I'm not a college kid or an English major, so please don't slay me if my grammar isn't up to your standards. I wrote this the other day when I was bored at work. My step mother is anti-hunting and I wanted to write something to help convince her that it's not what she thinks it is. I know when some people have their minds made up there's no convincing them, but it's worth a shot.
Do you support hunting? Do you know anyone who hunts or have you even hunted yourself? I’m writing this not to take a poke at anti-hunters or to try and enrage animal lovers who view hunting as merely “murdering animals”. I’m simply writing this to bring awareness to the cold, hard facts about hunting that cannot be disputed. If you can bring yourself to finish reading this, I think you may find a different view on hunting and all the benefits it offers.
I’ve been an enthusiast of outdoor activities all my life. I love camping, fishing, shooting, hiking, and pretty much anything that involves the outdoors. Some of my fondest memories are of fishing and camping with my father and brothers. Now that I’m a father I can use hunting and other outdoor activities as bonding experiences for my daughter and I to share. It certainly beats sitting on the couch watching television or playing video games. Previously I had only dabbled in hunting and it was fun at the time. But back then I wasn’t aware of all the benefits and services it provides not only to me, but to everyone else as well… whether they know it or not… I only recently became seriously involved in hunting and I must admit, I’ve found something new to enjoy and be passionate about. Not only is the experience of being in the woods and enjoying mother nature a true privilege, but there’s a certain primal sense of accomplishment in harvesting your own food. Besides, I think venison and wild pork tastes better than store bought meat. That is the kind of hunter I am. I appreciate and respect nature and all it has to offer. I only harvest an animal if I fully intend to make good use of all its meat. Personally, I frown upon people who only shoot an animal for a wall mount, or just take the back straps and leave the rest for the scavengers. I’m sure they have friends who would love the other parts of that animal, but laziness prevents these people from taking the time and exerting the effort to harvest it. But that’s just my thinking and to each their own. Don’t get me wrong, I fully intend to have a mount made of my trophy when I actually harvest that big buck, elk, or caribou so that I will have a memento to remind me of that great experience. But you better believe that I’m going to take full advantage of the rest of that animal and none of it will go to waste. Realistically, it’s no different than someone eating a hamburger or some chicken nuggets, except they don’t have to get their hands dirty to enjoy it.
To be fair I must acknowledge some of the common reasons I’ve experienced as to why some people are against hunting. I’ve spoken with numerous people who are against hunting and pretty much all of their views are the same. They’ve experienced the “dark side” of what some people refer to as hunting and it left a bitter taste in their mouths about the sport and the sportsmen who participate in it. Things like finding a deer in the woods with only its head removed or not being able to drive to the store without seeing numerous animal carcasses rotting on the side of the road during hunting season. Or even that they just don’t feel the taking of a wild animal’s life is justified. But apparently it’s fine to take the life of a domesticated animal for some reason. But I understand their feelings and there will always be those bad apples that lack ethics when they hunt. All we can do as hunters is try to be as ethical as possible when we hunt. It can be as simple as donating your kill to a homeless shelter or butcher if all you want is a head for your wall. Or taking the animal carcass to the woods or burying it after you’ve harvested the meat. There’s no reason other than laziness that someone would pull over and dump the remains of their kill on the side of the road, especially when most of these roads are just a few steps away from the woods.
Now that I’ve mentioned a few examples of poor hunting practices, I will list the many benefits hunters offer to this great nation. I’ll first start with the fact that catches most people off guard…. The immense amount of money that hunters and sportsmen contribute to wildlife conservation. Each day, sportsmen contribute more than $3 million to wildlife conservation efforts. This amounts to more than $1 billion per year. To date, hunters and fishermen have contributed a total of $17 billion for wildlife conservation. Hunters alone contribute over $14 billion to the U.S. economy each year, supporting more than 380,000 jobs. For every 50 hunters, enough economic activity is generated to create one job. Through over 10,000 private groups and organizations (such as Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation), sportsmen contribute an additional $300 million each year to wildlife conservation activities. For every tax payer dollar invested in wildlife conservation, sportsmen contribute nine dollars. A simple Google search will prove that these statistics are FACTS. Pretty mind boggling isn’t it? If you’re questioning just how hunters contribute all this money, here are a few examples…
LICENSE REVENUES provide more than half the income, on average, for the state fish and wildlife agencies. The money supports wildlife management and restoration programs, habitat improvement and general conservation efforts.
