Why is the thought of someone killing their own food so objectionable to so many?

I can't even count the number of times I have seen or heard derogatory comments about Sarah Palin because she is, as Obama says, "a Moose shooter". Take for example the recent comments by Joy Behar, currently a co-host of ABC's The View, who said that Palin is cruel to animals because Palin shot them.

Also I just saw a nasty banner ad on one of the political websites that had a cartoon rendering of Sarah Palin wearing a tiara, and holding a gun at a crying moose. I mean give me a break! I suspect that Moose in Alaska are as plentiful as White Tail Deer are here in Illinois.

My husband and I hunt deer in season and usually harvest two. We have the deer processed at a local meat locker and eat them over the course of the year, usually running out of meat just in time for the next dear season the following year. I do not consider myself or my husband cruel to animals. I do not enjoy killing things, however there are SO MANY of them here in Illinois that they are responsible for thousands of car accidents a year and hundreds of fatalities. The state's Department of Natural Resources acknowledges their large numbers and implements a hunting season and "tag" system that helps to control and manage their numbers, as much for their sake as ours, since over population can lead to starvation and disease.

People from urban areas do not understand this. We kill the animals for food, not because we like to kill things! Oh I guess there may be some people like that, but I don't know any one personally that does so with cruel intentions. This may sound cruel if you live in a city because you don't have as much interaction with the bounty of nature. You are lucky if you ever see a wild deer in the city, because the animals have little natural habitat in which to survive and thrive. In contrast, I can see dozens of deer around my farm in a weeks time, so I know how plentiful they are. Hunting season accounts for the death of a small percentage of the overall population, which easily rebounds by the next season. I assume that in Alaska a similar situation exist with Moose.

Another aspect that can gross out city folk is the thought of eating these animals. YES WE ACTUALLY EAT THEM! That is after all the point! If you eat beef or pork or chicken you are eating animals too, they were just industrially raised and mass processed. In contrast, the animals we harvest are taken by us to a small family run meat locker for processing. We get chops, roast, steaks, and ground meat. We cook it like you would any comparable cut of beef or pork. It taste great and is all natural. I know that deer may not LOOK like a cow but they eat just the same!

So I really wish people would get off the "cruelty" kick when it comes to Palin hunting, because unless you are a strict vegetarian who refuses to eat meat on the grounds of animal cruelty then you have no grounds to make such an accusation!

Once again it is the media's portrayal of anything non-suburban as being backward and repulsive. I have lived in cities and was always amazed at how little most city dwellers knew of rural culture. This is mostly due to stereotypes of goat loving, bib wearing, inbreds that TV likes to portray, so it is little wonder people have such belittling comments about Sarah Palin, most of them just don't understand!