The author has a growing concern for the future of wild animals, for the lands and water that sustain them, and for the future of hunting itself and the future of all human experience with wild nature. Due to their personal experiences, hunters are in a unique position to understand and communicate to the broader public the value of wildlife. For without this communication, the willful death of wild things is merely an indulgence.
While hunting in general is a controversial issue, there can be little doubt that much of the harsher criticism is directed toward trophy hunting. Even among hunters who readily pursue animals and harvest them, trophy hunting is sometimes criticized. To the general public, it is often portrayed as a distortion of the original activity, and one that has entered a self-indulgent and frivolous domain.
Fundamentally a creature of the northern climes, moose with their large bodies, long legs, and superb winter coats are highly adaptable to regions of cold temperatures and deep seasonal snows. Unexpectedly warm winter or summer temperatures, if prolonged, can stress moose, while their overall range is significantly limited southward by warm temperatures. Their overall population is estimated at 1 million animals or more. Yet, in various regions of North America, in a geographic pattern hard to explain, moose populations are declining.
In this second part of the author's series on trophy hunting, the author examines several damaging misconceptions about trophy hunting. Almost all hunters collect mementos from their hunts, it simply does not distinguish one form of hunting from another. But what of these elements of trophy hunting so many believe are distinguishing? Are they accurate? Are they true? Can they be used to separate "trophy" from other forms of hunting? Not really, and certainly not significantly.
Much has been written about the gun in the USA. Persuasive, proactive, and protective, the gun is akin to a religion in America and few can stand outside its trajectory of influence. The right to keep and bear arms is not only a foundation of liberty, it's crucial to the North American conservation model. Nor can the Model persevere without an armed citizenry.
Wolves have figured prominently in the lives and the imaginations of men seemingly forever. In both the Great Lakes region and the Northern Rocky Mountains, wolves have been increasing in numbers and expanding their range. Maintaining the big carnivores has been one of the great achievements of North America's hunter-led conservation movement. There will need to be a balancing act to maintain some equilibrium between wolf numbers and the prey that both wolves and men seek. Hunters must be the champion of the wolf, the champion of the elk and the champion of sustainable use for them all.
The American bison may have been, at one time, the most abundant large wild mammal on earth. The historical references to their immense herds are difficult to comprehend; such is the scale of their numbers and the sheer improbable spectacle the authors of these reports try to convey. Perhaps these images are also difficult for us to understand because they inevitably inspire in the sensitive reader a feeling of great sadness that such a wondrous prospect must now be denied us all, forever.
Certainly it is true that hunters, through license sales and tax levies, do fund an incredible array of conservation programs, supporting game and non-game species management and research, and purchasing extensive amounts of habitat for biodiversity in general. However, considerable public funding from general revenues is also applied to wildlife conservation in North America, often far more than hunters are aware of or will acknowledge.
