Archive: October 2012

When we first opened Joshua Creek Ranch for hunting and sporting clays, I was very cautious about the terms used to describe our business, using words like “game preserve” and “harvesting game” to soften the impact on anyone who might be offended by wingshooting or deer hunting.  When asked what kind of work I did, I preferred to lead with the fact that at JCR we shoot clay targets rather than jumping right in with the truth that the primary targets around here are birds and deer.  The last thing I wanted was to be confronted by anti-gun or anti-hunting activists.  Even when I was confronted, I’d listen politely, reply with something like “to each his own,” and escape the scene as quickly as I could.  I always avoided situations that might erupt in confrontation if I started delivering volumes of facts and figures about the valuable effects of hunters on wildlife populations and their habitat, or about the positive impact on crime rates when citizens own guns.  I was too kind, not wanting to offend anyone; after all, they had a right to their own opinion.  I was one of many naïve people who thought that the freedoms we enjoy in America weren’t endangered and couldn’t possibly be lost, at least not in my lifetime.