You have probably heard the expression “hunters don’t mug little old ladies”, well it turns out there really is something to that!
In his book ‘From Boys to Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite of Passage’ award-winning author Dr. Randall L. Eaton puts his years of studying conservation and hunting to print, looking at how hunting can have a positive influence on young men in today’s society.
Is hunting good for bad kids? Does it teach violence or does it teach empathy and compassion? Would it be a more peaceful world if more kids grew up hunting? These are some of the questions addressed in a recent book entitled From Boys to Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite of Passage.
The book’s award-winning author is Randall L. Eaton, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist with an international reputation in wildlife conservation who has been studying hunting for 35 years. While producing “The Sacred Hunt” in the mid-1990s, a documentary that received 11 awards, Eaton interviewed scores of recreational and Native American hunters all of whom used the word “respect” to describe how they feel about animals they hunt.
That prompted Eaton to conduct questionnaire surveys on 2,500 mature hunters who described their attitude toward animals they hunt as, “respect, admiration and reverence.” Over 80% of these recreational hunters claimed they prayed for the animals they killed or gave thanks to God.
Eaton’s survey also asked hunters what life event most opened their hearts and engendered compassion in them. Choices included death of a loved one, death of a beloved pet, becoming a parent, teaching young people and taking the life of an animal. Women hunters overwhelmingly chose “becoming a parent,” but most of the men chose “taking the life of an animal.” Eaton said, “These results indicate the basic polarity of human life: woman are adapted to bring life into the world, but men are adapted to take life to support life.”
The same survey asked respondents to choose those universal virtues they learned from from hunting. The top three choices were, “inner peace, patience and humility.” Eaton believes that inner peace and humility are the foundation of religious and spiritual traditions across time and space.
Eaton insists that hunting is instinctive at least in boys who around the world start throwing rocks between the age of 4 and 5. His survey indicated over 90% of the men spontaneously had killed a small animal before the age of 10, compared to less than 20% of the female hunters.
“These are the same men who claimed that hunting had done more to open their hearts than any other life experience. Typically the boy cries as 8-year old Jimmy Carter did when he threw a rock and killed a robin. I consider it no mere coincidence that Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela both won the Nobel Peace Prize and both are avid hunters,” Eaton said.
The book interviews Dr. Wade Brackenbury, who for 13 years led groups of delinquent boys into the wilderness for two weeks where they had to survive off what they could forage. Brackenbury is convinced that it was hunting small animals for food that had the greatest transformative influence. Surveys conducted a year later indicated that 85% of the boys had not got into trouble after their survival experience.
A best-selling authority on how to raise boys, Michael Gurian, also is interviewed in Eaton’s book. He agrees that hunting does teach males compassion, and that it would be a more peaceful world if more boys hunted.
The book presents compelling evidence from several disciplines that adolescent males need rites of passage to become responsible adults. Eaton says that the original rite of passage was hunting because it proved a young adult male could provide and qualify for manhood and marriage.
“Without transformative rites of passage that open their hearts and connect them to nature and society males may become destructive and dangerous. Untempered masculinity is a major factor behind juvenile crime and gangs,” he said.
Inspired by Eaton’s book, Dr. Karl Milner launched H.E.F.T.Y, Hunter Education for Troubled Youth, in Wyoming where the courts are sending juveniles to his program. The kids are engaged in conservation work on private lands where eventually they will be able to hunt.
Endorsed by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department, Eaton and Milner expect H.E.F.T.Y. to grow across the continent. “Dr. Eaton and I see the program helping thousands of wayward youth. It also will encourage more parents to get their kids outdoors,” Milner said. “Hunting and fishing are good for bad kids because they are good for all kids,” Eaton added.
To get Eaton’s newest production, “Why Hunting Is Good for Bad Kids,” visit his website at www.randalleaton.com.
To learn more about H.E.F.T.Y. visit: www.hefty4kids.org.
For more information contact Dr. Randall Eaton at 513-244-2826 or email reaton@eoni.
com. Contact Dr. Karl Milner at 307-299-2084 or email [email protected].
