14 Common Misconceptions People have about Hunting?
Whenever we think about hunting, in most of us a common scenario comes up in our mind subconsciously- a brutal face, a merciless heart and a barbarian way of innocent animal killing.
But is that true all the time? Or just a misconception that leads up us thinking like the way? Is hunting really such a brutal way of treating animal kingdom and a threat to the normal order of the environment? Well, most of us aren’t sure about that.
But we tend to think negative about hunting in most of the times. There are some other false and mistake views, myths, misconceptions, attitudes, etc. regarding hunting.
Here you are going to get about all of the misconceptions people around the world carry regarding hunting; some of them are going to be dispelled, where some of them might turn to logical claims as well.
You need to be with me for knowing the details. It doesn’t matter you are a hunting lover or hater; this article is going to be an informative one to you in either way. So, let’s start.
Why people go for hunting?
If you are not a hunting lover, the very first question you want to have the answer is why people are so much up for hunting and what benefits do they get from such a thing.
Okay, the reason for people’s going for hunting is completely a personal choice and it also varies from person to person. Some people only hunt to enjoy their pastime, vacation, leisure time, camping, family tour, etc.
To some people, hunting has been carried as a family tradition. They love to do that as their fathers, grandfathers, or great-grandfathers loved to do. It’s like a family legacy to carry on.
Some chose hunting as their way of earning the livelihood, gaining some money, collecting meat, etc. In some countries hunting is also a part of their festival. So basically there are many reasons behind the popularity of hunting in many parts of the world.
But as hunting is related to taking of animals’ lives, it’s very natural that many misconceptions have risen against such practice and they have also created confusions over people. Now, get yourself know which ones are just believed mistakenly and are to lead your thinking in the wrong way.
You can read about some checklists when you use a range bag for hunting
Misconception 1- Hunting makes harm to the environment
Probably you are the one in the list of many people who have so far believed that hunting is detrimental to the environment as it is responsible for the mass slaughter of numerous animals and eventually hampers the natural order of life cycle or disorganizes the food chain of an ecosystem.
But, that isn’t true. Hunting rather helps the environment in many cases as it helps to control the overpopulation of the species in an ecosystem and work as an alternative predator. Hunting is more useful to food chains that lack natural predators.
Many negative impacts emerge on the ecosystem as the consumers start to fight for the foods due to the overpopulation of any species. All the members of a food chain including consumers, producers, de composers, omnivorous, carnivorous animals, in short everybody is interconnected with each other for their food, energy, nutrition, etc.
When the amount of one type of member gets increased, all the members start to suffer. Many have to starve and even it leads them to death. Only hunting can save such calamity unless there isn’t any natural predator to balance those things.
But there is a condition to be followed, and that is the hunting needs to be a regulated one.
Misconception 2- Hunters are cruel to the animal kingdom
Most of the non-hunters hold a common view about the hunters, and that is hunters are cruel to the animal kingdom. Actually, it is not. You might wonder how a hunter can benefit an animal or be kind to the animals by killing them.
Well, the thing is not like that the hunter animals are getting any individual favors from the hunters as they are supposed to get killed by them. The bullet and arrow of the hunter give them the pain, trauma and eventually lead them to death.
But, aren’t they supposed to be so by anyway. If they don’t get hunted by the hunters, they will ultimately get killed by another predator, or starve to death, or hit by a car. Whatever is the cause of their death among them, it leads them to suffer a lot. Hunters rather ensure their death in a fast and most ethical way.
For example, if a deer isn’t killed by the shot of a hunter, he will be killed in his old ages being starved for days, or get killed by a tiger, lion, or wolf; which is more brutal.
You can’t let a deer chose in which way he prefers to pass away, but hunting them ensures quicker death and less time to get the pain for sure. Apart from this, hunters pay a very handsome amount every year for the betterment of the animal kingdom and wildlife.
Their habitat and health are the prime concern to them. The hunters contribute their best for the protection and preservation of the animals of the spot.
Misconception 3- Hunting leads the hunted animals to extinction
People blame hunters for the extinction of many animals and also see them as the main cause of endangering many species to get extinct in the near future. But, actually, most of them don’t know the difference between a poacher and a hunter.
