Learn the Facts about Hunting

HSUS ^

[Sungirl]

Fall is the time when forest greens begin to blaze orange, as hunting seasons open around the country. Each year, hunters kill more than 100 million animals, and while individual reasons for hunting vary, the industry that promotes and sustains hunting has just one motive: profit. According to the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, America's 14 million hunters spend $22.1 billion each year for guns, ammunition, clothing, travel, and other related expenses.

To justify hunting to a society ever more concerned about wildlife—including its conservation and humane treatment—the industry intensively promotes a set of tired myths. Learn the facts behind these myths.

Isn't hunting a worthy tradition because it teaches people about nature?

There are many ways to learn about nature and the "great outdoors." At its best, hunting teaches people that it is acceptable to kill wildlife while learning about some aspects of nature. However, the very essence of sport hunting is the implicit message that it's acceptable recreation to kill and to tolerate the maiming of wildlife. Even those who claim that wounding and maiming is not the intent of hunting cannot deny that it happens.

It is folly to suggest that we can teach love, respect, and appreciation for nature and the environment through such needless destruction of wildlife. One can learn about nature by venturing into the woods with binoculars, a camera, a walking stick, or simply with our eyes and ears open to the world around us.

Does hunting help create a bond between father and son? We do not know, but there are countless recreational and other activities that can strengthen the parent/child bond. Generally speaking, bonding has less to do with the activity and more to do with whether the parent and child spend significant, concentrated, and loving time together. Yet the particular recreational activity is also important, because it can send a moral message to the child about what constitutes acceptable recreation.

Hunting as a form of family entertainment is destructive not only to the animals involved, but also to the morals and ethics of children who are shown or taught that needless killing is acceptable recreation. The HSUS rejects the notion that a relationship of love and companionship should be based on the needless killing of innocent creatures. Killing for fun teaches callousness, disrespect for life, and the notion that "might makes right."

Isn't hunting a popular and growing form of recreation?

No. The number of hunters has been steadily declining for decades. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there were 15 million licensed hunters in the U.S. in 2000, compared with 15.6 million in 1993, 15.8 million in 1990, and 16.3 million in 1980. This drop has occurred even while the general population has been growing. Currently only 5.4% of Americans hold hunting licenses. Hunters claim their numbers are growing to give the impression that recreational killing is acceptable. The facts are that more and more hunters are giving up hunting because it is no longer a socially acceptable activity.

Isn't it more humane to kill wildlife by hunting than to allow animals to starve?

This question is based on a false premise. Hunters kill opossums, squirrels, ravens, and numerous other plentiful species without any notion of shooting them so that they do not starve or freeze to death. Many species are killed year round in unlimited numbers. In addition, many animals that are not hunted die of natural starvation, but hunters do not suggest killing them. While it is true that any animal killed by a hunter cannot die of starvation, hunters do not kill animals based on which ones are weak and likely to succumb to starvation. Hunters who claim they prevent animals from suffering starvation are simply trying to divert attention from an analysis of the propriety of killing wildlife for fun.

Aren't most hunts to limit overpopulation and not truly for recreation?

No. Most hunted species are not considered to be overpopulated even by the wildlife agencies that set seasons and bag limits. Black ducks, for instance, face continued legal hunting—even on National Wildlife Refuges—despite the fact that their populations are at or near all-time lows. If hunters claim that they hunt to prevent overpopulation, then they should be prepared to forgo hunting except when it really is necessary to manage overpopulated species. This would mean no hunting of doves, ducks, geese, raccoons, bears, cougars, turkeys, quail, chuckar, pheasants, rabbits, squirrels, and many other species.

What's more, hunters are usually the first to protest when wolves, coyotes, and other predators move into an area and begin to take over the job of controlling game populations. The State of Alaska, for example, has instituted wolf-control (trapping and shooting) on the grounds that wolf predation may bring caribou populations down to a level that would limit the sport-hunting of caribou. Finally, hunters kill opossums, foxes, ravens, and numerous other plentiful species without the pretension of shooting them so that they do not starve or freeze to death.

Is hunting to prevent wildlife overpopulation usually effective?

