Days after giving thanks and stuffing faces, many Central Pennsylvanians throw on their camouflage equipment, grab their guns, and head out in hopes to get their first kill of the firearms hunting season.

There are varying seasons put in place depending on the different weapons used or animals hunted. On Monday, November 26th, the deer hunting season began; this day brought out hundreds of thousands of hunters in Pennsylvania alone. With such a high number of hunters, it is easy to assume that the number of deer murdered would be high as well. According to Penn Live, “hunters have harvested more than a million deer in Pennsylvania” throughout the past three years. One million deer killed. Only in Pennsylvania.

I personally have a soft spot in my heart for all animals, big and small. I am the kind of person who slams on the breaks in order to avoid hitting bunnies and squirrels. I consider the rare sightings of deer to be lucky. So, yeah, the idea of slaughtering innocent animals for fun just doesn’t make much sense to me. Do people actually enjoy murdering animals for sport? Junior Jason Dry believes that hunting is perfectly fine because “[The Pennsylvania Game Commision] limits things. There are some people who don’t follow the rules, but they do have limits in place.” The limits are things such as needing to have a hunting license and only being able to kill one antlered deer per hunting license.

One of the biggest arguments in favor of hunting is the overpopulation of deer. I understand that deer are overpopulated, but so are humans. We do not get licenses to go out and kill humans in order to keep the population down.

I think it all boils down to what environment you were raised in. Junior Saoirse Hopp said,  “I don’t really see the appeal towards hunting as a sport, but maybe that’s because I wasn’t raised in a hunting family.” Many of those who are hunters were born and raised into it.

Junior Matt Kunes has been hunting for the past 6 years. He considers it to be his “favorite activity to do by far.” Kunes views hunting as both a challenge and a journey. “It’s not about what you end up with or what you kill, it is about the experiences and lessons that you learn along the way,” Kunes said.

This perspective of hunting challenged my previous view. I understand the positive aspects of hunting: deer population control, personal growth, and bonding with others. That being said, my main argument stands.

I don’t know if it’s because I do not know enough about hunting, or maybe it is a culture that you have to be raised in to understand, but killing animals for sport is not something that will ever be of interest to me.