The people who are responsible for the extinction of many species are the poachers. Hunters follow the laws and rules set up by the authority or government. There is a set up of rules that strictly restrain hunters from the hunt of extinct or endangered animals.
Thus, hunting legally never causes the extinction of any species. Rather, hunters are always very careful regarding the conservation of such animals. For carrying the tradition and legacy of hunting, hunters always try to sustain the number of animals.
A huge amount of they spend goes to the fund for the conservation of such wildlife and also for the local communities as well. But, poachers always think about their own profit only.
They want to avail the money by selling different valuable body parts of the animals in the black market. They are responsible for the extinction of animals, not the hunters.
Misconception 4- Hunters are poachers
As it has already been described, that hunters and poachers aren’t the same people. Due to the misconception, many people believe that all the hunters are poachers and they carry the most heinous practice.
That’s one of the many reasons, they loathe hunting so immensely. A hunter is the one who respects and follows all the rules regarding hunting. But poaching is totally different.
You can’t think of any good from them. Even the hunters hate poaching and always try to stop such practice. The communities you do believe are same actually fighting against each other from the very beginning.
Misconception 5- Hunters destroy public and private properties
Ethical and legal hunters never are responsible for the destruction of any public or private property during hunting animals. Rather, they take pride in themselves about cleaning the hunting spots, after it is done.
The trashes and scent caused by hunting in the woods or the forestland scare the animals away and thus, the hunters lose their chances of hunting them down.
So, the regular and smart hunters know the facts and they are aware of keeping such marks in the spots. Any damages of any public properties like building materials, signs or other things are never the consequences of legal hunting.
A true hunter knows the law of public property protection and gets himself away from making any such damage.
Misconception 6- Hunting is just for showcasing
Well, trophy hunting is a very common term and popular among many people. It’s true. A trophy is like a memorial of the animal they hunt. If you were a hunter, probably you would also want a trophy mount desperately to hang on your wall which reflects the glory of your bravery and courage.
But, not all the hunting is meant for bringing such glory or manhood to the wall of your home. Yes, killing a wild animal at its own home requires many sacrifices of the hunters. Patience and passion need to be at the peak to do such a tough task.
So the experience of successfully hunting one down naturally gives them a joy and a glory to feel. But not all of them go for showcasing the items for showcasing it like, “Look! Here I am, the legendary Jim Corbett or Jack O’Connor”.
No, not all of them are doing this for glorifying themselves. Many of them have to go for that for their livelihood, for the supply of food, or for carrying their business. You may be the one hate hunting and criticizing hunter lying on your couch, but many people at different parts of the world are bound to do so.
Misconception 7- Hunting is only for men
Yes, you have read me correctly. There are many non-hunters who think that hunting is only to show manhood, and women or young have nothing to about that. The concept isn’t true like the others as usual.
If you just Google it about the top influential women hunters of all time you will get a bucket of names like Donna Carpenter, Tiffany Lakosky, Deborah Jo, Eva Shockey and so on. They will certainly feel you about “Beauty with Boldness”.
Hunting has been being popular with times in Canada and the USA to the female and young people. They are also sharing the manhood and pride with the men hunters.
Misconception 8- Hunters are wasteful and selfish
This one is an absurd false and further from the truth. Most of the hunters are neither wasteful nor selfish. They try to harvest all the meats collected from the hunted deer, buffalo, birds, quail, etc.
They try to utilize other useful parts of animals as it is possible. Hunters are also familiar with donating the meat to organizations who are working on the supply of food of the hungry communities of the world, especially those of Africa.
Some hunters also personally donate food for them. This can never reflect any of selfish or wasteful schemes. Can it?
Misconception 9- Hunters are all from the rich elite class
To many people, hunting is just a pastime as they have only heard about trophy hunting and glory hunting. So, they have come up with a conception that all hunters are from elite society, which is basically a misconception in most of the cases.
Well, I am not telling you that no rich man can ever hunt, but not all of the hunters are from that part. A very good number of hunters are very common people like you and me.
