Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: Legends of the Fall
A Daily Reckoning Special Position Paper
by Jim Amrhein
“The encouragement of a proper hunting spirit, a proper love of sport, instead of being incompatible with a love of nature and wild things, offers the best guaranty for their preservation.”
-- U.S. President and Nobel Prize winner Theodore Roosevelt
I ONCE WROTE an essay in this forum that I’m still getting feedback about. It dealt with the touchy subject of animal rights (or rather, the lack thereof). In the closing paragraph of that piece, I promised to expose the animal rights crowds for the hypocrites they are at a later date — and to demonstrate that the best friend any wild animal ever had is the hunter who exercises his or her personal freedom to stalk the woods, mountains, meadows, or marshes with gun or bow in hand….
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: Hunting for Reason — and Respect
And now that it’s the crisp and colorful fall, and time once again for those who are so inclined to hang some healthy wild game on the ol’ meat hook, it’s time for me to make good on that promise. I’ll also offer a “sacrificial lamb” to some critics who claim some of my columns have little financial component to them. To those folks, I say this: What you’re about to read should slake your thirst for numbers. But as you read, I urge you to keep in mind my larger point — that there’s a negative fiscal impact whenever personal freedoms are compromised.
Here’s a fact the animal rights crowd doesn’t like to hear, or to admit:
There wouldn’t be nearly as many (if any) vast tracts of publicly owned land to hike, bike, bird-watch, dog-walk, horseback ride, or generally gambol around on if regulated hunting did not exist. Funds generated by license fees and federal excise taxes on outdoor gear pay for these lands by an overwhelming margin. In fact, these monies dwarf all other sources combined — including the nearly nonexistent contributions of animal rights organizations (more on this in a minute). That means outdoor sportsmen are overwhelmingly the largest source of conservation funding in the United States….
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: “Hunter-Vationists” Are Paying for Everyone’s Party
Here are the numbers, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and other public sources:
** $746 million — Annual amount of money spent by hunters in the United States on licenses and public land access fees alone. Sportsmen’s licensing revenues account for more than half of all funding for state natural resource agencies
** $300 million — Additional monies contributed to wildlife conservation every year by the more than 10,000 private hunting-advocate organizations, like the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
** $4.2 billion — Amount of money sportsmen have contributed to conservation through a 10% federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, and gear since the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act established the tax. Millions of acres of public-use land has been purchased, preserved, and maintained with this money.
From an ecological point of view, here’s what all this translates into– The needs of wild animals — especially endangered and threatened species — are immeasurably better served by the millions of acres of well-maintained, patrolled habitat that hunters’ dollars are paying for than the lies and propaganda dished out by animal rights groups. In fact, their efforts are among the most destructive forces facing wildlife of all types today…
Why? Because if the animal rights crowd got its way and hunting were outlawed, there’d be no money for the preservation and expansion of the habitat that houses not only game species, but the endangered, threatened, and recovering species as well. Like it or not, and believe it or not, sportsmen’s dollars are in large part what has made possible the wildly successful re-establishment of the wild turkey, black bear, bison, elk, and the bald eagle. Yes, it was vast tracts of public, protected land and plenty of dollars for reintroduction efforts that made these miracles of conservation a reality — not to mention the 20-fold increase in the number of wild elk, the 133-fold increase in the wild turkey flock, and the roughly 70-fold increase in the national whitetail deer herd over the last century.
If sport hunting and/or sport fishing were outlawed (animal rights groups are gunning for them both), many of these species would dwindle once again — because sooner or later, the government would no doubt pony up a lot of these lands for development. They’d have to; who else would pay for their upkeep and regulation? The animal rights crowd?
Uh, no.
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: A-Hunting They Will Go — for Headlines and Hype
In case you’re wondering how much money animal rights groups devote to habitat preservation and the welfare of wild species, take a gander at PETA’s 2004 financials. Straight from its Web site, I discovered that PETA’s prodigious revenue of over $29 million bought:
** 2,700 media interviews
** 703 organized demonstrations
** Nearly 11,000 mentions in print
** Coverage on at least seven major TV networks
** 150,000 “vegetarian starter kits” disseminated to the public
** Enough “educational materials” for 235,000 teachers and 11,000,000 students…
But not a single acre of land for wildlife preservation — not even for endangered species!
Hmmm. Seems that PETA and friends just don’t realize that what critters of every stripe need more than billboards, picket lines, ad campaigns, and celebrity advocates are places to live and thrive. Without the immense revenue of hunting-related dollars, these lands simply would not exist. That’s a hard pill for them to swallow. And as if it isn’t bad enough that animal rights groups — for all their high-profile anti-hunting bluster — don’t seem to pay for ANY true wildlife conservation efforts, they also spend a good deal of their time and resources obfuscating the truth about where conservation money does come from. Case in point:
In a 2003 news release aimed at opposing the New York Bureau of Wildlife’s plans to promote hunting and trapping in publicly owned sections of the Catskill Mountains, the notoriously militant Fund for Animals (ironic name, since I could find no evidence that they spend any money on wildlife conservation, either), stated that: “Although [the Bureau of Wildlife] is financed by millions of dollars of the public’s tax money, the nonhunting public’s viewpoint is consistently ignored…”
Yet according to the New York Bureau of Wildlife’s own financials, its primary source of funding is hunting, fishing, and trapping license fees, public land usage fees, and fines for violations of fisheries and wildlife management policies. Less than 12% of its operating budget comes from state tax revenues. This is a similar ratio to other states’ natural resources agencies’ funding. In fact, nationwide, sportsmen’s dollars outpace tax dollars for conservation efforts by a ratio of 9-to-1!
