Hunters like to blame their ill-behavior on the “one bad egg” making them all look bad. That one egg must be the busiest hunter in the forest—I see signs of him all over the place.
Like the Easter Bunny, he leaves his calling card wherever he goes: a beer can here, a candy wrapper there, McDonald’s bags, Big Gulps, a pile of shotgun shells—and toxic lead shot and bullets spread everywhere.
I’m not sure I believe there’s only one bad egg responsible—could be they’ve all got some bad egg in them. Maybe it’s just the nature of the “sport.”
That would explain why local police and sheriff’s departments across the country see a marked spike in crimes like theft and vandalism during hunting season. Then of course there are violent crimes, like assault with a deadly weapon and manslaughter. Italy has seen a rash of such crimes since their hunting season began in September. So far, 13 people have been shot dead and 33 others wounded by hunters, leading some folks there to call for an outright ban on the blood sport. According to a survey taken last year, fewer than one in five Italians consider hunting an “acceptable pastime,” while hunter numbers there have dropped from 3 million a few decades ago to about 700,000 today.
There can’t simply be “one bad egg” responsible for all the trash and carnage; more likely the whole batch is spoiled. It’s no use keeping a bunch of rotten eggs around—eventually you have to throw them out.
Text and Photography ©Jim Robertson
Exposing the Big Game 
Why can’t we all mobilze and bring an end to this archaic “sport” of hunting? There are far more nonhunters than hunters. We should be able to all come together and bring about legislation to make this blood thirsty, brutal act illegal. The only problem would be to get the comatose amongst us away from the latest silly “reality” TV SHOW, out of the mall searching for that can’t live without, whatever people are salivating for, new gadget!!! Or whatever other vice that keeps people from the reality that our wildlife is being murdered to extinction! If we could get people as excited about saving our wildlife as they are about an impending visit of some worthless royal family member (princess kate middleton) for example, we could possibly garner some attention to the plight of our wildlife! I guess that’s wishful thinking, cause I don’t know how to get the average, out of touch with nature human, excited about anything unless it’s the latest bacon flavored food stuffs being marketed by burger king. *eye roll* disgusted sigh…..
Good points. Let us know if you come uo with how…
I hope not to step on toes.
The answer is Education 🙂
Seriously, join a Local Organization and do VOLUNTEER WORK.
I am always active and it gives me a wonderful feeling that I can wake up, smile and say, “I made a difference.”
Our Planet should not be a Work in Progress.
Earth must be Progress at Work 🙂
They’re ALL bad eggs. A friend of mine once cleaned up our entire road the day before hunting season. After opening weekend she cleaned it again. She got bags and bags and bags of trash–mostly bear cans and beer bottles–hard evidence attesting to the fact that a bunch of armed drunks were stumbling about the forest and nearby neighborhoods. She took the bags of trash to both the Forest Disservice and the Squish and Maim Department. Nothing, of course, changed.
I know the feeling. The local Waterways near my home are frequently used for dumping. No questions asked at the Local Trash pickup. I have seen concrete blocks used to hide chemical / ink waste.
We need more Guardians for the Earth.
The same could be done on any logging road in the country and the local Forest Circus and Squish and Maim Depts. would similarly ignore it. Maybe if we all did it on the same day and alerted the media…
When I was up photographing Snow Geese in Skagit Valley last week, I cleaned up shotgun shells, discarded hand warmers, bottles, cans, etc. That one bad egg sure gets around.
I’m sure you came up with quite a pile. Thanks for taking the time to clean up their mess. Cans in Oregon have a .5 cent deposit and therefore you don’t see them along the road everywhere like you do in most states. By the way, do you know about the swans near Monroe Ingrid? If not, email me personally and I’ll give you the location. They’re in close to the road for photos and a lot less of a drive than the Skagit.