Deer season creates a mindset in rural Appalachia that is almost completely foreign to the coastal urban mainstream of America. One environmental group last year tried to start a ruckus over deer season in West Virginia this year. That the idea that hunting is, by definition, cruelty to animals was basic to the environmental group's statement. In a response, the State Superintendent pointed out that students who got out of school to hunt were required to make up their classes, so that no educational time was lost. But more importantly in some areas of the state, hunting is an economic necessity - providing meat for much of the year.
Education is, after all, primarily an economic tool.
Anyone who's ever driven the back roads of Logan, Mingo, Wyoming or McDowell counties can guess what 75 pound of deer meat means to the family of a laid-off coal miner. The environmental group was undetered in its opposition. The environmental group also seemed unaware of the staggering size of West Virginia's deer herd. Many of the animals are likely to face slow starvation and disease this winter. Culling them through hunting increases the chances of survival for the ones that don't get strapped across someone's truck hood.