Can you think of ANY other federal government program that divines only 10% of its budget from the general fund?
But what’s really mind-boggling about the whole shebang is this: Even if animal rights groups could match the $3 million a day American sportsmen contribute directly to wildlife conservation and protection through license fees, land usage fees, and excise taxes, it still wouldn’t even come close to justifying the outlawing of hunting from a dollars-and-sense perspective, personal freedom issues notwithstanding.
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: Stalk Softly and Carry a Big Stack (of Cash)
We’ve established that sportsmen’s dollars are the engine driving wildlife conservation, habitat protection and expansion, and public use lands. But this really only scratches the surface of how important hunting is to the American way of life. A lot of people probably don’t realize exactly how vital sport hunting is to the U.S. economy (animal rights groups know it, they just don’t want YOU to). Here are just a few examples:
** $24.7 billion — Amount of money hunters spend every year on their sport at the retail level. This money reaches all retail segments, including hard goods, travel, gas, trips, food and drink, supplies, vehicles, leases, lodging, and guide services
** $955.4 million — Annual amount of sales and fuel tax revenue directly attributable to hunting in the U.S.
** 575,000 — Number of American jobs sustained entirely by hunting
** $16.7 billion — Total annual salaries and wages paid to those who hold hunting-related jobs in the U.S.
** $2.25 billion — Dollar amount of combined state and federal income tax revenue generated by hunted-related employment in the United States every year.
How do these numbers compare with other high-participation outdoor sports? For some perspective, compare hunting with another popular gear- and travel-intensive sport, skiing. According to the Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Businesses and other sources, the skiing industry annually:
** Employs approximately 127,000 people (less than a quarter as many as hunting)
** Pays gross salaries of around $1 billion (about 6% of what hunting pays)
** Yields just over $500 million in ski equipment sales (hunters spend more than this on their DOGS).
See what I mean? Hunting is big business in the United States. So big that animal rights groups could never even come close to matching, dollar for dollar, the positive impact sportsmen have on America’s bottom line.
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: Tyranny of the Majority Cuts Both Ways
Animal rights organizations are quick to sling the word “majority” around in making their case against the blood sports. They make the absurd leap that since the majority of Americans don’t hunt, that the will of the people is that hunting should be outlawed. Let’s examine this kind of logic for a second…
More Americans don’t ski than do hit the slopes every winter. More of us don’t own cats than do. Fewer Americans ride motorcycles than do, and more Americans have cell phones than don’t. Does this mean that skiing should be illegal, cat ownership abolished, motorcycles outlawed, and cell phones made mandatory?
Of course not. If the “majority rule” model applied to matters of personal freedom instead of solely to matters legislative and elective, NOTHING would be allowed, and no new technologies or activities would ever flourish or even take hold. Imagine how that would affect the economy. Beyond that, the whole point of personal freedoms is to be able to resist the tyranny of the majority if you’re so inclined.
And what’s really ironic is that if the majority in America really did wield the power in all things, animal rights organizations themselves would not be allowed. Far, far more people don’t belong to or support the goals of animal rights activists than do. But despite what PETA and friends say, the same cannot be said of hunting…
An independent polling organization (Roper and Starch) found in 2000 that 85% of American adults feel that hunting has a legitimate place in modern society. A full 62% agreed that hunters are the world’s leading conservationists.
And they’re right.
Right to Hunt vs. Animal Rights: The Talking Heads are out for Blood
What’s really lamentable to me is the fact that the left-leaning media have so skewed their portrayal of hunting that I feel compelled to write an article like this to defend it.
Seriously, do the media ever write or broadcast stories about the economic benefits of hunting or the billions of dollars hunters contribute to conservation efforts? PETA gets tens of thousands of mentions and plugs in the mainstream media — how many does the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation or Ducks Unlimited get?
And how about the hundreds of tons of meat donated every year by hunters to the homeless and impoverished — do you hear about that on the evening news? Last season, in Virginia alone, over a third of a million pounds of lean, high-quality venison was given by hunters to those less fortunate. I wonder how many tons of vegetarian food the animal rights crowd gave to these same folks? I’ll bet not one ounce (if they had, it would have been front-page news)….
The bottom line is this: Like it or not, sport hunting is an incredible boon to American society on multiple levels. But even if it weren’t, every true American should be in support of it (thankfully, most are — not that you’d ever discover this from the meat-hating media). Why? Because it’s perhaps the most vivid example in our culture of the exercise of multiple personal freedoms: to carry a gun on public land, to kill within the law, and to consume meat without interference from the USDA or FDA. That’s awhole lot of freedom bundled up in one activity.
Bottom line: Whether you agree with hunting or not, you should support it on principle. After all, how would you feel if the government outlawed something YOU love to do because some PR-savvy fringe group managed to spread enough lies about it through an activist media to make you a minority in the public’s eye?
So the next time you see a hunter by the side of the road unloading his gear or loading up his kill, give him a honk and a wave out of basic respect for exercising his freedom and paying for the out-of-doors areas we all enjoy. And if you’re an animal rights activist, pull over, park and give him a great big kiss, because he’s doing more to help animals than you ever will.
Better yet, buy a gun, some gear, a truck, and a hunting license and start really contributing to animal welfare — and your economy….
