Respect for Wildlife

At some point in your hunting career you will have to grapple with difficult questions that society and nonhunters may ask of you: If a hunter’s basic goal is to kill, why is it important for a hunter to have respect for that animal? Can you kill something you respect? Should you? Should hunters also be conservationists? Why?

Most hunters have immense respect for the wildlife they hunt—and for the wildlife they don’t hunt. They also respect the land that supports wildlife. Hunting can teach you to understand the cycles of nature and make it easier to accept that death is a natural and important part of life.

Being a responsible hunter means respecting wildlife and giving something back in exchange for the continued privilege to hunt year after year. As a group, hunters have done more to help wildlife than anyone else. Through their support for wildlife management and conservation programs, hunters are directly responsible for many of the healthy wildlife populations we enjoy today.

conservation: Wise use of natural resources, without wasting them

Preservation is another means of protecting or saving a resource, such as by outlawing hunting of endangered species. Both preservation and conservation are necessary to sustain resources for future generations.

preservation: Saving natural resources, but with no consumptive use of them