Jensen Afield: Of dogs, cats and Bigfoot | Weekend Magazine | rutlandherald.com – Rutland Herald

I know it can be dangerous, but I was just thinking

So theres this story in one of the outdoor magazines I subscribe to and it tells of how the state of Oklahoma has introduced a bill to create a hunting season for Bigfoot. Yes, you read that right.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Justin Humphrey, a Republican, isnt designed to kill Bigfoot; its intent is to trap the creature. But heres the clincher and clear proof that common sense among too many of our population has drifted off to la-la land.

It will be a great way for people to enjoy our area and to have some fun. A lot of people dont believe in Bigfoot, but a lot of people do, Humphrey said. Just like some people like to go deer hunting, while some dont.

That logic, or lack thereof, is as lame as the Bigfoot fantasy itself. Hey, Bigfoot boy, people go deer hunting with the hope or expectation of killing a deer. We know there are deer; we have seen them. But this Bigfoot fantasy? I think it might go a long way in helping to explain that, if enough people can actually believe in something like Bigfoot, heck, you might be able to get people to believe that a lying, corrupt, failure-ridden, bankrupt businessman is, well, actually none of those things and can become our president.

This is but one more example of how some people are drifting away from reality into their own strange reality orbit. What next, people spending billions on their pets while homeless people and the poor in this country go wanting?

Why, yes, Virginia, that just happens to be the case.

An Associated Press story, which ran in this newspaper on Jan. 15, declared that, last year, Americans were expected to spend a whopping $99 billion on cats and dogs, according to the American Pet Products Association.

Pets, which were once banished to the backyard, are now sleeping in their human beds as Americans treat their cats and dogs like family members, the AP said.

Family members? theyre dogs and cats, for crying out loud. What about homeless veterans? Could we send a couple of billion dollars their way? And how about the poor and the struggling working class, whose numbers rise with every passing year. We should be ashamed.

To be clear, I love dogs not so much cats as much as the next person. Heck, I once had a wonderful dog, Bear was his name. He was a Newfoundland and to this day, I grieve his passing. In fact, I was so moved that wrote about it more than 35 years ago and to this day, people still bring that column up.

Dogs comfort older folks, relax our children and provide us with companionship, particularly for those who live alone. But lets put all of this in perspective. They are animals, not meant to be dressed up like dolls, not meant to be treated as royalty, not meant to be treated better than humans.

OK, now that I am on a rant, lets go to complaint No. 3. I was watching this guy on YouTube a few weeks ago and was listening to him telling his amazed guest about how he travels to Colorado to hunt elk with a bow. And when he talked about his success, he repeatedly made a reference to how he harvested his elk.

It seems that it has become fashionable to replace the word kill with harvest because, you know, it sounds so much nicer. This is the same group of largely right-wing rednecks who criticize the liberal establishment for their political correctness.

As I remember, the first time I heard any of this harvest stuff was in a news release out of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. That was more than 20 years ago and I called them out on it then. It just didnt sound right. When I head out, with a bow, a rifle, a muzzleloader or a shotgun, I have no desire to harvest anything. Ill put off the harvesting for when I pick my tomatoes or peppers. As for hunting, I kill my game. And any talk about harvesting is just another attempt to soften up the act, as if we needed to soften it at all. We dont want to offend non-hunters out there and, more to the point, we dont want to offend those folks who are against hunting.

Hunters should ban this word from their vocabulary because all it does is soft-pedal what it is that we, as hunters, do out there.

Well, its time to get out the shovel and work on the driveway. Is it my imagination or are we getting snow just about every day now? Yeah, Im heading out to harvest a big pile of snow.

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Jensen Afield: Of dogs, cats and Bigfoot | Weekend Magazine | rutlandherald.com - Rutland Herald