[Jan Fisher]

It’s duck hunting season and the usual push is on to ban it.

I can see both sides of the argument. Many endangered birds are killed or injured during the season, which is not great.

On the other hand, people are hunting for food, how is that different from farming?

I think what everyone is overlooking is how – as a past-time – it’s slowly dying out anyway.

When I was growing up, my dad and all his friends religiously went duck shooting during the season. They were all eaten, not shot for the sake of it.

Now, I know only one person from my generation who goes duck hunting, and he doesn’t even go every year.

Do you know anyone who still shoots ducks?

[Sunny]

I don’t go duck shooting these days, or know anyone who does. However, I did go when I was young every year with my uncles. I did not see any overt cruelty (although there may have been), or any endangered species shot (although there may have been). My memories of those times are only good, spending times and listening to the stories told by my uncles. I recognize now that it was part of my introduction to manhood. I have always puzzled over the focus on duck shooting. Surely, if you want to see real cruelty just go have a close look at horse racing. Or even fishing! Poor old fish being dragged out of the water with a hook in its mouth, left to die suffocating. Yet no-one complains. I lament the world as it has become where (unless you live somewhere like Ukraine) everyone seems intent on sweating the small stuff and where our culture seems to actively discourage men from being male and women from being female.

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