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 