Hunters are arguably some of the most active animal conservationists around at the moment, aiding in population control along with tracking herds and packs. Becoming an ethical and proper hunter takes years of practice and education.

As a hunter myself, I have always taken the time to scout the region I will be in to learn the regulations and wildlife in the area. Anyone who has gone through basic hunters education at the bare minimum has the ability to identify the animal that they are out in the field for. That being said, the majority of hunters are not just out there for a trophy, they’re out there to fill the freezer with food. The trophy is just a bonus. I have also seen hunting lead to the locating of diseased herds and aid in controlling the spread of the outbreak to the entirety of the animals population.

An important aspect of hunting for me is population control. Coming from Montana, I have witnessed what happens when certain populations run unchecked, whether that be overgrazing leading to environmental deterioration of river and creek beds, or over harvesting by predatory species leading to herd populations dropping at an alarming rate.

A perfect example of this was what happened to the elk population in the area around my hometown after wolves were reintroduced to the region. The wolves were such efficient hunters and able to reproduce so rapidly that the caloric requirement by pack became problematic. It did start in traditional fashion first – the sick, the weak, the slow. Those, however, are a finite resource that quickly turned to whatever they could catch. The state began issuing tags to bring the predators’ population back to manageable, seeing as wolves had no natural predators in the area. This, of course, led to outrage from conservation groups, seeing as the population had just been brought back in the years prior. The next step was a controlled release of wolf tags with humans being the only thing in the area to hunt them.

This was a double edged sword. On the one hand, the population was brought back from the brink of extinction and a predator that had been missing was reintroduced and brought down the prey population but the wolves were so effective it had to be dealt with. As a hunter, I tend not to hunt predators because it’s not an animal I have learned to use effectively. But I believe in hunting in general weather, be it deer, elk, duck or any other animal, it is necessary to keep balance in the ecosystems. Humans are, after all, an omnivorous species and do have direct implications on the population of every species around us. Therefore, through the practice of hunting, we develop a better understanding of how the environment around us works and how each species interacts and how they impact one another.

In my honest opinion, it’s one of the best ways to stay active and gain an education through the experience of trial and error and is a fantastic hands-on learning experience from which the lessons apply to almost every facet of life. Besides, we could all use a little more time in the woods once in a while.

So, in my experience as a hunter, it’s not only about the sport of it all, but also the studying that goes into it. From that studying to become a better hunter, I learned more than I ever did in a classroom. The hands-on experience was a far better teacher to me, forcing me to understand my target and everything I could in the area around me whether that be the environment, predators, food sources and so on, because if I wanted to tag out it was all required information. It taught me patience and focus in addition to better educating me about the species of animals in the ecosystem I would be hunting on that day, in addition to allowing me to explore areas I had never been and that follows me into the voting booth every time I see an initiative that comes up for a vote.