These two groups hold very similar beliefs — a deep respect for nature and animals. Moreover, while not all environmentalists are hunters, the majority of hunters are environmentalists, even if they are slow to admit it.
These groups of outdoorsmen and women really part ways when it comes to the harvesting of animals. Many environmentalists cannot find a middle ground when it comes to taking game. And, you’ll never find a vegan hunter. Try to find an environmentalist who douses deer urine on their body, too.
While hunters and environmentalist certainly have their differences, they are closer than cousins when it comes to the causes they support. Here is how the two groups are the same and how they complement each other.
Environmentally-Friendly Food
Many environmentalists realize what hunters have always known: meat harvested in the field is healthier to consume and doesn’t have a negative impact on the earth like a large farming operation, the slaughter/packing houses and transportation that go into getting the meat from the farms to the table. Also, livestock production uses 40 percent of the world’s land and consumes one third of all freshwater, according to a Time article. Harvesting animals in an ethical way reduces that impact. Recently, a number of vegetarians have even supported hunting over farm-raised meat and hunting hipsters have increased the number of hunters that are in the field. These new hunters are not only concerned about the environment, but about their health. There have been many recent reports about farmers who overuse antibiotics to help fatten up their animals. It’s a practice that may affect end users.
The Gear
Visit any online store that sells outdoors goods. Can you tell the difference between the items a hunter would use from the gear an environmentalist would use? Minus the weapons, nearly everything on the site is applicable to both groups of people. For instance, hunters and environmentalists commonly use trail cameras in order to gauge an area’s wildlife populations.
Decoys are another product utilized by both groups. Whether a person is hunting or auditing a population, decoys help draw animals within range. These decoys, which can serve many purposes, range from coyote decoys to crow decoys and everything in between.
Invasive Species Eradication
We have Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto to thank for the wild hog epidemic in the United States as he brought these non-native species to the New World to use as a food source. There are now millions of feral pigs in the United States, with the majority residing (and reproducing) in the Southern United States. They have been reported in 45 U.S. states, but the majority of them roam Florida and Texas. These animals wreak havoc on natural populations and do not have any predators. They ruin water sources, trample native species of plants and carry diseases that can be deadly to humans. The only upside to having these hogs around: they are tasty. So, with guidance from environmentalists, hunters are doing their part to better the environment by culling the pig population. This is, perhaps, the best example of how hunters and environmentalists are working together to better our environment for all of us.
Share
AFP
