Well before sunup on a damp Saturday morning, hundreds of thousands of mostly men fanned across the rural Midwest, dressed in camouflage and armed with shotguns and rifles. It was the beginning of the deer hunting season.

This annual pilgrimage to the woodlands coincided with another event, the beginning of Farm City week which is a national promotion designed to improve communication and understanding between farm and city folks.

The juxtaposition of these two events reveals just how far apart country values are from city ones. Shortly after the beginning of the deer hunting season, a local Indianapolis television station put a photo on its website of a recently killed deer. The accompanying article was very positive about hunting and stressed that the deer population is at record levels The story even stressed how an out of control deer population was a danger to everyone as motorists often find deer in the road, usually with tragic results for both the driver and the animal. What was far more interesting than the story, however, was the conversation that ensued in the comment section of the web site between hunters and those who feel it is an abomination.

There was of course the usual group of whiners who just can’t stand the thought of eating meat or killing an animal for food. But what I found more interesting was the number of people who were repulsed by the sight of a dead deer. The photo was not particularly gruesome with no blood stained entrails in sight. In fact, it was hard to tell if the animal had been shot or hit by a car. Yet, readers vivisected the station for publishing the photo, “That’s a horrendous picture to put on your website. Shame on you.” One person wrote that his 5 year old had been traumatized by seeing the photo.

This elicited a flurry of responses from hunters who had less than kind things to say about those who were offended by the photo, “People like you raise kids who turn out to be our next Barney Frank.” Things went quickly downhill from there with hunters being classified as “rednecks” and those who oppose hunting being classified as “weenies” or worse.

Lost amid the din were a few brave souls who eloquently portrayed hunting as a basic right, a family tradition, a source of food, and a way to manage the ecosystem. Unfortunately, the extremists on both sides were yelling too loud to hear any of this.

The debate over hunting is not new, but changing American attitudes about animals and the environment has had a profound impact on the debate. Farm City Week organizers have realized this and included discussions of animal issues in their activities this year. Just as most people do not understand people who farm for a living, there is a great deal of misunderstanding about hunters and what hunting means to them.

Communicating these realities to people who do not want to deal with reality is a tall order. But, it is what farmers and hunters must face if we want to avoid public opinion turning against us. We have the guns and the food, but they have the votes; so we have to find a way to coexist.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Gary Truitt may write to him in care of this publication.