This is a great article. many people dont understand how passionate hunters are for nature and conservation. it is a recreational and spiritual outlet that all children should experience. I only got into hunting in my adult life but appreciate the perspective of this article becuase my time could have been better spent hunting as a youth.
again a well written article. too bad it is not in the Toronto Sun.
I liked this article too, and on a gut level, having grown up in a rural area it feels “right” to me.
At the same time, I knew guys who would shoot and kill just for fun, and I’ve known hunters who poach, and fishermen who use the excuse of fishing to get drunk on a boat, etc.
A critical part of establishing the right framework for hunting must surely be the guidance of a respected elder who can convey what’s right and wrong, and kids who get that are better off no matter what the subject being taught.
I don’t know why the results are termed “shocking” this seems like a totally logical result as learning respect for firearms and nature should develop a more well rounded person.
It is suitable that this report should come out just as the Sportsmen’s Show is opening in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre having moved from the CNE because of Mayor Miller’s complete ignorance of firearms and hunting. How ironic!
We all need to learn about the food chain and realize that the food in stores is there because somebody had to harvest it in the first place. Every species on Earth survives because it kills to eat, even vegetarians kill the vegetables they eat.
It is indeed an excellent article that is sure to get the “antis” all riled up. Unlike the “antis” who tend to be mouth breathing, foaming at the mouth knuckle draggers, the author of this article and the author of the book have used facts, figures and actual research to backup their opinions. Those opposed to hunting use lies and distortions to backup their claims and subscribe to the idea of “he who screams loudest gets heard”.
Hunting provides an excellent opportunity for bonding between fathers and sons and it should be encouraged. It also provides a good source of healthy meat that is free from the various veterinary drugs that are fed to farm animals.
Another little known fact about hunters that the “anti” crowd doesn’t want people to know about is the fact that hunters, on average spend something like 40x the amount that non-hunters and anti-hunters spend on wildlife preservation projects and habitat protection projects.
Another good book that I highly recommend is “The Politically Incorrect Guide To Hunting” which proivides hunters will all the ammunition that they need to shoot down every attack the antis that throw at them.
The problem with hunting, as with so many things in this world, is that the bad deeds of the few are taken to reflect the general deeds of the many. While many hunters respect and appreciate nature, we read about the ones that stop their trucks to shoot a domesticated pet deer: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/12/13/12139041-sun.html. This article is a bit too rosy, but it is interesting to get some representation from the ‘other side’ of this often one-sided topic.
Excellent article. I too got into hunting as an adult, but no I’ve two children that absolutely love hunting and the outdoors.
I think hunting instills family values and helps to further bond families.
It’s really too bad this isn’t printed in mainstream media. All those naysayers really need to read this.
It’s only shocking to an politically correct insane world!
shocking only because we have become a nanny state, where all the sheep have been disarmed, and you will only be fed by the system, for the system.
Orsen Wells
I still don’t get it, unless you live in some crazy remote community. Aren’t there other ways to become well rounded and respect and appreciate nature? Do we really need to pop bullets in the heads of wild animals to achieve this?
Great article. A similar study shows that children growing up in outdoor families have a low to zero rate of ADD, ADHD and suffer less from alergies and infectious diseases. To those people who dismiss the results and say “there must be other ways”. Please list the “other ways” if you are going to critcise someone else’s way of life that appears to work for the children of those hunting parents.
Scott, you are allowed your opinion and sensitivity, but I would believe that you haven’t yet experienced the feeling discussed in this Blog. No one is going to push you into it. That will be your choice, if ever. But if you haven’t eaten a wild aniimal harvested by yourself, and paid your respect, and taken real good care for it’s preparation in the field, and all the way to your plate (beside the mash potatoes), then you have missed something in the culinary sense.
I don’t harvest what I don’t eat, even if culling some crows (predators, among many sort) helps the duck population trive, but I do love ducks and help in it’s conservation / habitat effort.
Signed
a hunter
@Scott Johnson….hunted herds are healthy herds. Hunting is beneficial to hunted species as a whole. Hunting keeps the populations at sustainable levels and it’s also an example of darwinism at work. The “brightest” and “strongest” of the herd avoid being shot and pass along those genes to their offspring ensuring while lesser members of the herd are harvested. In places where hunting is allowed, you also see far fewer negative interactions between humans and game animals (car crashes, wild animal attacks, etc.).