EXCISE TAXES on sporting equipment (such as firearms, ammunition and fishing tackle) provide over one fifth of the income for state fish and wildlife agencies. The funds are used to acquire, maintain and improve wildlife habitat and to make the nation's lands and waters more accessible and enjoyable to all its citizens.
OTHER INCOME SOURCES include special taxes and receipts from the sale of "Duck Stamps" (required of all waterfowl hunters), income tax check offs and interest collected on license fees. Duck stamp proceeds are used by the government to buy or lease wetland habitat for duck, geese and hundreds of non-game birds and animals. This money comes from the states overall budgets, supported by taxes paid by everyone (including sportsmen).
SUMMARY: Hunters and fishermen provide more than 75% of the annual income of the 50 state conservation agencies. Sportsmen are clearly the largest contributors to conservation - paying for programs that benefit all Americans and all wildlife.
Not only do hunters and other sportsmen contribute more money to conservation than anyone else, we also provide an extremely valuable service to the hard working farmers of this great nation. I will use Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as just two example of the nationwide damage deer alone cause to the crops that every American consumes and enjoys. In Wisconsin, a 1984 survey of farmers suggested minimum statewide deer damage of $36.7 million annually. A similar study in Pennsylvania estimates the annual crop loss at $16 to $30 million. That was over twenty years ago and due to stricter regulations the deer population has exploded since then. A study conducted by Conover in 2002 estimated the wildlife related economic losses to agricultural producers (farmers and ranchers) in the United States exceed $4.5 billion annually. As long as adequate food resources are available, deer populations can double in size every 2-3 years. One of the reasons these farmers suffer such high losses is neighboring property owners who prohibit hunting on their land. It has been proven that deer will seek refuge on these lands during the day when it is legal to hunt them and then make their way over to the farmers land to gorge themselves at night when it is not legal to hunt them. Think deer aren’t that smart?... You better think again. And those are just two examples of the damage deer cause. Wild hogs cause a huge amount of crop damage as well but aren’t as wide spread throughout the U.S. So they mostly affect the southern states where their population density is extremely high. Surveys conducted in other agricultural states have produced similar numbers. So next time you and your family enjoy fruit or vegetable products, think about how much it would cost if there weren’t hunters out there doing their part to keep crop loss down.
But the services hunters provide to Americans doesn’t end there. Ask yourself this question… Do you know anyone who has hit a deer with their vehicle? You may have hit one yourself. Now think about the amount of damage a 150-200 pound deer can cause to your vehicle when you’re traveling 70 miles per hour on the interstate… From personal experience I can say that it certainly is not cheap. Now think about how high your automobile insurance premium is right now. It may not be that high or it may be outrageously high. Either way, one thing is for sure, it would be a whole lot higher if there were 20 times the amount of deer-vehicle collisions annually. Estimates by Hesselton and Hesselton (1982) suggested that the cost of deer-vehicle collisions may exceed $100 million each year in the United States and Canada. In fact, the cost of deer-vehicle collisions was estimated at $100 million in Wisconsin alone in 1990. State Farm Insurance said that drivers in Pennsylvania experienced more deer collisions than any other state between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005. They estimate that 1.5 million vehicles collide with deer every year, resulting in 150 motorists’ deaths and $1.1 billion in vehicle damages. Coming in second and third were Michigan and Illinois, followed by Ohio and Georgia. Minnesota and Virginia ranked sixth and seventh respectively, while Indiana, Texas, and Wisconsin rounded out the top ten in the nation. Now imagine how many deer there would be today and how many deer-vehicle collisions there would be each year if hunters weren’t out there keeping the deer population at a manageable level. You don’t even have to hit one yourself. You better believe that if there were tens of thousands of people under your insurance company that are hitting them your premium is definitely going to be affected. Your insurance company will have to do something to make up for those losses and that something will be raising your premium along with everyone else…. Or they might just get a government bail-out like every other company these days…. But that’s neither here nor there…. My point is, this is yet another beneficial service that hunters provide the American people, whether you knew about it or not.
