In Defense of Hunting

I am a hunter. It is quite simply a very large part of who I am. I do not have to defend my actions, although some radical groups, like PETA, would call me a heartless beast. Human beings are by our very nature, predators. I am a predator. To me, there is nothing that beats the thrill of putting in the long hours of preparation, scouting my area, placing tree stands, spending long hours sitting in those stands, and finally, matching wits with a whitetail as my plan comes together. The whitetailed deer and the wild turkeys which I hunt are much better suited to this game than I. The fact is, they usually win. When I finally close the deal and harvest a nice deer or turkey, I get a swelling of emotions, adrenaline, and excitement, and sadness (I believe that most hunters will back me up on that, there is an element of sadness when I harvest a beautiful animal like a whitetail, it is all part of that mixture of emotions, and I am glad it is there) that a nearly overcomes me for a few moments. I am, at that moment, in touch with all other human beings who have ever experienced that, in touch with God who created it all for us, and in touch with my "inner man", what ever that means (you only know it when you feel it). Hunting also provides my family with delicious and healthy meat (much healthier than beef) which we enjoy throughout the year.

Some groups, like PETA, are daily doing battle trying to take these rights away from me. Fortunately, in the most recent polls, 78% of Americans support legal hunting. But the very vocal anti-hunting groups claim that I am some sort of caveman or monster for wanting to kill a wild animal get a lot of attention and spend a lot of money trying to paint me as a villain. I believe most of them are well meaning people. The animal rights activists just don't know, or choose to ignore the facts. They love fluffy little animals and would never harm a fly (just ask President Obama what PETA thinks about flies). The fact is, they can't see past their emotions to look at what hunters REALLY are...conservationists. That is right, hunters do more than ANYONE else to protect and care for wild animals! Let's look at some facts...

In the 19th century, as Americans opened up the frontier of the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, market hunting (that is wide spread killing of anything and everything for the selling of hides) took a huge toll on the game populations. Large game species disappeared from much of their original habitat. Buffalo, elk, cougars, bears, deer, turkeys, and the like, which once roamed through much of the midwest and southeast, were hunted out of those areas. Market hunting is NOT the same as conservation hunting. Today, hunters are one of the most vital cogs in the machinery of the conservation movement. Founding fathers of the modern conservation movement such as Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold (all avid hunters and sportsmen) worked diligently in the early 20th century to change the face of hunting. The ugly practice of market hunting finally vanished and the sport of hunting took center stage as a conservation tool. It was the dollars spent by hunters that reintroduced deer, turkey, (and elk in some areas) to their original home range. Today, there are more deer and turkey in most of their original home range than ever before!

Yet, having too many deer is no small problem either. There simply aren't enough natural predators out there to keep deer numbers in check. Nationally, deer cause more than 1 billion dollars annually in farm crop damage. Deer-car accidents kill about 100 people in the U.S. each year and cause more than 1 billion dollars in property damage. In fact, deer kill more people in the U.S. each year than sharks, alligators, bears, or rattlesnakes! Imagine how much those numbers would go up if hunters were not helping to reduce the numbers to manageable levels.

Hunters give resource managers an important tool in managing the game populations that might exceed the carrying capacity of their habitat and threaten the well being of their species, other species or, in some cases, damage human health or safety. In the process of killing a select few of the herd or flock, hunters play the role of improving the overall quality of life for the rest of the animals. Hunting reduces interspecies competition for food, water, and shelter, lessening stress and mortality among the remaining animals.

Hunters also are the key component in the government being able to allocate large parcels of land to be used for conservation and wildlife management. Each year more than $200 million in hunter's federal excise tax money goes to state agencies to support their wildlife management programs. Since 1934, over $700 million dollars collected through Duck Stamp sales has gone to help the government buy and set aside over 5.2 million acres (8,100 square miles) of habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. That is over 8,000 square miles of wild land that will go undeveloped and provide refuge for all manner of wildlife, thanks to hunters.

In recent years, hunters have developed programs that provide a lot of food for the homeless and prisons as well. Programs have been put in place in most states where hunters can donate their deer meat to organizations which distribute it to those who need it most. Because of this successful program, tons upon tons of nutritious protein have helped millions of people who sorely needed it.

As I stated at the beginning, I am a predator and I don't have to apologize for it. But I did feel compelled to share some numbers to enlighten those who might be on the fence about hunting. Consider it meat for thought.