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Dispelling
some myths about hunting If you don't hunt, you might wonder what's so
appealing about this activity. Why, for example, would anyone sit
for hours in a chilly duck blind? Or trudge mile after mile through
soggy cattail sloughs? And what’s the thrill in trying to kill an
animal, anyway? If hunters want to be outdoors and see animals, can’t
they just watch wildlife without shooting them? Hunting, with a half-million Minnesota participants,
must certainly stir the curiosity of those who don’t take part. Why someone hunts is a personal matter. Many do it to
spend time outdoors with friends or family. Others hunt to continue a
tradition passed down from their parents and grandparents. Some go for
the satisfaction of providing their own meat or the challenge of
outwitting a wild animal. Many hunt simply because they feel an urge to
do so. As environmentalist and hunter Aldo Leopold put it, “The
instinct that finds delight in the sight and pursuit of game is bred
into the very fiber of the race.” It’s hard to generalize what hunters are doing when
they go afield each fall. But it is possible to explain what hunters are
not doing, and to shed light on some aspects of hunting that might
puzzle those who don’t participate. Hunters aren’t killing animals
needlessly. People who say there’s no need to kill animals for
meat when it can be bought in a grocery store don’t understand how
food happens: Whether someone eats venison or beef, a big brown-eyed
mammal has to die first. The animal doesn’t care whether you pay
someone else to kill it or you do it yourself. Of course, vegetarians don’t kill animals. Or do they?
Most vegetable production is done at the expense of wild creatures,
either by converting wildlife habitat to cropland or requiring the
application of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Soybeans and corn,
for example, are often grown on wetlands that have been drained and
plowed. Without a place to nest, a hen mallard doesn’t die, but she
doesn’t raise any young, either. 1. Hunters aren't being cruel to wild animals. Most wild animals don’t pass away in comfort, sedated
by veterinary medication. They usually die a violent, agonizing death.
Though a hunter’s bullet or arrow can cause a wild animal pain and
trauma, such a death is no worse than the other ways wildlife perish. A
deer not shot eventually will be killed by a car, predator, exposure, or
starvation. An old, weakened pheasant doesn’t die in its sleep. It
gets caught by a hawk and eaten. Of course, hunters don’t do individual wild animals
any favors by killing them, but they also don’t do anything
unnaturally cruel. 2. Hunters aren't dangerous, inept, or trigger-happy. Hunting would seem more prone to accidents and
fatalities than outdoor activities that don’t use firearms. Not so.
According to National Safety Council statistics, far more people per
100,000 participants are injured while bicycling or playing baseball
than while hunting. And the Council’s most recent statistics show that
while roughly 100 people die nationwide in hunting accidents each year,
more than 1,500 die in swimming-related incidents. One reason for hunting’s safety record: Most states
require young hunters to pass a firearms safety course. In Minnesota
alone, 4,000 volunteer instructors give firearms safety training to
20,000 young hunters each year. Just as they handle their gun cautiously, so do most
hunters strive to kill game as cleanly as possible. Hunters practice
their marksmanship, study wildlife behavior and biology, and take pains
to follow a wounded animal to ensure any suffering ends quickly. As do all activities, hunting has its share of
scofflaws. But most hunters obey the law and act ethically. To nab the
wrongdoers among them, hunters created Turn In Poachers, a nonprofit
organization that offers rewards for information leading to the arrest
of fish and game law violators. 3. Hunters aren't harming wildlife populations. Hunters see to that out of self-interest. That’s why
they support state and federal conservation agencies limiting seasons to
just a few weeks or months a year, limiting the number of animals they
kill, and placing restrictions on killing females of some species. These
regulations help ensure that wildlife populations stay healthy. They
also make the pursuit of game more difficult, requiring hunters to use
their wits, patience, and hunting skills. 4. Hunters aren't using non-hunters' tax dollars. Hunters pay their own way, and then some. Minnesota
hunters fund almost all Department of Natural Resources habitat
acquisition and wildlife research with their license fees and a federal
excise tax on hunting equipment. In addition, their financial support
pays to improve populations of non-game wildlife. Wetland destruction
has wiped out the habitats of many bird species, causing their numbers
to decline. Were it not for wetlands bought and improved with state and
federal waterfowl stamp revenue and with the contributions of hunting
conservation organizations, hunters and others who like to watch
wildlife would today see fewer marsh wrens, pied-billed grebes,
Forster’s terns, and other wetland birds. These are some things that
hunters aren’t doing. What I suspect most are doing--if they hunt for the reasons I do--is fulfilling a need to be part of the natural world that observation alone can’t satisfy. *This article has been reprinted with permission from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
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