If hunting were like other sports

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Well, you may be in a unique situation caribou, however I doubt most folks hunting in the 48
Continental States are in the same boat.
We as hunters are lucky enough to have partners in that conservation-Both Federal and State. We pay additional taxes on our equipment that goes to conservation efforts. We buy licenses that help pay for State wildlife habitat management and growth. Some of us are members of organizations formed with the goal of preserving and expanding habitat for our favored species to hunt. (DU, Pheasants Forever, NWTF, Rocky Mounatin Elk Foundation, etc. plus many local groups) And these areas we help are usually open to all, not just hunters. Many hunters strive to improve game habitat on their private land also, even setting aside much tillable land. It's probably more than you think, Dibbs.
 
Game animals don't live in a vacuum. 12 point bucks don't sit in rectangular display cases the rest of the
year, with little signs that say "Break Glass At The Open Of Deer Season". It's not more than I think,
Entrophy, it's what I expect.
Yes, I'm lucky, I survived to retirement age. I hunt predators and pest species all year long. But by putting
habitat and food back into the system, I ensure that I will have something to hunt in perpetuity. I already
mentioned that most hunter's licenses and fees help conservation.
It's not a matter of PC, or new-age new-speak "changing the definition of hunting". I kill animals in the hunt,
probably more than my fair share. But it's not all take, take, take. And if all you do is take, without putting
anything back, maybe next month, year, or the year after, you'll start coming up empty-handed, with
nobody to blame but yourself.

See that Indian on the shoreline, crying at all the garbage? Some day that could be you, with a Fudd
rifle and a funny hat, crying about the vanished game animals.(not really, I just thought the crying Indian with
a Fudd rifle and funny hat was a funny image)
 
Back during WW II, my grandfather explained why he'd cut a 4" mesquite halfway through and push it onto the ground. The thorns kept the cows off the grass, and made it difficult for coyotes and such to penetrate the growth. But it was wonderful as bedroom and nesting place for quail.
 
Fortunately, I don't have to cut down many trees to create brush-pile habitats. There are blow-downs,
dead branches, and cleared brush a-plenty for the piling up. It's not just Quail; rabbits, snakes, bugs,
and half the rest of the food chain uses those brush piles.
 
The average non-hunter doesn't realize that improvement of habitat for game animals increases the carrying capacity for non-game species.

....just as many hunters don't realize how important proper habitat is for game species. While deer populations have exploded around the country as deer quickly acclimated themselves to modern farming and logging practices, many other species like quail have suffered greatly. In my state, during the depression, the state planted hundreds of thousands of acres of public land with non-native Red Pines thinking they were improving the habit. They have since learned that mature stands of those tress, while beautiful and easy to walk thru, do little to nothing for food and cover for our native game and non-game species. Same with the draining of swamps and wetlands. Around here in urban and farmland, to the delight of deer hunters, deer have become the new "rats". Ain't enough hunters to kill them and ain't enough access to get to them all. Similar to wild hogs in some of the southern states. This too is destroying habitat for other native species. As much as we humans have destroyed and taken from Ma Nature, we all need to consider what we can give back so we, and others can continue to enjoy her bounty. As has been said many times, there is no free lunch. Hunters also need to be Stewards. We can't just leave it all up to the DNR/F&G. Every year, I get wild plums and Antonovka apple trees from the county. While I plant some on our private land, I also plant a few on different parcels of public land. It ain't much, but it helps. Some of the first ones I planted years ago are successfully producing fruit, not only for wildlife, but for other folks that walk by or know they are there.
 
Yup, my father-in-law always picked his trees from the county every year with wildlife in mind, even though he wasn't a hunter. He was a farmer, and liked to see the wildlife flourish on his land. He did take up turkey hunting when they flourished to the point he got sick of picking them out of his haybine.
 
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