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by Joseph Yannuzzi Jr.

Created on: June 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 01, 2011

Hunting is the ultimate contradiction, because hunters kill the very animals they claim to love and respect.  Can anyone explain to me how the killing of a 13 ounce squirrel with a 12 gauge shotgun be sporting?  What is sporting about shooting a deer with a crossbow and then waiting for the animal to slowly bleed to death?  How is it sporting when hunters hide in a cornfield and shoot mourning doves during the height of their nesting period, when they are caring for their young?

A "sport," is usually defined as a contest between two equally skilled opponents.  Where is the "sport" when the animals are basically defenseless and unaware that they are even involved in a contest?  The answer is simple, there is absolutely no "sport" in killing animals on a grand scale and then trying to defend this slaughter under the guise of conservation, or population control.

For many years, the non- hunting public has been fed a steady diet of lies and propaganda in an attempt to defend hunting.  The most common defense of hunting was that it controls wildlife populations and was considered a form of conservation.  Both of these arguments are easily dismissed as inaccurate, if not laughable.  How can the indiscriminate killing of millions of animals possibly benefit them, and of all things, actually be referred to as "conservation"?  Hunting does not control wildlife populations, but instead, actually increases the birth rates of hunted animals.  Increased birth rates only insure hunters an unlimited supply of live, animated, targets for their guns.  

Deer hunting is probably the most popular season for the nations hunters.  Deer populations and birth rates are dependent on the available food supply in their environment.  Higher reproductive rates are generated by the abundance of food and lower birth rates  indicate a limited food supply.  A healthy deer herd can only get as large as its available food supply.   When huge numbers of deer are killed during hunting season, an over abundance of food is left for the remaining members of the herd.  Now, there is less stress and competition for food among the survivors.  Since deer reproduction is directly linked to the food supply, the deer numbers will increase to naturally replace the large number removed by hunters.  It doesn't take a genius to see that if a herd is hunted each year, the results will be larger than normal birth rates.  This artificial manipulation of birth rates not only applies to deer, but many other game animals.  Thus hunting does not control wildlife populations, it increases them!   This vicious cycle is what hunters refer to as "conservation".

Each year, millions of doves, geese, ducks and foxes are killed by hunters.  These are species that "mate for life."  In Alaska, hunters can pay an exorbitant fee to shoot wolves from helicopters.  The hunters spot the wolves from the air, chase them to exhaustion, and then land and kill the terrified animals.  Worse yet, are "canned hunts."  These are hunts conducted on private ranches, where hunters pay to kill animals that are "fenced in" or confined, and have no chance of escape.  They are accustomed to people, extremely vulnerable and literally shot on sight.  Again, I ask, where is the "sport"?

In the western part of our country, hunters kill scores of mountain lions each year and in the process leave hundreds of cubs orphaned. These cubs rely on their mother to teach them to hunt and survive. Without this training they are doomed.  The cubs eventually wonder aimlessly and fall prey to other animals or simply starve to death.  "Sporting"?  You decide.

Another popular endeavor is hunting black bears.  These large, slow, lumbering animals are usually shot over an area laced with bait. Then there is another option, where the bear is chased by hunting dogs, climbs a tree to avoid its pursuers, and is shot out of the tree by hunters.  Many of the females killed have offspring, that become orphans left to their own fate.  How can this senseless killing be regarded as "sport"?

Bow hunting, is growing in popularity among hunters and is by far the cruelest form of hunting in existence.  By their own admission, in their own hunting publications, it is stated, that for every deer or big game animal killed by a hunter, another escapes to die a slow, lingering, death.  This horrible pain and suffering translates into a 50% wounding and crippling rate.  Unfortunately, many of these wounded or maimed animals escape and are never found.  How can we simply dismiss this savage activity, where animals are merely regarded as pin cushions on four legs, or another form of the "sport" associated with hunting?

Finally, hunters like to claim they prevent animals from starving to death, by killing them for their own good.  However, the millions of animals wounded or maimed by hunters, become unable to forage for food and ultimately die of the very thing hunters claim to prevent, "starvation."   I rest my case. 

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