Always hunting for the endangered species of reason and fairness,
Jim Amrhein
Other Whiskey & Gunpowder Articles by Jim Amrhein:
Animal Rights: “Righting” a Wrong
“No rights of ANY TYPE exist naturally, by virtue of birth alone. In the natural world, all that any creature — man included — has a “right” to are those things it can take by force or forcibly defend from being taken.”
Gimme Back My Bullets
“My goal is twofold. First, to offer some proof of the worth — rather, the vital, lifesaving importance — of an armed citizenry. Second, to truly advance the somewhat stalemated Second Amendment argument with an interpretation of the amendment’s wording I’ve never heard anyone else talk about.”
Gun Control: Showdown at the PC Corral
“It was a recording of a 911 call that an incredibly brave city resident named Dwight Love placed in response to drug-dealing activity in his neighborhood. I call this man courageous because he placed the call from his cell phone in plain sight and within earshot of the criminals who’d taken over his neighborhood.”
Useful Links about Hunting Laws and Regulations:
International Hunter Education Association — The responsibilities and proper ethics every hunter should adhere to.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – What the Federal government is doimg to protect the fauna of America.
Looking for More on Hunting Laws?
Visit The Whiskey & Gunpowder Archives and you can search hundreds of unique Whiskey & Gunpowder issues and articles.
this is a really good research page.
PETA however, doesn’t realize how much hunters actually help improve wildlife by contributing money to help habitats and other wildlife needs as well as to manage the population.
This is definately one of the best hunting articles i have ever read. The part about donating venison is truely one great act that im surprised is not more well known.
Oh, please!
this is a ver good web site and its good fact and thanks it helping me with my project
hunting is not okay! whats your problem?! yes, everyone has rights, but so do animals! especially animals shouldnt be hunted for their fur! or mainly, JUST their fur! yes, i might be a freaky eco-friendly person, but i strongly support animal rights!<33
That was the BEST article i ever read, I think that you have a way wtih words and that this is all the eveidence i need to do a report for school. I my be a girl, but hunting is where it’s at!
hunting is a good way for kids to learn safty about guns.
Thank you for this i’m so sick of people telling me im a bad person for hunting i just pull a few of these facts out and they eat thier words its fantastic i’m a 16 year old girl and so i get alot of junk about how cruel i am but i am a full supporter of conservation and helping wildlife
YOU ARE JUST STUPED IF WE DONT HUNT THE ANIMAL POPULATION WILL OVER FILLED SO SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH
i agree to all of this this is right i love hunting so lets go do it.
Hunting is good and maintains the natural causes and numbers of things.
Great so ture I dont know if you are as tired of these aint-hunt people as i am but they have no clue. Hopefuly some of them read that and get it into their minds that we as hunters keep the population down and the parks nice!
im doing a paper on huntings positive economic and enviromental affects where did you get ur sources from
No, i donn’t think that hunting shouldn’t be outlawed.
I think hunting should be allowed. Animals have rights?
Hunting is the awsomest thing ever, it is good for the enviroment and the rest of the world
I love this! I know that I teach my children that if they are to hunt and kill it, then they are to eat it and not be wasteful. I know that there is a butcher here in Riedsville NC that cleans the dear that hunters bring in and donates it to the local soup kitchen. I also know that if it were not for deer meat then a few of our families first winters we would have starved. I think these animal activists are plagued my not having enough protein to support brain function…lol
In my view, the question is whether pure sport (and trophy) hunting in particular deserve SPECIAL protection. I don’t know the numbers, but my impression is that many more people would support the right to hunt for food (and other animal good) than would support the right to hunt for trophy (alone). But as I understand it, the various state proposals for a right to hunt, fish, and harvest nonthreatened species would protect even those forms of hunting that some people–even some hunters–find morally dubious. Money and conservation matter, but that alone is reason to think that many forms of hunting and fishing will survive activist challenges for a long time. And so a blanket “right” might just be superfluous. Thinking that the only way to ensure that there is legal hunting and fishing into the foreseeable future is to legislate a “right” to do it thus seems to give the most radical activists too much credit! (Is that thought that naive?)
Really enjoyed the article, in my school paper a student wrote a column saying hunting has become nothing more than a sense of power and that it is mistreatment of animals.
I have been looking over the internet for information to use to write a rebuttal, I was wondering if you could let me know where you got some of your statistics.
Thanks
over the age of 16 should be able to shoot a spike if big enouph if the spike is old and has at least 4 horns
It was a joy to read your article. I am writing a college research paper on a related subject to promote our dieing tradition – hunting.
This is the most informative article I have ever read. Thank you for all of the information. I am doing an essay on “The importance of hunting and wild life management. Thank you HUNTER 4 LIFE
Great information. PETA can kiss my ASS. The need to go crawl in a hole somewhere and disappear. Thank you for this article. Keep up the good work.
I like the article because it pretty much adds up my thoughts i mean look how much money hunters bring in to the economy and if population wasnt regulated we would have a lot more damage to cars and property.
Great artical,
I wish i had more time…i would pursue these tree hugger organizations till they sefl distructed. I wish they would get there heads out of the sand. I hunt, fish, practice survival, & run a trap line. I also run a large wildlife managment & pest control firm and am expanding rather rapidly (www.creaturecontrol.net). We not only modify habitats but presurve and create new ones. Our biggiest focus is on bat conservation b/c they are arguably the most important mammal on the face of the planet. I understand conservation and preservation better than any of these inbread tree hugging vegatable eaters and i love the wildlife more than they could ever imagen. I swear these animal rights chumps have brain damage…there minds are so one dementional.