Another valuable service that hunters provide not only you but your families as well is safety. Hunters are a vital part of keeping large game animals off America’s airport runways and out of the path of incoming and outgoing aircraft. Migratory bird hunters have the same impact by keeping the size of migrating flocks to a minimum and preventing them from being sucked into aircraft turbine engines during flight. Both examples effectively prevent potential aircraft accidents. And with the encroachment of suburban neighborhoods on wildlife habitats across the nation, hunters play a vital role in minimizing wildlife on human attacks. The New Jersey Division of Wildlife has determined that hunting reduces human-bear conflicts by keeping bears from losing their fear of people within their natural habitat. They’ve found that it saves the state money and keeps people safer when hunting is used to control bear populations. You can read more about New Jerseys bear population problems and how hunting is helping here… New Jersey Plan to Lift Bear-Hunt Ban Spurs Protests
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take the trash out one evening and get jumped by a bear who wants my garbage. Or have my daughter get gored to death by an elk when she’s out riding her bike or playing in the backyard. I am absolutely not advocating the eradication of these animals, but I wholeheartedly support hunting as a management tool to keep their numbers at bay. Otherwise, the examples I just mentioned would be a common occurrence across the nation.
The fact of the matter is that hunters play a very crucial role in effectively managing game animal populations. There are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes that dictate what kind of animals can be taken and when. These decisions are made by biologists that track and study animal populations in each state. Based on their findings they dictate when certain animals can be harvested, how many, and of what sex. These restrictions are what allow these animals to exist at acceptable levels so they do not become overpopulated and cause the many problems I’ve previously mentioned. Along with those problems, there’s also the issue of their habitats not having enough food to support such large numbers. If their numbers are not managed, they will eventually consume all the food in their habitat and starve to death. Overpopulation not only leads to starvation but can also contribute to the spread of diseases. So that would basically be the fate of these animals if some people had their way and all hunting ceased. Opponents of hunting, such as PETA, would say that hunting is cruel and unnecessary, and it hurts the animals rather than helping them. Well sure, it doesn’t sound right that killing these animals is helping them, but it actually is. And the FACTS that I’ve listed prove this.
In conclusion, I hope some of you better understand the benefits of hunting and what the large majority of hunters and sportsmen are really all about. Please don’t take this as me saying your views on the subject are wrong, but rather this is just me offering some factual information to try to squash some of the misconceptions about the sport I’ve become so passionate about.
Do you support hunting? If you don’t, maybe you should.
By: SWThomas
By: SWThomas
Do you support hunting? Do you know anyone who hunts or have you even hunted yourself? I’m writing this not to take a poke at anti-hunters or to try and enrage animal lovers who view hunting as merely “murdering animals”. I’m simply writing this to bring awareness to the cold, hard facts about hunting that cannot be disputed. If you can bring yourself to finish reading this, I think you may find a different view on hunting and all the benefits it offers.
I’ve been an enthusiast of outdoor activities all my life. I love camping, fishing, shooting, hiking, and pretty much anything that involves the outdoors. Some of my fondest memories are of fishing and camping with my father and brothers. Now that I’m a father I can use hunting and other outdoor activities as bonding experiences for my daughter and I to share. It certainly beats sitting on the couch watching television or playing video games. Previously I had only dabbled in hunting and it was fun at the time. But back then I wasn’t aware of all the benefits and services it provides not only to me, but to everyone else as well… whether they know it or not… I only recently became seriously involved in hunting and I must admit, I’ve found something new to enjoy and be passionate about. Not only is the experience of being in the woods and enjoying mother nature a true privilege, but there’s a certain primal sense of accomplishment in harvesting your own food. Besides, I think venison and wild pork tastes better than store bought meat. That is the kind of hunter I am. I appreciate and respect nature and all it has to offer. I only harvest an animal if I fully intend to make good use of all its meat. Personally, I frown upon people who only shoot an animal for a wall mount, or just take the back straps and leave the rest for the scavengers. I’m sure they have friends who would love the other parts of that animal, but laziness prevents these people from taking the time and exerting the effort to harvest it. But that’s just my thinking and to each their own. Don’t get me wrong, I fully intend to have a mount made of my trophy when I actually harvest that big buck, elk, or caribou so that I will have a memento to remind me of that great experience. But you better believe that I’m going to take full advantage of the rest of that animal and none of it will go to waste. Realistically, it’s no different than someone eating a hamburger or some chicken nuggets, except they don’t have to get their hands dirty to enjoy it.
