Bring Back That Real Hunter….Mr. Elmer J. Fudd……..I have been to Vermont quite a few times and over the years have met a lot of different types of people.  The one thing that fascinates me is there are so many Vermonters who are hunters or so they say.   

I have no problem with people going out and hunting for their food.  In fact, the one thing everyone’s told me is when they do shoot their deer; they don’t let anything go to waste.  To me, it’s just a matter of how they achieve their goal. 

Mr. Elmer J. Fudd

I remember watching Elmer Fudd on TV while he was hunting his favorite meat, Bugs Bunny.  He would walk through the woods with his gun loaded, tracking Bugs’ steps and telling the audience “Be vewy vewy quiet, I’m hunting wabbits”.  Hunting is also very dangerous and the animals have good instincts.  Elmer would find where Bug’s rabbit hole was and stick his gun in it.  Bugs knew exactly what was going on.  When the gun was in the rabbit hole, Bugs would tie a knot in it and look out Elmer!    Now I know Elmer knows what he’s talking about because when I was younger, I used to talk to hunters and they would explain how they got their 8 point deer.  They would make that long cold journey through the woods while being very very quiet, find deer tracks, spot their target and hopefully get to take aim and fire.  It was a real skill. 

That’s not what the Vermont hunters tell me how they hunt deer today.  In preparation for hunting season, some would tell me they would grow special plants or throw out their formula of grain in their backyards to lure the deer close to their house.  Others would spend months with cameras equipped with night vision to see the patterns that the deer take.  They would get up early in the morning, I’m talking pre-dawn and sit in their blinds (some sort of camouflage covering) waiting and waiting and watching and watching.  Not moving for hours just to see if a deer passes.  All this just to get that one shot on opening day of hunting season.  Why don’t you just open the doors to your homes and invite the deer to Sunday dinner.  Get to know them.  Find out where they’ll be for hunting season.  That’s real hunting? 

Come on hunters.  Is this really hunting?  Do we need to bring back Elmer Fudd, the real hunter to show you how it’s done?