I have run an ad in The Lima News for three years in a row now. The content of it is that I, as a combat veteran, wished to obtain or purchase permission to deer hunt on private land.
I would never presume to tell anyone how to run their own property. I find it incredibly sad that after three years of running this ad in not only The Lima News but in half a dozen other local papers, including three in Indiana, that I have never received even one call — not even to sell permission.
I know there are people who are disrespectful to the land and their owners, and again I would not presume to judge you. But with Veterans Day approaching, I find that more and more to say that you appreciate the veterans has just become stylish to say. The only people who really appreciate the veterans are other veterans and their immediate families.
I have long since made peace with the faces of the dead that I see in my dreams every night. That is the burden that all combat veterans share. The only peace I find anymore is the time I spend outside.
I have utilized public land to the extent that the law will allow. The limit on public land is one deer of each sex for the entirety of the season statewide. Therefore, without access to private land, my season is over having taken one deer already.
This is in no way a guilt trip, merely an observation — an observation that I’m sure other veterans have come to share.
Timothy D. Thornton
St. Marys
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