Have you ever hit a deer with your vehicle? How about an elk? A moose maybe? Maybe you have, maybe you haven't but one thing is for certain. Driving at fast speeds into any solid mass is absolutely dangerous. Where I spent most of my formative years, in the mountains of Utah, I saw countless dead animals on the side of roads. Even several moose. Maybe it's because of where I was raised, or who my family is, but I don't have a very big problem with legal hunting. I'm not going to touch on poaching and killing illegally. I mean honest-to-goodness legal hunting. While I worry about individuals that enjoy killing things a little bit too much and I'd never partake of the "sport" I can't help thinking that hunting is actually a good thing. Don't get me wrong though... I completely support animal rights movements, I believe animals should be free to live and roam as they should, that they shouldn't be raised in horrid conditions and slaughtered inhumanely. But animals that are hunted in the wild aren't tortured, they aren't kept in horrible conditions, and most often are killed almost instantly and painlessly. There are many hunting organizations that support, and even fund, wildlife protection acts. Setting up reserves and making sure wild animals are allowed to be wild without interruption and without the risk of their habitats being destroyed. Hunting keeps the very fast growing populations of these animals down leaving enough food to keep a majority of the remaining animals alive during the winter months and keeps people and animals safe by reducing the number of animals that could be crossing roads. Hitting such large animals, such as moose, is not only deadly to the animals but can be deadly to the people driving the vehicle. Hitting an animal that can weigh up to 1,800 pounds would completely crush a vehicle, and swerving to try and avoid hitting that animal can cause accidents. I lived by a lake and narrow canyon and so many people died by trying to avoid hitting an animal. They would crash into the sides of mountains, roll off the ditches, and sometimes spin out of control and end up in the lake. While hunting doesn't prevent 100% of these accidents it certainly does help control the populations, which could be completely off the charts. Of course there are terrible people out there that do terrible things. There always are, have been, and will be. But people like my uncle who support the organizations that try to save lands from being destroyed, hunt 100% legally (and do not kill females, I might add), and practice often to ensure their aim is impeccable so the first shot is the kill shot... I can't help but to actually think they're doing a good thing for the environment. Maybe that makes me a bad vegetarian or "vegan-in-training" but I don't care... I stand by my beliefs as an open minded person and I gladly welcome respectful debates about this subject. I don't eat the meat, I don't shoot any animals, I don't use any products made using parts of these animals, I have absolutely nothing to do with hunting in any way. I just don't see it as an awful thing to do and depending on how you look at it, it can actually be helpful.
