By Olivia Chhlang | Reporter
Have I ever eaten venison before? No. Do I own anything camouflage? No. But do I know exactly when the peak of deer season is? Yes.
As soon as the air becomes crisp, I know I’m going to see my Instagram feed flooded with pictures of people from my hometown posing with dead animals.
I find myself hovering over the “like” button wanting to be a supportive friend. But then I look at the picture, read the caption and stare at the comments saying: “You ate queen.” I then realized that there was nothing normal about this at all.
When I was in high school, I remember my teacher left for a hunting trip the week of an exam. Some of my classmates chose their absences based on when they were going hunting. Other classmates had dogs who were only a part of their family to hunt. If I were to tell my cousins from New England these things, they wouldn’t understand what I’m talking about.
I’m not surprised that Texas is the state containing the most people with paid hunting licenses, as hunting has been popular in the South as a way for men to provide for their household.
There’s nothing I can do about the connection between hunting and its Southern roots, and I promise I won’t call PETA every time hunting season comes around. I can respect that it’s something to look forward to doing with family or friends. Texas Parks and Wildlife also regulates the populations of animals available to hunt, so if there’s a threshold of animals available — go for it.
What I find weird is the need to post it on social media. Somehow a limp deer with blood pouring from its mouth does not violate the community guidelines. If I’ve seen the first picture, I don’t need a slideshow of the deer from every angle — with video — of it getting skinned and shot.
When it comes to fishing photos, at least there’s no major act of violence associated with it, and some of the fish are released back into the wild. Even if the purpose of a fishing trip is to cook and eat what’s caught, I rarely see that being shown in a fishing picture.
To me, the desensitization of these kinds of images rubs me the wrong way. A hunting picture on someone’s Instagram feed somehow has me reacting the same way as if it was a “#SeniorSunday” post or a slideshow of football highlights.
