The fall brings apple picking, leaf-peeping, comfy sweaters and a host of other fun activities. In North America, it also brings major hunting seasons, namely for whitetail deer in New York. I will preface this article with an important warning. I am a semi-avid hunter, and if my father happens to read this article I would like to hunt more this year. I grew up fairly immersed in the hunting culture of rural upstate New York, and have experienced both sides of the ongoing debate about hunting. For the sake of this article, I will focus on whitetail deer hunting in New York.
People unaware of how good hunters act, or how responsible these people are, oftentimes view hunters as hillbillies blasting at anything that moves and mounting it on their walls. However, there is a greater nuance to the act. Hunters cannot hunt on developed lands, busy trails or wastes of green space like golf courses. Lands minorly cultivated like mixed farmland or woodlands are the ideal spaces, and good hunters work to keep these lands as perfect as possible for their craft. Apple trees are planted, food plots grown, damaging invasive species are eradicated for native species to thrive. Granted, the end goal is to kill something, but it has a purpose.
Have you ever looked into a slaughterhouse? A beef farm? Animals born to die live in cramped conditions, stressed their entire pitiful lives, and die trapped in walls separated from the world they only see while plastic-wrapped for $8.99 a pound. Deer, when hunted, are in their own world from the time they are born to the time they die. There are no butchers with boltguns shuffling them down a line, there are no automatic neck-snapping machines, no cries from other animals warning them of what is down the line. Only their home, and if the hunter is good, a single shot and a quick end in an area they have known their entire lives.
After that, a hunter is rewarded with lean, locally sourced, organic meat with no added hormones or preservatives. Granted, the animals most likely fed on pesticide-full crops depending on the area they lived in, but that is not the biggest deal. While the saying about using every part of the buffalo might not be true with many modern hunters, no purposeful wastes are made.
However, perfect hunters are rare, and bad hunters soil the entire group. Whether that be trophy hunters in Africa or people hunting from cars, they give every other hunter a bad name. While some groups like the Quality Deer Management Association aim to keep whitetail herds healthy by keeping male populations high and not blasting every small buck that walks out, trophy hunters keep the public’s opinion of hunters low, and for a valid reason.
Recall Cecil the lion, a 13-year-old lion killed by American dentist and trophy hunter Walter Palmer. It gained international attention and even led to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adding lions to the endangered species list in a number of countries to limit American hunting. International travel just to kill an animal is often argued as beneficial for the local community, but some sources, including a study published in Environment and Natural Resources Research Volume 8, say ecotourism, with limited or no hunting, is more beneficial to the community and animal populations. Trophy hunting boils down to an issue all too prevalent in society. Rich people want to do something, no matter how poor it is for the environment. You do not need to travel to Africa to shoot an elephant, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., you want to because it is something you have not done before and an ultimate status symbol. Go, see the animals in their actual environment with as little human interference as possible. There is no need to put a bullet or arrow through them. If the local populations so desperately need the meat, let them harvest it themselves. The most effective conservation efforts involve local populations, and using locals to shoot their neighboring animals is morally and environmentally wrong.
Now, not all bad hunting stereotypes come from rich trophy hunters or fox hunters mounted on horseback. Some valid criticisms come from uneducated or lazy people. I have seen firsthand someone try to shoot a coyote from a truck, with no intention of keeping the pelt or eating it. They were trying to kill the coyote so it did not interfere with the already overpopulated deer herds. Coyotes are technically an invasive species, having traveled from the plains and west coast after humans extirpated local wolves, but now they play an essential part in the ecosystem of upstate New York as the closest we can get to an apex predator. Deer are so overpopulated in farmlands because the resources are so available, and there are no natural predators left. Unchecked deer populations lead to higher levels of starvation and disease, with some deadly like chronic wasting disease. Blatantly poaching by trying to shoot a coyote from the road not only shows the lack of respect for essential regulations, but lack of respect for the animal. If it was a truly damaging invasive like wild hogs in Texas, then sure, obliterate them by any means necessary. But for a necessary predator? That only paints all hunters in a bad light.
Poaching is one of the worst acts a human can do against nature, and many hunters have the potential to do it. I myself have accidentally broken hunting tag limits, when I accidentally killed two turkeys with one shot. However, the intentional taking of extra animals or out-of-season is inexcusable and should be reported any time it is heard. Not only does it put a bad name out for responsible hunters, but it is just morally wrong. I do not care if you disagree with seasonal regulations, people with a higher education than you created them. Nobody is getting rich from you only shooting two bucks this year as opposed to 15. The Department of Environmental Conservation is not here to help people directly, it is here to conserve the environment. Listen to regulations and maybe then all hunters will not have such a bad name.
Outside of the ethics of hunting, the cultures that supporters and opponents of hunting belong to are essential to understand the debate. As much as it sucks, the two-party American system of politics has polluted every debate and every walk of life. People living in cities are more often Democrats, just as people living in the country are more often Republicans. The hunting demographic is overwhelmingly rural white men, which is also the prime demographic for Republicans. Just like a common insult to Democrats or liberals is to call them snowflakes or just weak in general, a common insult against rural Republicans and conservatives is to call them stupid hillbillies. While both may be true in some cases, the separation of lifestyle from politics is essential, especially in nuanced topics of debate like hunting. There are good and bad hunters. Separate the good from the bad, the ones who care for the environment and the animals, from the poachers, trophy hunters and from-the-car coyote shooters. It is not just a hobby for many, but all hunters must be educated in proper ecology and animal behavior, just like opponents must break the divide of politics
Of course, another method to quell the argument could be to go vegetarian, but I am not a vegetarian and that is a debate for another article. In the meantime, hunters should read up on their regulations and ecology textbooks, and nonhunters should read up on the benefits of sustainable hunting.
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I am not an American, nor a trophy hunter. My interest is in the rural economics of Africa.
There are millions of square miles of Africa where photo-tourists don’t go, but which hunters love for their remoteness. In South Africa, only 10% 0f the National Reserves break even, the rest need government support. It is simply not true to image that photo-tourists can support it all, and African governments have more pressing needs for their cash. Vast areas of Namibia offer hunting, all controlled by the “tribes” who own and occupy the land. They benefit accordingly.
Of course Africans can kill their own meat, but if a hunting tourist is prepared to pay ten thousand dollars to hunt and animal and still leave the meat behind, you might understand why American hunters are so welcome in rural Africa where hunting is permitted.