I think I am in love with the author of this article.
Jk. But still. You raise the best argument I’ve ever heard. After all this depressing anti-hunting mumbo jumbo It made we want to cry to read such a wonderful article. Keep it up.
this artical really is amazing i have been working on this school paper for many hours now and your statistics are a great help but i am a bit against hunting because i hunt alot but i really feel pity for those wasted deer because of trophy hunting. when i hunt i am very resourceful we hunt for food not for who has the biggest head on the wall and i hope one day thats all we hunt for.
Yes you are right hunters do spend money to help the animals habitat so that they can continue to brutally murder the animals. Yes PETA is spending their money in ways to spread awareness in order to help from people such as these hunters that kill for no reason. The most common argument that deer and other animals are over populated is true but it is only true because hunters change their habitat in ways so that they are more compacted in and have less land so that they will reproduce more and be easier to hunt. People are forcing the over population to justify what you guys call a sport only because you guys are all too fat and unathletic to play a real sport.
Dear Tyler,
I absolutely love hunting. I have ran miles in under five minutes. I can do 93 pushups in a minute. I’m a sophomore in highschool and will have lettering in sports seven times once track is finished. That includes football which I was the smallest guy on the field. Before wrestling season i was seven percent body fat. My body can make many adults in there prime look bad. I’m one of the best athletes in my school, but acording to you i’m fat and unathletic cause i hunt. I ran over three miles to stalk a dear in the black hills and i caught it. Next time you should think before you make stereotypes.
ya three cheers for hunting!!!
animal rights?hahahah get out of town!
I hear this stuff all the time and I couldn’t agree more. Overpopulation of animals is a bad thing so guess what Tyler, it’s the hunter that keeps that bear or coyote out of your backyard. I love hunting and enjoy nature too. I take my shell casings back with me after firing to ensure I leave nothing behind. The huge herd of deer that I’ve seen right after deer season ended was enough to make me cry in the sadness that I didn’t get one of them 12 pointers that stayed off to the side of the herd. But the point is, I waste no meat or fur when it comes to hunting. It’s much healthier than the meat at the stores and taste better too. I not only hunt but help my pappy raise steers, chickens, and pigs for the year. Without this it would be hard to afford meat from the stores. And bullets are much cheaper than a $20 10lb. pile of steroid filled meat. So I will continue hunting and fishing and thank the Lord for every kill I make and pray that this right will never be taken away.
Uh also, animals can’t really think of pain and have a concept of life and death. God put them on earth for us to hunt and eat. I do wish that if people are going to trophy hunt, that they would use the meat too. But hunting should be preserved forever.
to Noemi, hunting animal is not vulgar, animal torture is. i didnt evolve to the top of the food chain to attack bushes for food. i didnt develop depth perception so i could eat leaves… i also didt develop the ability to eat meat… to waste it.. i dont believ in tortureing animals, but i am a strong supporter of hunting. hunting reduces overpopulation, and the spread of disease. hunters use quick humane kills to neutralize their prey.. that is what its about, not torture. and most PETA members support hiring “sharpshooters” to kill animals humainly…. but isnt that exacty what hunters do… but for FREE!!!! thats why hunting is a very respected tradition and will never die. im proud to be country and im proud to hunt with family and friends. I will never stop!
huntin is go0d
Noemi, I truly don’t believe this article had anything to do with that kind of hunting. This article, in my perspective, is purely about sport hunting, or hunting both for food and tradition. As a die-hard hunter AND supporter of the animals I agree that certain lines should not be crossed, but, the numbers don’t lie and we truly do do more for the animals than any other group ever will. I hope someday the world can open its eyes up to this, but I honestly doubt it.
Noemi,like your waiting around to see this,but if it weren’t for hunting do you realize how many deer,elk,etc.would die of starvation?There would be an explosion of them.
I’d just like to say something about a point you made. You criticised peta for not buying land for endangered species – thats not their job. Thats the objective of the wwf and other wildlife conservation charities. Peta exists to persuade people to treat animals ethically. And dont you think its.just a teeny bit cruel to take the life.of an innocent animal?
jacob, no its not dont you think it sucks eating vegetarian food. hunting is more than killing animals its spending time with your dad or grandpa or even both or your kids. how about peta leaves hunters alone and go eat you crappy vegetarian food.
I’m currently writing a paper for my Environmental Issues course, and I’m not a hunter; but I do realize the importance of hunting and what “Conservation” means. This is the best article I have ever read on the subject. I think that you hit the nail right on the head with your points, and because of this I think that I will start hunting with my father in law because of the importance of hunting. Thank you very much for this article. If you could give me some links to your sources I would be more than grateful.
Thank you Again.
chinga tu madre puto
i started hunting with my dad and uncle when i was about 12 years old. i am a young female who puts up with alot of talk about how i am a horrible person for doing what i do. but the truth is you are right. hunters have a huge impact of the enviroment and its protection. and we have a huge respect for the animals we hunt. i have never hunted out of season or without my license. allow i know that some hunters dont follow the rules. many do. for those who believe that hunting is a cruel practice think about this… how did your ancestors obtain food for their families? how did they keep the deer,buffalo, or elk from consuming all of their crops? hunters have helped keep your plates filled and your gardens flourishing. and i am proud to make my contribution.
