“It’s the second week of deer camp, and all the gang is here.

“We drink, play cards and shoot the bull but never shoot no deer.

“The only time we leave the place is when we go for beer…” — Da Yoopers

I never shot a deer. Never went hunting. I even lost a lot of masculinity status for being only one of three junior high boys at Croton School who didn’t take a day off for the first day of deer hunting season. All the girls laughed at me.

When friends would ask why, I’d honestly tell them I just didn’t care for shooting deer. I preferred catching fish, particularly trout. And just like most deer hunters, I ate my prey.

So I wasn’t against killing animals. Deer hunting just wasn’t my thing.

You very easily could say that my politics about hunting reveal that I am Pro-Choice, not Pro-Life. I’ll never kill a deer, but it’s absolutely none of my business if you do it legally.

I recall a book I read about 25 years ago former State Rep. Maxine Berman, who railed against the quaint, but horrible outdated practice in the State Legislature in which all lawmakers are given two weeks off for deer hunting season. I believe the male legislators just recently took a break from t heir work in Lansing for that “holiday” and walked away from a chance to come up with a negotiated settlement with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the budget. So it was more important to go deer hunting than negotiate a budget agreement, then they had the temerity to blame lack of an agreement on the governor.

I ask someone in the State Legislature to please introduce a bill to eliminate the privilege of taking two weeks off every year for deer hunting. We common everyday folks don’t get those two weeks. And I’ll bet a lot of the legislators don’t even go hunting.

Yet one of my favorite books of all time is “Deer Hunting with Jesus” by Joe Bageant. With terrific charm and with, the author implores all liberals, snowflakes and Democrats not to take away anybody’s guns, describing the family traditions with meaning in his youth.

Bageant, however, didn’t take a stand on the notorious AR-15 or other weapons of mass destruction. He essentially was talking about rifles and their use in the woods for sport and for food.

“Ain’t no pig fag legislator gonna say I can’t have guns.” — The Fugs, 1968, “Johnny Pissoff Meets the Red Angel”