Hunting with Pia: BFA's Larry Moore takes FX's '30-Days' afield

By Larry S. Moore

The FX reality show '30-Days' recently aired a segment entitled “Gun Nation”. The show was filmed in Ohio. It featured a Pia Lalli, a Brockton, MA gun control activist and Ken Ekermeyer, of Leesburg in rural Highland County, who is a gun enthusiast. In addition to the gun activities of shooting and working in a gun store, Lalli went hunting while in Ohio. I was contacted by the producer and agreed to take her hunting. My daughter, Tiffany Atley, and I took her squirrel hunting just after Labor Day 2007.

In case the reader did not see the show, Lalli had a friend, who also happened to be her therapist, killed by a deranged man with a gun. After that she became a gun control advocate. She also embraces a vegetarian lifestyle and is anti-hunting as well. I don’t care who wants to be a vegetarian so long as they don’t attempt to take my freedom of choice to hunt. Lalli might be described as the stereotypical east coast liberal with a sense that the government should take care of the citizens. She has consistently voted for Ted Kennedy. On the other hand, I might be described as a conservative with the ideals that the government should stay out of my life. The words ‘gun nut’ and ‘hunting freak’ have been used by some to describe me. Fair enough. She is a hip-hop dance instructor. I am country or bluegrass music and definitely cannot dance. So the stage was set for one unique day in the woods.

It was not difficult to find a good squirrel woods where the owner would permit the crew to film. It was a lot more difficult to explain to the producer, and Lalli, when I suggested we meet at the farm at 5:30 that I meant ante meridian, as in the morning. Time must have different meanings on the east and west coasts. The farmer had graciously helped by bush hogging some paths through the woods. I find it rather interesting that one must mow before taking city folks into the woods. It did make it easy. I had scouted these woods just before Labor Day and photographed both squirrel and deer there.

Lalli immediately explained the only reason she was going hunting was it is in her contract. She really didn’t want to be hunting. The thought of killing for food scared her more than shooting a gun for the first time. She cried after that experience. Thankfully, my daughter provided an icebreaker. Since Lalli enjoys activities with her father she could relate that my daughter and I share the outdoors, even if it involves hunting. However she couldn’t understand how my daughter can work at a veterinarian clinic and then go hunting.

Logistically, it was difficult to get a group of ten people into the woods and ready to hunt. The first difficulty was getting people moving into the woods. The cameraman wanted to continue to shoot panoramic shots of the woods, fields and sunrise. Apparently sunrises over soybean fields and woods are not something the crew takes time to enjoy in the city. The drought conditions made every move a crunching crescendo of noise. While we enjoy the quiet seclusion of hunting, others seemed to think this was some spectator sporting event. Perhaps bleachers should have been erected in addition to the mowing.

Lalli almost immediately developed a nasty dry hacking cough. I have yet to decide if this was purely a case of nerves or if it was intentional to keep the animals out of range. Lalli noted that she wanted to see deer. Today I could only show her tracks and scat. The cameraman repeated numerous times that he had been on location filming with Ted Nugent. I wonder if Nugent allowed him to talk so much? Needless to say, to Lalli's relief, no animals were killed this day.

We did not load the Remington 1100 shotgun that I provided for her. I was aware of Ekermeyer’s training and her shooting at various ranges. It wasn’t long before I was really relieved her gun was not loaded. Gun handling in the woods with people in various locations is significantly harder than the controlled situations on the range. Clearly her previous shooting experiences had been controlled for her.

Lalli has a very limited understanding of nature. Her information seems to come from squirrels and pigeons in city parks along with a generous dose of “Bambi". She used phrases like “Daddy Squirrel” and “Mommy Squirrel” to ask questions about what happens to the squirrel family if we kill one. My daughter attempted to explain that she is using human terms and perspective to describe the natural world. It doesn’t work like that. We may know it doesn’t work like that but in Lalli’s mind – it works like that. I finally explained that “Daddy Squirrel” came in last spring when the girls were in heat, knocked up “Mommy Squirrel” and bailed out. “Daddy Squirrel” will not be around until next spring when the girls are in heat again and he wants more sex. (Any correlation to certain urban areas or perhaps bar activity is purely coincidental but it does appear some humans do act more like animals.) Lalli immediately made a face and exclaimed, “Ewwww, incest! My friend who raises dogs said animals don’t do that.” Attempting to keep a straight face, I explained that her friend lied to her.

Lalli deals with hunting and gun control, and probably her entire life, on an emotional level. I was actually surprised she didn’t come on with a bunch of anti-hunting “facts” from PETA like she tried with the Brady “facts” on gun control. I suspect that after '30-Days' and meeting with informed gun owners, she was starting to understand that her “facts” were not holding up very well. No doubt her comfort level will return when she is back home among other equally uninformed companions.

She has no idea where her food comes from, how it is grown or gets to the store. She eats a lot of soy products for protein. She noted the farm has a lot of soybeans and asked how they get harvested. She had never seen a combine. The farm has about 600 acres but someone with a ten-foot backyard and a concrete block wall doesn't understand an acre let alone 600 acres.

She is a fun loving full of energy and life person. I believe she left with a new appreciation of the ability to kill the food we eat, even though it is something she cannot do. At the end of our hunt she noted that hunting has re-enforced her vegetarian beliefs. While she occasionally ate fish or chicken, she now feels that if she can’t kill it then she shouldn’t expect someone else to do it for her. If more people thought about that, there might well be more vegetarians. I mentioned how this is contradictory to the fact that she expects someone else, the police, to take care of her security for her. She only responded that was different. No, it isn’t different but I let her have the out to avoid the debate.

After lunch in nearby New Vienna, where obtaining a vegetarian meal meant a cheese omelet for lunch, we bid her good-bye. The next morning a flight would return her to the concrete jungle of Brockton, near the housing projects where gunfire means gang activity. I can't imagine living there. The experience of this day firmly convinced me that there is a deep cultural divide in our country. Look at the red and blue spots on the political maps. It doesn’t just mean Democrats or Republicans. It also indicates which areas have a connection to nature and the land and which do not.

Each time I go hunting I wonder if Lalli is still safe in her environment and thank the good Lord that I am in mine.

Outdoor writer and hunter education instructor Larry S. Moore is a long-time volunteer leader for Buckeye Firearms Association and winner of the 2005 USSA Patriot Award and 2007 League of Ohio Sportsmen/Ohio Wildlife Federation Hunter Educator of the Year.