No. Wildlife, to a large degree, will naturally regulate its own populations if permitted, eliminating any need for hunting as a means of population control. Discussions about supposed wildlife overpopulation problems apply primarily to deer. Hunters often claim that hunting is necessary to control deer populations. As practiced, however, hunting often contributes to the growth of deer herds. Heavily hunted states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, for instance, are among those experiencing higher deer densities than perhaps ever before. When an area's deer population is reduced by hunting, the remaining animals respond by having more young, which survive because the competition for food and habitat is reduced. Since one buck can impregnate many does, policies which permit the killing of bucks contribute to high deer populations. If population control were the primary purpose for conducting deer hunts, hunters would only be permitted to kill does. This is not the case, however, because hunters demand that they be allowed to kill bucks for their antlers.

Does hunting ensure stable, healthy wildlife populations?

No. The hunting community's idea of a "healthy" wildlife population is a population managed like domestic livestock, for maximum productivity. In heavily hunted and "managed" populations, young animals feed on artificially enhanced food sources, grow and reproduce rapidly, then fall quickly to the guns and arrows of hunters. Few animals achieve full adulthood. After 20 years of heavy deer hunting at the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, for example, only one percent of the deer population lived longer than four years, and fewer than ten percent lived longer than three years. In a naturally regulated population, deer often live twelve years or longer.

What are state wildlife agencies doing to maintain interest in hunting?

Most states actively recruit children into hunting, through special youth hunts. Sometimes these youth hunts are held on National Wildlife Refuges. Some states have carried this concept even further, and hold special hunter education classes to recruit parents and their children. In addition to encouraging children to buy licenses and kill animals, the states are reaching out to women as well. If enough women and children can be converted into hunters, the state agencies can continue business as usual.

Isn't hunting a well-regulated activity?

No. While there are many rules which regulate hunting activities, enforcing the regulations is difficult, and many hunters do not abide by the rules. It has been estimated that twice as many deer are killed illegally as are killed legally. Hunters will sometimes kill a second deer because it has bigger antlers or "rack" than the first. In addition, duck hunters often exceed their bag limits or kill protected species because most hunters cannot identify the species of ducks that they shoot—especially not at a half hour before sunrise, when shooting begins. Secret observations revealed by ex-duck hunters demonstrate that illegal practices and killing permeate this activity at all levels.

Aren't animals protected through "bag limits" imposed by each state?

Those species favored by hunters are given certain protection from over-killing—killing so many as to severely limit the population—through what are known as "bag limits." However, hunting of some species is completely unregulated, and in fact, wanton killing is encouraged. Animals such as skunks, coyotes, porcupines, crows and prairie dogs are considered "varmints," and unlimited hunting of these species is permitted year-round in many states. At the base of this is the notion that these animals are simply "vermin" and do not deserve to live. Hunters frequently write and speak of the pleasure in "misting" prairie dogs—by which they mean shooting the animals with hollow-point bullets that cause them to literally explode in a mist of blood.

Moreover, hunters' influence on state and federal wildlife agencies is so strong that even bag limits on "game" species are influenced as much by politics as by biology. Many states, with the sanction of the federal government, allow hunters to kill large numbers (20–40 per day) of coots and waterfowl such as sea ducks and mergansers, for example, despite the fact that little is known about their populations and their ability to withstand hunting pressure, and the fact that these ducks are certainly not killed for food. This killing is encouraged to maintain hunter interest, thereby sustaining license sales, because the decline in other duck species has resulted in some limitations on numbers that can be killed.

Though hunting clearly kills individual animals, can hunting actually hurt wildlife populations?

Yes. Hunters continue to kill many species of birds and mammals (e.g., cougars, wolves, black ducks, swans) that are at dangerously low population levels. While hunting may not be the prime cause of the decline of these species, it must contribute to their decline and, at a minimum, frustrate efforts to restore them.

Even deer populations may be damaged by hunting pressure. Unlike natural predators and the forces of natural selection, hunters do not target the weaker individuals in populations of deer or other animals.

Rather, deer hunters seek out the bucks that have the largest rack. This desire for "trophy sized" bucks can and has had detrimental effects on the health of deer herds. First, hunting can impact the social structure of a herd because hunters kill the mature males of a herd and create a disproportionate ratio of females to males. It is not uncommon to find a herd that has no bucks over the age of three. Second, genetically inferior bucks may be left to propagate the species, thereby weakening the overall health of the herd.

