(Published October 22, 2009, in local Eastern Washington newspaper.)

Dear Editor:

As a newcomer to Washington, I have been especially pleased to be close to the abundant wildlife of Lincoln County. We have regularly seen small herds of black-tail deer, large flocks of California Quail, and a myriad of other beautiful and harmless wild creatures near our dwelling place since arriving here in June.

Our hearts have been made happy and given solace through interaction with God’s wild creatures--an experience that is all too rare in 21st Century America.

But a pall descended on our world at dawn October 17 when the 2009 deer hunting season opened here.

Since, we have seen none of our timid animal friends with whom we had sought all summer and fall to establish rapport. There are no deer grazing behind our back fence now. And there are no deer in their usual haunts when we take our walks.

Nor have the flocks of exquisitely beautiful California Quail that had graced our lives each afternoon returned.I assume these creatures are either dead or in hiding because of the ghastly spectacles they witnessed over the weekend as hunters from throughout the state descended on Lincoln County to bag their limits in a barbaric ritual called "sport hunting".

The fall skies weep, as do we, that so many innocent expressions of love, beauty and goodness have been snuffed out by misguided men who find pleasure and sport in killing beings that have done them no harm.

Dixon Haynes