Some green leaders along with sportsmen are increasingly advocating for cooperation between hunters and environmental groups. Both lament urban sprawl and habitat destruction. David Stukbauer, pictured in his Lake Norman Sporting Arms shop, notes hunters have been conservationists for decades.

Hunting seems to be a real controversy among environmental advocates. Is hunting good or bad for the environment?

Like so many hot button issues, the answer to this question depends upon who you ask. Some say nothing could be more natural than hunting. And since humans have wiped out many animal predators, some see hunting as a natural way to cull the herds of prey animals that, as a result, now reproduce beyond the environment’s carrying capacity.

“There’s no question that hunting is beneficial for the environment and that hunters are environmental advocates,” says David Stukbauer, owner of Lake Norman Sporting Arms, 19420 Jetton Road Suite 104. “Teddy Roosevelt, who is so often credited as being the father of the conservation movement, was himself an avid hunter, which is why he understood the vital importance of caring for the environment.

“True sportsmen are true conservationists. They strive to protect the integrity of the natural environment that is so important to them and to preserve it for future generations,” says Stukbauer. “Put simply, if the environment is damaged, there won’t be anything for them to hunt.”

On a more complex level, proper wildlife management is vital to maintaining balance in the environment, he says. “It’s critical to manage populations so that they can thrive and so that they don’t intrude on urban areas,” says Stukbauer. “We’ve all seen videos of deer crashing through car and store windows in Western Pennsylvania.”

On the other hand, some environmental and animal advocates argue it is morally wrong to kill animals, regardless of practical considerations, because it causes the wild animals to suffer. Others contend that hunting is not practical. The Humane Society of the United States argues that many hunted species — such as waterfowl, upland birds, mourning doves, squirrels and raccoons — “provide minimal sustenance and do not require population control.”

Hunting is not allowed within the city limits of Cornelius.

“Unfortunately, what should be a natural cooperation between hunters and environmental groups is often poisoned by extremists and misunderstandings.” says Stukbauer.

“Ducks Unlimited has been advocating habitat conservation since 1937. Trout Unlimited has been working to preserve clean water for 50 years. The newcomer, Quail Unlimited, has been battling the problem of dwindling quail populations and declining wildlife habitat since 1981,” Stukbauer notes.

“These are the types of groups and goals that should win universal praise from the green movement. Those same goals are played out on a smaller scale every day by sportsmen who carefully manage the land they hunt and fish,” he says.

“Yet all too often, it seems that the environmentalist movement has been hijacked by extreme animal rights activists and those who fear that any use of the natural world by man is an intrusion,” says Stukbauer.

On the local level, “it’s unquestionable that this area has experienced dramatic growth. The alternative to that is a dwindling economic base that others areas of the country have been dealing with for decades,” he says. “When it comes to a choice between providing affordable, accessible homes for people or maintaining vast tracts for wildlife, people have to come first.

“The key is managing and preserving the integrity of our open spaces and rural areas that are not all that far afield from where we are now. Fortunately, we have dedicated local groups, like our local chapters of the groups I mentioned, who are working to do just that.”

Data gathered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for its most recent (2006) National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, show that only 5 percent of Americans — some 12.5 million individuals — consider themselves hunters today, down from 9 percent in 2001 and 15 percent in 1996.

Public support for hunting, however, is on the rise. A 2007 survey by Responsive Management Inc., a social research firm specializing in natural resource issues, found that 78 percent of Americans support hunting today versus 73 percent in 1995.

— Staff report, EarthTalk

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