Going Down To South Park ...

In the Chukar post, I mentioned the South Park Semi-Wild Area.

It is only a few miles from our place, on South Park Road, a mostly dirt road through the Pines.

New Jersey has rules for the creation and ongoing operation of Semi-Wild Shooting Preserves. These include the number and type of birds (Chukars are on the list) that must be stocked each year, the hunting season, and the tagging of all 'harvested' birds.

Recently, Patty has been on a mission to clean up Burrs Mill Road and while doing so found this on the side of the road:

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

A tagged Quail.

I'm not looking to start a debate on hunting. But suffice to say it is not for me. The only wildlife shooting I'll be doing is with a camera.

But once upon a time ...

Many years ago, when I was twelve years old give or take a year, my Dad was invited by business associates to a hunting lodge in Texas (the Hawkeye Hunting Club, they are still in business). And they said to bring your son (me) along. I got cowboy boots and a hunting hat and a cowboy hat (how cool was that!). 

Am I a well dressed hunter or what?

The shotgun is bigger than me.

And I too shot a Quail, as well as a hunting dog (the dog was ok, far enough away the the shotgun pellets were like BBs hitting it; I was pretty shaken up though). And that was my last hunting experience. (The birds we shot that day were cleaned and packed in a cooler like the one on the car. They came home with use and were eventually cooked and eaten, although I think by my Uncle Tommy. So the hunting wasn't completely gratuitous.)

But what really turned me off from hunting was that every evening the lodge would release ducks, which would fly directly to a pond. A pond with a number of hunters just waiting to fire away as they flew over. This just seemed wrong to me at the time, and Dad and I declined the invitation to take part. It does appear the lodge no longer offers that style of hunting. At least, it isn't mentioned on their website.

And whether it be ducks at a pond or stocked birds on a preserve, I just don't understand the desire to bring in animals just to kill them.