I am a hunter, and I view hunting as honorable participation in the environent. It is no less participation than, say, a cougar killing a deer for food. Or a big fish eating a smaller fish. It's the way God created life.
As humans, we have the responsibility to behave on a higher plane than the animals. With hunting, that means killing only what you mean to eat or otherwise put to good use. Some people do not adhere to ethical principles when they hunt and these people, I think, cede their moral claim to the hunt.
For myself, killing cleanly without suffering, killing within the law, killing only my own quarry and not someone else's, nor allowing them to kill mine, conserving the meat and other gifts of the killed, and killing within the bounds of fair chase. These are some of the principles that make me proud to be a hunter. |
