How do I deal with this? I’m so enraged. I walk in these forests every day since we moved here in July. Today when I walked up there were easily 8-10 vehicles parked at the opening of the trails. I headed along anyway thinking it’s related to the tree cutting they’ve been doing lately (an entirely other source of rage that I won’t get too deep into here) but as I started along the trail (it’s technically more like a gravel road) some lady and her kid yell out to me that I should go the other way because they’re hunting.

Without thinking I take the other trail as she recommended. My initial thought was she was warning me in case I accidentally got shot. How stupid. As I went along I realized actually she was probably trying to deter me from walking there so I didn’t scare the animals away from being killed.

During my walk I heard 3 gunshots. I feel so enraged and sickened. I looked it up and sadly they are well within their legal rights to hunt there right now. Three animals likely died within a few kilometers of me.

Mostly I feel shitty for not saying, "If they shoot me that’s their fault, not mine" and walking anyway. With music blasting from my phone instead of through headphones. But of course in the moment I just did as I was told.

How do you deal with things like hunting? I feel so angry and sad and helpless. I don’t consume animal products in an attempt to protect the environment and deter farming/slaughter but .. what can I do here? I haven’t felt this guilty and depressed in a long time.