People bashing at vegetarians are hypocrites and morons because they eat vegetables too.
People saying you murder a plant draws their line at EVERYTHING including animals.
So if they eat vegetables they are hypocrites. If they eat meat or hunt they are hypocrite.
I’m a meat eater but I oppose morons bashing at vegetarians and vegans.
They are to reasons to be vegetarians, ethical reasons or medical reasons.
Also hunters dictate wildlife and they only care for money and trying to manipulate wildlife numbers unselectively.
I have no problem if someone hunt for food not sport.
But sport hunters do NOT care for wildlife. Showing themselves aroused toward wildlife shows they hatred toward animals and an act of speciesism.
Hunters will NOT help animals in non huntable places.
Hunters will abuse their powers.
Look at this bigot racist white supremacist Ted Nugent who obsess on hunting to the point he poached, baited deers off seasons and got his license banned in many states.
Also redneck hunters goes in Africa where is human populations needs a control not wildlife and they hunt lions etc. They hunt vulnerable species because they don’t care for their future only money.
Also Africa has poor laws because of political turmoils and corruptions. Also it promote poaching.
Now because of hunters lions and other mammals are vulnerable and many species went endangered because of hunters.
Also many species went extinct because of hunters. So why trusting hunters when they wiped many species?
Is just like giving the Nazis a second chance when they had a dark side of killing 6 millions Jews.
Everything with a darkside / dark past should NOT be forgiven nor trusted.
They will repeat the same offense.
Anyone who hunt for sport are sadistic and animal haters. I have no remorse toward sport hunters who gets shot by another hunter accidentally they deserve it, I laugh at it. I feel no guilt for horrible people.
If our numbers keep on growing conservation will fail and all species will become endangered and will end hunting because Earth will run out of space.
Man should be responsible for their numbers before preaching at wildlife because their habitats will shrink and all animals will vanish.
Also these hicks give wolve bad names that is why soo many people hate wolves and wants to wipe them out. Hunters are wolf haters they admit it by calling wolf lovers bad names.
Hunters they are wolf hating BIGOTS.
Worst human being on Earth or I would say Subhuman.
Shame on them…!
i think its funny that you say hunters dont care for wildlife or the animals that live in it. why do you think most people go hunting?? i go because i love animals and the outdoors and waking up at three in the morning to hear the elk bugling.
I bet you didnt know that every year only a measured amount of tags are put out due to the population of where you are hunting. this number of tags helps regulate the population. think about this, if people didnt kill them instantly with a gun, they would starve to death, due to over population, in a matter of days,and the suffering would be stretched out. Is that what you want? because that make YOU the bag guy, not hunters.
so next time you go to point your blind rage in the direction of something you think to be true, DO THE RESEARCH!
ps. i really have no idea what africa has to do with this, or “wolf haters” pahahaha thats cute. and Nazis?? you really are trying to compare hunters to NAZIS? wow dude take a reality check. you read the article; hunters do more for wild life than animal conservationists EVER will. i cant believe you think you are better than people who hunt when you label us with stereo types like hicks,rednecks, and nazis and last but certainly not least (and my personal favorite) wolf haters??
so why dont you take a step of your oh-so-high stool and realize that i just made you look like a complete and utter selfish minded jerk, but to be honest you mostly did that yourself;) so congrats, at least you got one good point across!!
ya’ll are city slickers who don’t agree with huntin. haha, just because it isn’t your way of life, doesn’t mean it can’t be others. your fancy cars & thousands of square feet worth of homes that destroy the environment & take away land from animals is much worse than huntin. do your research.
i think that hunting is a way of life people have been raised on hunting an hunting with dogs for hunndreds of years. people need to relize people will never stop hunting your big house’s and your fancy things destroy are wild life
To noemi hunting is to keep certain populations like bears and mountain lions from getting in your backyard and eating you and your kids (if you have any) thats why we hunt. they hunt us we hunt them so its even either way. I usally call people like you that say stuff like that tree-huggers:)
okay one thing there should not be animal rights because it what keeps food on families tables and i believe that god put the animals on earth for us to eat just like some animals have there prey that they attack all most families do is eat rabbits, deer, elk, are the main things families eat so if that a problem you are messed up sorry to say but you are……. oh and gonda i agree with you they are tree huggers lol
southcarolina pride!!
To Ethical One
Hunters in general couldn’t care less about bashing vegans and animal rights activists. They’d like to be left to their own devices so they can enjoy hunting. It’s only when those vegans and animal rights activists started giving us a hard time that we have a problem.
Perhaps hunters do manage animal numbers unselectively for their purpose, but then again I don’t see animal rights organization doing ANYTHING to maintain wilderness areas, much less restore wildlife habitats to their pristine condition. Hence they have no right to attack what we do on this matter.
Hunting for sport is not sadistic. All of the hunters I’ve met are incredibly decent and law abiding individuals, they abhors cruelty toward any animals, much less human. Have you ever stopped to think that human beings have been hunting ever since our species evolved? Hunting and keeping trophies from it are incredibly human things to do, humans only started to think of it as sadistic when they got alienated from nature due to urban living. The most genetically similar creatures to humans (chimpanzee) also hunted, and many scientist argues that these hunts were more ritualistic rather than practical, thus showing how the ‘joy’ of hunting is also to be found elsewhere in nature. It’s natural for humans to enjoy hunting!
