To hunt or to hike, is this the question?

So, one of the reasons, not by far the only reason, but one of the reasons that I am not outdoors more is that I am taking college classes. Due to this fact, my available time for pleasure reading (and every other thing I like to do) is severely limited. Last night I procrastinated on my Logic Exam (which is due tonight.) and I sat down with the October 2010 issue of Backpacker. In it there was a very well written article by Bruce Barcott titled "killer hike" (sic). In it, Mr. Barcott describes his first experience at crossing over from a hiker to a hunter. It is a very good read so if you get Backpacker, or can find the article reprinted somewhere else, I highly recommend reading it.

Now, I grew up and still live in a rural area of Northeast Ohio. My Dad and Grandfather at one time both hunted. I learned how to shoot at a pretty young age and am in no way a stranger to firearms. I have killed rabbit, raccoon, opossum, skunk, squirrel and mourning dove. I had a hunting license at one point in time, but I have never really considered myself a hunter. My Dad quit hunting long before I was old enough to join him and I never had any close, long term friends that were serious hunters. (Actually the reasons for the decline in hunting that Mr. Barcott lists in his article are very familiar to me.) So hunting is not something I am unfamiliar with, nor is it something that I have an issue with. I don’t hunt, mostly because I don’t have time or money to invest in it.

I learned my love of hiking from my Grandmother. She used to walk/carry me back through the woods behind our houses (my Grandparents lived next to my parents) before I was much more than toddling along. I have a deep seeded love of trees, forests and nature thanks to my Grandmother.

I learned about backpacking through Boy Scouts. My Scout Leaders were all avid sportsmen. Hunting and fishing was just what you did so my first experiences with backpacking were infused with stories of deer hunts, bear hunts, elk hunts, fishing outings and other outdoor activities.

“Where is he going with this?” you may be asking. This article of Mr. Barcott’s highlights a dissonance that I have noticed. My yard is overrun with rabbits. Not because I have anything against killing rabbits, in fact, I have wanted to get out the 12 gauge and blast several of them this summer. No, the bunnies are overrunning my yard because I do not want to upset my Grandmother by shooting them. See, I moved in next to my Parents and my Grandmother still lives next door. So because of my Grandmother, I understand the sensitivities of the “No Hunting” crowd.

Of course, as I have stated, I have no personal prohibition against shooting animals either. All ecosystems are about balance. Eliminate predation, and prey becomes overpopulated. Overpopulation leads to disease, parasite infestations and starvation. I believe hunting is a way of introducing predation into the ecosystem to try and balance out the populations. Hunting fills a very vital role in this instance.

So I understand where the rift between hikers and hunters comes from. It seems that you are either Ducks Unlimited, or Sierra Club. This is very convenient for politicians. (I might rant later on about politics, though I do not want this blog to be political. I can find plenty of places to argue politics online, I don’t need to start another.) The problem is this divide is detrimental for Conservation.

“Conservation? How can you talk about conserving and hunting at the same time?”

Do I want to see bear in the wild? Yes. Do I want to see deer? Porcupine? Beaver? Cougar? Yes to all those. So why would I advocate hunting them? Because controlled hunting does two things. It culls populations that have little other natural control upon them due to limited numbers of predators and increasing encroachment of human habitations. It also raises a considerable sum of money for conservation. As I stated before, hunting is not cheap. There are permit and tag taxes, sales taxes on guns and tackle and taxes on ammunition. It takes quite a bit of tax money to protect and maintain wild areas. Hunting fees and ammunition taxes help greatly in offsetting this cost.

Think about it. If you are a hiker, how much money does it cost you to use a National Forest for a weekend trip? Nothing. You just park your car at a trailhead and you hike in. Most State backpacking areas are pretty cheap too. I know the last time I backpacked a State Park in PA it cost me $5 and most areas are not even monitored. Hikers get huge benefit from the fees and taxes hunters pay. We owe our hunting friends a big “Thank You” for what they do for us.

We are rapidly approaching a time when the Federal and Sate Governments are going to be forced to enact severe austerity measures. The Parks Service is already strapped budget wise and more and more park land is being converted into gas and oil fields. The more urban centers sprawl, and the tighter government budgets get, the bigger the temptation to sell public lands to private developers will become. As hikers or hunters we will have to work together to protect open land. We will have to fight, side by side, to keep our wild areas wild. We must look to each other, not as adversaries, but as complimentary components of the same cause.

One of the greatest gifts we can give to future generations is the preservation of our parks and national forests. We have destroyed far too many of the wild areas of this country. We need to pass what we have left on to our children so they too may walk in wonder of natural beauty, or revel in the thrill of the hunt. Once these wild areas are gone, they are gone for good.