Only in one way they can be different from us as their business and living depend on hunting unlike you and me. That’s it.
Misconception 10- Hunters harm the valuable natural resources
Another serious blame given to the hunters is that they are responsible for the destruction of many valuable natural resources. The bullets or the ammunition of their guns need metals like copper, zinc, aluminum, copper, lead, etc.
So, while making them the hunters are wasting minerals from the environment. This is the blame put on the shoulder of the hunters. But the fact is, hunters use a very small amount of those metals and minerals while making their ammunition.
This can easily be considered as negligible. The hunting industry brings more revenue than such usage, and the government can easily use the profits for the development of resources.
Misconception 11- Hunters waste non-hunters’ tax money
Another serious allegation continuously made by the non-hunters about the hunters is that they waste the money of non-hunter communities for enjoying their pastime and passing luxuries.
This is another false allegation and a complete misconception. The truth is the hunters need to make licenses from the respective authorities and they need to pay fees for the licenses and tags made.
These charges are gained as revenue by the government and later spent for the wildlife conservation purpose. The shooting spots also generate excise duties to the government. Moreover, the hunters also pay a good amount of money for buying the ammo.
The outdoor industry gets a very good support from all these fees and charges by the hunters. Thus, hunting paves the way of earning money to many people, not wasting their money.
Misconception 12- Hunters are dangerous and merciless in nature
As the hunters carry guns over their shoulder and fires to the animals to hunt them down; that does not mean to come to a conclusion that hunters are dangerous for you in any way. Many people think that hunting causes more fatalities than any of the outdoor activities. But, this isn’t true at all.
According to a survey and statistics achieved by National Safety Council, every year more than 10000 people get injured by accidents caused by outdoor games like baseball or cycling than hunting alone. Only 100 people die in the USA on average a year where more than 1500 die by drowning in swimming or similar sort of accidents.
You may now wonder why the hunting seems so safe rather than other simple outdoor games. Well, the reason is the proper training provided to the hunters before they get the license for hunting.
Safety is also well ensured while handling the firearms. Still, the accidents occur every year mainly due to the apathetic tendency of the common people and bystanders as they don’t pay proper attention to the firearm protection. Not for the hunting alone in most of the cases.
Misconception 13- Hunters are mainly Neanderthals
Okay, this one is a really funny misconception but believe me many people still believe such thing. You may not know about this ‘Neanderthal’ term.
Neanderthals are archaic prehistoric humans who have already reported to get extinct around 40,000 years from now. This term has come from German term Neander, which actually represents Neander Valley where their human fossils have been found.
Still, many people believe that the hunters are actually somehow related to those prehistoric communities. People from all around the world and from all walks like have been fascinated by the hunting over years, for different reasons. So, this can’t be true actually at all.
Misconception 14- Hunting is more likely a sport
Many people consider hunting as a sport only. It’s true that many parts of hunting are truly famous sports like archery, shooting, etc. Paintball shooting or Treasure hunting are also forms of entertainments that have been influenced by hunting, and really very popular among many people.
But whenever we will consider hunting as a whole, it can’t be a sport only. It’s a popular form of entertainment to many people as they want to pass their leisure by enjoying the outdoors while hunting.
Apart from them, hunting is mainly a mean of providing foods, meats, money, controlling outdoor populations, conserving wildlife, running industries and businesses. Hunting is more than just a sport. The hunters aren’t limited to making the score, following time clock, or competing with others here.
Final Verdict
Miscommunication brings misconception, and misconception results in misjudgment. Most of the misconceptions regarding hunting have emerged due to lack of proper knowledge and experiences regarding hunting. Most of them have never met a hunter; neither followed their hunting or lifestyle, just nothing.
That’s why they are still holding those false judgments against them. I am not a hunting guy, but I have met many hunters and also read about many of world’s famous ones.
Are they really the one you have visualized from your childhood as cruel, malicious, brutal, harsh, and all other negative attributes?
No, they are not at all. All of them are friendly, gentle, modest and humble. They really do love animal kingdom and aware of the environment, in some cases more than you and I do. So, it’s time to get yourself rid of such poor allegation and false concept if you are still in there.