The traditions of shooting and hunting in this
country are older than the country itself.
Firearms have protected us, provided for us and
given us joy for centuries. For years, the sport
of hunting was an endeavor to be proud of, to take
seriously and honorably.
Boy, have times changed. The threat to the
shooting and hunting heritage we have enjoyed for
so long is growing, seemingly each and every day.
Why? Two reasons, really two sides of the same
coin. First: hunters and shooters are by nature,
for the most part, a quiet bunch, the type of
people who would rather spend their time
participating in nature than discussing their
beloved sports with the non-shooting public.
Second: The non-shooting, non-hunting public
rarely spends their time thinking about those who
do hunt and shoot. So, when powerful organized
groups aggressively attack the shooting and
hunting sports, backed by millions of dollars, and
inundate the media with their messages, they make
an impact, regardless of the truth of the
statements they make. The general public is swayed
against the hunting public, not because they truly
believe shooting and hunting threaten their way of
life or the planet they live on. No, just because
they just don’t know the whole story.
That’s why education is the key to saving the
sports we love. Young people interested in the
shooting and hunting sports of course need to be
educated in the basics of firearms safety, the
ethics of hunting and the like, but now more than
ever, they need to be instructed as to the
important role the hunting and shooting sports
play in the overall picture that is nature. They
need to be instructed that not only is hunting
fun, it is important to the balance of nature,
more so now than at any other time in our history.
They need to know about the millions of dollars
spent by sportsmen every year that go directly
toward government programs to improve the
environment and enhance not only the proliferation
of game species but non-game species as well.
That’s where you come in.
Let’s face it. The more educated shooters and
hunters are about the importance of their sports,
the better able they will be to inform the
non-shooting and non-hunting public of its
importance. And that, indeed, is the key to our
survival.
So you owe it to yourself, your sport and your
future enjoyment of hunting and shooting to
educate yourself thoroughly about all aspects of
hunting and shooting. Not just the basics, the
things you need to know as a hunter, such as
hunting tactics, firearms safety and the like;
these things mean little to the non-hunter. You
need to study the ethics of hunting, and check out
some of the realities of the importance of
hunting, and be ready to lay those facts out when
your sport needs defending.
Here are the facts:
Hunters pay a tax on every piece of equipment
related to their sport. The money taken from this
tax, around $200 million annually, is distributed
to the states to pay for wildlife management
programs, habitat, etc. Whose idea was this tax?
Hunters’, that’s who. Hunters gladly pay this tax,
which benefits not only game species, but non-game
species as well. What other group does that? And
that is to say nothing of the fact that most
wildlife programs across the nation are funded
primarily through the sale of hunting and fishing
licenses and tags. And how about the millions of
dollars raised by sales of the federal waterfowl
stamp, which supports and enhances the national
wildlife refuges that dot the country?
Hunters are active participants in nature, very
important participants. There is only so much
habitat in the world, which will support only a
specific number of animals. Hunting is the most
viable means of controlling wildlife populations.
Think of it this way: Hunters pay to provide a
service, the important service of wildlife
population control.
As a hunter, you are a conservationist. You are an
environmentalist. You are an integral part of
nature. That’s not just an emotional statement, a
result of a nice self-image. That is a fact. A
fact to be proud of, a fact to be shared.
