IT DOESN’T GET MUCH MORE “MORONIC” THAN “SPORT” HUNTING

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By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity. — Rachel Carson

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I’m sure I must have said it many times before, but allow me to reiterate: “sport” hunting is not even close to being sportsmanlike—i.e, fair. It’s more like legalized and culturally smiled-upon sadism (defined as: n. 1. the getting of pleasure from mistreatment of others 2. any enjoyment in being cruel 3. extreme cruelty).

Soccer, football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey are sports. Bicycle racing, marathon running, pole vaulting and shot putting are other examples. My personal favorite, downhill skiing, is both an outdoor activity and a sport. It tests one’s skill and promotes quick reactions and good balance. Skiers can challenge themselves by going faster, taking steeper runs or skiing heavier, untracked snow (referred to as powder, crud or concrete, depending on moisture content). Of course, cross-country skiing (another of my favorite pastimes) is no doubt a sport. Boxing, karate, and tennis all qualify as sports; each of them pitting two people—perhaps not equally matched, but equally willing—in a friendly contest of skill or chance that’s not intended to result in the death of one’s “opponent.”

No one can argue that the human hunter without weapons is not as equally suited for predation as any non-human predator. I mean really, how did humans come up with this notion that they are the mightiest predator on Earth? Take away their guns and they are feeble. Every last squirrel, rabbit or mallard would laugh at the efforts of—and easily run rings around—an unarmed human hunter.

To compensate for being the obvious underdog, “sport” hunters are the most ruthless, cunning, conniving and—especially in the case of bow hunters or trappers— the most barbaric and monstrous creatures to ever walk the earth. Sure, today’s hunters who want a challenge can opt for lower-tech, less accurate equipment like bows and arrows or black powder rifles, but that just increases the chance that their living targets will get away only wounded, rather than killed outright. If they want to call it a sport, hunters should arm the animals to at least allow them a fighting chance.

The key element clearly lacking in the so-called “sport” of hunting is that both sides are certainly not equally willing. Serial killers may consider stalking and killing their victims a sport, but any sane member of society would have to disagree.

Not convinced that hunters are sociopaths? Consider these quotes from “diehard” bow hunter and NRA spokesman “terrible” Ted Nugent, about his favorite “sport”: “If you want to save a species, simply decide to eat it. Then it will be managed – like chickens, like turkeys, like deer, like Canadian geese.” and “I get a full predator spiritual erection from hunting bear, lions, coons, housecats, escaped chimps, small children, scared women and everything else that can be chased and/or hunted.” Now, if that guy’s not a sociopath, Willy Pickton’s just a pig farmer.

Why does the public put up with these people in their midst?

The mainstream media downplays the behavior of serial animal killers as though hunting was just another “event” to report on; like they were covering some Boy Scout Jamboree. They repeat by rote hunter ”game” department jargon like the animals were inanimate objects, using emotionally void terms such as “crop” for deer, or “wolf harvest” for the unnecessary torture and murder of sentient beings vastly more admirable than their pursuers. Worse yet are the noxious spread of anything-goes anti predator/ anti-wildlife websites and chat rooms now widespread in social media.

While we’re exploring the similarities between serial killers and sport hunters, another thing they both have in common is that they feel most alive when they’re out killing. A serial killer can’t be satisfied with a quiet walk in the night air any more than a hunter can take a hike on a trail without a weapon.

That might explain why there’s no closed season on prairie dogs or coyotes in states that “manage” them for “recreational shooting opportunities.” “Game” managers must be able to relate to their hunter constituents well enough to know that killing just once a year isn’t enough for many of them. Like serial killers, sport hunters have a cooling off period between kills which doesn’t always last throughout the winter, spring and summer until the next autumn hunting season.

Prairie dogs and coyotes are two species that are heavily hunted, but never for food. Their killers can’t claim a need for sustenance; they’re just out for a bit of “fun.” One thrill-killer describes his sport this way: “Prairie dog hunting is a blast, on both private and public lands. I like to start by clearing everything within 50 yards with an AR-15, then switch to my .223 Remington for anything out to about 150 and finally trade up to the bull barrel .22-250 for the longer shots.” Clearly, it’s the act of killing that really gets their blood up.

Not to be outdone, trapping is notorious for the amount of bykill it’s responsible for.

According to the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Department, trappers out for wolves in 2011-2012 inad- vertently captured 147 non-target animals, including white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain lions, skunks and ravens—in addition to the 123 wolves they killed. They admitted that 69 of those animals died as a result.

Trappers reported capturing 45 deer. Twelve of those died. They also captured 18 elk and four moose. The same number of coyotes ended up in traps as deer. 38 of the deer were killed. Nine mountain lions were captured in wolf traps—six of them died. “There are a heck of a lot of people out there trapping furbearers,” said the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife management chief. “And there also are a lot of people trapping coyotes, which aren’t even regulated.”

As I wrote in my book, Exposing the Big Game: Living Targets of a Dying Sport: Not only am I anti-hunting, I’m avidly anti-trapping, anti-seal clubbing and anti-whaling. For that matter, I’m anti any form of bullying that goes on against the innocents—including humans. I am not an apologist for the wanton inhumanity of hunting in the name of sport, pseudo-subsistence or conservation-by-killing. I’m anti-hate, as well as anti-greed, anti-ignorance, anti-apathy; I’m anti-objectification, anti-manipulation, anti-exploitation, anti-domination, anti-brutality; I’m anti-thoughtlessness, anti-selfishness, anti-unkindness, anti-egotism, anti-cruelty and anti those individuals who regularly exhibit any of these behaviors or embrace these traits. Let’s face it, you can’t kill an animal without being cruel; and therein lies the real reason I’m anti-hunting.

Most of all, I’m pro-wildlife, pro-nature and pro-animal. If you’re a member of C.A.S.H., you probably feel the same way. But according to hunters, we’re the “antis.” Hunters like to stereotype us all with a negative brush stroke, yet they are the real “antis.

Ever since hominids first climbed down out of the trees and started clubbing their fellow animals, they have been on a mission to claim the planet as their own. No other species could ever live up to man’s over-inflated self-image; therefore they became meat. Or if not meat, a servant or slave in one way or another. If their flesh isn’t considered tasty, they’re put to use as beasts of burden, hunted for trophies, held captive for amusement or as literal guinea pigs to test drugs and torturous procedures for the perpetual prolongation of human life. Those who don’t prove themselves useful are deemed “pests” and slated for eradication. Because, for whatever rationale, the human species sees itself as the top dog—all others: their underlings.

Any society that looks the other way when people slay animals for fun does so at its peril.

Marine biologist, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, had this to say about the growing problem:

“Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is—whether its victim is human or animal—we cannot expect things to be much better in this world. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity.”

Portions of this article were excerpted from the book, Exposing the Big Game: Living Targets of a Dying Sport by Jim Robertson, President of C.A.S.H. – Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2021. All Rights Reserved.