In the UK things are a little different, we have been more intensively peopled and agricultural for a long time. There has especially in England, been very little truly wild land for centuries. So that the hunting, shooting, fishing movement has been a major contributer to conservation for a long time. They made a lot of bad judgments in the past, especially the nineteenth century, such as nearly exterminating many predators. But while I do not care for it any longer myself, I have to recognize that a lot of our few and scattered wilderness areas, in a very heavily cultivated land, only continued to exist down the centuries because people wanted sport. But perhaps happily things have moved on, and today conservation movements, now probably have more disposable wealth than field sports do, the bird society, RSPB, for example, is today a major land owner.

In America, we squeeze wild animals out of their native habitat and they end up in places where they are destructive to property. Hunting deer for example keeps their numbers sustainable. Too many deer can result in sickly and undernourished deer. I have no idea whether or not that is true with the African animals.

Hunting for survival is natural. Hunting for “sport” is vulgar.

Trophy hunting is total bullshit. I hunt nothing today but would do so for food purposes if and when it came to that.

Thanks for your post, Schmoose. (I wish you had a name.) I hunted ONCE when I was young and stupid, and then figured out I don't want to kill animals.

Ducks Unlimited actually does promote conservation, at least it did awhile ago...that's about the only one I've ever heard of that does so.

[pheasantsforever.org]

[ducks.org]

Spin doctors at it's most hideous