That surprises me, considering the majority of hunters are not hunting because they absolutely need that meat or they will starve. So what's the motive, then, if not food or some form of a thrill?
I am genuinely curious. Not trying to be argumentative. I am not anti-hunting, though I have mixed feelings about it.
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I don't hunt personally, but I do enjoy fishing. I came across the information below and thought I would share:
The game laws (NOTE there are laws...) were enacted a hundred plus years agomost notably the Lacey Act (1900), which forbade interstate commerce in wildlife. The Act spelled the death knell for market hunting and, with bag limits and closed seasons, the recovery of both game and non-game species began. Although many hunters initially resisted these constraints on their hunting, the resultsthe recovery of gamewere clear and welcomed.
Along with recovering game populations, added emphasis on hunter safety and, ultimately, formal training in hunter safety as a condition for being issued a hunting license dramatically reduced hunting accidents and increased public acceptance of hunting.
Recent surveys have revealed a slight up-tick in the sale of hunting licenses largely attributed to what Tovar Cerulli and others have called adult onset hunters. These hunters, like Tovar himself, are being drawn to hunting out of a desire to take charge of their food. A number of recent cultural shifts have fueled this interest in hunting: growing discomfort with industrial farming and food safety (growth hormones, antibiotics); the locavore and organic farm movement; and a desire to take a direct hand in putting food on the table. No doubt there are many more consumers who recoil at food that does not come wrapped in plastic film than there are people who prefer to shoot or catch at least a portion of their annual consumption of meat and fish.
Finally, another personal reason that draws men and women to hunting is the need to acknowledge that we are, after all, also animals with a long history of predation, a history long enough to have been encoded in our genes. To be sure, our capacity to create cultures with rituals, norms, and ethical restraints makes us distinct from the other creatures with whom we share the planet, but to deny that part of us that is wild is, as Florence Shepard insists, to deny what it is to be fully human.
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