Humans, males in paticular, are hard wired to be hunters. It’s part of our genetic makeup. Some may deny that and try to suppress it but others, myself included, celebrate it and proudly participate in hunting activities. We also take pride in introducing our sons to those same sports.
Let’s compare the difference between “popping bullets in the heads of wild animals” and running down to the grocery store to buy a family pack of hamburger. The biggest difference is the hunter has respect for the animal he just killed, while average joe buying his family pack of hamburger likely has none, and probably has no clue where it actually came from, or concept that this was once a living, breathing animal. And that right there is what helps make an individual become well rounded and appreciate nature and value the gift of life. I agree there are some people that don’t hunt at all, or are vegetarians by choice that have this respect and these values, but I think if you had the ability to survey a very large population of people that hunted and those that didn’t, I’d bet you money you’d find that far more of the hunters had that respect and appreciation you speak of.
Very one-sided study. If hunting leads to compassion and reverence for animals then why did Alaskans agree to hunting wolves from helicopters? Yes that is just so humane and compassionate. Or those kids from Alberta on YouTube cavalierly slaughtering ducks, real “men” those guys. As far as the person complaining about mayor Miller’s ignorance on firearms…..what are you b!tching about? You still have your guns as evidenced by the man who killed the policeman recently with his rifle….they have not been taken away from you.
@Chris
Yeah average Joe is buying meat to EAT……whereas average Joe Hunter is hunting meat for TROPHIES that are nothing but an ego boost
Hunters understand and agree with this article and book. Ones who are against hunters will make up assumptions to prove this article wrong such as Chirs above. No clue at all.
I don’t watch or know anything about the sport of cricket, so I chose not to have an opinion.
Should have been in response to Jimmy, not Chris. Sorry Chris, I agree with your statements.
That’s rather inflammatory Shawn! How do you prove your theory? BTW I’m not what you would call a hunter, more of a gatherer. But the truth speaks!!
What a complete load of hogwash! Why in the world would a human being in this modern society want to go and KILL a defenceless wild animal which is undoubtably minding its own business. Not to even mention the agony these animals suffer if you fools even manage to hit them somewhere with your high powered rifles. Now I’m not talking about hunters who need to hunt to eat. I’m referring to you sporting types. A little comradery, a few drinks as you cavemen bond around the fire, and the next day the unnecessary slaughter. Does it make you proud as you plug em up close to finish em off?
Perhaps you are unaware that many sadistic killers start off by killing animals. So lets by all means gather up all the troubled young people we can find and give them guns, and teach them how to use them, and then encourage them to go and kill something. Geeeez!
Signed, CAF Vet.
Facinating article. Ive always thought there was to much emphasis on the technical aspects of hunting; the size of your game, the gear, the value of the gun. Ambushing and killing an animal with a high-power rifle equipped NATO standard scopes and ammo is not sport, its agriculture. Not enough attention goes towards the understanding of nature, the sprit of hunting and respect for all life.
All of those killers also started out by going to school and driving cars and hey…some of them even play golf and video games!!! What’s your point Roy?
Well Mark, forgive me but that seems like a silly question to me. I went to school, I drive a car, I play a lot of golf. None of these activities ever required me to kill anything. Video games are another story for another day I think.
I have young sons who are growing up learning to hunt with their dad. This has had a very positive impact on my 5 and 8 year old sons. Not only are they learning the value and respect for life but they are learning how to handle a firearm in a respectable way. Roy, are cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs not also defenseless animals?? Yet people in this society think nothing of purchasing a package of hamburger in the grocery store. I guess ingnorance is bliss. I truly believe my kids have more respect for life than your average school aged child because they are being taught to hunt at an early age. My kids are not the ones torturing and hurting their pets to see what will happen (like some other children I know of that they go to school with). Chris has said it perfectly.
” Not only are they learning the value and respect for life” By killing it?
“Roy, are cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs not also defenseless animals??” Not wild animals, raised for food.
I’m sure your kids are having a great time outdoors with their Dad. I just wish they would try catch and release fishing. That’s fun also.
@ Roy
Wild animals are defenceless? Puuhhhleeeaaase! Try take down a WILD DEER with your BARE HANDS and then talk to us about animals being defenceless!
