Written by Hunting is something that’s easy to deride in far left and urban areas. It’s an activity that you can be sure involves a more conservative and country culture, however, liberals would be wise to consider the broader scope of hunting. To see the value we need to go beyond kneejerk emotional responses such as the ones that come with the idea that killing an animal is cruel, of knowing fleets overfish the oceans, and of associating hunting with gun rights advocates.
The full scope of hunting and fishing, what it was and what it could be, goes far beyond these emotions and associations. Hunting and fishing are still necessary in some areas to sustain life and fight poverty, they’re necessary for population control, and they could be part of a transition to a more environmentally sustainable society.
Retaking Hunting As Natural, For the Benefit of All
The big misconceptions around hunting that prevail with some groups are that it’s unnecessary, that it’s cruel to the animal, and that it does a lot more harm than good for the wildlife around us. All of those might not be true if you really take your values and principles to the furthest extent.
Hunting and Fishing Against Poverty
Hunting and fishing are still used for one thing primarily — eating. With all the arguments about subsidization, and the left agreeing it’s necessary for people with food insecurity, hunting and fishing are a resource that helps quell some of those arguments. Anyone who thinks it’s an automatic red flag in a person’s character has no sense of the people in rural areas of the country supplementing their table with wildlife as much out of necessity, or more, than sport.
Population Control for Farmers and Wildlife
While there are the occasional areas that are over-hunted purely by hunters in the area, likely a few bad apples in the bunch, others need hunters to step in from time to time. Especially now, with the rise of invasive species enabled by industrialization and misguided owners over the last 100+ years, hunters sometimes need to step in and lower the count of one species to help save the rest of the ecosystem. Florida is one easy example, where you can make pretty good cash if you’re comfortable hunting pythons in the Everglades. This is key to helping prevent some environmental breakdowns.
Keeping It Real About Where We Come From
Denigrating hunting and fishing is to denigrate the culture of our past, other cultures as they exist today, and even certain beliefs some people who call it cruel may claim to have. It’s true that some early humans over-hunted as well, but many respected the land and its creatures and thanked them for their sacrifice. With that respect in mind, it’s hard to call hunting and fishing more cruel than some of the commercial meat or land clearing we do. It’s also hard to say you respect and care about the human condition when you look down on others who put food on the table this way.
Ending the Shade on Hunting
With so many issues facing our country today, let’s not let a still-relevant, up-until-now-essential survival tactic be something we politicize. It’s one area where we have common interests — it can be used to keep the environment healthy, making for the best hunting in the long-term as well.
