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)