To Kill A Bufflehead

I spent a fantastic Wednesday morning by my lonesome out at the Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. A beautiful bluebird morning out in the marshes.

I was trying to kill birds.

As a waterfowl hunter I fully respect what wilderness we have left around Elk Grove. I am keen on what I'm doing, I do so responsibly, I eat what I kill. Truthfully, contrast that with eating at Cape Cod fish and chips or Mikuni's -- and tell me that the netting of cod in the Atlantic ocean and transporting them 3,400 miles, or farming Octopus in Japan and sending it 6,200 miles is more environmentally friendly, then tell me again how disgusted you are that I'm out killing innocent birds for pleasure.

As a hunter I believe I have a greater respect for where our food comes from than virtually every other Elk Grovian, all of whom drive to the supermarket for cottage cheese without a shred of knowledge where it's processed, how much energy is used to manage feedlot diary cows, how much energy is used to transport their cottage cheese, 1,500 miles on average, to them. I am far more willing and able to minimize how much energy is used to feed me, having a far greater impact on oil use, climate, and traffic congestion than virtually all these other "green" things we supposedly should do.

A significant portion of my hunting license fees go towards the preservation of land, to support waterfowl habitat. Open space is something we will lose forever the moment we bulldoze it over for a suburban housal unit or office park...but that's what we are doing. Stone Lakes is abutted by an Elk Grovian subdivision of the same name, Stone Lakes. It will only be a matter of time, if we fail to respect and preserve our open spaces, before we say fuck it, we dam up the creeks that feed the refuge, we bottle the water for sale at the supermarket, and we pave over the refuge for a new interchange to the freeway.