The Benefits of Hunting

Some people believe that all hunting is morally wrong and cruel to animals.  They believe there are no benefits to hunting.  They think of hunters as degenerates who get their thrills by slaughtering wildlife and calling it a sport as if it were some less lethal pastime such as baseball or tennis.  They might call hunters "Bambi Killers".  We're not discussing killing animals that are in danger of becoming extinct just to put a trophy in one's home or to sell one part of the animal and leave the rest of it for wild predators to eat.  We're not advocates for the days when royalty, aristocracy, and wealthy persons of so-called "good breeding" wanted to keep all the animals on their land for their own sport.   What did they care if their social "inferiors" were starving?  What did it matter to such "superiors" if their game wandered on to farms and ate the crops meant to feed people or livestock?    This is about the oldest and purest form of hunting:  killing an animal so that its flesh provides food for the hunter and family while the rest of the animal is put to productive use.

 

What are the benefits of hunting?   You could get your exercise in outdoors by doing chores or recreational activities such as hiking and boating.  You could raise all the meat that you eat.  It's not the same.  When you hunt, you have to quiet so as not to frighten the prey into fleeing.  You'll have to learn to move quietly.  You'll have to be patient, waiting for the right moment to shoot because you're not likely to get a second chance if you miss.  You must be alert, taking in all the sights and sounds around you.  Hunting is not an activity for the loud, oblivious-to-their-surroundings, I want my gratification and I want it right now! type.  When you hunt, you'll know that you're participating in a ritual that has been going on for at least a couple of million years.  It should give you an appreciation of your ancestors.  Hunting successfully will give you another way to feel the thrills of accomplishment and self-reliance.  As with your homestead, hunting is a more natural way of living.  You can learn more respect for animals than you're likely to get from hunting the shelves at the grocery store.   You'll also get to eat that animal without feeling any guilt over the packaging you throw away (not everything you buy can be recycled).  Still another benefit of hunting is knowing that by ending the life of an animal you're helping to ensure the good health and survival of the species as a whole.  Without predators, animals tend to increase in numbers until they outstrip their food supply.  Starving is not a good way to die.

 

If you do happen to encounter a person who tries to make you feel that you're a vicious fiend because you learned to enjoy the benefits of hunting, ask if s/he eats meat.  If s/he does, give that person a withering look and point out that the animals you hunt are living free and you kill only enough for your own or your family's needs.  There's no moral superiority in eating animals someone else bred in what might have been inhumane conditions.  The animal is just as dead.  If the person is a vegetarian, declare yourself to be an omnivore and walk away.  #