Kidding aside, your arguments are rather weak. You speak of agony? A good, moral hunter does his best to make an accurate, clean shot to prevent the pain and suffering. A real hunter is not a psychopathic sadist as many naysayers would paint them. A weekend of hunting is supposed to be more of a spiritual experience than merely an occasion to shoot guns, kill animals, light a camp fire and drink beer. (It’s more than the sum of its parts.)
And I am sorry that your experiences with death and dying have been so negative. When humans hunt fellow humans instead of animals, it does tend to cheapen the value of life, doesn’t it?
I agree with Chris, like any sport, hobby or other activity you will have those who enjoy the “wrong” aspects of it. In this case the actual killing. A good hunter will enjoy the day regardless of whether or not they are succesful, and often the unsuccesful days are just as enjoyable as the succesful.
The OFAH even says, “The experience is measured in the quality of the day, not the quality of the harvest”.
I feel the days quality is composed of many variables from the environment, the people you are with, (or time alone depending) and the harvest if you are lucky enough,.
Now, how can anyone argue with what Crystal said!
I too was raised with hunting from an early age and I plan to raise my daughters the same way.
I knew this article would bring out both sides and I invite everyone to join in…I have seen how many of today’s youth act and frankly it scares the crap out of me..no respect for anyone. My kids are taught about conservation, respect and good family values..just as I was.
Perhaps more of today’s youth would turn out to be assets to their community if they’d spend a bit more time in the Great Outdoors. Throw away the baggy pants and crocked caps and slap on some hunting apparel..it might just do a world of good!
Thanks to everyone who has responded.
Outdoorsguy
Roy you have your opinion, and he has his. Now you sir are using modern logic to suppress millions of years of ovulation. First of all men to evolve to this state, he had to have hunted to feed his family, now since we are not designed to kill with our hands and teeth, then obviously we have to use weapons. From the spear, to the traps, to the bow & arrow, to the crossbow, to the blow gun, to the modern guns. In all cases it means killing animals, including the slaughterhouse, that supplies every one with meat. The filing you get from hunting is in all of us including you, irrespective of the politically correct left media driven opinion, and your organic food bandwagon that is prevalent in our society including genetically engineered eggs and animals that you prefer to eat. However this dos not empower you to criticize hunters, because my friend don’t kid your self, in thinking you know more then the guy in rural Canada, because the opposite is true.
And if you hunt and have an opinion like this quit, because hunting is how we got here, and to try to explain it is foolhardy. John
@ Roy,
how many animals were killed to make your manicured gold course? LOTS!! killers are born of torturing animals not harvesting them for food or spending time in the outdoors with a mentor.
most hunters will take pictures with their game becuase they are proud of their harvest, you may call this trophy hunting, but all hunters eat their game. it is the LAW unless it is a pest or furbearer and that is another story. before you come on here arguing you should get your facts straight.
have fun playing golf on former deer habitat, while I go harvest deer on actual deer habiatat and let the rest continue living and enjoying their existance as clase to how it was intended by nature!
I can only assume that all you naysauers are vegan….. which is a choice I respect but otherwise you are hypocrits.
there are some bad hutners out there but most of us are like the people int he articles stewards of conservation and nature
golf course**
Looks like the mouth breathers and mouth foamers have arrived as I predicted in my first post! Does anyone else notice how the antis never deal in facts? Instead they deal in lies, distortions, skewed perceptions and inflamatory emotional rhetoric? They spew volumes of nonsense about a subject that they know nothing about and that they refuse to understand. True to form, they will never under any circumstances allow the facts to get in the way of their opinions.
Crystal makes some excellent points above – so the most of the others posting here. Hunting does not turn people into murderers neither does the use and posession of firearms. The animals that those of us who partake of the sport hunt get to live free in the the wild for all of their lives until they are shot and in most cases they never even know what hit them. Contrast that to animals raised for slaughter. They spend their lives in pens being force fed hormones and other chemicals and then, at the end, they are herded into a slaughterhouse and killed industrially without ever having a single day of freedom in their lives. I know which group I’d rather be in.
@ Mike
but he golfs he knows tons about nature………..
