Hippo Manchester
October 13, 2005

Pinings: Hunting Season
by Sherry Hughes

Dear Sherry,

It’s that time again: hunting season. Although I don’t have a big moral dilemma with hunting, it is bothersome to me in a couple of ways: My boyfriend is gone all the time for a couple of months in the winter. He does musket hunting, bow and arrow and rifle. He doesn’t go every day, but he does go several times a week. I also don’t eat meat, so most of the stuff he drags out of the woods isn’t anything I would eat or cook. He thinks I’m not being supportive.

What do you think?

- Chris in Hooksett

Dear Chris,

You don’t say whether or not he hunted before you met. If he did, this is what you signed up for. It’s kind of like him telling to you skip your book club or biking group. Those are things that make you an individual and that you shouldn’t change.

If your relationship is suffering because of his absences, that’s another story. If you have children and you are burdened with their care — completely on your own — for several weeks during the year so that he can hunt, you guys need to talk. And if he isn’t pulling his weight around the house in other ways (chores, home repair, whatever), you need to address that as well.

You guys might benefit from counseling to address compromises — when you need them and how to do them.