James, thanks for posting the article. It never ceases to amaze me how little some hunters know of their own history and traditions, and this was a good reminder. Sure, there's the gloss-over statement, "hunters pay for conservation," that gets presented (thankfully) in discussions with non-hunters, but few really know that the "sport" in sport hunting is about following rules (like in any other sport) rather than "playing" and taking the death of animals as a game. Hunters at one time were demeaned in society, and there were actually laws governing their "bad" behavior (which was basically land speculation). I surveyed college students for years and they clearly were ok with hunting for food, but very much opposed to "trophy" hunting. Digging a bit deeper into their opposition to trophy hunting revealed that they really knew little of what it was, most thinking that the animal was killed, the "trophy" -- horns, antlers, etc. -- were taken, and the remainder left to rot in the field. Who wouldn't be opposed to that?!
Maybe it's time to look at our own language of hunting -- sport hunting, blood sports, trophy hunting, for example -- and work to recast these as our societal perception changes. Words do matter.
As we move further and further from the land (figuratively, metaphorically, and in actuality), so much is lost, especially an understanding of the history, traditions...and reality of hunting.
Articles like this help...some...but unfortunately few non-hunters read them.
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"Doubtless the good Lord could have made a better game bird than bobwhite, and better country to hunt him in...but equally doubtless, he never did." -- Guy de la Valdene (from A Handful of Feathers )
"'I promise you,' he said, 'on my word of honor, I won't die on the opening of the bird season.'" -- Robert Ruark (from The Old Man and the Boy)
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