We have to be specific here - game animals shouldn't be protected from licensed hunters. Here is why:
In nature, there are two classes of animals:
predator and
prey. Predators are
carnivores (meat eaters) and prey animals are typically
herbivores (plant eaters). Prey animals naturally produce more offspring, more often than predators, because they are the food source for predators. If that seems harsh and cruel, well, get over it, because
that is the way nature works.
Sometimes, a predator finds himself becoming prey. For instance, in the outskirts of southern and western cities, cats (who are normally predators) become prey to coyotes. As humans (who are naturally predators) settled in wilderness lands, many were killed and most were concerned about dangers to themselves, their children, and their herds or flocks from bears, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, and other predators. Humans had become prey, so they had to kill predators to protect themselves. This continues today, although most game animals are herbivores.
When the predators are gone, the prey animals overpopulate. This leads to overgrazing, starvation, unnatural migration (causing pressure on other areas), and interactions with humans that hurt both humans and prey, like eating vegetable crops and getting hit by cars. In the absence of natural predators, something has to keep the prey population under control. The answer is hunters.
Hunters pay for the majority of natural resource conservation, through licenses and fees. Hunters are the real conservationists, because it is in their best interest to have a healthy population of game animals. For instance, ranchers in the western US almost made wolves extinct because of the losses to their sheep and cattle. Money from hunting licenses and fees are used to restore wolf populations and compensate ranchers, while allowing limited, controlled hunting of wolves. Whitetail deer in the southern US have a similar story, becoming very rare in the early to mid-20th century. State hunting licenses and fees paid for their restoration, but it has almost become too successful, because there are not enough predators (hunters) to keep the populations under control.
Hunters have a
huge economic impact, also. Besides the licenses and fees, they have to pay for travel, lodging, dining, equipment, land leases, etc. This benefits everyone in the community. In addition, the money spent from licenses and fees for natural resource conservation to maintain game species benefits the non-game species in the area as well. Don't confuse hunting with poaching. Hunters are the greatest enemy of poachers (people who kill game animals illegally), because hunters want a healthy, controlled population of game animals and are willing to pay for it. Poaching is like stealing.
Most rational people agree that a humane death by the bullet or arrow of a hunter is preferable to a suffering death by starvation or vehicle on the road. Most hunters eat or donate the meat, and many charities are grateful for their generosity. For most hunters, it is not about the killing of animals. It is about the natural order; getting outside in real nature and observing all kinds of animals in their natural habitat; and bringing home good memories of a natural experience. The killing is only there because it is necessary to maintain the natural order of life which was disrupted to protect our families, herds, and crops.
Remember, food doesn't come from a grocery store. M'Como Zefa said:
"The quality, the mentality, the capability, and the practicality of the people can be determined by how close they live to the land.
Taken from the land all these attributes diminish.
There is something senseless, weak, pathetic, and superfluous about a man moved to the city."
