Never have I understood why someone would say it’s wrong to hunt when I and many others love the sport. Hunting is something that needs to be experienced before saying its wrong, not with a weapon but with an open mind. I guarantee you’ll learn something new and have a greater feeling for the outdoors.

There’s the thrill of the chase, that echoing morning gobble, the baying of the hounds, and the pride and smile that lasts through it all. These reasons and many more are what keep hunters going strong and enjoying the outdoors to its fullest, but most don’t see it the way a hunter does. Those that say hunting is wrong see it as cruel and inhumane because it involves killing wildlife. Hunters of today don’t run out in the woods shooting every animal they see, if we did there would be no wildlife, some of the same wildlife we have worked hard over many years and are still working to reintroduce into the land they once lived in but because of people in the same area they were pushed out. In addition, with the rapid growth of land development additional efforts are taken to see that animals have woodlands, water, food sources, and all else that are needed to survive. Hunting is a way of life for both people and animals, we help each other live, and so if you change one and you’ll throw it off balance. By this I mean if we didn’t hunt there would be more car accidents caused by deer, some taking the lives of both involved in the collision. Rabies and other disease would spread like a wildfire killing more then a hunter ever could. Dogs that have been bred for centuries to hunt wildlife would be deprived of an instinct that runs through their blood.

What about the benefits, auctions and raffles which hunters have either started or included themselves in so to donate the amount raised to others who need it. You cannot ignore benefit events like these; they’ve been going on for years raising millions of dollars for children hospitals, cancer societies, youth events, and more. Hunters volunteer their time and effort to see that an event is put to its fullest, therefore hoping it will be a great success to the participants and the receiver of the donation. Other types of programs allow a hunter to donate the meat from their hunt to help feed the hungry, but first the meat must be taken to an approved meat processor where its then cut and packaged. More then 40 states participate in something similar, and because of the high rate of donations from hunters they may be asked to pay some of the processing fee at their own expense and that hasn’t slowed the donations one bit.

Hunters help out more then I know because they care about what’s happening all around them and not just to them. Keep one thing in mind, harvesting wildlife doesn’t make a hunt successful, it’s a bonus that puts meat in the freezer and reduces the growing animal population. The success of the hunt is up to the hunter to decide, and what they choose to call success might be watching the sunset or seeing a big smile spread across a young hunter’s face. It’s those moments that when added up together form something unforgettable.