Ms. Stephanie Rebman’s article in the Nov. 15 issue of the Oxford EAGLE prompted me to write this letter.

I want to applaud Ms. Rebman for her open opinion of ethical hunting.

First, I want to say the children pictured recently in the Oxford EAGLE with the deer are my niece and nephews. Because of that, I know these children are being raised in a Christian home and are being trained to do things that are right in God’s eyes. These children come from a family with a long history of enjoying God’s creation and being in the outdoors hunting and fishing.

The deer pictured and those taken over the years by members of my family are used for food on the family table.

Unless you are a vegetarian, the meat you eat, whether harvested in the woods or purchased at a store, is the result of an animal being killed to provide the food for you. As for the doubters that these children killed the deer themselves, you are simply wrong. The parents of these children are truthful and honest and are teaching the children to be truthful and honest too.

The parents of these children are exposing them to hunting and fishing and any other activity under supervised and controlled conditions. Hunting teaches self-discipline, morality and instills a love for the outdoors. Contrast this activity to some of the trash TV and video game violence that many children are exposed to these days.

Hunting also keeps the population of deer in check. Without this sport, overpopulation of deer would result in disease and death of the animals. One of the saddest things I notice while driving around this county, there are very few children outside enjoying God’s beautiful creation. The other is the small number of children in church learning about God.

I’ll close by saying I hope you enjoy your “sport,” be it hunting, fishing, reading, biking, gardening or other activities. Involve your children and help them learn through the activity to be ethical, moral and respectful to others and instill a love and appreciation of God’s great outdoors.

Mark Yarbrough

Oxford