As a gun owner and hunter, people are often surprised when I tell them that none of my hunting friends or I are members of of the NRA and that we all support gun control. We need more civil conversations to understand the motivations of others. I would urge you to respond as often as possible. People often react differently when they actually get a response and realize there is a person behind the words.