To be fair I must acknowledge some of the common reasons I’ve experienced as to why some people are against hunting. I’ve spoken with numerous people who are against hunting and pretty much all of their views are the same. They’ve experienced the “dark side” of what some people refer to as hunting and it left a bitter taste in their mouths about the sport and the sportsmen who participate in it. Things like finding a deer in the woods with only its head removed or not being able to drive to the store without seeing numerous animal carcasses rotting on the side of the road during hunting season. Or even that they just don’t feel the taking of a wild animal’s life is justified. But apparently it’s fine to take the life of a domesticated animal for some reason. But I understand their feelings and there will always be those bad apples that lack ethics when they hunt. All we can do as hunters is try to be as ethical as possible when we hunt. It can be as simple as donating your kill to a homeless shelter or butcher if all you want is a head for your wall. Or taking the animal carcass to the woods or burying it after you’ve harvested the meat. There’s no reason other than laziness that someone would pull over and dump the remains of their kill on the side of the road, especially when most of these roads are just a few steps away from the woods.
Now that I’ve mentioned a few examples of poor hunting practices, I will list the many benefits hunters offer to this great nation. I’ll first start with the fact that catches most people off guard…. The immense amount of money that hunters and sportsmen contribute to wildlife conservation. Each day, sportsmen contribute more than $3 million to wildlife conservation efforts. This amounts to more than $1 billion per year. To date, hunters and fishermen have contributed a total of $17 billion for wildlife conservation. Hunters alone contribute over $14 billion to the U.S. economy each year, supporting more than 380,000 jobs. For every 50 hunters, enough economic activity is generated to create one job. Through over 10,000 private groups and organizations (such as Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation), sportsmen contribute an additional $300 million each year to wildlife conservation activities. For every tax payer dollar invested in wildlife conservation, sportsmen contribute nine dollars. A simple Google search will prove that these statistics are FACTS. Pretty mind boggling isn’t it? If you’re questioning just how hunters contribute all this money, here are a few examples…
LICENSE REVENUES provide more than half the income, on average, for the state fish and wildlife agencies. The money supports wildlife management and restoration programs, habitat improvement and general conservation efforts.
EXCISE TAXES on sporting equipment (such as firearms, ammunition and fishing tackle) provide over one fifth of the income for state fish and wildlife agencies. The funds are used to acquire, maintain and improve wildlife habitat and to make the nation's lands and waters more accessible and enjoyable to all its citizens.
OTHER INCOME SOURCES include special taxes and receipts from the sale of "Duck Stamps" (required of all waterfowl hunters), income tax check offs and interest collected on license fees. Duck stamp proceeds are used by the government to buy or lease wetland habitat for duck, geese and hundreds of non-game birds and animals. This money comes from the states overall budgets, supported by taxes paid by everyone (including sportsmen).
SUMMARY: Hunters and fishermen provide more than 75% of the annual income of the 50 state conservation agencies. Sportsmen are clearly the largest contributors to conservation - paying for programs that benefit all Americans and all wildlife.
Not only do hunters and other sportsmen contribute more money to conservation than anyone else, we also provide an extremely valuable service to the hard working farmers of this great nation. I will use Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as just two example of the nationwide damage deer alone cause to the crops that every American consumes and enjoys. In Wisconsin, a 1984 survey of farmers suggested minimum statewide deer damage of $36.7 million annually. A similar study in Pennsylvania estimates the annual crop loss at $16 to $30 million. That was over twenty years ago and due to stricter regulations the deer population has exploded since then. A study conducted by Conover in 2002 estimated the wildlife related economic losses to agricultural producers (farmers and ranchers) in the United States exceed $4.5 billion annually. As long as adequate food resources are available, deer populations can double in size every 2-3 years. One of the reasons these farmers suffer such high losses is neighboring property owners who prohibit hunting on their land. It has been proven that deer will seek refuge on these lands during the day when it is legal to hunt them and then make their way over to the farmers land to gorge themselves at night when it is not legal to hunt them. Think deer aren’t that smart?... You better think again. And those are just two examples of the damage deer cause. Wild hogs cause a huge amount of crop damage as well but aren’t as wide spread throughout the U.S. So they mostly affect the southern states where their population density is extremely high. Surveys conducted in other agricultural states have produced similar numbers. So next time you and your family enjoy fruit or vegetable products, think about how much it would cost if there weren’t hunters out there doing their part to keep crop loss down.
