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Alexis Lee
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
March 3, 2016
The Benefits of Hunting on the Environment and Youth
A dying breed, the number of hunters in every generation is getting smaller and smaller
as more people prefer hunting the shelves of a grocery store rather than in the outdoors.
However, many people fail to realize the major impact that hunting has on the environment and
how unruly Mother Nature may become without hunters to help keep her in check. Hunting also
plays a large role in the development of young minds as a natural human instinct to hunt and
provide for ones self or ones family can be deeply rooted in the subconscious. Despite
arguments against it, hunting is crucial to the environment due to the positive effects it has on the
environment and its deep-rooted ability to teach young people discipline, patience, and how
appreciate nature and its offerings.
Since the first humans walked the earth, hunting for food has been an instinctual pattern
that is undeniable even in modern times. Although more people prefer to hunt for deals in a mall
or the best coupons on websites, the physiological reward for ones catch is still present in the
modern mind. In her 2015 study titled, Exploring and Measuring the Benefits of Hunting,
Susan Guynn of Clemson University exhaustively explored and highlight the physiological and
physical benefits hunting has on youth as well as adults. She even commented that while
conducting her research she found that hunting in rural counties in the Southeast was a form of
community identity and was imperative in family, community, and nature relationship roles

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(Guynn). In the study, she shows that while hunting, people feel a greater sense of belonging and
feel that they have a place in the world; her studies also show that people feel an increased sense
of accomplishment in their actions when receiving food by hunting rather than the average
grocery store. Guynn also briefly details the relationship between aggression and hunting, she
states that the average young person who participates in hunting almost always shows less
aggression than those who do not. Others have also highlighted the relationship between hunting
and the developing mind as Randall Eaton does in his article, Modern Hunters Are Stewards of
Wildlife and the Environment when he details how hunting has been crucial for thousands of
years in young boys as a way for them to feel that are proving themselves worthy of adulthood.
After years and years of being in the comfort of homes and buildings, humans have forgotten
how to be as alert or show the awareness that mankinds ancestors once possessed in order to
survive. Hunting brings back this alertness and awareness and also teaches young people respect
for their environment (Eaton). Eaton also divulges into how hunting teaches patience in young
people and also how to control themselves when presented with different opportunities. Due to
the increase in urban entities and grocery store that make it relatively easy for the more
squeamish consumer to disconnect themselves from the reality that the meat they are eating was
once a live and breathing animal, mankind is alienating itself from nature. In fact, author M.
Peterson wrote in a 2015 article of this alienation of the human race with nature. He states that
changing times have slowly separated humans from nature to give mankind a sense of being able
to control nature, but actually modernity has only been successful in robbing mankind of the
knowledge of the power nature possesses and the power that mankind in turn also possesses
when embracing nature instead of attempting to tame it (Peterson). Even so, modern day hunting
has still come under a plethora of debate as today hunting is seen as a recreational activity rather

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than a means for one to provide food for their family ( Preface to Does Hunting Have a Place
in the Twenty-First Century). However, arguments against hunting are improbable due to the
scientific research behind the benefits of hunting on the mind and also on the environment.
Additionally, hunting benefits the environment and even the human population. Modern
day hunters are responsible for controlling the deer population all across the south, a measure
that has been crucial in reducing the risk for deer related automobile accidents that once
skyrocketed in these areas. Hunting is also key to controlling invasive species like coyotes and
wild boar that pose a large threat to public safety and native species. Overpopulation is also a
large issue faced by many areas as populations of animals like deer are unsustainable by their
habitats. Overpopulated deer are responsible for the devastation of entire ecosystems as they are
responsible for the loss of plant life that affects many other creatures in the forest ranging from
insects to mice to canopy-nesting birds (Levy). Not only does overpopulation affect the natural
environment but it can also have an adverse effect on the human population. Take an instance in
Wisconsin and surrounding areas in the eastern United States for example, after years of an
unmanaged deer populations, numbers increase dramatically causing an increase in the number
of deer-related car accidents and also lime disease; as easy prey for mosquitoes, some deer
became carriers of the disease and as more mosquitoes feasted on their blood, more became
infected and then transfer that disease to the human population (Levy). Therefore, the public can
clearly see that there is a need for management among the wildlife population. Hunters act as
predators that are missing in some environments that have become rampant with too much
nature. Invasive species also present a significant threat that is somewhat easily remedied by
hunting (Elman 46). Predators like wild boar are responsible for millions of dollars every year in
crop damage and also have been known to attack humans on occasion. In recent years, states like

