Subject:
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Re: Responsible Hunting (was Re: We are what we eat. Or is that "whom we eat?")
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 1 Aug 2000 17:13:26 GMT
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Viewed:
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2208 times
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Xcalabur wrote:
> I don't poach; I only take one per year (if I'm lucky), and each
> responsible hunter does the same, and keeps the population trimmed down to
> reasonable numbers.
I'm not sure on the deer populations for where you live, but in many
areas of the eastern US, hunters should be taking at least four dear to
keep the pops to reasonable numbers.
> Hunters used to be looked on as the
> original conservationists, and I, along with every other responsible hunter,
> try to keep it that way.
While hunter's have fostered several great conservation iniatives,
they have had their share of ecological blunders. Around the early
1900s, many hunters wanted to eliminate the large predators that were
competing with the hunters for game animals(1). These ideas were
perpetuated by such people as President Roosevelt (conservationist/
hunter) and Aldo Leopold (conservationist/hunter/father of
conservation science). In this period, thousands upon thousands of
wolves, pumas(2), and grizzlies were elimated from the US. Prey animal
numbers increased many fold, without the regulation provided by the
predators. Hunting has taken over a lot of the prey population
control once offered by the wolves and pumas but has no where near
approaches the effiency of the natural predators.
Another problem with hunting is that sometimes prey numbers are keep
artificially high in order to up with the demand of the hunters and
the local ecomonies(2). This has the tendancy to cause some ecological
problems(ie, excess nitrogen runoff from animal waste) which can
alter the conservation of non-game species.
Just want to note that I'm not disagreeing with you about hunters and
conservation, however hunting policy has forever changed )and is
changing) the fabric of the landscape.
-chris
ps. i've been reading a lot recently about pumas and have come across
several stories of hunts where they dogs tree the cats and the hunter
shoots it while it's in the tree. read another account of shooting
a puma in it's den. The stories seemed awful brutal and unfair. Is
this conservation-minded hunting?
1. Aldo Leopold: Fierce Green Fire. Oxford. 1996(7?)
2. pumas=panthers=mountain lions=catamounts=painters
3. Personal communication. PA State Game Commision.
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