Because hunters largely want to shoot only bucks, hunting may cause artificial inflation of deer populations. When these populations reach levels that available habitat cannot support, increased disease and starvation may be the result.

We don't understand the full effect of hunting on wildlife behavior or health because wildlife agencies will not conduct the studies necessary to find the answers (e.g., "spy-blind" observations of duck hunting, in which undercover authorities secretly observe hunters).

Is hunting for food a good way to save money on grocery bills?

Almost never. When all costs are considered (i.e., license fees, equipment, food, lodging and transportation), hunting is not an economical way to provide food. Statistics gathered by the University of Maryland's Extension Service revealed that hunters spent more than $51 million to kill 46,317 deer in Maryland in 1990, approximately $1,100 for each deer killed. Assuming that the meat of each deer killed was preserved and eaten, and that each deer provided 45 lbs. of meat, the cost of venison in 1990 in Maryland was $24.44 per pound. For most hunted animals, such as ducks, doves, rabbits, squirrels, and crows, among others, use for food is now minimal, and the expense of equipment far outweighs the value of any food that is obtained. For the vast majority of hunters, hunting is recreation, not a means of gathering food.

[eastforker]

And,by the way,for all you fishermen out there,one of those crappie weighed 2.5 lbs. I know thats not a record but it was a damn nice fish.

[Sir Beowolf]

TAKE'EM BOYS

[tet68]

No, someone else didn't bring up religion.
YOU brought up religion to me by asking if I donated to the catholic church.

Better get your stories straight.

Typical liberal tactic, attack a groups behaviour, then when bogged down in inane and illogical argument change the subject, and start whining about how you are being attacked.

Sorry sobsister, that doesn't fly here.

As they say down south, that possum won't hunt.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

Your #104 is full of generalizations. I haven't read most of the thread, but I wanted to write something and a response to you seems fitting. With your overly simplified generalizations you have stereo-typed the American hunter, but save for this forum, there isn't enough political correctness to argue otherwise.

I'm a hunter. And I love to fish. I love being outside whether it is on a stream, on a lake, or sitting quietly in a tree watching an awesome whitetail 15 yards away. My freezer is full of venison and a few trout.

A week ago, I found the remains of four deer that the coyotes had killed. Like me, they take everything they kill, and what they leave, another animal cleans up on.

Hunters have been contributing to a fund for over a hundred years that goes toward wildlife management. The money has been put to good use. Recently, a lawsuit was resolved in federal court. The lawsuit was filed by the Sierra Club in 1996. Seems they wanted to tie up money from a successful program with a 100-year track record.

Hunters know one thing: No matter how quiet the woods on opening day, there is someone, somewhere, plotting to put an end to any kind of enjoyment they find in a tradition that is older than our country. Put another way, no matter what you find fun, there is someone somewhere that will try to stop it.

Happy Hunting.

[Gianni]

This thread is way too hot for me to keep up.

Tell me, which of the pictures is the dreaded laser scope of which you spoke earlier???

[Tennessee_Bob]

Ever kill a crow or a squirrel?

I DID! I DID! I've killed a mess of squirrel before. Ate them too.

[tet68]

SLAB sac olait! MMMMMMM. Crappy chowder!

[WhiteyAppleseed]

Doesn't "hate" legislation cover this kind of drool?

[Mark17]

What if this dog were a seeing eye dog of a priest? Would you break the law? LOL!!

No.

[cibco]

Yup... this thread got real interesting. Makes me want to take a shot of whiskey and go shoot something. ;0)

[Ditter]

Your post #104 has some flawed information. Most of the breeding is done by the younger bucks, so the killing of the old trophy bucks has no ill effect on the herd. Deer don't live very long & a mature buck in So. Texas is 5 years old with few living longer than 7 years or so. Most well informed land owners require that the hunters kill a certain amount of does so the herd buck to doe ratio is kept in check. In So. Texas a deer herd survey is done by helicopter to check the number of each sex & the total numbers of deer in the pasture. Deer hunting is a business to these land owners & their deer herd is carefully watched.

[tet68]

Oh the horror, the Pitman-Robertson act, money from hunters and fisherman actually going to further conservation and the outdoors, can't have that.
At least can't have fishermen and hunters having any kind of say in how it's spent.

Kind of like the "progressive" income tax now isn't it.

