Jakob Flaggert

Lang
1312 Critical Writing
November 3, 2014
Hunting right or Wrong?
For all humanity humans have hunted to survive. Today hunting does not just
provide food for the family but it also provides a hobby. The hunting industry is booming
while more and more people are getting involved. The difference between food bought
in stores and food killed on a field are very diverse. Many think hunting is torture and
cruel. Hunting is ethical and provides a strong ecosystem. Many people develop
misconceptions about hunting due to a lack of knowledge on the subject.
In todays world there are more than 13 million hunters. While the numbers keep
increasing people are becoming more and more part of the community. Hunting brings
family and friends together to enjoy a pastime dating back 400000 years ago. What
most people do not understand are the importance of hunting. People think killing
animals by hunters will make them go extinct. This is false, according to 25 Reasons
why Hunting is Conservative In 1907, only 41,000 elk remained in North America.
Thanks to the money and hard work invested by hunters to restore and conserve
habitat, today there are more than 1 million. Elk are just one example of an animal that
has restored its strength to keep growing in population. Other animals who have
improved in population growths are white tailed deer, wild turkey, duck, and many more.
Without hunters and wildlife management many of these animals would be close to

extinction. Hunting helps with population growth but also over population growth.
Animals like the Mourning Dove or White-Wing Dove would be over populated without
hunting. These animals would wipe of farmers agriculture if hunters did not shoot them.
These birds would eat all the farmers crops and then be left to starve or not grow to
maximum potential. Hunting helps animals not over populate or go extinct because wild
life management provides hunting regulations to make sure an animals population
stays right where it needs to be. People who are against hunting tend to think hunting is
cruel, mean, and unfair. Hunting is not cruel, mean, or unfair. Hunting gives the animal
that was put on the Earth for human consumption an opportunity to survive in the wild.
Unlike caged chickens who are sent to the slaughter house with no hope of surviving,
hunters have a chance to miss their desired target or maybe even spoke the animal
away. Hunting can be very difficult because wild animals are intelligently revolving to
become smarter and aware. Large animals like a white tailed deer are usually shot at by
a rifle or bow. Hunters are taught to aim at the animals lungs (intended for heart) or
head leading to a clean quick kill. If a hunter misses the desired target and the animal is
still alive the hunter immediately will shoot again to kill the animals quick. Animals like a
Eurasian Dove once they have been shot the hunter will immediately pop the head off
quick if the animal is alive leaving a quick clean kill. For bigger birds like your Mallard
Duck the hunter rings and snaps the neck making another quick, clean kill.
The hunting industry is booming and making more and more money. Each year
The United States makes over billions through hunting equipment and licenses. Buying
licenses and equipment does not become straight profits for business but rather is given
back through the community through certain conservations. Conservation is land

conserved for wild game to grow. According to 25 Reasons why Hunting is

Conservation An 11% tax on guns, ammo, bows and arrows generates $371 million a
year for conservation. Since this tax was created in 1937 more than 7 billion dollars
was raised for wild life conservations.

Research: Purpose and Methodology

Description: The University of Texas of El Paso is a diverse population. The campus
includes people of different cultures and backgrounds. The people in this diverse group
all have different views and ideas, offering a well-rounded representation of opinions.
This population will reflect people understanding of the many aspects of hunting.
Purpose: This study is aimed at understanding the conceptions of hunting in the
student population at UTEP.
Methods: This study will survey UTEP students and faculty members.

Primary Research: Survey

1. Are you male or female?
(Male) (Female)
2. Have you ever hunted an animal before?
(Yes) (No)
If you answered yes, what type of animal have you hunted?
3. Is recreational hunting ethical?
(Yes) (No)
4. Do you believe that legal hunting is harmful to an animal population?
(Yes) (No)
5. Do you believe that meat from hunted wildlife is sanitary?
(Yes) (No)
6. Do you believe that legal hunting is cruel?
(Yes) (No)
7. Do you know anything about animal conservation, defined as the practice of protecting
endangered plants and wild animal species and their habitats?
(Yes) (No)
8. How is tax revenue from hunting related transactions (i.e. buying guns/bows, buying
ammunition/arrows, buying hunting licenses) used to help promote animal conservation?
A. Hunting supports 680,000 jobs, from game wardens to waitresses, biologists to motel clerks
B. Tax revenue is used to buy land and protect species who are endangered.
C. With funding from hunters, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (EMEF) helped restore wild elk
herds in six states and provinces.
D. All the Above
E. None of the Above
9. List all the animals that you are familiar with that are legally hunted.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10. What is your opinion of hunting animals for trophies?
A. Is wrong
B. Is acceptable
C. Is ok if the animal is killed for consumption as well

Results and Analysis

The respondents were 60% male and 40% female.

Respondents by Gender

male

female

The results show that 30% of the respondents have hunted before whereas 70% have not. There no
major difference between male and female respondents. The majority of the respondents of not being
hunters shows little knowledge that influences their views.

Have you ever hunted before?

4
3
2
1
0
Yes Male

Yes Female

No Male

No Female

The results show 60% of the respondents think hunting is ethical, while 40% do not. There is a
difference between the responses from male and female. From the results 50% of the men
thought hunting was ethical while the other 50% of men did not. From the results females had
75% who thought hunting is ethical while 25% did not. I thought more men would view hunting
as ethical while more female viewed hunting as not ethical.

Is hunting ethical?
3
2
1
0
Yes Male

Yes Female

No Male

No Female

Here we have 90% of the respondents agreeing that hunting is not harmful to an animals
population.

Is legal hunting harmful to an animal population?

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Yes Male

Yes Female

No Male

No Female

80% of the respondents think that hunted wildlife is sanitary to eat. This is interesting to me
because 40% of the respondents think hunting is unethical. So based off this study most of the
people think wildlife is safe to eat, but 40% still do not like the fact you are killing the animal.

Is meat from hunted wildlife sanitary?

5
4
3
2
1
0
Yes Male

Yes Female

No Male

No Female

Here we have 30% of respondents who think hunting is cruel while the other 70% do not.

Do you believe legal hunting is cruel?

4

0
Yes Male

Yes Female

No Male

No Female

I was surprised the majority of the respondents knew about animal conservations. This is good
but now the other 40% need to be informed about animal conservations so they know the
benefits and how to donating or help the conservations.

Do you know anything about animal

conservation?
4
3
2
1
0
Yes Male

Yes Female

No Male

No Female

The chart below shows that a majority of the people felt that trophy hunting is okay if the meat
is consumed.

Question 8
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
A

The chart below showed that the respondents had more people who believed it was okay to
shoot for a trophy as long as the animal was eaten as well.

Trophy Hunting
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Wrong

Acceptable

Yes, only if meat

is consumed

From the respondents deer was the most popular animal known for hunting. Deer is known as
the most popular sought after big game animal in the south so I was not surprised. But I was
also surprised a few people said Moose. Since this is the Southern region I did not think people
would guess moose over turkey.

Common Hunted Animals

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Deer

Dove

Duck

Moose

Other

In conclusion hunting has benefited the ecosystem in many ways. The few
who think hunting is wrong was primarily because of the lack of knowledge of the
subject. I was impressed with the amount of people who did have an idea about
hunting. This is good because recreational hunting is growing bringing more
money to the industry and more money to animal conservations. People who do
not think hunting is ethical might have a different view if they are informed from
the many benefits that occur from the hunters and animals.

References:

25 Reasons Why Hunting Is Conservation. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2014.

Is hunting animals wrong? (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2014.
Hunting Facts - National Hunting and Fishing Day. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2014.
Hunting Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2014.
United States Census Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2014