Before reading "The killing game" by Joy Williams, I considered myself a "non-hunter". However, after reading "The killing game", I had mixed feelings of how I felt about hunting. I think Williams unjustly stereotyped all hunters as being "immoral" without consideration for another point of view. I decided to look equally at both sides of this issue to determine which side, "non-hunter" or "anti-hunter", I would support.
I interviewed my friend, Dona Mayo, about hunting. I believed that she would know about hunting since she had hunted in the past and her father is an active hunter. She considers herself to be a "non-hunter" now but does support the rights of a limited amount of hunting for appropriate reasons. .
Her family always takes home and eats all the animals they kill. Any left over meat is donated to church or given to other families. Every edible part of the animal is eaten. The head is kept as a trophy if it has a good rack. They prefer to hunt deer, turkey and squirrel. At one point, in 1985 lots of people were laid off from work. They had to rely on hunting to supply them with meat when they could no longer afford to buy any.
She did have a friend of hers that was involved in a hunting related accident. His name was Chris, when he was thirteen he had accidentally shot and killed his father by laying a gun that had a bullet lodged in the rifle while climbing a fence. .
It is illegal to hunt in state parks in Mississippi. Taxpayers pay extra for license to hunt in preserves, and the money hunters pay go towards the parks. She believes hunting illegally in parks should have license revoked, and pay fines and/or jail time.
I finally asked Ms. Mayo how she felt of the comment from "The killing game"; "Sport hunting is immoral; it should be made illegal. Hunters are persecutors of nature who should be prosecuted." She responded, "It is not her position to judge what is moral or immoral.