Benefits of Hunting

There is much more to hunting than most people think.  I've read things that people write against hunting: it's cruel, unfair, or damaging to the animals.    The earliest limits on taking game are mentioned in the Bible, and the first hunting season was established as early as the 13^th century.  This first limit and hunting season were the start of something that would grow into wildlife conservation.  Wildlife conservation today has evolved into a complicated science, but the goal has remained the same: ensure renewable resources are managed and used properly.  Conservation is the wise use of natural resources, without wasting them; game restrictions is an example.  Under the right conditions, the living organisms labeled as renewable resources will be able to replenish themselves forever.  Another way of saving or protecting a resource is through preservation: saving natural resources, but with no consumptive use of them.  An example of  preservation is outlawing hunting of endangered species.  Conservation and preservation are both vital to sustain resources for generations to come.

Wildlife management in the U.S. has changed dramatically over the years; it has gone from a skewed view of protection to a vital role in sustaining habitats.  For example, in the early 1900s wildlife managers tried to preserve a mule deer herd in Arizona.  Predators were destroyed and hunting was banned.  This resulted in severe overpopulation, the habitat was destroyed and starvation.  Later in 1929 hunting was opened in the area and the population was brought into balance with the habitat.  Around the same time as the example of the mule deer management tried to control a population of deer in Pennsylvania by outlawing hunting only and the same outcome happened.  From these examples came lessons learned.  Wildlife managers learned that there is more to conservation than purely protecting wildlife.  Their solution was the hunters.

A habitat is an area that a species fulfills their basic needs for life: nourishment, procreation, and rest.  These habitats need to be managed properly or habitat loss will occur, urban development presents the greatest threat to wildlife.  The essential elements for a habitat are food and water, arrangement, cover, and space.  These elements in a habitat can support a specific number of wildlife.  Changing seasons presents a change in water, cover and food.  In order for any species to survive there is a specific carrying capacity – the number of animals the habitat can support all year long—that must be maintained. 

Wildlife has many factors that limit the reproduction of their species including: disease/parasites, pollution, starvation, old age, predators, accidents, and hunters.  The important thing about this list is to realize that hunting is the only one that can be controlled.  The key aspect about regulated hunting is that it has never led to endangering or threatening any wildlife populations.  All of this conservation and preservation that wildlife managers set out to do couldn’t be done without the help of hunters.  The information wildlife managers need from the field is obtained through the hunters.  Because of all this hunting is an extremely effective wildlife management tool.  The funding that hunting licenses brings has helped many species recover from struggling populations.

Not only is the funding from hunters vital, but their eyes and ears are as well.  In an article on American Hunter there is an article about the dumbest poacher of the year.  This man was in a federal refuge hunting snow geese outside of regulated hunting seasons, in other words poaching.  This man did this in front of other people and the person that reported the incident was a hunter enjoying the scenery.  The article here goes to show that hunters are separated from poachers by a thin line.  The fact is hunters spend more effort, money, and time on wildlife conservation than any other group.  Besides participating in removing the surplus animals from the habitat, hunters sustain populations through: stopping at hunter check stations, participating in surveys, helping fund wildlife management through license fees, filling out questionnaires, and providing samples from harvested animals.

The birth rate compared to the death rate of these ducks, and species alike are crucial to their survival.  The death rate is judged over a year’s number of deaths of a species total population.  I’m sure you could guess how the birth rate is measured.  By studying these two; wildlife management can predict the succession – natural progression of vegetation and wildlife populations in a specific area—of a species.

If everything I have been talking about, conservations, preservation, management… all goes according to plan then each species will produce a surplus.  This surplus of a species is what hunters are allowed to harvest annually.  Without hunting, these surpluses would continue to grow every year and the species would provide a negative aspect on the habitat.  A great example of this is water fowl species.  Suppose two ducks produce six chicks each year and none of those chicks die from any factors that threaten wildlife.  By the time the chicks turn six the first pair of ducks will have grown more than 2,000 water fowl.

(majority of this information is available in Today's Hunter in California and the California fish and game homepage)

Terrorists Hit Pheasant Farm

Does that title grab your attention, sounds a little scary doesn’t it?  I thought the same at first glance but of course it’s not exactly what it seems.  According to a hunting article on American Hunter, an animal rights group vandalized a farm and released 75 to 100 ringnecks—a kind of pheasant--  These animals were raised on a farm and were growing to maturity, getting a healthy diet and room to stretch, until set “free”.  Now as someone will argue this type of habitat isn’t natural, while their argument may be right the birds still had a chance to live a bit longer. 

For someone that doesn’t know much about pheasants they might think the bird had a better chance in the wild, truth is this bird is pretty dumb.  A house cat would have no problem taking down a full grown pheasant.  So were these people that broke into a farm, and released the birds doing the right thing?  In my mind they were releasing the birds into the wild to their death.  At least if they were left alone in the farm, they would have been released, hunted, and given a quick clean death.  Instead they get to be picked off by predators and eaten alive, ill agree that is natural.  Trust me on this; since the birds weren’t born in the wild, they don’t know how to take care of themselves and survive, releasing them was a death sentence.

