Licensed hunters are true conservationists

It is not legal to hunt any juvenile bear, nor any bear in the company of a juvenile. Hunters take care not to orphan any cubs. They also prefer male bears because the males are usually larger and carry more meat.

The rather unfortunate term “sport hunting” came about more than a hundred years ago to distinguish legal hunting from the formerly legal market hunting, that is, hunting wild animals and selling their meat.

In the late 1800s, game carcasses were shipped East to the cities by the trainload. This caused a dramatic drop in wild game populations and it was the hunters themselves who banded together to demand closed seasons and limited tags.

Few urban people today realize how much licensed hunters do for wildlife; most belong to wildlife associations, and the tag and license fees all go to pay game wardens, conduct biological surveys and buy wild lands for wildlife habitat.

Wild game is delicious, healthy to eat, and humans are the only predators who strive for an instant and humane kill. To be a good hunter, one must also be a naturalist; and hunters are the first-line sentries who report any abnormal situations such as diseases in wild populations.

And believe it or not, hunters also routinely drag stuck elk out of bogs or deer out of holes in the ice. I have more than once rescued injured wildlife (hit by cars, run down by dogs or even just starving).

The licensed hunter is the true conservationist; she wants to see healthy wildlife populations and healthy ecosystems to support them … and us.

Willi Boepple Victoria