I was reading the interesting (and numerous) comments on the Globe and Mail article, Ontario Urged to Restore Spring Bear Hunt. There were some strange comments on both side of the issues, but a couple of comments grabbed my attention. I thought I would take a moment and have my own ‘say’ about them.
The first comment (that came up more than once) was one that said something like, “People who kill animals for ‘recreation’ make me sick!”. I would counter with, “Anyone who eats a hamburger should make you sick!” You can’t say killing animals is wrong while you stand at home behind your own barbeque. For some reason, to many anti-hunters, there is a mis-conception that recreational hunting means heading to the bush and shooting at anything in sight.
You could – but that would be poaching! Poaching is ILLEGAL.
In Ontario, recreational hunting means buying a license for one (sometimes varies depending on your area) animal and then ‘trying’ to kill that animal as part of the management plan for the province. This plan is based on science and NOT emotion. At least it is supposed to be. Recreational hunting also means that once you have killed that animal you process the meat as quickly as possible. It is illegal to waste meat and leave the animal. The amount of work that takes is far from recreational and indiscriminate.
The second comment, that seemed to come up more than once, was one that indicated that killing bears 
required little effort and skill. Obviously, from people who have NEVER hunted a day in their life. It seems to be that it is pretty easy to walk into a grocery store and pick up a package of meat and eat it. Forgetting the fact that cows (for example) are fenced in, fed, then herded into an area to be slaughtered. Once slaughtered, the meat is processed and shipped to grocery store for us to eat – with out any work on our part. That sounds more recreational than hunting for my OWN meat. Perhaps our favorite hunting shows give the impression that hunting is easy.
It’s not. At least, it is not as recreational as being on the cottage deck and using the barbeque for your favorite store purchased steak. Send me an email and I will take you out this fall. Then, you can decide how easy it really isn’t!
Absolutely! There are so many bad ‘pictures’ and opinions of hunters out there. For some reason, people ‘buy’ into them as truth.
Very good point. I don’t know of any hunters who simply go out and “kill” animals for recreation. If they don’t use the meat themselves, most will donate it to a food bank. Many food banks benefit from donations by hunters every year.