Let’s be honest why this eradication is taking place before we eliminate an important ancient wild animal from our landscape for the second timeBY MATT BOWSERFEBRUARY 5, 2022
I am a big game hunter. I’m not opposed to the ethical hunting of predators when it’s balanced with economic, social, and ecological factors. But the current wolf “hunt” in Montana is an eradication.
Montana’s wolf population is estimated between 900 and 1,100. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is well on its way to achieving its kill quota of 450 this year – that’s almost half the total population. In addition to shooting and trapping: baiting, snaring (strangulation), night hunting (on private land), and electronic calling are legal means for taking a wolf.
If you’re like me and nearly vomit when thinking about this atrocity and try to find a scapegoat – look in the mirror. We’ve put the people in power who are making these decisions. Our governor – himself an illegal wolf hunter– and our state legislators passed the laws, then appointed unqualified cronies to top positions.
Politics aside, what a bizarre set of societal norms we adhere to when distinguishing acceptable treatment/management of animals? You can spend a year in jail for beating your dog. And the weekly police blotter reveals just how many folks dial 911 to report an underfed horse. Yet we send Yellowstone buffalo to slaughter because they cross an invisible line in search of food. Then we casually annihilate half the population of a species that dates back nearly a million years – whose domesticated descendants loyally sit next to us on the couch each evening.
It might help us to unravel the buried layers of “ye old pioneer spirit” wrapped within our current management policy: centuries old fears, inflated horror stories, and the control of nature. And begin to separate old superstitions from current reality. Let’s be honest why this eradication is taking place before we eliminate an important ancient wild animal from our landscape for the second time.
Matt Bowser
Columbia Falls
Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog.
“I’m not opposed to the ethical hunting of predators when it’s balanced with economic, social, and ecological factors.”
“Centuries old fears, inflated horror stories, and the control of nature. ”
Like how hunting (killing) is about bonding with family and friends, how shooting animals brings money into “conservation”, how those opposed to the activity just don’t understand how “important” and totally not psychopathic hunting is and that predators need to be “managed” before they kill everything.
Right Matt?
Ethical hunting – by their standards. What a load of nonsense. Going out and killing something just because you can. Nothing ethical about that.
Oh it lived a wonderful life in the wild? That animal suffered unspeakable hardships to survive for as long as he/she did.
Then your delusional egotistical self decided: Hey I’m going to kill that because I want to watch something die to make myself feel good.
Or worse: Let’s kill something because I want a challenge.
It wouldn’t be “sport” without the challenge.
Wow! You always get to the point!!! Thanks for all you do for the other species. I have a great, constant feeling these days that our species is on its way out–I hope before all other life becomes extinct.
That sure is a great feeling!
Oh the lies hunters weave. If not for others than for themselves. Delusional.
There are the ones who ask “when you see an animal, don’t you get the urge to chase it?”
Having an urge and engaging in it are two different things. Instincts are simply old “software” that survived the evolutionary process. I grew up around people who took care of orphaned, sick and injured wildlife and no, I don’t want to chase things. I’m enthralled to see possums using the power lines and so happy to see baby birds in Spring (baby magpies are so cheeky and adorable). When I see coyotes, deer and elk (in videos) I think “they’re so beautiful”. Not once do I ever get the thought of “I want to kill that”.
Thanks, John d., for your wonderful comments–as you so eloquently put them. A form of self-delusion, I believe.
Me either.
Some of my redneck Iowa cousins and uncles were so-called “ethical hunters.” Kind of like being “a little bit pregnant” wouldn’t you say? Come one, its the Thrill of the Kill, not some noble crap spewed out to placate the majority of folks in society who do not hunt, but know little of what goes on out there. Just call it for what it is, hunters: Killing, another being who cannot return a bullet or arrow to you. Sounds like such fun, and the perpetrator gets his/her “manhood” polished up.
http://www.foranimals.org stealtraps.com
I have relatives back in Iowa too (although I’ve never heard them try to spew anything about ‘ethical hunting.’ When those type get a little bit pregnant, it often from inbreeding…