This article wasn’t a huge surprise to me, this kind of vandalism happens often.  What was surprising was how these activists are considered to be domestic terrorists by the FBI.  

Culture and Hunting

Our society has many views on what is right and wrong; hunting is no exception as I’ve said before, I know I’m a broken record.  When it comes to hunting we think of it typically within our own culture, but the truth is there are still cultures that still rely on hunting for their main source of food.  The Martu people are Australian Aboriginals that continue to hunt and gather.  Other cultures include the Mikea people of Madagascar –who returned to hunting and gathering recently— in India alone there is the Chenchu, the Birhor, the Nyaka, the Paliyan and the Andaman Islanders. The list can go on and on so I’ll spare the boredom.  What I’m trying to say is there are still many cultures that rely on hunting and gathering.  So what separates our hunting and that of the cultures that hunt daily?

Hunting in our own culture is highly controversial, so why do we worry so much when only 7% (according to dfg.ca.gov) of the U.S. population hunts and multiple cultures hunt 365 days a year.  Over the course of human history hunting and gathering were the main sources of providing food prior to large scale agriculture.  While it seems that even the earliest humans were hunters and gatherers; the truth is they were probably scavengers.  The first evidence of a group using hunting and gathering as a strategy is presumed to be Homo erectus, 1.8 million years ago.  Modern day hunting in the U.S. is regulated heavily and provides large amounts of funding.  In cultures, like the ones stated above, that rely on hunting as a source of food there is no regulation or funding benefits and yet there isn’t controversy. 

It’s easy to see why there is little controversy with the cultures that hunt for survival.  Our society lives with modern day food resources that make it so we don’t have to rely on hunting.  The cultures that rely on hunting hunt only as needed, for survival.  Instead of hunting for survival we hunt for sport, but in actuality that’s not entirely true.  Some remote locations like Alaska, people have to hunt for survival.  Even these remote locations are regulated.  Killing a moose in Alaska is no easy task; the animal must be a regulation animal; even after the kill all parts must be disposed of properly.  An Alaska state trooper will go out of the way to find the animal remains and inspect it.  After inspection if something hasn’t been done properly the hunter could face a large fine and a/or a year in prison.  That is a huge difference between our cultures hunting for survival and the hunting for survival by other cultures.  We still have regulation with strict consequences while other cultures don’t.

Hunting Types

Surprisingly there are many different types of hunting.  A hunter can stalk his or her prey by following tracks that lead to the type of game being hunted.  Still hunting is another type, involving stopping for long periods to scan and listen for game.  Posting is a type of hunting where the hunter sits in one spot with a vantage point.  Ground blinds are used to conceal the hunter; normally used in water fowl hunting.  Elevated stands are used to gain an advantage by putting the hunter in the trees to be concealed above the level of the quarry.  Hunters can use game calls to attract animals towards their location; the three sounds used are territorial, feeding, and distress.  Driving is a type of hunting popular in the eastern states; it involves a group of hunters driving a specific animal to a hunter or hunters ready to shoot. Flushing involves using noise and movements to scare game to leave cover; typically used with dogs.  Trapping is a type of hunting that used to be extremely popular in the past and generated decent income, now day’s people enjoy trapping for recreation purposes.  All of these can be looked into at California's hunting website and the hunter’s guidebook.

It doesn’t matter what type of hunting a person chooses to get involved with, they all involve five stages.  Some hunters will go through all five stages and some won’t; it all depends on the person.  The first stage is the shooting stage, the priority of this stage is to get off a shot rather than patiently waiting, this eagerness to shoot can be dangerous to the animals and other hunters.  Limiting-out is the second stage; success for this stage is determined by bagging the limit.  Trophy stage is the third stage; the hunter is selective and judges success by quality not quantity.  The method stage is the fourth; in this stage the process of hunting becomes the focus.  Sportsman stage is the fifth and last, success is measured by the total experience – the appreciation of the outdoors and the animal being hunted.

Canned Hunting

As I scrolled through my Twitter account earlier today I noticed a post from Steven Rinella – American writer, hunter and outdoorsman -- about canned hunting.  Canned hunting is a form of hunting where the animal being hunted is actually confined to an enclosure by a fence.  Usually these enclosures are owned by an individual or company and will sell animals to hunt to individuals.  Hunting, like many other sports, has its own share of controversy.  But canned hunting is a huge controversy within the hunting community itself. 

The animals hunted in canned hunting areas aren’t wild, many consider them to be domesticated.  These animals can be raised by the owners of the land and then let loose for a length of time and hunted when there is a buyer.  By doing this the animal is taken from its natural habitat and thrown into an ecosystem that does not give it a fair advantage against a hunter.  Not only that but the people paying to hunt them are also driven out to the animals location.  Where is the "hunt" in that type of situation?  After the buyer, as i like to call them instead of hunters, kill their pray they can be taken back to the lodge and wait for their meal.  Where in real hunting after a hunter stalks his or her prey for hours they then have to field dress the animal and carry it out.