As to your claim that sport hunters in Africa is doing harm to species over there, that is complete BS. If anything sport hunters provide the reason the local people need to preserve the wildlife the sport hunters go after: economic benefit. Most scientists agree that sport hunting works as a wildlife preservation method, especially in areas where ecotourism isn’t practical. The fact that sport hunters would like to have animals to hunt in the future means that hunting companies would ensure that the harvesting of game animal is done on a sustainable level, so they will stay in business. In fact this is the best way to ensure the survival of any endangered species: to put economic value on it so that those who might be inclined to poach it or destroy its habitat will appreciate it more alive rather than dead.
The people responsible for the destruction of any animal species were market hunters (which today we call poachers, but back then was a legitimate way to make a living) and farmers and ranchers using unsustainable practices. Sport hunters could not possibly be blamed for that, in fact if anything the contributed to the survival of many. The Asiatic lions were saved from extinction because the Maharajah of Gujarat decided that he wanted the species preserved after seeing how few of them were still alive during a hunting expedition.
i’m a girl and hunting has been part of my whole life! it’s the best and i couldn’t imagine life without it. i actually just got done cutting up my deer.(:
I’m a 16 yr old girl and without hunting i don’t know what i would do. Hunting season is when i feel the closest to my stepdad, its a bonding time for us. I deer hunt with a bow, and the time I spend huniting isn’t about how I apparently “hate” animals. I love animals. I admire natures beauty. There is nothing more beautiful that the view of the timber from my tree stand. There’s also nothing more thrilling and REWARDING than the heart pounding experience of pulling back your bow and waiting for that deer to get right where you want it. Yes, I hunt. Yes, I eat meat. Yes, I don’t have the greatest oppinions of a veagan lifestyle. If thats what you wan’t tho, go ahead. I won’t attack your way of living, don’t attack mine. Hunting IS NOT a “cruel sport” Its a way of life.
I disagree that you did any great research here…you’re just proffering the same old tired points and ignoring better arguments against hunting.
Sir, hunting strikes a sour chord with decent people because it’s sick to enjoy killing animals, whether it’s done for the sake of food or not. Don’t even try to tell me that hunters love animals more than anti-hunters…I’ve known plenty of hunters, and most of them get their rocks off on the killing. They then come up with excuses to justify the hunt, like you have here, such as donating the meat to the poor, reducing overpopulation, etc.
Telling me to appreciate hunters because they pay to conserve habitat so they can shoot certain animals is absurd. They could pay to conserve/restore that same habitat, and then fund a humane method of animal control, such as medicated darts to deer to render females infertile for periods of time. Waterfowl eggs can be addled before the hen starts incubation, instead of shooting drakes from the sky. Developers should be discouraged from plunking down communities that displace animals, which you then call “nuisance” populations that need to be thinned out.
Please send me your sources I am a sportman if you donate to animal rights programs follow the money and see how munch goes to the animals You will not like what you see
10 Questions for STEVE:
One: Have you considered that the tired points may be true (seeing that you provide no evidence against them)?
Two: Have you ever went hunting?
Three: Do you understand that the pros of regulated hunting outweigh the cons?
Four: I can find a picture of a tortured deer and post it online with a “FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS AD”, but does this mean that that one picture is a good representation for the treatment of animals from every hunter, or even the majority of hunters?
Five: Do you realize that by saying the phrase”I know plenty of hunters to know that they get their rocks off on killing”, you offend the many hunters (like me) who do not get some SICK GRATITUDE in gutting a deer?
Six: Are you willing to risk the human lives of those who still ‘live off the land’ by supporting the end of regulated hunting?
Seven: Do you realize that your suggestions are unrealistic, because it would cost much more economically expensive to provide “Female Deer Infertility Darts” to the conservation, rather than allowing hunting?
Eight: Do you realize that we respect the deer because we kill them (whether right or wrong) and don’t kill them because we respect them? In other words, no one would pay to support the regulation of the population unless they were benefitting. Sorry it’s human nature (atleast for the majority of the world population).
Nine: Do you believe that it is realistically convienient to call PETA or the Conservation everytime five or six deer are munching on your field crop (ONLY SOURCE OF INCOME FOR MANY FARMERS)?
Ten: Did you know that, disregarding religious views, hunting has been a key source of food from the nomadic people of yesterday, to the civilized people of today and that more animal types have become extinct do to humans’ industrial impact on the environment, than the need to hunt?
sometimes when I’m alone in my house I lay on the ground and pretend I’m a carrot
hi I’m a first year hunter this was a great article so come and check out my hunting story.http://www.ideahive.org/presscot/
steve you are an idiot. your coming off stupid. stop talking.
i dont agree with malicious killing but i do see the point of killing to protect homes and precent ovr population but i definetly dont agree to kill endangered species do any of the hunters out there agree w/ tat? or do u kill to say tat u have? p.s im not trying to be mean or anything just curious….
I know that Steve has a point, but I was just lost looking for it. Hunters do so much more than take game for themselves. I have hunted and still do by the way. I have learend more about my quarry than the local PETA organizer. Why can not these people learn to love nature and live people to enjoy life the way they choose. I am not portesting their right to eat vegetables, by the way another living organism. Vegans choose to live their way,andI choose to live my way. Vegetables are a wonderful compliment to back straps!
