Hunting is necessary 1

Running head: HUNTING IS NECESSARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

Hunting is necessary for the environment.

Brett Gordon

University of Phoenix
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Hunting is necessary for the environment.

Hunting, performed in an ethical and legal manner is beneficial to the ecosystem. There

has been a great deal of controversy about the topic of legally hunting small and big game in

North America. Many people believe that hunting is unethical is a method of murdering innocent

animals. This statement is much further from the truth than people understand. Legal hunting

actually helps the species and the herd more than if they were left alone to roam the wilderness

by themselves.

There are many different types of game in North America and also many different ways

to hunt the different species. Big game is referred to mostly land animals such as deer, elk,

caribou, bear, and moose. Small game is usually referred to smaller game such as duck, geese,

and pheasant. There is a different hunting season for each species. For example, deer season

usually lands in mid fall around October or November, where small game hunting has a longer

season that varies on location. Many different methods are used to take game, both large and

small. Some of the most popular methods for big game hunting are with a rifle, muzzle loader, or

bow and arrow. All have regulations attached to them to make sure the hunter is taking the

animal ethically. For example, in order to hunt big game in Arizona a hunter must use a center

fire rifle such as a 30-06 and not a rim fire rifle such as a .22 caliber because a rim fire cartridge

would not have enough power to take the animal ethically (Arizona Game and Fish Hunting

Regulations, 2008). There are also many other regulations that must be followed to hunt big

game, one of the most popular is the rule that no one may take a shot from or on top of a vehicle.

This regulation makes sure that the animal has a fair chance and isn’t just being chased by an

ATV or truck and shot (Arizona Game and Fish Hunting Regulations, 2008). These regulations

are just a few of many that help keep hunters and the animals safe.
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Poaching is the act of hunting without the proper license or tag. These practices are

illegal and the violators of such are dealt with harsh punishments. Although The United States

has made a great deal of progress in the violation of poachers, Africa still has many problems

especially when it comes to the illegal hunting of the African Elephant for its ivory tusks. In

1980 a law was passed to ban the trading of ivory in Africa, and even though this helped,

poaching is still a very common practice in Africa. In fact the African Elephant population is

now down to less than 470,000 in Africa, and some estimate that if nothing is done by the year

2020 the only Elephants left in Africa will be those that are caged and guarded (Ivory Poaching

Imperils Elephants, 2008). This is an example of illegal hunting that is neither ethical nor good

for the environment or the species. For reasons such as these that many people have a strong

opinion against hunting, but what most people don’t understand is that there is a way to legally

hunt the land to help certain species grow and thrive. It all comes down to proper management of

the herd and environment.

So how does proper management help a heard? How can killing part of a species help the

environment in general, wouldn’t that just cause it to weaken? These are very valid questions

that can be answered. Take a look at Arizona’s national forests in Northern Arizona, which has

many different species living amongst each other. This forest has both mountain lions and white

tail deer in the same area, this is a classic example of a predator and a prey, the mountain lion

being the predator and the deer being the prey. If the deer or over populated in the area then the

mountain lion population will also grow exponentially and cause many more deer deaths than the

hunters would have taken to control the population, it would also cause many deaths to domestic

animals such as cattle and sheep as a mountain lion will take the weakest and slowest animal that

it can find (Mills, 1998). However, if the herd were to be managed properly using hunters it
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could regulate how large the deer herd should be in order to keep the population under control.

The goal of any fish and game department should be to make sure the population of any specific

species is not over populated nor under populated.

Professor John Daigle of the University of Maine said this of hunting. “It’s too bad that

there are a lot of negative stereotypes that have emerged around hunting, because some of our

most respected conservationists here in the United States from Teddy Roosevelt to Aldo

Leopold, were real pioneers when it comes to thinking about conservation and how to manage

land and resources and they themselves were hunters.” Like Teddy Roosevelt, most hunters

consider themselves to be conservationists that love and care for the environment because they

understand that without it they wouldn’t have their lifestyle. In fact, there are many monetary

benefits to hunting as well. Most national forests that cover the United States have hunting

dollars to thanks for its land management and conservation. Hunting brings in a great deal of

money that can then be spent to manage the wildlife as well as the plant life that the animals call

their home. Mark Laittl a PR representative of the Maine dept of inland fish and wildlife said

“this money is what is responsible for the reintroduction of the wild turkey, the comeback of the

moose population, growth in the deer population, and water fowl numbers that are restored to

near what they used to be.” So one can easily see that conservation and hunting go hand in hand,

and it is the dollars that are spent by the hunters that help protect and nurture the wildlife,

especially those particular species that are endangered and are feared to become extinct without

proper effort by the fish and game services around America.

In today’s politically correct world that revolves around global warming, saving the

environment and cruelty to animals, it is easy for one to get confused about the effect of hunting

in America. Most people simply are not educated on the topic because they either have never
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been themselves or they have been filled with incorrect information about the topic. The forests

in this country definitely need to be taken care of, the wildlife needs to be conserved, and people

need to all be held accountable for the effects of global warming and our impact on the state of

the environment. However, one needs to be thanking the hunters, because without them the

wildlife conservation efforts would not be nearly as successful as they are today. There is

definitely a correct and legal way of practicing this sport and when it is performed in an ethical

and legal manner it is beneficial to the ecosystem.

References

Arizona Game and Fish Department. (2008). 2008-2009 Arizona Hunting and Trapping

Regulations.

Current` (2007). Hunting and the environment. Retrieved: October 9, 2008, from

http://current.com/items/85840941_hunting_and_the_environment

Department of natural resources (1998). Controlled Hunting is environmentally friendly.

Retrieved: October 9, 2008, from http://www.gov.ns.ca

Ivory Poaching Imperils Elephants. (2008, November). Futurist, Retrieved October 10, 2008,

from MasterFILE Premier database.