In the add posted by Steven the seller offers the Bull Elk for " $2,900. OBO." That right there is disgusting.  Selling an animal for hunting purposes is disappointing enough, but offering a Bull Elk or any animal for OBO is down right degrading.  Every animal hunted and killed deserves the respect of the hunter and the community.  Fair chase is an ethics guideline that many hunters go by and many don't.  Fair chase means when i'm out hunting and a dove lands on the fence near me I don't shoot it just sitting there ill wait till it pops up to fly away giving it a fair advantage.  

First Hunting Experience

The first time I went hunting I had no idea what I was doing.  I was sitting in a ditch covered by weeds taller than me and next to me were two good friends, both experienced, and I was holding a loaded shotgun ready to shoot.  I remember focusing so hard on not shooting my friends that I would hesitate and let birds go by.  After a few minutes passed we all separated in the field I was able to focus on shooting the doves and not my friends.  Once I took my first shot I was immediately hooked.  I loved everything about it and even though I was missing the damn birds it didn't matter.  Hitting a dove is not an easy task.  Doves fly in bizarre erratic patterns, and somehow they know when you shoot at them and try to dodge the shot flying at them. 

 As the day progressed and my shooting got more and more accurate I inevitably hit my first dove.  Excitement and adrenalin filled my body as I rushed over to collect my first kill while my friends cheered.  When I got to the dove my body was filled with a feeling of unexpected sorrow as I noticed the dove was only wounded.  This is the first experience I’ve had that I can think of where I was filled with so many different emotions; nervous to shoot for the first time, excited to shoot for the first time, pumping adrenaline because of shooting for the first time and even sadness for seeing a dove wounded because of me.  So like any ethical hunter I quickly put it out of its misery in a humane way.  Luckily my feeling of sorrow was quickly diminished when two more doves flew my way and I got a double –shooting two birds back to back—all in all it was an amazing day.  Hunting is the only sport I have ever done that gave me a rush of so many different emotions, I guess that’s one reason I love it so much.

Hunting Isn't Just About Killing

There aren’t many other places I’d rather be than sitting in a corn field with my 12-gauge, hiding in the tall grass of a canal bank, and UC Merced off in the distance waiting for the next dove to fly near enough for me to attempt to shoot it.  For me hunting is a way to get away from it all, as cliché as that sounds, but it’s true.  Even if I’m sitting out in the chilled morning fog, warm afternoon sun, or crisp evening air and I don’t see a single bird it’s still the one place I’m never disappointed.  As a new hunter I just love to shoot, I don’t care if I come back with 10 birds or none.  Squeezing the trigger and having a shotgun kick into my shoulder is one of the best feelings there is.

Hunting is more than killing an animal or shooting guns.  It is a family event that brings people together.  After an afternoon of hunting we'll relax with ice cold beers and blooming almond orchards all around.  Friends and family who don't hunt will come out to enjoy the outside with us and sit and watch us miss bird after bird.  As the day progresses and we finish hunting everyone will hang around and just enjoy the calm farm atmosphere.  A University to one side and mountain ranges on the other.  The few doves that we have been luckily enough to hit are field dressed -- cleaning and removing the meat -- and preserved for cooking.  

Towards the end of the hunting season we'll all get together and cook all the doves we've collected.  Family and friends all join in and we make an evening out of it.  Dove breast wrapped in a bacon strip with a jalapeno and marinated in a zesty Italian dressing is my favorite way prepare them.  Hunting is about many different things to different people, but for me its about being with friends and family either during the hunt or after.

Introduction

Hunting clawed its way into my life just recently.  Two good friends of mine talked me into getting my hunting license; little did I know this would be the start of a fantastic addiction.  The fresh air, the friends, and the blast of a shotgun are just a few of the things that fuel that addiction.  Hunting is about more than just going out and killing my prey.  Hunting is a way for friends and family to get together and enjoy the outdoors, old and young alike are always welcome.  There is no age limit, as long as the person can maintain safe mussel control their welcome to join.  For me hunting is a way to connect myself to the primal state of being a human.  Stalking prey, killing it then cooking and eating is one of the most primitive experiences I have ever done.  Of course within all of this is great deal of controversy.

Controversy is a huge issue with hunting, as it should be.  An ethical hunter can help benefit an ecosystem and even the species that they hunt.  While an unethical hunter can danger everyone; including the animals and all other hunters.  A great link to explore for any information on hunting in general is dfg.ca.gov.

A few of the things I will try to cover throughout this blog will be.

•          Hunting in general
•          Types
•          Controversies
•          Pros and Cons
•          Benefits
•          Evolution
•       Hunting in cultures

I feel that I should put a slight warning on here; my blog is about hunting so some of the links I add will show pictures of dead animals.  I will try not to post any offensive pictures directly on my blog, but do keep in mind this is a hunting blog.

-Mark Van Elswyk