Reading these posts one gets the impression that in order to be a fan of hunting you must be illiterate. You would make more convincing arguments if you could spell and use proper grammar.
good one gwen. I bet ugly have no common sence are scared of animals and are a bad driver. uv probley never been outside the city and have no conection with nature. ur really stupid.
hhhhhhhh
People like the few above that talk about hunting being cruel and fertility darts and blah blah blah make me sick. Aside from the obvious positive impact that this article shows hunting has on our economy and conservation issues, do some research about how well these aniamls would fare if they were protected from tree-hugging idiots like you. My guess is you live in California, or maybe some place similar where you lack a connection with the real world. I live in Ohio, where in 2010, there were around 225,000 deer harvested. this past season there were another 219,000 (I believe that’s the number I saw). Obviously the number of deer isn’t dropping. More importantly, what do you think would happen if nearly a half million deer were still there and fighting for the same food sources? Call it the cycle of life, call it the natural food chain, call it what you want. But don’t call it cruel, cruel would be letting them starve to death due to being over-populated. Deer are being hunted and killed for several reasons, the two most important being that they are an amazing food source, and that they would die naturally while suffering otherwise. I’m sure the first time a coyote got a hold of your chihuahua you would promote the hunting and killing of coyotes. No doubt hunting would be ok if it would benefit you. The only difference here is that you’ve seen Bambi one too many times
not everyone one from california are tree hugin idiots. nor cal isnt
Shame on those of you who feel you need to be disrespectful. It’s okay to voice your opinion but grow up and act like adults. This issue will never be resolved like this. i support hunting for food, we have been doing this for thousands of years. I DO NOT support trophy hunting. This can’t even be called sport since sport requires competition from the other side and these poor animals don’t have rifles in their hands! These so called sportsmen put GPS collars on their dogs and send them after the animal and then run up with their rifle and shoot the poor terrified beast. It’s appalling and shamful. I don’t care how much the trophy hunters pay to kill, it is wrong on every level. I am not a radical fanatic, just a reasonable thoughtful human being.
While I have killed my share of animals on a farm, and have done a bit of hunting, and listen to many family members describe their hunting experiences, here is the problem I have in general with hunting: While “nature” hunts with a natural selection process of usually killing the weak, old, sick, etc., man hunts for the “best” of the allowed licensed “trophy” animal, even when hunting game for food, leaving mostly the weak, old, sick, etc. While I know this statement is a generalization, so don’t get up in arms if this does not apply to you, I have yet to have a hunter I discuss this with disagree with me. If anyone would please debate this and convince me otherwise, I would like to hear it…
P.S.: Please consider the reason there is an overabundance of animals to hunt for population control: natural predators have been wiped out, i.e., bear, wolf, etc., by many farmers and ranchers. Perhaps we would not have to use hunting to keep some species in check if the natural balance were not upset with urban sprawl, creating a need and want for outdoor spaces to be put aside, such as the many open spaces/national forests/public use lands here in Colorado. Just a thought. Again, please discuss …
Hunters are pussies who enjoy killing with a weapon because they have the power. Go hunt naturally with your bare hands and then I won’t bother you. Until then, you’re all pussies.
Overall, I think that regulated hunting should be allowed to those who use the opportunity properly and hunt safely.
[To Bob] You infer that any person hunting with a weapon is weak and should not be allowed to hunt, and then insist that one should be allowed to hunt if they kill animals with their bare hands. My problem with your argument (aside from your name-calling technique) is that even our ancestors, who unsuccessfully tried to hunt for food without the use of weapons, eventually created tools so that their struggle to survive would become less difficult. In addition to that, animals are still a major part of the American diet and culture, and I presume that it would be a difficult task to change the culture of every hunting individual in the U.S. On top of all of this, the amount of damage done to wildlife by large industries and corporations has been much more effective in endangering animals than the average hunting citizen. I feel that your post contains some potential if your point is that using one’s bare hands provides a fairer chance for the animals at risk from hunters. However, your argument does not provide supported, opposing criticism nor does it specify your reasoning in why you feel that weapons make a hunter feel powerful. If you would, please elaborate on why you feel this way and why hunters are weak just because they use weapons (as opposed to their bare hands).
Good point about if hunting was not here we would’nt have all this open land for wildlife.
I wonder if this guys a hunter?
I wonder if the people that are so sick of the killing of animals know that PETA kills more animals a year then any hunter? In fact Peta doesnt run “no kill” shelters at all. They have been forced to acknowledge this after their employees were brought up on charges.
Just a note on african hunting, areas that allow sport hunting in africa have stronger animal populations, because the money generated by hunting is used to preserve the wildlife, feed the locals and stop poaching. By doing this they got “normal” people to care about the wildlife.
Lastly no animal that has had a regulated hunting season has ever become exstint, in fact their populations grow and stablize.
Like my brothers the Wolf, the Lion and the Bear I too am a hunter. and like them I have the right to hunt and to kill so that I may eat and feed my sons and daughters. The rabbit, the deer and the fowl are also my brothers. I love them for the sacrafice they make so that me and my family may eat. This is how I choose to live and I dont ask anyone else to choose like I do. I dont want anyone to choose for me.
Kiowa
bob call me a pussie to my face and beat ur face in. ur tough behind ur computer screan come say somthing to me in person and ull see how pussie a hunter is.
25 MILLION RABITS ARE HUNTED YEARLY PUT A STOP TO IT!!
YOU F****** C****!!!!!
Hunters and supporting agencies are *compelled* to pay – it’s not a voluntary action, so let’s cut to the quick.