One other point that I have not yet seen made here may be seen as selfish. But I still feel it is a valid one. From a pure health standpoint I would much rather eat meat that was harvested in the wild than any farm raised meat, unless it is truly organic and free range. I like to know that what I am eating is not full of hormones, anti-biotics and who knows what else in an effort to gain the most weight in the fastest time possible. Also from an animals rights stand point I think everyone would have to agree that wild game animals live much “happer” lives than your typical factory farmed raised hog or beef.
I have been a hunter my whole life as have many of my friends. we are all raising our kids to have the same
opportunity to hunt and fish if they chose to.So to all the other hunters our there; why do we care what the antis
think. If they don’t like our way of life let them hire out their killings to the feedlots and slaughterhouses. They can eat their soybean products to their hearts content. Which to grow we have to turn forests in to fields ,destroying natural habitat and killing more wild animals than we ever could.
@darren
I care becuase they are a member of the voting public. they should be educated to our way of life.
The agony of the animal, wow Roy, do you not know what you are talking about???
Compare hunters to our average slaughter house today. When I was a kid (30 years ago) there was always blood under the meat on the styrofoam containers in the grocery, never see it anymore though……how come?
Slaughter houses stun the animal and it actually does slowly, while the heart pumps and it bleeds out. Hooray, a bloodless product, so much neater. But the secret nobody wants to tell is sometimes the cattle don’t die and come back to find themselves hanging from a hook, bleeding out and being skinned alive. Yes siree, this modern day and age has solved a lot of problems huh.
Bye the bye Roy, did you know that wolves don’t actually kill their prey first? All they do is disable it and then start gnawing away, not a very nice picture ehh Roy. They don’t die of old age in the real world, most deer end their life watching a pack of wolves or coyotes chewing away while they die slowly.
Truth is Roy, being killed by man is the most humane way they can go. Today so many people live in a bubble, so removed from the reality of nature, they just don’t know the truth anymore. And teh truth ain’t what you see on tv.
Just wanted to drop a line saying I agree with this article 100%. My little guy is 2, but I can’t wait till I can get him in the fields with me!!
Excellent article.
I grew up in rural Northern Ontario, my wife grew up in the GTA. Both of us love hunting, and when we have children, we will teach them about it as well.
Let’s get one thing straight, I’m a big hypocrite. I love meat, but I’ve never hunted, my dad didn’t hunt, so I don’t. If my dad did hunt, then probably I would have gone with him and now I’d be a hunter.
For those of us who don’t hunt, it’s hard for us to see that you can claim to revere animals and nature and show it by shooting a wild animal. I don’t live in some rainbow world thinking that it’s better to die in a slaughterhouse then in the forest, or that one is more humane than the other. I’m certainly not a fan of PETA and can’t for the life of me understand why the world is so worried about seals when there are many other animals who are actually “at risk”.
What I do object to is the idea that this article represents any kind of “science”. So, you asked some hunters if they love nature and animals and they said yes. If you asked non-hunters the very same questions, do you think they’d say no?
You want to know what makes good men out of boys? Spending quality time with good male role models, that’s what. For hunters, many of them first felt like men when they were out hunting with their dads, seeing them in a new light and interacting with them as a team. I’m suggesting this could be accomplished by any activity, to some degree or other. If you want outdoors activities, you and a buddy could take your kids on a canoe trip, or backpacking, or trail riding, and capture nature with camera’s instead of bullets.
Please understand, I’m not knocking hunting or hunters, I’m just questioning whether hunting makes you a better person
Great article. MOST urban dwellers have little appreciation for what this article is about. What a shame. MOST rural folks understand exactly the moral benifits to sons AND daughters growing up in an environment that teachs first hand” humility, patience and Inner peace”
Guns and Hunting 101 should be a pre-requisite in all our schools.
gb
To the people who think hunting is cruel, the opposite is true. Wild animals don’t die in old folks homes or hospitals with their grieving families present to comfort them, There are many people like Roy who can’t grasp reality no matter how simple it is. When an animal dies in the wild, it either starves to death, freezes to death or is eaten by another animal. there is no nice death. Nature is harsh, it’s not Disney land. animals live for a few short harsh years then they die. A hunters bullet is a very humane way of dieing. When I kill an animal I hunt, it is a very humbling feeling to me every time. there is a sadness present as well as an elation. I don’t take pulling the trigger lightly but I know enough that in order for people to survive ( even Vegans), animals die and although I don’t need to hunt to survive I do know that hunting benefits the overall health of the species, it provides me with great lean meat, and it provides me an excellent outdoor adventure. I also know that the animal I kill is not being killed or treated in a harsher manner than what nature would otherwise impose on that animals.
