Killing for food is one thing...but killing for the thrill of killing, I don’t understand.
See #5
Open your mind and understand.
On top of that the license fees pay for anti poaching efforts. Poachers don’t care about the math involved. They can take Y to Y - Y = 0. Conservation means keeping a pride or herd at Y... what the land X can support.
Either a park ranger kills a lion or a hunter. A hunter boost the local economy and pays for conservation measures. Almost all hunters are staunch conservationists. An out of control population decimates the environment or even worse leads to a population crash.
Oh and I know of what I speak. My uncle had a 2000 hectare hunting preserve in South Africa in norther Transvaal just south of Zimbabwe. (I am a RSA expat) He would base hunting fees on which population needed culled. Employed 10 people, one a professor to determine which herds/prides were Y +. If the Rinos were Y - for example, they were not huntable at any price.
Killing for food is pretty thrilling. Hunting deer, elk, moose, hog, is not boring. You must not hunt.
But at least you admit you don’t understand!
Most of them are concrete conservationists, and just know that they don’t like it, so nobody else should be allowed to do it.
It is hunting, not killing, two different things. Think of it this way, when you watch animals in their natural surroundings, you are a watcher. When I hunt I’m part of nature, I’ve done fly in camps 100 miles north of the Arctic circle where they just dump your gear out, fly off and leave you for a week or 10 days, horseback trips into the wilderness in Idaho, etc. It isn’t about killing!!!
There is a great movie called “In The Blood” about big-game hunting. It features Teddy Roosevelt’s grandson and great-grandson (IIRC). Also footage and journal entries by Teddy himself. When I found my copy, it was VERY hard to obtain. I don’t know what it’s like, now. (Maybe I ought to digitize it and share it...Nah, just kidding.)
It does a good job of illustrating the thinking/culture/power of the hunting of big, dangerous game.
Also, books by Peter Capstick are outstanding in some of the explanations...as well as the actual drama that is involved in these hunts.
But that’s only if you wanted to understand. If you’re mind’s made up, these won’t provide you with any assistance in that.