Bow Hunting. A Deer's Slow Death. Cruelty Not Sport. Ignorance Not Glory. Blood Lust Not Control.

The video presented below is not for the faint-hearted. It shows the slow and suffocating death of a deer shot twice with an arrow.

I was prompted to present this video by my disgust at what is happening at the Garrett Mountain Reserve in Woodland, New Jersey. The Board of Freeholders, led by Mayor Pat LaPore, authorized a bow hunt to cull a supposed overpopulation of deer in the reserve. No scientific proof or evidence was presented to support their estimate of 400-600 deer living in the park. There is a more humane way to cull deer population, and that is done through a contraceptive called GonaCon. It works for five years and cost approximately $7 a shot. But Mayor LaPore and the Board of Freeholders would rather spend $5,000 to hire a local bow hunting group to massacre the deer and another $15,000 to butcher their bodies.

Even in death, there are gradations. Lucky are those blasted into pieces by high-powered rifles and shotguns. They are dead in an instant. But bow hunting leaves the victim fatally wounded, in pain for hours, before death actually occurs. It is estimated that only one out of three deer shot by an arrow is immediately recovered. The others run into the woods in search of a safe place but death follows them there. It is a practice among bow hunters to relax and have a smoke, or even to go home and rest, before setting off in search of the deer they just shot. Isn't it ironic that hunters will give animals time to die, but not the time to live?

So, this is sport? In our day of better education through much improved means of communication, in an age of limitless electronic entertainment, at a time when photography has turned digital and its ability to capture the beauty of nature limitless, there are still some who turn to hunting as their proving ground. Hunting is hardly the canvas on which to display one's creativity(?) and resourcefulness. Defenseless and friendly, deer can't provide a challenge to the well-armed and well-camouflaged hunter. What a twisted way to get your kicks! Only the intellectual laggards find hunting, particularly bow hunting, amusing and personally rewarding.