Many people do not appreciate the fact that hunters are among the most ardent conservationists and as a demographic contribute vast sums to both Public and Private conservation efforts.
As reported today in both the New York Times and Phila. Daily News, via AP....the number of hunters nationwide is waning. The article reports that: "The falloff could have farreaching consequences beyond the beginning of the end for an American tradition....with fewer hunters there is less revenue for a multi-billion dollar industry and government conservation efforts"
The writer further tells us that the paradox is that if hunting disappears,a large amount of funding that goes to restore habitat would vanish.
Hunting generates billions in retail sales and hundreds of millions into government conservation efforts.
In my state, Pennsylvania, sales of hunting licenses are down 20% over the last 20 years. One of the quotes in the article was chilling: "50 years ago a lot of kids would hunt and fish and be outside. Now it is easier to sit in your playroom and play video games." ( Mark Duda of a natural resources research group in Virginia)
What can a Sportsman do about this problem? The answer is easy: take a kid hunting.
"Possibly, as is so often the case with English institutions, the fact that sport is beginning to be seriously discussed is the signal for its fall. Possibly in a few score years it may have become a problem for moral archaeologists, and “tally-ho” may only live in the pages of some historian of old enthusiasms."
ReplyDeleteMacMillan’s Magazine, 21 (1870) p. 342.
You touch a subject about which I know a great deal, and I would just like to support the veracity of your claim that sportsmen have long been the chief conservers of our society. Foxes in England would have been extinct by 1850 or so were it not for the hunting of them.
I do think the 'why?' of conservation is important, though it is seldom asked. There is a great deal of solipsism on all sides that appears in public transformed mysteriously into altruism. I must say, Mr. Sportsman, you are a noble advocate of things that you unabashedly claim to be in your interest. There is a rare candour in this that deserves a salute.
Tally ho.
VB
Interesting information. Definitely something that I never thought about. Thanks for the post! Also thanks so much for your comments on BecomingPrep! Your support means alot!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think of Ducks Unlimited and other conservation groups that would not survive should the numbers continue to decline. The other day, my daughter told me about a little friend who is a couple of years older, named Molly. She said, "Molly has a gun!" I looked at her, waiting for the next part. "And her daddy does too, and they go hunting together." When I asked what she thought of that, knowing our own hubby/dad hunts, she said "She's a tomboy. She's a good hunter." So, there you go. :)
ReplyDeleteWe love hunting and hunters here!
ReplyDeletexoxo
SC
Preservation is one of those areas where the people whose interests overlap the most seems to be the farthest apart. It's a shame when so many people have so much to gain by setting aside their differences.
ReplyDelete