At an outdoor conference in North Carolina last week, I had the pleasure to get to know several accomplished outdoor writers and businessmen. This broadened my spectrum of the outdoor world and shifted some ideas that I had about hunting.
As I was talking with the president of MPI outdoors, Patrick McHugh, he shared with me some of the problems with hunters today.
“All hunters think that they have the right to hunt,” McHugh said. “Where do they get that from? We are given the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, but no where in the U.S. Constitution are we guaranteed the right to hunt.”
When he said those words, I was shocked.
He was right. We don’t have the right to hunt. It is merely a privilege that our founding fathers have passed from generation to generation.
I began to think about what life would be like without hunting: the thrill of the opening day of deer season, the sound of whistling-wings surrounding you in a flooded bottom, the blood-rushing sound of a boss gobbler and the sound of flushing birds would all be gone.
It is simply hard to imagine life without hunting.
So what are we doing to preserve this heritage of ours?
Some people like to help out by throwing empty beer cans out at our local refuge. Others like to hunt under the full light of the moon because that’s when the big boys are out. Some even like to thin out the population just a few days before the season opens.
And that’s okay as long as you want to keep extremists breathing down the necks of organizations like the National Rifle Association and Ducks Unlimited that are fighting to preserve the sport of hunting.
But for those of you who are truly wanting to help preserve hunting for the future, get involved.
Join organizations that you believe in and support them.
Do some research on organizations like the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Sportsmen of America. See what the outdoor community is doing to support hunting.
These outdoor organizations provide useful information to hunters about how they can help out.
They also use their lobbying power in Washington to ensure that hunting will be here for future generations.
Politics will always be a major part of the outdoor world whether we like it or not. So find out which candidates in your area support hunting and will fight to keep hunting a part of American tradition. It is important to do your homework before you vote.
Is Musgrove or Barbour going to go to the plate for hunters?
It is an important question for you to answer if you are concerned about the future of hunting.
Think about what hunting means to you. Would your life be affected any if you couldn’t carry a gun into the woods?
Probably so.
Now do something about it.
Jake Fagan is a senior communication major. He can be reached at [email protected].