Teaching Ethics: A Discussion on Harvesting Wild Game with a Ten and Seven-year-old

The first steelhead my kids got to see caught this year!

My kids have fished since they were babies, literally. As soon as my daughter could hold up her own head, around the age of four months, I put a lifejacket, snow pants, and multiple layers of warm clothing on her, and we headed for the lake to slay some kokanee. Over the last few years, fishing, mushroom harvesting, and the outdoor life has been intertwined throughout the upbringing of both of my children, who are now ten and seven. I harvested a deer while I was pregnant with my daughter. My kids have seen me kill fish, and while my daughter, the gentle and sweet one, has asked to bonk her own Chinook before, my son, the boisterous, seemingly unsensitive older one, can’t handle it. While he plays rough and has meltdowns, watching things die is hard for him especially. The other day, this was witnessed. My kids are homeschooled and I took them out to catch a steelhead on a snowy February afternoon. No one was around and we hiked to the spot, set up, fished for a while and then brought out the thermos full of steaming bean and leftover pork roast soup. After the kids’ tummies were full and my daughter had picked up her little rod to fish, I cast again, this time with my Steelhead Slammer blue and nickel size 4 spinner. Check out this company by the way, I highly recommend his products! Anyway, this time a nice still-chrome buck (a male steelhead) took the bait, literally. Strike! And I was fighting a fish. As I saw him flash, I wasn’t entirely sure if I would keep him, or let him go. Bringing him onto the pebbled bank five minutes later, water gently lapping at my wader boots, both kids came over to examine him! “Let’s keep him!” Exclaimed my daughter. My son was vehemently against this idea. He turned his back when I decided, somewhat regretfully, that I would indeed harvest this fish. Quickly, I did the deed, choosing a thick piece of a maple branch that had been lying next to us on the bank. As I bonked him, I did feel some sadness. I knew I was taking a life, so that we could have life. I quickly turned and bled the fish, and then turned to my kids. Guys? We need to talk,” I said, hugging my son.

Both kids came over, hugging me and slowly examining it. I explained to my son that I have never once enjoyed killing anything. I have never taken pleasure in taking a life, no matter how lowly. I can’t even use a mousetrap, preferring repellent when needed. Killing hurts.

Fall Chinook our family harvested a couple of years back.

However, I explained to them that this fish had chosen to give his meat to us. He had willingly given up his body, and his spirit had already crossed from this place, on to the life of a new fish. My daughter then asked what it had learned in this lifetime. Having had extensive discussions about the cycle of human life, the fleeting amount of time we spend down here on this dense planet called Earth, in between breaks from our soul spending time in the higher realms, it only made sense to explain things in a similar way. I told her that I felt this fish had learned a lot about how to survive as a fish on this river system. He had learned lessons that would enable him to survive even better as his spirit went on his journey to being a new fish. I told her how, when a fish is hatched (is that what you call it?) he would go to the ocean, then come back up, and when he got to the point where we had found this one, he was nearly ready to finish with this lifecycle anyhow. He would have abandoned this body soon, regardless if we harvested him or not. My son still seemed sad, but he accepted this, even asking to take a few casts with my rod immediately after (he usually doesn’t like to fish).

This discussion is an important one. If your children eat meat, they need to hear this. Even if you don’t harvest your own, something has to give itself up to give us sustenance. Even plants are alive, and willingly bear fruit for human consumption. This is the cycle of life on this planet. This is part of living as a human being. If kids are not taught about this important topic, with care and love while this discussion is being had, they’re not being told the truth. While some may consider hunting violent (and if you do, I am not here to convince you to suddenly hunt or fish), I think that it is important to understand that teaching kids where our food comes from may actually prevent them from developing a desire to be violent. If we teach the sacredness of food harvest, we teach respect. We teach kids to harvest with honor. Whether you believe in thanking God, or the universe, or even just the idea of THANKFULNESS, it is an important concept. Kids who don’t know where their food comes from, can’t possibly have as much gratitude for it, as the ones who have been told the truth about the food chain from day one. May this inspire you to honesty with your kids, and of course to go catch a big one if you fish!

Tight lines—

S

My son loved fighting kokanee when he was really little!