What Do Hunters Do to Animals?

Hunting causes injury, pain, and suffering to animals that are not adapted to defend themselves against bullets, traps, and other cruel killing devices.

Hunting

can destroy animal families and habitats, leaving behind helpless baby animals that die of hunger. Contrary to what hunters often say in defense of their activity, hunting has nothing to do with “conservation” or “population control”. In fact, animals are sometimes bred specifically for hunters to kill them.

Hunting is the process of killing or capturing wild animals. While some hunters take great care to make the process quick and painless, others may not be as considerate of their prey's welfare. The ethical standards of one hunter can be very different from another's. Hunters almost always eat the animals they kill, and in most jurisdictions, it's the law that hunters don't waste any of the meat.

However, there are some species that are slaughtered and not eaten due to food safety or other practical concerns. Local hunting clubs and national organizations provide education to hunters and help protect the future of the sport by purchasing land for use in future hunting. Non-hunters are forced to share many wildlife refuges, national forests, state parks, and other public lands with armed people who enjoy killing animals. While all of the animals on this list are eaten by hunters, they vary greatly in the quality or taste of the meat depending on what the animal has been fed frequently, the care of the meat in the field, and the cooking of the meat. Because wildlife agencies are partly funded by excise taxes on weapons, ammunition, and fishing equipment and by proceeds from license sales, hunters who make up a small percentage of Americans enjoy a disproportionate opinion on how wilderness areas are managed and animals that inhabit them.

Hunters of protected species require a hunting license in every state, for which completion of a hunting safety course is sometimes a prerequisite. Other states are less strict than Idaho, and don't require hunters to get the loins as they can be difficult to remove if the game's popular “no guts” method of dressing up is used. In 1937, President Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act which requires the annual purchase of stamps by all hunters over sixteen years old. Many state and federal wildlife agencies also ask hunters to report the number of animals they harvested in a season and where they were harvested according to DePerno. However, the vast herds of bison attracted market hunters who killed dozens of bison just for their skins leaving the rest to rot. Techniques may vary depending on government regulations, the hunter's personal ethics, local customs, hunting equipment, and the animal being hunted.

Laws may prohibit sport hunters from using some methods mainly used in poaching and wildlife management. For example, moving captive-bred deer and elk between states so that hunters can kill them is believed to have contributed to the epidemic spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD), a deadly neurological disease in deer and moose that has been compared to mad cow disease. The fear and inescapable and heartbreaking noises of gunfire and other shocks created by hunters cause hunted animals to suffer tremendous stress. If you've never hunted before it can be difficult to understand why hunters eat some animals and don't eat others or why do hunters kill some animals even if they are wasted.

Dorothy Magni
Dorothy Magni

Hipster-friendly food buff. Award-winning coffee trailblazer. Devoted food enthusiast. Devoted writer. Unapologetic music expert. Evil web ninja.