A young hunter posts photos of big game she has taken in Africa and people lose their minds. They make posts threatening to kill her, call her vile names and relentlessly attack her for doing something they have no idea about. Many of these same people have no problem aborting babies, killing innocent children who not by their choice were conceived, yet they prefer not to take responsibility.
Well, this young, bright lady hunts because she loves it, and because it does benefit conservation and the areas she hunts in.
While mankind likes to move into areas, tear down forests for profit, push the limits between wildlife and humans, these same people complaining about “Sport” hunters kill far more wildlife than hunters ever would and not put one penny back into reforestation, prevention of poaching or research to help wildlife. Hunters on the other hand, whether hunting for trophies or hunting to fill their freezers put billions of dollars back into the wildlife they love. Some will say, trophy hunters don’t hunt for meat, while that may be true, that meat goes to the villagers to feed them. Many hunters in many states get several tags to fill, more than what is needed to fill their freezers, but what most do is donate the meat they don’t take to local food pantries and “Hunters for The Hungry” which takes meat from hunters who have too much or who just want to help out.
If anyone has ever been in the wild and have seen starving or diseased animals, I can promise you they are in much more inhumane pain than from someone who goes out and hunts them. Their pain last for weeks or months and does not subside, but when a hunter shoots an animal, it is the hunter who takes careful aim to make sure that the shot is going to be clean and take out the animal in the fastest way possible.
Those who hunt in Africa are even more important to the conservation of the ecosystem there. For example, when an old lion is challenged by younger lions for a pride, the older lion is banished to live on his own. He no longer has the pride to rely on to hunt for food and he must do it himself. As he gets older and slower he is more apt to take easy prey (humans) than to go after his faster natural prey. If he doesn’t eat and keep up his strength, he becomes ill and is even more likely to become a man-eater. He is not longer afraid or humans and he attacks closer to farms, where humans and farm animals are easily taken.
Those lions are targeted for trophy hunts, where a person who has enough money to do so, pays to hunt, with that money going back into the area where they are hunting. Giving a boost to the economy there, as well as taking care of a problem.
This also aids in younger stronger lions being able to pass online strong genes to grow a healthy pride. These animals are also hunted when a population grows larger than an area can hold.
You can say the same about many other large animals, who if left unchecked, they will grow larger populations, deplete an area and then you have disease and starvation to deal with.
So, to those who think they know what hunting is all about, it would only take a few minutes to open your eyes and your mind and do some research on the subject. Yes there are arguments on both sides, but unless you have been there and seen that, you really do not know and can not make an educated opinion on the subject.
As for Kendall Jones, I applaud her for doing her part for conservation. At a young age, she is doing great things to help wildlife and doing something she is passionate about. Keep up the great work!
Jeff Nichols' Outdoors 
as a non hunter I dont really have an opinion on this, I just find it fascinating that people hunt for “fun”
I think it would be very disturbing to watch an animal squeal and die in a pool of its own blood, especially a bigger majestic animal like a lion. I feel like if I pulled the trigger and watched the animal wither around and die I would feel like complete crap.
How do you hunters not get emotional knowing you ended the lives of so many animals?
Just wondering.
Fred, good question and I will tell you that hunting is fun, and not always do hunters come home successful. It is something that all animals do, they hunt for food, and yes for trophies, but real hunters never let their harvest go to waste. We honor our hunts by taking photos with them, mounting the heads, tanning the hides, and there is a bit of sadness in killing an animal, because we are connected. Real hunters try to make sure we take the best shot possible for a clean and quick kill. We process the meat for ourselves and share it with those who need food. And sometimes we have to take out animals that are old, ill or problems for the good of the rest of the animals, as well as making sure they don’t die a long and agonizing death. We give way more back to wildlife than we take away. We set up food plots with minerals that animals need, so that we have strong healthy herds and we take what we need. If you had read more about killing lions in Africa, you would see that those lions that were harvested were taken for a reason. I can promise you that if you eat meat from Kroger, those animals are treated much worse than those taken in the wild.
Hi Jeff. The difference between nature killing other wild animals is they do it for food whereas humans do it for fun!
FUN IN KILLING BEAUTIFUL WILD ANIMALS ?
No thank you Jeff.
Aye
Bruce
Bruce,
I don’t know where you are from, but where I am from, there are many people who hunt for food. It is much cheaper and actually healthier to eat wild game than it is to buy meat from a store. You should meet some real honest hunters sometime, you might be surprised at how much the really care about nature.
Probably arent aware of it but a few years ago we were in Botswana as my nephews wife was in the diplomatic service. We were on a safari in Chobe. The guide told us a story about where the Botswana army was out training on horses. they came upon a pride of lions. One of the horses got spooked and threw the rider. The pride pounced on the soldier and killed him. As a matter of policy they shot the whole pride. they dont want lions to taste humans. Not a good thing for their tourism industry. He said it was government policy.
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