Is Hunting the Answer? Revised

Activist? Hardly. Passionate? Maybe. Aware? True. Care? Most certainly. Willing to change if ever a solution? Yes. This is my mind-set when it comes to my relationship with the environment.

My love for earth’s environment began when I was very young. My family is made up of hunters and my grandmother on my father’s side is part Cherokee. From this alone, I had but no chance to learn about the woods, the animals, and all that nature has to offer. And after learning about nature and being in her presence, I grew to respect her. I want her to be there for me to cherish, for my kids to cherish, and their kids to cherish.

Being a hunter, it is very hard to shed that “redneck hillbilly”, “want to kill anything that moves” stereotype. First of all, being in the woods, be it a tree stand, perhaps a turkey blind, or maybe just a walk, you have time to reflect and come to terms with the things in life you are most appreciative for. For being such a young child at the time I learned to hunt and living in an area where the typical stereotype of a hunter might be true, I learned that I love just to be in the presence of nature. Some of the best times I have ever had in the woods are the times my field tags came back to the house blank and my knives clean. I learned to love the simple blowing of the wind through the trees, the squirrels playfully chasing one another from tree to tree, the sounds of acorns falling to the forest floor in the fall, and the majestic bucks fighting and marking their territory for the rut to come.

As one can probably tell, the greatest aspect of the environment for me is the wildlife. Over the years, I have developed the deepest passion for the wild turkey and have become a very good hunter/caller. A trait that has given me a great advantage come every spring. Now, if you would please pause for a second and think. I believe that everybody at some point in their younger years wished they could have talked to animals. The thing with turkeys is that this wish is exceedingly possible. Isn’t this worth preserving? The only problem is that you have to speak their language instead of your own. For the reasons I have explained, I am a proud member of the National Wild Turkey Federation and support all the conservation efforts they put forth. I support avid sportsmen all over the world and in addition try to take the youth and less fortunate to the woods so that they too can share my passion for wildlife.

As one can tell, hunting and wildlife are two things I am passionate about. Because of this passion, I am willing to do my part to save this branch of the environment. I have learned through my own eyes and over the years that legal hunting is indeed one of the best conservation efforts for preserving wildlife. Hunting produces revenue through the purchase of licenses and tags which are able to provide for good habitat and law enforcement. Law enforcement is very crucial in stopping poachers and the illegal killing of animals. This is most apparent in Africa where the elephant is dreadfully endangered. Though the numbers of elephants have drastically fallen in the past decade, countries have developed their own hunting season. They do this by putting a lottery system into effect. This means that only a handful of people will have the ability to recieve an elephant tag. Additionally, every part of the elephant must be used. This is aided by the surrounding tribes. Their hope is to stop the illegal poaching for ivory tusks and furthermore raise money for wildlife parks that will keep the elephant safe for generations to come. These types of people, organizations, and countries I support very much and wish their efforts the best.

For the very short time I have been a part of this environmental English class, it has made me more aware of the world we live in. I guess in a way I am ashamed of humans and the destruction we have caused to earth. Over the past generations we have selfishly thought only of ourselves and have disregarded the effects it could have further down the road. It hurts for me to say that I don’t have the solution for stopping the destruction of our environment. But I do know that my passion of hunting and wildlife go hand in hand. I know hunting is not a complete answer to all our problems but it is a step in the right direction. I believe if more people could be persuaded to hunt or if more people supported upstanding sportsmen, then we would at least be taking a step in persevering one aspect of our environment.