But the services hunters provide to Americans doesn’t end there. Ask yourself this question… Do you know anyone who has hit a deer with their vehicle? You may have hit one yourself. Now think about the amount of damage a 150-200 pound deer can cause to your vehicle when you’re traveling 70 miles per hour on the interstate… From personal experience I can say that it certainly is not cheap. Now think about how high your automobile insurance premium is right now. It may not be that high or it may be outrageously high. Either way, one thing is for sure, it would be a whole lot higher if there were 20 times the amount of deer-vehicle collisions annually. Estimates by Hesselton and Hesselton (1982) suggested that the cost of deer-vehicle collisions may exceed $100 million each year in the United States and Canada. In fact, the cost of deer-vehicle collisions was estimated at $100 million in Wisconsin alone in 1990. State Farm Insurance said that drivers in Pennsylvania experienced more deer collisions than any other state between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005. They estimate that 1.5 million vehicles collide with deer every year, resulting in 150 motorists’ deaths and $1.1 billion in vehicle damages. Coming in second and third were Michigan and Illinois, followed by Ohio and Georgia. Minnesota and Virginia ranked sixth and seventh respectively, while Indiana, Texas, and Wisconsin rounded out the top ten in the nation. Now imagine how many deer there would be today and how many deer-vehicle collisions there would be each year if hunters weren’t out there keeping the deer population at a manageable level. You don’t even have to hit one yourself. You better believe that if there were tens of thousands of people under your insurance company that are hitting them your premium is definitely going to be affected. Your insurance company will have to do something to make up for those losses and that something will be raising your premium along with everyone else…. Or they might just get a government bail-out like every other company these days…. But that’s neither here nor there…. My point is, this is yet another beneficial service that hunters provide the American people, whether you knew about it or not.
Another valuable service that hunters provide not only you but your families as well is safety. Hunters are a vital part of keeping large game animals off America’s airport runways and out of the path of incoming and outgoing aircraft. Migratory bird hunters have the same impact by keeping the size of migrating flocks to a minimum and preventing them from being sucked into aircraft turbine engines during flight. Both examples effectively prevent potential aircraft accidents. And with the encroachment of suburban neighborhoods on wildlife habitats across the nation, hunters play a vital role in minimizing wildlife on human attacks. The New Jersey Division of Wildlife has determined that hunting reduces human-bear conflicts by keeping bears from losing their fear of people within their natural habitat. They’ve found that it saves the state money and keeps people safer when hunting is used to control bear populations. You can read more about New Jerseys bear population problems and how hunting is helping here… New Jersey Plan to Lift Bear-Hunt Ban Spurs Protests
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take the trash out one evening and get jumped by a bear who wants my garbage. Or have my daughter get gored to death by an elk when she’s out riding her bike or playing in the backyard. I am absolutely not advocating the eradication of these animals, but I wholeheartedly support hunting as a management tool to keep their numbers at bay. Otherwise, the examples I just mentioned would be a common occurrence across the nation.
The fact of the matter is that hunters play a very crucial role in effectively managing game animal populations. There are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes that dictate what kind of animals can be taken and when. These decisions are made by biologists that track and study animal populations in each state. Based on their findings they dictate when certain animals can be harvested, how many, and of what sex. These restrictions are what allow these animals to exist at acceptable levels so they do not become overpopulated and cause the many problems I’ve previously mentioned. Along with those problems, there’s also the issue of their habitats not having enough food to support such large numbers. If their numbers are not managed, they will eventually consume all the food in their habitat and starve to death. Overpopulation not only leads to starvation but can also contribute to the spread of diseases. So that would basically be the fate of these animals if some people had their way and all hunting ceased. Opponents of hunting, such as PETA, would say that hunting is cruel and unnecessary, and it hurts the animals rather than helping them. Well sure, it doesn’t sound right that killing these animals is helping them, but it actually is. And the FACTS that I’ve listed prove this.
In conclusion, I hope some of you better understand the benefits of hunting and what the large majority of hunters and sportsmen are really all about. Please don’t take this as me saying your views on the subject are wrong, but rather this is just me offering some factual information to try to squash some of the misconceptions about the sport I’ve become so passionate about.
