Re: Sunday hunting - a different perspective
Gyrfal@aol.com
Mon, 1 Mar 1999 13:48:50 EST
I have a different perspective on birders opposing the Sunday hunting
proposal. I recognize full well that many, if not most, birders have a
visceral distaste for hunters and hunting. I have not hunted in fifteen
years, although there was a time when I was as fanatic in that hobby as I am
now into birding. So I think I can see the other side perhaps better than
many birders.
It seems to me that birders and hunters have far more in common than either
group likes to acknowledge, and far more than they have differences. Both
groups enjoy the outdoors, most people in both groups participate mainly on
weekends and most now pursue their interests on public land. Certainly on
issues of land use and conservation our interests are mainly mutual. Would we
rather have a wildlife management area open to hunting or a housing
development or a golf course?
Before we birders pick an ill-conceived fight with hunters, perhaps we might
want to consider the following:
1. Far sighted hunters led the fight for conservation in the thirties, not
birders. Were it not for the incredible efforts of Ding Darling, among
others, there would not be hundreds of thousands of acres of public land
available for birder's use. Most of the National Wildlife Refuges are open to
birders 365 days of the year and protect the entire ecosystem, not just
waterfowl. We birders ought to be thanking our maker daily for the likes of
Ding Darling and his hunting compatriots.
2. Where is the conflict? Most, of the places where we Marylanders bird are
in other jurisdictions or will never be open to hunting. State, local and
national parks have never been hunting areas. These include, of course, the
towpath of the C&O canal, Point Lookout and Sandy Point. The CBBT islands are
not huntable and are in Virginia anyway. There are many essentially private
spots, like where our famous Kelp Gull resides, that will never permit
hunting. While Bombay Hook is open now for hunting, it is in Delaware. I
don't think there has ever been hunting at Blackwater. Nobody is proposing to
hunt on the breakwaters at Ocean City or the 4th Street flats. Has anyone
ever seen a hunter at Conowingo Dam?
3. Where there is a potential conflict are in state wildlife management areas
like McKee Beshers, which we birders like to call Hughes Hollow. Hunters and
hunter's political clout caused this area to be set aside and managed by the
DNR. Who are we to say that it can't be used seven days a week by the folks
who caused it's protection? Where are the spots that birders have purchased,
protect and manage in Maryland? We birders ought to be very thankful that
this area is available to watch the spring migration and the summer breeders
without the "interference" of people with different interests.
4. Which brings me to the next point: How would we birders feel if another
interest group (like hunters or golfers) was trying to stop us from exercising
our passion one day each weekend? Wouldn't we be outraged? I don't think we
would feel much like supporting them when a political issue arose where they
had a major interest.
5. One of the main objects of hunting in Maryland is deer. Anything that
substantially reduces the deer herd in suburban and exurban areas, like around
DC, should be welcomed by birders. Deer have substantially degraded the
habitat in many areas, adversely affecting such ground nesting birds as
Kentucky Warblers and Ovenbirds. Deer are out of control in many areas and
there is no feasible way of reducing their numbers except by hunting, despite
emotional appeals from certain groups.
6. As far as safety is concerned, well, one is safer being in the woods with
hunters than one is driving the Rockville Pike, not to mention Route 95 and
the Beltway.
7. Well regulated hunting does not adversely affect the environment or
wildlife numbers. Many studies have concluded that with or without hunting,
wildlife numbers are about the same at the end of each summer. Other factors
DO affect bird numbers, the most common causes have been historically
pesticides and land use. Both hunters and birders have an interest in
determining the cause of the severe downward trend in Bobwhite Quail numbers
in Maryland.
8. There are outlaw hunters who damage the environment, just like there are
outlaw birders. We ought to vigorously oppose both lawless groups wherever
and whenever possible.
In summary, we probably ought to think twice before publicly opposing a
natural (albeit unacknowledged) ally. We ought to be building alliances and
friendships with outdoor oriented interest groups, not making enemies.
Successful politics revolves around stressing mutuality and minimizing
differences. There are plenty of fights to be fought in the environmental
area, and we ought to pick those where our interests are substantially
threatened. Sunday hunting, it does not seem to me, is one of the latter.
Bob Mumford
Darnestown