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South Carolina that have been overrun with wild boars have opened up hunting of the ruinous
species to extend year-around and even throughout the night when most hunting is prohibited by
law. Due to the damages caused by these vermin, the Department of Natural Resources holds
little to no restrictions on hunting wild boar, as their demise would bring relief to the many
farmers that struggle to defend their crops from the animals year-round. Moreover, coyotes have
recently shocked a majority of the southeast as they move further and further into territories that
they have never been documented in before. These ravenous creatures have been responsible for
attacks on humans and the destruction of habitats that are not equipped to handle their calamitous
nature. Hunters have remedied the situation by seeking them out and reducing the numbers that
threaten to overrun the natural habitat. All things considered, hunters are responsible for wildlife
management in ways that the general public could never have imagined and they carry out this
duty with the utmost respect for the game they pursue.
Sparking debate from all sides of the spectrum, hunting is a topic that is typically not
brought up at the dinner table. Animal rights activist often present the argument that hunting is
inhumane, however, proof of this accusation is circumstantial. With every sport comes violators,
poachers are a big problem in the world of hunting but these few lawbreakers cannot and do not
represent the entire community of hunters that religiously follow the laws established by their
state legislators to protect the game that is so dear to their hearts. The ethics of hunting is derived
from the traditions that are passed down from generation to generation and while hunting is seen
as brutal, it is in fact less brutal than the slaughter of the cows that are processed into the meat
and steaks that many Americans pick up at the grocery store with little to no care for the
suffering that the animal was subject to during its slaughter. Additionally, most hunters reveal
that they aim to make a kill as quickly as possible, not to prolong the animals suffering (Guynn).

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Arguments against the nature of hunting can also arise when discussing this taboo topic with
more liberal activist. Many people believe that hunting is linked to aggression and psychopathic
tendencies, however, this statement could not be further from the truth. According to Mr. Eaton,
arguments that state hunting does encourage aggression are undoubtedly wrong, not only is
hunting unrelated to aggression and violence, it produces less violent, and more peaceful [youth]
shooting sports and hunting are good for youth. All-inclusively, arguments against hunting
are relatively invalid and hold no true meaning when scientific studies can prove the positive
benefits hunting has on the environment and youth.
Consequently, hunting plays a major role in society whether the general population
chooses to acknowledge it or not. Hunters are responsible for maintaining healthy and diverse
ecosystems and managing invasive species that threaten the safety of the general public and
native species. The physiological benefits of hunting on the mind is also immense and can be
used to help reconnect mankind to its ancestral roots that required hunting as a basic means to
survival. Well informed individuals cannot deny the adverse benefits that hunting presents to the
economy, agriculture, and the average person. Therefore, arguments against hunting are
relatively invalid and hold no true meaning in the eyes of those who relish in the benefits that
hunting offers them and their families. It is nearly impossible to deny the fact that hunting
positively affect the environment and youth by providing a construct means to wildlife
management and teaching the next generation how to thoroughly appreciate nature and its
offerings.

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Works Cited
Eaton, Randall L. "Modern Hunters Are Stewards of Wildlife and the Environment." Hunting.
Ed. Dawn Laney. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
"Why Hunting Is Good Medicine for Youth, Society, and the Environment." Outdoor
Edge Magazine (2006). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

Elman, Robert. "Conservation." Hunting Allies. Broomall, PA: Mason Crest, 2002. 41-61. Print.
Guynn, Susan Talley, "Exploring and Measuring the Benefits of Hunting" (2015). All
Dissertations. Paper 1492.
Levy, Sharon. "Hunting Plays a Crucial Role in Maintaining Natural Habitats and the
Environment." Hunting. Ed. Dawn Laney. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing
Viewpoints. Rpt. from "A Plague of Deer." Bioscience 56.9 (Sept. 2006): 718-721.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.
Peterson, M. Nils. "Hunting Reconnects Humans with the Natural World." Animal Rights. Ed.
Noah Berlatsky. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. Current Controversies.
Rpt. from "How Hunting Strengthens Social Awareness of Coupled Human-Natural
Systems." Wildlife Biology in Practice 6.2 (2010). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web.
17 Feb. 2016.
"Preface to 'Does Hunting Have a Place in the Twenty-First Century?'." Hunting. Ed. Dawn
Laney. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in
Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

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