Persuasive Essay: The Great Hunting Debate

Lozano 1

The Great Hunting Debate

White-tailed deer population in North America now exists between 15 and 20 million animals, and has continued to rise approximately 35 percent annually (Kroll). Only 5 percent of Americans, some 12.5 million individuals consider themselves hunters (Does Hunting Help or Hurt the Environment). White-tailed deer hunting is a very controversial topic nationwide, the deer provide food for humans but there are also ways to get the nutrients humans need other than hunting and killing an innocent animal, hunting controls the population of deer but it is also considered inhumane, while hunting can increase the knowledge of the outdoors but it can also be harmful if performed irresponsibly. “I hunt deer because I love the entire process; the

preparation, the excitement, and sustained suspense of trying to match my woods lore against the finely honed instincts of these creatures” (Honoring The Bow-hunting Legend, Fred Bear).
Hunting provides the nutrition humans need to sustain life, but there are other ways to get the nutrition needed for humans to survive. The meat of the deer, which is otherwise known as venison, is healthier and more lean than most of the meat we, as humans consume into our bodies. The Hunters for the Hungry program have provided 22.2 million servings of venison to help provide to people in need (Hunters for the Hungry). Not only does the meat from the deer provide for the homeless, it provides for all of mankind.
Hunting is now nothing more than a violent form of recreation that the vast majority of hunters does not need for subsistence (Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary). Forty percent of hunters slaughter and maim millions of animals on public land every year, and by some estimates, poachers kill just as many animals illegally (Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary). Too many deer are being shot and killed and wasted for recreation rather than
Lozano 2
being killed for food. There are other ways to find the nutrition we need as humans to be sustained in life other than slaughtering innocent animals.
Hunting controls the population of the deer, they never have, nor will they ever be able to control their own population growth (Kroll). The only predator that appears to have had a significant impact on deer populations was the wolf. Wolves and deer are brothers. The deer and the wolf have grown up together, each intimately dependent on the other. However, the wolf was obligated to a co-dependency relationship. Although wolves had the ability to switch to alternative, smaller prey, the welfare of wolves greatly was influenced by the abundance of deer. The deer-wolf relationship marvelously adapted deer to respond to man (Kroll). Thus, making man the only predator to deer, to control the population. Without man hunting and killing deer, the population would skyrocket and be out of control. Humans are the only hope for the deer population to be set in sustainable numbers.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals state that hunting causes animals pain, suffering, and stress as part of a sport that uses conservation as a shield (Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary). Eleven percent of deer who’d been killed by hunters died only after being shot two or more times and that some wounded deer suffered for more than fifteen minutes before dying (Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary). People should not kill innocent animals just to kill them. If man is going to shoot an animal there needs to be a reason for it and not just shoot to kill for entertainment.
Hunting can increase the knowledge of the outdoors, seventy eight percent of Americans support hunting today (Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary), not all of them that hunt preform the task illegally; in fact the majority of them do it cautiously and responsibly.
Lozano 3
The current hunters of America today have an obligation to teach and inform the youth and future generations the need to use accurate, correct techniques and the responsibilities of being a hunter. “The future of the shooting sports in this country is in the hands of tomorrow’s outdoorsmen and women. The youth of America must be educated to the wholesome and valued world of hunting and conservation,” (Biography: Ted Nugent) says Ted Nugent, one of the nation’s most outspoken proponents of our first and second Amendment rights. When one is out in the wild and experiencing the outdoors, a feeling of jealousy consumes the soul. When the realization of the encompassing freedom the animals have to roam with no boundaries, and knowing that not all of them will get the correct nutrition they need to survive. It is the duty of mankind to take out a certain number of animals from the population, to not only make humans survive, but the animals too. The killing of an animal will be both heart breaking and jubilant. “I have always tempered my killing with respect for the game pursued. I see the animal not only as a target, but as a living creature with more freedom than I will ever have. I take that life if I can, with regret as well as joy, and the sure knowledge that nature’s ways of fang and claw or exposure and starvation are a far crueler fate than I bestow”(Honoring The Bow-hunting Legend, Fred Bear).
In 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney famously shot a friend while hunting quail on a canned- hunting preserve. According to the International Hunter Education Association, there are dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries attributed to hunting in the United States every year (Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary). Hunters should take the time to do their research before picking up their bows and scout the area they’ll be hunting (Bow hunters take aim as new

Lozano 4
season begins).

Hunting can be very dangerous or even life threatening when performed irresponsibly.

When humans hunt white-tailed deer the meat provides food for them, but there are also ways to get the nutrients humans need other than hunting and killing deer, the hunting controls the population of the deer but it is also considered inhumane, while hunting can increase the

knowledge of the outdoors but it can also be harmful if performed irresponsibly. Hunting should be allowed in the United States because it provides food for humans, it regulates the population

of the deer, getting the privilege to hunt can increase a person’s knowledge of the outdoors. Even if a hunter does not produce a kill it is still such a breath taking experience just getting to be in

the woods and experience how all the animals can live together in such uniform. Just getting to be able to be in the outdoors is a truly amazing experience. “Go afield with a good attitude, with respect for the wildlife you hunt and for the forest and fields in which you walk. Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person” (Honoring The Bow-hunting Legend, Fred

Bear).