Do hunters conserve wildlife? Debate

[Stickerbush]

I heard this debate on a podcast, its an interesting format basically arguing whether hunters conserve wildlife. I think the pro hunters did a pretty good job arguing the facts. The humane society was one of the opponents and they definitely had some points they held on to. Overall the format was a little weird but it gave me some good insight on how non hunters perceive hunting and how we can formulate our arguments against them. The setting was somewhere in New York and the anti hunters "won" the debate based on votes before and after. Not sure I agree with that but the ones voting probably had their minds made up already. Anyways check it out if ya like

[csaaphill]

None hunting community is already mainly against hunting to begin with. My none hunting friends all eat meat, but still argue against hunting, as if there's a difference. 
May watch it later though but hate those kinds of things it's always pretty much one sided.
I remember open forums on TV back in the 80's early 90's You had PETA, or some other anti hunting organization on there telling a bunch of lies, or half truths. Always ended up screaming at the TV.

[Stickerbush]

I listened to this while I was doing yardwork. I think it's important to hear the perspectives against it for the future of hunting

[Special T]

Ill have to listen. Its always important to know how to frame your responces to "sell" the message.

So sad that much of the usa is so soft and out of touch

[SweetCosmicPope]

I'll be interested to hear this later.  Sounds like it is a civil debate and may have some interesting insight.

When my wife and I first got together and she learned that I hunt, she was horrified at first.  Couldn't believe that I could go out a kill an innocent creature, it's barbaric, etc, etc;  She eventually came around, however, after a few years of me explaining how wild animal harvesting is much more ethical than the factory farms where most of the stuff in our freezer came from, and it tastes better too.  And that I respect the fact that I'm ending a life, so I take great pains to make sure it's clean and quick and not wasteful.

She still won't hunt, however, and that's ok;  she does still think that I'm a little too much like Norman Bates in how I desire having dead animals on the wall...

We BOTH recognize, however, that there are a very large number of hunters who aren't as ethical and set a very poor example for hunting culture and kind of spoil it for the rest of us.

I grew up in Texas, and I'd venture a guess that most people there have hunted or fished in some form or another at least once, and probably regularly.  Heck, on opening day (a Friday every November), none of the boys in my school went to school, and it was kind of an unofficial holiday.  Considering the vast amount of resources we have in Washington, it's wild to me that this isn't the case up here, although I understand why.

Makes no sense to me, and I consider myself VERY far left on the progressive scale.  I can't fathom a reasonable excuse to not allow hunters to be a part of wildlife management and harvesting.  I hope I'm not disappointed.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I used to respond to the "How can you kill a beautiful innocent animal?" with "I don't.  I only shoot the ugly, guilty ones".  On my own time, of course, with select people.

[cooltimber]

simple ,,there is only so much land for so many animal's.. all we do is control the population.
             

[csaaphill]

 

[csaaphill]

That Wayne Pacelle is a *censored* in my honest opinion. Starts off talking about how someone travels half the way around the world to just add to his trophy room.  I'm sure whoever he talked about either ate it or donated the meat you *censored*.
Exactly what I said these things do nothing but Piss me off.

[DOUBLELUNG]

The money hunters spend is the most important factor in the USA for the management and conservation of game species.  When most game populations had been decimated around the turn of the last century, it was through lobbying by sportsmen that market hunting in the USA was ended.  Hunters were at the forefront of calling for restrictions on harvest to rebuild populations.  Now that most wild populations are somewhat in balance with available habitat, rather than severely depleted due to overharvest, hunters tend to be less activist and more funding mechanism for game management.  The effectiveness of that management varies widely state to state.  Generally, the more liberal the harvest opportunity, the higher the hunter approval is of their state game managers.

[csaaphill]

Really; the more rural a state is the more accepted hunting is. Seattle and surrounding areas are predominantly anti hunting which is why NY voted No on that video. Go to  small rural town and do the same thing there and you'd get more yes votes.
people Like that Wayne Pacelle will always use crap like he did when his turn came up. Emotions sell maybe start telling horror stories of wolves eating people or something Dunno, 

[dwils233]

I'm a big fan of the IQ2 debates, its a great way to get real expert opinion and insight into things that are often pundited and the arguments of laymen.

That said, I chose not to listen to this one.the anti-gun side intentionally rigged the game I think by changing their vote the second time and lying the first. Last time it happened was on a vegan debate and the same side did the same thing even though the vegan side objectively lost the argument. Its frustrating because the other debates have frequently been amazing.

[csaaphill]

I think their important but always rigged. I watched until Wayne came out. 

[predatorpro]

I'm not really sure what conserve means...but I've preserved a lot of wildlife which is close enough!

[RadSav]

Man is the most effectively managed and regulated predator on the planet.  The Kaibab disaster proved that trying to eliminate predators, animal and human, while effective in the short term is devastating in the long term.  More recently Idaho's Lolo elk-vs-wolf shows how terrible natural predation without human interference works as well.  Predation control and effective hunt management has proven worldwide to be the most effective long term solution to wildlife conservation.  It also happens to be the only program that funds itself and most other conservation at the same time.