Subsistence hunting is accepted by many “rights” people (many of whom are NOT PETA advocates) but trophy hunting (look at the idiot Trump brothers as an example)cruel trapping and predator contests are a BIG no no because there is zero need – it’s a fun thing for them and is highly resented by AR’s. Amusingly,these people are tripping over themselves trying to convince the gullible public that they are saving their communities from wildlife predation on humans. Clearly, they don’t even know the facts, such as taking out an alpha female coyote will cause an area to become more highly populated with coyotes, yet they love to portray themselves as neighborhood heroes. Stop the b.s. Do you really expect people to believe that you “love” animals? I believe that for non-subsistence hunters, there needs to be a serious psychological study done on their need to kill.
Regarding this article, you have done a fine job of attempting to devise plausible explanations for the purpose of deceiving the non-hunting public.
we need to at lest hunt 2 bucks and about 4 does
George, Get real. The truth is.. Hunters may be compelled to support wildlife..BUT, the animal rights activists are NOT..so one would think that the contributions should be considerably higher from those groups, yet they are NOT. You make claims in your article without any backup, thus lacking any credibility at all. If you, and others of your ilk, were so concerned that hunters are evil..back up your claims with verifiable proof. Go on, I dare you. With the rise in rabies, and now canine distemper being found in coyote and wolves, it is imperative these animals be culled from problem areas. It is fact, that the distemper virus, can remain in an area, long after the animal has left. This means young puppies are now a risk for contracting the disease. (http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Coyotes+shot+city+found+have+canine+distemper/5929790/story.html) As well, many A.R.’s insist on feeding deer and other wildlife in their backyards, further increasing the risk of potentially dangerous encounters between human and wild life. Plus the added threat of attracting not only deer, but the predators that prey on them. Government agencies that from time to time find it necessary to order a cull, do so based on studies by accredited scientists, and follow guidelines set out in advance. Is it pleasurable to go hunting? You bet it is. Is there a chance I am going to start killing humans because I enjoy hunting? Nah, why bother? War, terrorism, child abuse, spousal abuse, starvation due to overpopulating, will do it for me.
I love the post made that states if we hunt with our bare hands, it is ok..Take a good hard look at that stupid statement. We could do it..however..we would be torturing the animal to death. We would have to hunt the young as they would be within the human’s ability to capture. Now, we get to beat them to death with our fists. Really? That is preferable over a quick kill from an approved hunting weapon? Here I mistakingly thought that AR’s were against the cruel treatment of animals. Well, I am sorry, but I refuse to torture any animal, even one that makes such a ridiculous statement.
As for urban sprawl being the reason animals need to be culled, you had best rethink that statement as well. Humans are thriving, they have figured out how to attain food without depletion of resources, thus increasing their numbers. Snow geese for example, have done the same thing, and are now destroying the tundra they inhabit. Humans are responsible for that in one way, and one way alone. Due to the increasing bad reputation that hunters are being painted with, the geese are wildly overpopulating. As humans that share this planet with them, we have chosen to NOT allow them this destruction in order to preserve that land. I pose you this…were a species of animal threatening your health and safety, and the health of your children, or home, would you not do whatever necessary to protect it? If you said no..I will without hesitation, call you a liar. We have a responsibility to protect and preserve our natural resources and the bottom line is this: Hunters have succeeded in bringing back from the brink of extinction many species of animals, AR groups..are continuing to undermine that effort, and there really should be law put in place banning the propaganda they advertise.
After all, how would you feel if the government outlawed something YOU love to do because some PR-savvy fringe group managed to spread enough lies about it through an activist media to make you a minority in the public’s eye?
What if what I loved to do was rape children or traffic women? This is the most ridiculous argument put forward. The points on conservation put aside,it doesn’t matter if an activity involving the taking of life unnecessarily is something some LOVES.
anyone who doesnt agree with hunting can lick my ball sack and stop commenting on this
Great article, lively replies, but as alwyas PETA comes out smelling like a rose because most of the comments make hunters look ignorant, and self absorbed. I am a hunter and I have a college degree, I am an anthema to most PETA people who think if you continually do nothing something will happen. I would challenge any PETA person to a debate on the facts in any open forum. Mano a Mano, no weapons just the facts if they choose to do so. I would ask for an impartial panel to ask questions, let the public decide who has the best interests of the animals.
I’m totally down with this article. The guy has his facts straight and makes a clear argument. And BTW I am a leftist. Being pro gun/pro hunting socialist comes off as weird to alot of people on the right but I’ve known for years that Hunters care about the environment and want to help conserve our wildlife and keep the outdoors clean for everyone, because that is what every hunter I have ever met has said. Wild game is a lot better then factory farmed meat. I’m all for us having more veggies in our diets, and I would love for the meat we raise to be raised humanely and organically. Its possible. But let stop railing on hunters. The eat the meat or give it to others who would like to eat it (or need it). Hunters also pay alot for conservation like he said, as animal rights groups, spend money on advertising and such things, instead of conservation.
As I said earlier, I’m a leftist, I want the 1 percent pitch in an equal percentage as the rest of us do on the income tax. I want corporations to actually pay their taxes. And I want Animal rights groups to Actually help conservation instead of blustering about it.
Let hunters hunt.
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hi
I agree with this. http://www.petitiononlineaustralia.com/petition/stop-minors-shooting-alone-on-public-lands/403