@George, well put, but i did take my kids camping and on many wonderful canoe trips, and tought them how to shoot a gun and now my son hunts with me. I understand that a lot of people out there don’t understand hunting, but like someone said earlier, I don’t understand cricket, so I don’t have an opinion on it.
@ Scott Johnson “Do we really need to pop bullets in the heads of wild animals to achieve this?”
it may surprise you to learn, I’ve harvested many many animals, but have yet to po a bullet in it’s head.
This is either a comment out of ignorance, or one made to enflame other anti hunters, I suspect like
most people who make this kind of comment, ignorance is the case.
The fact is, a lot of people prefer to let the slaughterhouse do the work, I prefer to do it my self and eat much
healthier meat.
Regards
Iggy
Bleeding hearts stop your wailing! Yes it’s terrible that we as humans condone hunting, right? WRONG.
I mean EVERY single one of us is here, alive today because of our ancestors who had to kill to live.
All of a sudden, we, the enlightened ones, believe that the rules of yesteryear don’t apply.
Ok, we’re lucky enough not to HAVE to hunt, but does that mean we shouldn’t? Those of you who say we should simply buy our meat are simply living in middle class fantasia! There are people, in 2010, who NEED to hunt to survive because a pound of ground chuck is too expensive. There are also some of us who enjoy it!
You think we should stop because it’s disgusting and antiquated? What about sex? We have to stop that too? I mean modern science has figured out a way to impregnate a woman without actually having intercourse!
Get off your high horse people…..cause I just might want to shoot and eat him!
What I read here is the suggestion that, in order for men to feel compassion and respect for nature and people, that they have to kill SOMETHING. How sad indeed. If mankind? only becomes less likely to be violent or aggressive to humans because they have shot an animal, it only affirms their need to direct violence at another living being. I know most hunters feel a thrill when they see an animal go down (just look at the big smile on that kid who destroyed the life of a deer in the photo), and try to kill the biggest animal with the largest rack. Those are the very animals that need to be left alive to carry on a strong, healthy gene pool. Most hunters brag about their kill, and measure the antlers and are involved in clubs, which offer prizes for the biggest antlers – hardly respectful, necessary killing in my books.
A person who shoots an animal to feed his family where not many other foods are available is one thing, but for hunters to spend upwards of $50,000 to kill an animal is definitely not respectful or compassionate – and neither is killing animals on a hunt ranch! Just like shooting fish in a barrel! Our children today need to be taught how to treat animals, people (especially women) and the environment kindly, with compassion and respect – and it definitely doesn’t have to involve any kind of killing.
@VD Lover
do you live in a cave somewhere?
of course we smile, we’ve provided our family with great food, great healthy food.
just like the other guy, you make claims that are totally false
who do you know that has spent $50,000.00 dollars to hunt?
one in ten million, so we all spend that kind of money?
stop smoking the wacky stuff and get real.
What about that pair of leather shoes you wore today, or the belt you strapped on this morning
do you think that it came from a virtual animal hahahahahaha
you too much
We started off on this earth being an animal that eats both veggies and meat, and when there is just
one man left, it will be the same, either hunted or slaughtered
How many hunters hunt because they are hungry? How many of them need it to survive? 0.001%? All others just have pleasure of killing. This is an ancient, prime instinct, but just an instinct. Pleasure of killing. What a bunch of hipocrites, to claim that they hunt, because they love nature, and want to preserve it. And they don’t see it that this is a nonsense. They self assure each other this everything is normal. that In 99% of cases, whenever human try to fix the nature, the results are misarable. So, please hunters. Stop pretent! If it is not for a pleasure of killing, then take a camera, go, and take pictures. You would learn much more about the nature, you clime to love, than go with high tech rifle and “love” it by killing! But taking children for hunt, this is just a crime!. What kind of compassion child learns by watching magnificient animal dying killed by his/her father. This is just sick and disgusting!!!
