McQuade Allen

Politics 1100
Friday 5:30 Class

To Keep Or Not To Keep Hunting

Hunting, is it good or is it bad and should we keep it? Hunting it has been around
ever since humans have walked the earth and has evolved just as we as a race have
evolved. As we have evolved the need for hunting for meat isnt as necessary as thanks
to our local slaughterhouses and grocery stores. Because of theses advancements the
argument of getting rid of hunting has started to become a bigger debate and both side
have very valid points so it sparked interesting in wanting to dig deeper and find out if
hunting really should become extinct.
Animal rights activist have always been arguing that hunting is cruel, unethical,
and inhumane treatment of animals. They say that hunting is no longer need to control
animal population when there has been alternative means to control the herd sizes.
According to the author of Fair Game Samuel Western there is a vaccine that has been
created to sterilize animals in herds so they are no longer able to reproduce there for
lowering the number of animals in the herd. This would also eliminate the unethical
treatment of trophy hunting.
Many of the sources all talked about trophy and how it is both unethical and
always one of biggest reasons besides poachers that give most hunters a bad name.
Thomas Mclnytre the author of The Plague of True Sportsman stated, Every trophy
hunter is a very wealthy man that has nothing better to do then spend his money on farmraised trophies, or for exotic African animals (page #107). The farm-raised trophies are

for example people who take deer, elk, or many other species of animals and raise these
animals like pets. What that does is allow the animal to age a few years so he can grow
what is considered a monster trophy which is mostly massive antler sizes. Once these
animals are at that age they are sold off or taken to the owners larger property where is
hundreds to thousands of acres of private property that a wealthy hunter pays a tag fee so
they can hunt for one of the trophies on their land. Animal rights activist just dont
believe hunters are the only people that violate the animals homes.
Author of the article Is (Merely) Stalking Sentient Animals Morally Wrong?
Jason Kwall talks about how stalking an animal ruins the animals natural instincts and
can cause it to doing something it normally wouldnt do and cause it self-harm. In
hunting the hunter will act like a predator for example a mountain lion. A hunter like a
mountain lion will locate and know its hunting grounds, know which prey they should go
for, and when they should attempt to stalk the animal. Kwall talks about how the hunter
and even wildlife photographers shouldnt be stalking an animal because it can spook the
animal, and he believes they are both morale wrong especially hunting unless someone is
in dire need of food or the population is to out of control.
Being able to find alternative ways to control herd population could be good for
the future of animal life, but at the same time when these animals are sterilized it will
cause less numbers to reproduce, but when these animals die there is a high probability
that the animals will rot and the fur, meat, antlers, or anything that can be used by
someone will go unused. There are chances where the meat could be used by an animal,
but everything else will still be unused. Then also the process that was stated in the
article was where they had to capture the animal in order to inject it with the medication

that would sterilize the animal. In order to do that we will have to use tax payers money
to have the Division of Wildlife Management (DWR) go out and do this process to the
animals and the amount of man hours this could take and the time it would take before
the herd actually started to decrease could take up to several years. Then you have people
saying how trophy hunting and killing exotic animals can is unethical and inhumane to
the animals harvested. The way these animals are raised for wealthy people to not even
put in the work that your average hunter puts in, and they pretty much just walk out in the
morning on these farmland properties and harvest a monster is considered by many
animal rights activist and hunters the inhumane side of hunting. Then there are many
reasons that hunting has actually benefited the wildlife.
Even though hunters many goal is to harvest an animal there is a lot that goes into
it that can plausibly benefit the animal life and environment. Dorell Oren the writer of the
article American hunter is a vanishing breed focuses on how the American hunter is a
breed of human that is starting to become extinct and if that extinction happens it will
deeply impact our American wildlife. Oren states that the hunting industry brings in over
900 million dollars a year in guns and ammo taxes, licenses, and tags for hunting and all
of that goes to wildlife conservation. That does not include the money that is donated by
hunters or even the many volunteer hours that these hunters put in for to help the
environment and animal life. Back around the year 2005 hunters asked for a higher
taxation on guns and ammo so that there could be more money to help out the
conservation plans for the animals. Oren as well as couple other sources all talked about
how hunters are the biggest contributors to wildlife conservation and if the hunter is no
more then we would lose the biggest source of income for our wildlife.

Hunters can keep the herd population numbers with in a reasonable amount so
that there are less animal deaths in the winter, and so that the animals can thrive and not
over crowd in a certain area. The thing hunters say why they are a better source of herd
management is that they will pay the government and spend all of this money for gear to
local businesses to go hunt and we as citizens wont have to pay to have someone sterilize
these herds. The hunters also wont let anything go to waste if they can help it. If they
dont use the meat several hunters donate the meat to local areas that will use it or even
sell the meat to people who like unprocessed meat. However there are times where an
animal will become wounded and never be found. Which is a very sad moment even for
the hunter because they wasted an animal if it didnt survive which is not the outcome
they wanted. The hunter does stalk his/her prey and believe it has no effect on any animal
life patterns because it is the same thing that is done in the animal kingdom not only done
by humans, but other animal predators like bears, wolfs, mountain lions, and many more.
Talking to several hunters and even my own experiences, as a hunter there is
many reasons to hunting then just the kill. Many would argue that people who are trying
to get rid of hunting arent just taking away from wildlife conservation, but American
history it self and they would be putting a way of life that has been passed on through
many generations of families into the history books. Meaning that the way of life as a
hunter would become only known through the words of writer and not through true-life
changing experiences. Hunters do love to be one with nature, but one man who does
believe hunting is a good thing but it needs to be changed makes a very valid point is
Western.

Western does add to his article in trophy hunting that hunting can be a great thing,
but the technological advancements in off road vehicles to long ranged weapons does
make hunting an unethical sport. He believes hunting can become a balanced way to
ethically control the herds by not using as much technological advancement as most
hunters currently do out in the field. Western also talks about how everyone who is a
hunter, a non-hunter, and animal rights activist all need to come together to find common
ground that makes hunting ethical and humane for animals so the animal rights activist
are happy. Also so that hunters can keep hunting and be happy as well.
Through both sides of this debate there is common ground that can be made, but it
will take everyone in order for it to happen. Hunting does need to stay around for several
reasons, but the biggest ones are the amount of funding that comes from it, the herd
control, volunteer hours that come with it, and the American traditions that have been
passed on. At the same time there need to be changes made that make it more ethical, for
example banning trophy farming, finding the most cost effective way to control herd
populations when hunting fails, and everyone learning to respect the others point of view
in this debate. With all of that I believe could at least be the start of reaching common
ground for improving our wildlife yet pleasing the majority of both sides.

BIBLOGRAPHY

Bestul, Scott. The Dirty Politics Of Deer. (Cover Story). Field & Stream 118.6
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Crofts, Natalie. Trophy Elk, Cow Moose Poached In 4 Separate Cases.

Ksl.com. (2014). Web. 23 April. 2015.

Kwall, Jason. Is (Merely) Stalking Sentient Animals Morally Wrong?. Journal

Of Applied Philosophy 17.2 (2000): 195.Academic Search Premier. Web. 28
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Pollan, Michael. An Animals Place. New York Magazine 152.52298 (2002): 58.
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Mclntyre, Thomas. The Plague Of True Sportsmen. Field & Stream 107.10
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Hunting. Wildlife Society Bulletin 32.2 (2004): 310-321. Academic Search
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Western, Samuel. Fair Game. E: The Environmental Magazine 10.4 (1999): 16.
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Unknown. 2014 Utah Big Game Application Guidebook. Utah Division of

Wildlife Resources. Book. 28 April. 2015