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

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