Huntin'

There are a lot of hunters here in Maine. As for myself, I was an avid hunter, trapper and angler for many, many years.

Folks up here in New England tend to understand hunting, and generally have no problem with it because they know that everything we eat was at one time a living thing. And we understand there is no real difference between shooting your own, and paying someone else to kill it for you and wrap it in plastic at the local Hannaford's. On the one hand you have a person who acknowledges reality, while on the other hand you have someone who would prefer to ignore it.

So it truly amazes me that so many good folks on the left attack Sarah Palin not for her political beliefs, but because she hunts, and can field-dress a moose. In an effort to belittle her, they make claims that she is a "murderer". I even read the depraved rantings of one blogger who said she is a phony on being pro-life because she kills pregnant moose! And I ask myself, how would that clown even know if she ever killed a female moose, let alone a pregnant one? And just exactly how does a moose equate to the level of a human being on the issue of abortion?

I would suggest to that blogger that she, too, is responsible for such acts if she has ever eaten a cheeseburger. A cow was murdered so she could pass the A-1. And MAYBE that cow was pregnant. Who would know?

What really got me, however, was that the blogger mentioned that Governor Palin "kills God's creatures." This seems to indicate the blogger believes in God. So how is it that she conveniently forgets that God decreed that we are to "eat of the flesh of the beasts with cleaved hooves, and that chew their cud"? Perhaps her belief in God is only part-time, or a matter of convenience rather than a foundational belief.

Frankly, I respect any person who is unafraid to act in a natural, real fashion. A person who accepts the realities of life, rather than ignore the things we deem unpleasant. The former tend to get stronger with adversity, while the latter tend to falter when adversity comes.

And when hard times or trouble comes, I for one would rather have a Maine (or Alaskan) hunter beside me than a San Francisco weenie with flowers in his hair (or a Chicago empty suit with a glib tongue).

Well, our nation is in trouble. Hard times are upon us. I can't stand McCain. But we really need a few Palin's in Washington. Apparently she is not afraid to "abuse her power" if it is what's necessary to do the right thing, and get the job done. And with the rats' nest in Washington, the only way it will ever get cleaned out is if some gutsy person bucks the system and "abuses" their power. Because those Washington crooks will not just give up and walk away because someone says "Pretty please." It's going to take another Buford Pusser ("Walking Tall"). He, too, abused his power - and cleaned up a very corrupt county. Couldn't get the job done any other way.

Back to hunting. The season is upon us. I miss hunting. But I don't really miss the frozen toes, or the hemorrhoids from sitting on cold rocks near a hot trail. And I do not miss the killing - I never enjoyed that part, but accepted it. What I do miss is the commune with nature; the warmth of the woodstove when you come in at dusk. The camaraderie of other hunters, all trying to tell a bigger lie. And the sweet smell of Hoppes gun cleaning solvent....