[tet68]

Glad you came back, I don't drink at least not since I went hunting and shot my father, brother, their new truck, a cow, a chicken, several unrecognizable furry animals,and who knows maybe a pederast priest or two.

Still SG does make me want to take a drink and go fishing,maybe I can catch a duck.

You know she said those words.

"Niagra Falls................."

[Ditter]

******"how do you feel when you kill an animal?"*********

Thats the part that bothers you doesn't it? You can't stand the thought that someone would get a feeling of satisfaction from killing an animal even tho' it is an activity that man has engaged in since the beginning of time. I find the fact that you are unable to understand it odd & I think that you must be geneticaly flawed somehow.

[cibco]

"Glad you came back, I don't drink at least not since I went hunting and shot my father, brother, their new truck, a cow, a chicken, several unrecognizable furry animals,and who knows maybe a pederast priest or two."

I didn't do any of that until I got out of prison. :0(

I know a girl that refers to all game as "Happy Meat" because it lives free until it dies. She isn't much of a meat eater and doesn't make a big deal out of it. Doesn't carp on the people that chomp loads of meat.

Too many people like to turn a good cause and intentions into a "Holy Crusade" and commit Jihad on those that don't meet their criteria.

Fun thread though...

[Byron_the_Aussie]

Cultural intolerance, and prejudice. As international corporations like HSUS become more desperate for funds and members they are veering towards borderline hatecrime as a sales tool. Hunters have done more for wildlife conservation around the world than all the animal rights groups put together. HSUS and groups like them are basically guilty of fraud; lying for commercial advantage. What you've posted here provides more than enough grounds for a review of that group's (501)(c)(3) staus.

[nightdriver]

I suppose Sungirl would just stand and watch approvingly as a pack of wolves or coyotes (or the neighbors' dogs, unforutnately) have their fun tearing up this year's crop of little lambs or calves just for the thrill of it.

Ninety percent of my hunting is and will continue to be for the purpose of giving rigor mortis to predators.

[razorbak]

FROM THE BIBLE: Gen.8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart [is] evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

Gen.9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move [on] the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

Exodus 12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2 This month [shall be] unto you the beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to you. 3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth [day] of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of [their] fathers, a lamb for an house: {lamb: or, kid} 4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish , a male of the first year: ye shall take [it] out from the sheep, or from the goats: {of...: Heb. son of a year} 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. {in...: Heb. between the two evenings} 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike [it] on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

Leviticus 4:1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: `If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord [in] [anything] which ought not to be done, and does any of them, 3 `if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. 4 `He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull's head, and kill the bull before the Lord. 5 `Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. 6 `The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 `And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

2 Chron.5:1 So all the work that Solomon had done for the house of the Lord was finished; and Solomon brought in the things which his father David had dedicated: the silver and the gold and all the furnishings. And he put [them] in the treasuries of the house of God. 2 Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, in Jerusalem, that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the City of David, which [is] Zion. 3 Therefore all the men of Israel assembled with the king at the feast, which [was] in the seventh month. 4 So all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. 5 Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that [were] in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. 6 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

Acts 11:4 But Peter rehearsed [the matter] from the beginning, and expounded [it] by order unto them, saying, 5 I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: 6 Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. 8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. 9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common. 10 And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

Luke 15:21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put [it] on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on [his] feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf , and kill [it]; and let us eat, and be merry:

[Terriergal]

Two seasons ago on the last day I was in my treestand - just had lowered my bow. It was deep snow and a nearly full moon. Wouldn't you know it just as soon as I lowered my bow five deer came out of the swamp and stopped under my stand. So I sat there and watched them mill around for a while. They were trying to figure out why they felt uneasy. Eventually they continued on their way but while I was watching them I could see in my mind's eye those cartoons where one character is hungry and sees the other cartoon character as a lamb chop or juicy steak walking by....

[glc1173@aol.com]

I've been in four near-miss collisions with deer while driving here in North Carolina.

The best prevention for deer-auto collisions isn't those whistles on my bumper - though I've seen them work in one of those near-misses of mine. The best prevention for deer-auto collisions is a .308 bullet, and HSUS will change its tune fast when one of its leaders is killed by a deer - like the motorcyclist my mother saw fatally hit in front of her in a deer collision.