I get it every year. I shoot a deer, I post it on social media because my family likes to keep tabs on me and I am proud of all of my hard work in actually filling one of my deer tags. Especially when I end up getting an ideal deer. But every year, I get at least three, and as many as ten people that get upset and unfollow me, unfriend me, and lash out with a lot of negative words towards me because of my passion for hunting.

But one thing I've never understood is why they can't think logically and unbiased about the situation that hunting puts people in. Hunters respect nature more than most people. We get seen as these bloodthirsty monsters that want to overharvest, only harvest the big deer, but are still seen as Bambi killers.

While I've seen individuals that get very excitable when any deer comes their way, regardless of the size, most decent hunters that actually care about the deer population, only take certain deer. I have often times found myself holding off from shooting a large doe if she has little ones trailing her. I shoot bucks that you can tell are too old, and will only die while suffering through the winter.

The threat of deer overpopulating has a massive effect on the entire ecosystem around them, including humans. Deer are a roaming species so they often times will stay in the same area, regardless of civilization. This means more chances of fatal collisions with deer passing on the highway at the wrong time. This means a higher chance of getting diseases throughout the entire deer population and having a large majority of them dying out. This means having too many deer and not enough predators as well as a lack of adequate feeding grounds. All of these threats involve deer suffering to a diminishing population.

Yet after hearing these threats, people still say: "but deer hunting diminishes the population as well."

Yes, it shrinks the population, but it shrinks the population by a small fraction in comparison to those threats I listed previously. It also carefully controls the amount of deer that are taken from certain areas. In Minnesota, which allows quite a few deer to be taken around the state come hunting season, they dictate how many deer each person can claim. The DNR very carefully tracks, studies, and determines what is allowed to be taken in each small zone based on how many people typically hunt in those zones. It's a lot more calculated than most people are aware.

"But what if people don't follow those rules."

From my experience and a lot of other people I know that hunt, there are more good honest hunters than there are potential poachers. The positive thing about this is most if not all, good hunters will report potential poachers. We hold each other accountable in our own parties and if we see something, we aren't afraid to say something. If we notice guys are obnoxiously trading tags with their buddies, we step in and say something. Because none of us want to see our freedom to hunt get taken away because people are causing overharvesting so our limits get shrunk. We want to make sure everyone can have a good time and have something to look forward to every single year.

"But they're free animals. They should still be free and not be killed to be eaten."

Most people that say this tend to be vegan. Which, good for you. I couldn't do that. I like being a carnivore too much. Sorry, not sorry. But it's ridiculous to expect all people to abide by the lifestyle you live. I don't expect everyone to be a God loving Christian, a gun carrying pro-2A NRA member, or a carnivore with a very large appetite for steaks and burgers. It's just ridiculous to hold people to things you believe in. In all honesty, harvesting one to three deer every year could easily feed a family of six for the entire winter. I still have some deer meat in my freezer from the 2016 hunt. It'll be gone rather quickly here before I get my processed deer back from this year. But venison is proven healthier, and less impactful on the cattle population. Cuddle your grass fed pure USDA choice cows all you want, but don't touch my ability to harvest and eat venison on my own and we won't have any problems.

"But they suffer when you shoot them and they don't die that quickly. It's horrific."

Again, this goes back to the difference between good hunters and potential poachers. Good hunters sight their rifles in when they notice it isn't as accurate as it used to be. They'll take their time and be incredibly diligent in their process of getting their shots to be exactly where they want them. They also don't take senseless shots. If they don't think they can get the deer to expire quickly after their shot, if not instantly, they won't take the shot. If they don't have a clear shot, they won't take the shot. Bad hunters are more than willing to pull the trigger as often as they possibly can at whatever they think is moving, even if they know it's a long shot to actually hit the deer in a fatal spot, leaving the deer to suffer. Good hunters know where to put the bullet and how to make sure it gets there. We don't like spending too much time tracking if we don't have to.

So while you're spending your time this fall looking at dead deer after dead deer, please understand the situation circulating around hunting season and please stop taking unnecessary shots at us.