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Hunters Message
TO THE HUNTER: The anti-hunter provides the wind that fans the fire of hunting. Without dissent we take hunting for granted and our apathy opens the door for the opposition to make decisions for us. The debate provides an opportunity for you to enforce your convictions and express your views. Do so intelligently and with respect for the rights of others. Hunting can only be destroyed by hunters. Inaction or, worse yet, acts of greed and ignorance within our ranks, will cut away at our time-honored endeavors more swiftly than any protest could ever hope to. TO THE ANTI-HUNTER: Your compassion is commendable if it is tempered with intelligence, knowledge, logic and respectable conduct. Having these weapons alone ends the war and opens the door for dialog that is constructive. If you have not been endowed with the ability to recognize the validity of objective learning and you cannot distinguish between species and you feel the need to display your ignorance through perverted, idiotic actions then, I doubt that you will discover content of interest to you in this site. There is potential for success in any endeavor founded in education, understanding and tolerance. Emotion that is selectively directed because of visual appeal and anthropomorphic beliefs is---false compassion. Generally speaking, there is no debate among the spiritual or scientific communities as to the honor or need for regulated hunting. I would urge that you look at the commercial practices of the past and the on-going destruction of habitat and environmental poisoning as the overwhelming negative factor to wildlife. I would further urge you to take an unbiased look at the incredible positive impact that individual hunters and the collective community of hunters has, and is having, on the entire spectrum of wildlife. Beliefs based on emotion or founded in ignorance, give no more right to break the law than is given to other criminals or any who seek to deprive fellow humans of their pursuit of fulfillment of life within the law. Ethics In Hunting I have included a page to serve as a survey of your opinions about questionable and illegal acts committed by hunters. These acts were committed by people who have achieved fame through their skills as hunters, (no names will be given), and some were committed by personal acquaintances --- average hunters. The motive, in some cases, was an uncontrolled exuberance to acquire game for personal satisfaction. Other times it was for the purpose of keeping oneself in the limelight to ensure personal income and notoriety. I have included examples from several segments of the hunting fraternity. This is not a confessional and I am not a self-appointed hunting ethics cop. The intent is for you to examine the motives behind the act and to respond whether you think the people involved were within acceptable (albeit, possibly illegal) parameters, and if you think you might have done the same thing under the circumstances.
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