Letters to the editor: There are better ways to hunt, treat deer

Deer deserve more respect

I read The Spokesman Review’s article about Michael Zavala, a California transplant, bagging a mule deer buck on his first try.

He had his 7-year-old daughter baiting the deer with apples, which is legal in Washington and illegal in Idaho and other states.

In my firm opinion, he’s a first-class cowardly hunter. My father and grandfather were hunters and we used the meat for food. They were true hunters who didn’t have to bait a deer to shoot it.

We also had pet deer as children that we raised from fawns. The game department gave them to my father, which is no longer legal. The does had been killed.

One of the fawns that survived we named Bambi. We freed him on my uncle’s ranch, which had a lot of deer that would congregate under a huge old apple tree we called the “deer apple tree.” My family never hunted the deer feeding from the apple tree.

So Michael, this is one native Washington resident who considers your hunting skills to be poor.

Janet C. Smith

Spokane

Blanchette’s style appreciated

I just finished reading another of many interesting, informative and entertaining columns by John Blanchette. He covers so much more than sports in his pieces.

I really enjoy the style he uses to personalize his subject by sharing so much more about athletes than accomplishments on the field or court.

What a way with words.

Anthony Giardino

Spokane