Re[2]: Sunday hunting - a different perspective

ctaylor@seamail.nos.noaa.gov
Tue, 02 Mar 99 12:14:08 -0500


Thanks Bob for your letter.  If you haven't read Bob's letter, you might want
to.  I think he brings up a number of good points to consider.    I don't hunt
and I never will, but I do believe that hunter's do provide a service that some
of us would find that we might agree with, but couldn't pursue, ourselves.  The
hunters that break the laws, will hunt on Sunday whether the law says they can
or not.  It's the responsible hunters that care whether the law allows them to
hunt or not, and these hunters are generally those who don't fire on humans
because they take the time to identify their targets. 

If we feel the hunters in a certain area are being irresponsible, we need to
call in the authorities.  Many of the F&W and DNR folks are responsible hunters
themselves, and don't take law-breakers lightly.  One of the most dedicated
wildlife conservationists I know, works for DNREC as a wildlife biologist, and
spends much of his weekend time donating his time to finishing his projects. He
is also involved in the WHSRN shorebird expeditions.  He doesn't always have a
Saturday to hunt.  I'm sure he would like to be able to pursue his passion on
his "day off" just as we all would.

Many of us eat meet daily, and we never have to actually kill anything. 
Hunter's spend a great deal of time and money to simply bring one or two animals
home to their freezer.  I dare say that a little over a century ago, we probably
wouldn't even think of hunting as a problem, but as a necessity.  Hunter's are
simply facing the reality of acquiring meat.  As long as what these hunters are
shooting at, are not negatively affected by the hunting as far as their overall
population health is concerned, I personally don't have a problem with them. 
Like I said, I would never hunt, I'm too squeamish. If I had to kill my own
food, I'd be a vegetarian.  Its taken me a long time to come to these
conclusions, and I'd like to have a logical reason to be against hunting in
general, but I can't.

One more point - If you want to claim that you have as much right to a National
Wildlife Refuge as a hunter, buy a duck stamp.  More than 90% of each stamp goes
to buying new NWR lands.

Christine Taylor
National Ocean Service
NOAA