Hunters are Conservationists

In today’s world hunters are given a bad reputation. Most hunters in the U.S. are law-abiding citizens but because of a few immoral hunters all hunters have been given a bad name. A lot of people view the hunting of animals as inhumane and cruel. They say that the animals have no real chance at getting away and hunters are just out to kill. I’m going to prove them wrong. In my experience as a hunter for the past 10 years and through research that I’ve done, I have learned of all the ways that hunters are conservationists.

As a child I was taught how to hunt by my dad, grandfather, and uncles. Throughout all of their teaching I never once found anything they did to be illegal or inhumane. Most of my family and friends are hunters. In my personal experiences, I have not met one person who purposefully hunts and kills animals illegally. The state department of natural resources has laid out laws for hunting, and no one I know purposefully breaks these laws. The laws are there to provide protection for animals and to make hunting as humane as possible. I speak for myself and most hunters when I say that we always try to follow these laws.

The next point I want to make is that hunters are the leading contributors to almost all conservation efforts. During the early 1900’s many laws were passed to aid in conservation and lay out guidelines for hunting wild game. Some of these laws were to require licenses and permits to hunt and trap animals. The money raised from the sale of these licenses goes directly to state and federal conservation efforts. In total, the sale of licenses makes $1.1 billion for state conservation efforts yearly. Almost all hunters were for this legislation when it was created and passed.

There is another form of legislation that has been passed to help conservation. There are federal taxes on all items that are used for hunting. There is a tax on sporting guns and ammo that raises $163 million a year. There is a tax on handgun sales that raises $41 million a year. There is a tax on fishing supplies that raises $100 million a year. There is another tax on archery supplies that raises $25 million a year. Through all of the different taxes $560 million is raised per year, and all of it goes to conservation. All of these taxes are supported by hunters.

Through all of the legislation that has been passed and enforced billions of dollars have been raised. Many conservation groups receive some of this money and work to help conserve nature. Some of the more popular groups are the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited. All of these groups are ran by hunters and work to conserve nature. I hope everything I have talked about will give hunters a better reputation, because in reality hunters truly are conservationists.