I grew up in an anti-hunting household, and it wasn’t until I started studying Wildlife Management in college that I realize hunting is an effective management tool. In many areas, like the East Coast, deer populations have exploded due to the lack of predators and the increase in available habitat (i.e. corn fields). The alternatives to hunting are birth control, which is expensive and its effects on humans are poorly understood, or predator reintroduction which is unlikely in highly populated areas. I agree with sustainable hunting, but do not agree with bounty hunting populations to critical levels.
Another fact that anti-hunters seem to miss is that the sale of hunting and fishing licenses as well as hunting supplies are directly taxed and the revenue goes to State Wildlife agencies to manage game and non-game species. In essence, the hunters are funding the majority of conservation funds.
The majority of the hunters I have met are very respectful of the animals they hunt and of the environment. I have worked at deer check stations, and 90% of the hunters keep their meat while the others donate it to the homeless (Hunters feeding the Hungry). There is no waste aside from poachers who don’t abide by the law. I also envy some of my friends who grew up in hunting households because they were able to learn so much from spending time outdoors. When I went hunting for the first time, I never got a thing, but the experience was awesome- from seeing black bears and turkeys and hawks. By sitting still and waiting, you open yourself up to a whole world of nature.
Excellent article!! Interesting comments!! My son is 10 yrs old and has been hunting with his uncles, great uncles, sister & cousins since he was 2. He is a fourth generation hunter and avid outdoorsman. He looks forward to hunting season every year, not just for the actual ‘hunt’ but the friendships that he has made over the years with his family and their friends that hunt with them. He loves to sit with them at night and listen to the stories of days gone by when they talk about ‘remember when grampa…’ He has been able to identify every type of tree since he was 4, know the time by the direction of the sun, read a compass, whiddle a stick and (most important) carry on a conversation…Last spring he found a sleeping fawn in the woods. Fearing that the Mother had left it to die, he picked it up and carried it back to his Dad. After being told to return it to the exact place where he found it, so that the mother could look after it, he walked away with tears in his eyes. Hours later he returned to the spot where he left the fawn, only to be disappointed that the mother did return and take her fawn with her. He wanted to love and raise that deer with his two hunting dogs!! I truly believe my son is a better person because he will be a hunter.
All of the bashing saying that hunters do nothing to help with conservation efforts is hogwash. Look up the numbers and get back to me after you see how many dollars OFAH and Ducks Unlimited spend on conservation efforts in Ontario alone. Oh, and all those MNR related activities? Funded by hunting licenses, fishing licenses etc. Do you enjoy seeing wild turkeys out in the fields this time of year? There wouldn’t be any if it weren’t for the efforts of the OFAH to reintroduce, monitor and now sustainably harvest them.
I’m not saying hunting makes you a better or worse person, that’s like saying all hockey players are womanzing drunks or that all hockey players are familiy oriented hard working individuals. Like anything you will have good people and bad people taking part.
@BioGal
Finally, thanks, some common sense from someone who doesn’t hunt. Thanks
So of the garbage these anti hunters come up with,
“shoot in the head”
“50,000.00 to hunt”
“pleasure of killing”
and I’m calling every one of them out, and not ONE will justify or prove their statements
BECAUSE IT’S ALL GARBAGE
you figure you can come on to places like this, spew your filth, then run and hide and not be called out
well your dead wrong, pardon the pun.
You want to have a discussion, fine, but save the garbage for your own kind
I remember reading a few years back (yes this type of debate has history) a group of nature loving people having moved into the rural areas of a newly developed suburd, and put pressure for hunting to be abolished in their area. Hunting was effectively abolished, and these people enjoyed the sites of plentiful “bambies” coming near their residence while they enjoyed their view while drinking a nice cup of coffee. Until, these “bambies” started eating their flower beds, vegetable garden and fruits from the peoples backyards, ruinning the joy of rural life. First things these people requested was for the authorities to come and destroy these “bambies” (let me rephrase to “varmints / pests”). The authorities requested from these people $$$ for the services since nothing is free (except selfishness), but they were offended and refused to spend a dime, citing “their rights” for enjoyment of living and way of life.
