Hunting course at ICC: Disgusting

PEORIA -- Illinois Central College is offering a new non-credit community course on hunting this spring.

Its on-line catalog states: Professional hunter and guide Dan Vinovich will get you started on the sport of hunting. Learn about weapons, licenses, seasons for hunting and more. Dan will pay special attention to goose hunting. Also learn how to process and cook your wild game.

Vinovich is a professional hunter and angler, and makes it his profession. This could be a ploy to get more customers, with ICC's apparent approval. Very sad. He's also teaching a fishing course.

It's hard to understand why anyone would hunt for fun with a gun, when they could do it with a camera and leave wildlife alone. It's hardly a sport. It's just slaughter.

As for eating wild game, that's even dangerous to health. Mad cow, anyone?  it's in elk and possibly deer. And who knows what's in a goose shot in the Illinois River basin, which is polluted with a variety of bad stuff -- mercury, PCBs, etc.  I wouldn't eat it.

It's even harder to understand why ICC would allow a course on hunting, including weapons use.  That's all we need -- more people with guns who might also have grievances, or hate in their hearts. (Why else hunt helpless animals?)

ICC makes it easy to learn by offering this course.  And Vinovich collects more customers for his business. Yuk! 

Shame on ICC. Would ICC allow a course on prostitution, taught by a prostitute?  After all, it's legal in Nevada. Or  pornography, taught by a pornographer?  Also legal.  Or gambling taught by professional gamblers who hang out at the gambling boat?  Just the skills our nation needs more of, right? (Not.)

This course is offered along with list of other more appealing courses: Jay Gatsby and the American Dream, Greening your Lifestyle, Beginning Bridge -- and many more, all worthwhile pursuits, worthy of ICC. And then hunting. Ugh.

Thanks to Char Curry, who called my attention to this class. She e-mailed: "I do oppose this."

  -- Elaine Hopkins

Comments

[Karrie E. Alms]

...or hate in their hearts.

Elaine: You don't have to have a gun to have hate in your heart. Just go out in the public square and you can experience that hate when you are on the vocal side of an issue and the other side just wants you to sit down and be quiet. Just hatin' and no appreciatin' going on in that scenario.

[Doris Muller]

Elaine, thank you for addressing this issue. It's insane that humans are taught from the cradle to think that pre meditated violence against animals is a joy. Otherwise civil humans think nothing of hunting to engage in the joy of killing. A hunter acquaintance once told me he prayed for each animal before he killed it--I thought he was a Christian. Now I can't help wonder what kind of god would receive such blasphemous communication.

I suspect the hunting community is trying to swell their numbers, and they found a partner who will give them free advertising with our tax money. I'm appalled!