The Outdoor Experience
By
David E. Wilson, Jr.
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3-million-year-old practice of hunting and fishing has as much to
do with understanding nature as it does with eating.
Lately, hunters and anti-hunters have had it out over the ethos
of practices that involve the taking of wildlife for sustenance.
Within that foray, some might wonder why conservation organizations
encourage these practices that appear to contradict preservation
goals. In fact, they do just the opposite.
he most glaring reason for this is that hunting species, like deer, geese, mallards and gray squirrels, helps keep nature in balance and has a net positive effect on living organisms. People don't hunt species that are imperiled. They hunt ones that could imperil other species. The taking of invasive animals keeps nature in balance and allows for greater diversity and ultimately greater numbers of distinct organisms. It is very safe to say that hunting mitigates suffering.
 n
that vein, one might also wonder which is more ethical: to kill
an animal that has lived its life in its natural surroundings or
to eat one that has spent its life in deplorable conditions, cooped
up in a tiny pen? But
for all of the tangible justifications for hunting and fishing,
none can match the learning power of spending time outdoors. There
is nothing worth saving that does not touch us emotionally. Detachment
is a recipe for disaster.
 y
father, for all his good qualities, never talked much about the
outdoors until at my age 7 he finally caved to my relentless badgering
about learning to fish. From then on, every weekend was spent fishing
for trout, bass and blue gills in lakes and streams in York County.
Together, without realizing it, we learned how nature worked and
why it might be worth protecting. If not for fishing, nature would
have been as foreign to me as it probably is to every person who
sits in an office or watches hours of television every week.
ndigenous
peoples, who hunted and fished daily, didn't hate their quarry.
They loved and respected them. As such, they understood man and
nature and their mutual tapestry of interaction much better than
the today's suburbia-bound new world man.
o
be sure, this connection could be made today through kayaking, hiking
or birdwatching alone, but let's be honest — If there were no hunting
would the average would-be Central Pa. hunter be a birdwatcher or
kayaker? I doubt it. Allowing
for natural predation, too, could be a call from the anti-hunting
contingent but the top predators, (timber wolves, black bears and
cougars), are gone from the Eastern Shore and no longer have enough
unbroken forested habitat to survive.
 till,
those who oppose hunting or fishing make good points. Multi-cellular
organisms have rich emotional lives. Today, science understands
that love, hate, sadness, and other emotions are neurologically
based and shared chemically throughout the animal kingdom. Take
the neurotransmitter oxytocin from a dog or a human and neither
any longer feels love for its offspring. Emotions are common, and
being shot hurts.
 ith
this in mind, hunters and fishermen must continue to be good stewards
of the land and treat those they hunt with dignity and compassion.
And nestled within this tragedy of life lost is a rainbow of father, son, beast and understanding of natural processes borne of time spent waiting, watching, and learning about things in life worth saving.
Contact Dave Wilson
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