What was under control by hunters with money flowing (from hunters) into “conserve / manage” efforts for everyone, was now a major problem. Road accidents happened (encounters with wildlife), insurance premium rising, possibly deaths of loved ones, etc. etc. etc.
Be careful what you wish for, it might cost you down the road. It’s not because most “yuppies” think they are the navel of the world, that they have an understanding of “life” and it’s place in the World.
Some people evolve, and others can’t see further than their own sellfish views and beliefs. Me, myself, and I goes the saying. And do it my way or you’re a monster. I’m right, you’re wrong.
My response to these people (and some of you’s on this blog) is: Have a safe drive, next time you are out and encounter a deer on the road. When you hit it and see it suffering , all broken up and slowing dying (maybe in a few hours), I’m sure you’ll have sentiments towards the poor thing, instead of saying, damm, look what that thing did to my vehicle, ruinning my day.
Oh Man I dont know where to start….I’m not. OK F-IT. Anti-Hunters have to be the most misimformed group of people, in society. And I cant believe none of my hunter friends on here did not same something about the “Head Shot” thing. NO one shoots a deer in the head! Anti-Hunters seem to think its easy and we go out shoot a deer and go home. They have no idea that it can take years of hunting for a new hunter to get his first deer. That kid in the picture is lucky. I had no one in my family to take me hunting. I did most of it on my own.
Great article, Thank You!!!
I am sorry I have not had time to address each and every one of you, but I thank you all for sharing and caring from both sides of the fence.
Although I must say there are certain views in far left field I really have trouble understanding…having grown-up and educated in the ways of conservation and fish and wildlife management. Do some of you truly believe hunters are cruel and barbaric?
From what I have seen – without being too biased – the more logical and science-based comments have come from the hunters, while those opposed to the idea seem to be controlled more by emotion and feeling…which is akin to Anthropomorphism..where human-like qualities and feelings are assigned to the animal world…something most hunters do not agree with.
Some folks, I find, get so wrapped-up in ‘animal-rights’ they totally disregard human rights…
I plan on purchasing Dr. Eaton’s book and I urge you all to do the same!
Outdoorsguy
I to have stayed out of this because most times I am not politically correct. With that said
@Dan the reason they are misinformed is we has hunters/outdoors people do not really fight for our sport. Have you ever seen the ofah pushing pies in peoples faces or nra dressing women up with just guns in the right places .Really what have we done but bury our head in the sand and take it where we no man should but being bent over with our head in the sand that’s where we deserve it . Hunters suffer the 3 monkey syndrome speak/hear/see no evil. Unfortunately we must be rude and pushy with our comments as in today’s society that is the only way to get threw to people. Years ago people respected other people’s thoughts and ideas today IF IT’S NOT GOOD FOR ME TO DO ME AINT LETTING YOU DO IT. We can not longer let big organizations speak on our behalf we need sites like this to show people that hunters do understand that people don’t like what we do and we are ok with that but do not take what we like away just because they don’t like it . I it time for us to stand up and speak out LOUD AND CLEAR FOR ALL TO HEAR WE ARE HUNTERS AND FISHERMEN AND MOST OF ALL APRECIATE THE OUTDOORS . If true hunters shot and killed everything there would be nothing left for us to hunt that is why we are selective on what we take and how much we harvest. YES there are people out there that do stupid things and I would be the first one to yell at them. People just need to respect other people way of living.
I love this story. I grew up hunting and i love it, I will only hunt and take what i can eat. To me there is nothing like sitting out in the bush and relaxing. You don not hear any of that city traffic. If someone has never had that chance go do it you will see what i mean.
BioGale is the key to this discussion, you don`t like hunting, fine, but don`t come out and blast hunters for what they do. BioGale siad it best, we as humans have invaded there living space, so don`t call us killers. We are all responsible for nature and what we do to it. Deers don`t use birth control, they continue to populate, therefore multiplying every year. So the next time you enjoy your market steak, lamb, chicken or very tender veal, remember where it came from and why it is some tender. The hypocracy of you overly emotional anti-hunting folks is sickening and shows how ignorant you all are by just taking one bite into a burger.