Review Of The Essay 'Hunting Deer With My Flintlock' By Seamus Mcgraw
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“Confessions of a Deer Hunter”
In Seamus McGraw’s essay “Hunting Deer with My Flintlock”, he discusses many instances that give relevance to how he admires wilderness, nature, and the conservation of traditional hunting. There are two sides of McGraw in this essay. One that is compassionate, and has a willingness to love the animal in its natural state. The other is for hunting, to feed his family and to be responsible as a person who strives to conserve his traditions. Although hunting is viewed as untasteful and cruel, the feeling of hunters are invariably different, and compassion is inherent. Hunting has suffered due to the opinions of many, and has been the center of many controversies, but due to a majority of conservationists is making a comeback.…show more content… Understanding the fright of the prey and controlling his breathing; he took a shot that inherently was meant to end a life. In using a centuries old weapon to inflict the final moment of life for a deer. McGraw was not sure if his shot had finalized his target; because of the smoke that so aggravatingly had discharged moments before the mini ball had released. Hating to wound an animal from a misplaced shot. He took great pride in making his shot count, but with all the commotion he had failed.
McGraw now had to track the animal and put it down, something he had feared doing. He always looked forward to the winter months as that meant he could be one with nature in his favorite setting, the wilderness. He loved the taste of fresh venison. McGraw done his part in conservation of the forest and fields, by controlling the deer population, whom were responsible for destroying the forest. Adding that the responsibility of the deer population was his, he decided to take up arms in the form of a flintlock muzzleloader. An age old relic to some, but a challenge to