"They give all kinds of excuses about managing populations and conservation etc"
That is exactly the kind of excuse they use. You are right. Very often, they think they are doing Nature a favour. That is the usual attitude carried by those who set "Larsen Traps"...that they are supporting the songbird population (which can be fragile), and protecting it against predation by Corvids, (Magpies, Crows, Jackdaws, etc) I think they actually believe it.
But the bottom line is the deliberate unfeeling cruelty involved. NO creature should be subjected to cruelty for the sake of any ideal (except maybe volunteers for SAS selection!). That is the absolute base line.
The hunters who support blood sports of any kind, in any country imagine that those who oppose them are uninformed, and naive about wildlife management.
An interesting observation I have made concerns the wild deer where I live. They have no natural predators, and a perfect environment in which to thrive and multiply. There are no organised deer hunts (though poachers operate in a big woods a few miles away) However, I have not noticed an over-population, sickly stock, or significant damage to trees, crops, etc. They may take a few corn stalks, but no more than the Badgers, and maybe create a 0.5% -if that -reduction in yield in a 5 acre field. Trees thrive also. (Where they are allowed to by humans!) Deer do no significant damage to tree growth either, even when planting is NOT managed by people, or saplings protected.
I am out there all the time in all seasons, and notice these things
That is exactly the kind of excuse they use. You are right. Very often, they think they are doing Nature a favour. That is the usual attitude carried by those who set "Larsen Traps"...that they are supporting the songbird population (which can be fragile), and protecting it against predation by Corvids, (Magpies, Crows, Jackdaws, etc) I think they actually believe it.
But the bottom line is the deliberate unfeeling cruelty involved. NO creature should be subjected to cruelty for the sake of any ideal (except maybe volunteers for SAS selection!). That is the absolute base line.
The hunters who support blood sports of any kind, in any country imagine that those who oppose them are uninformed, and naive about wildlife management.
An interesting observation I have made concerns the wild deer where I live. They have no natural predators, and a perfect environment in which to thrive and multiply. There are no organised deer hunts (though poachers operate in a big woods a few miles away) However, I have not noticed an over-population, sickly stock, or significant damage to trees, crops, etc. They may take a few corn stalks, but no more than the Badgers, and maybe create a 0.5% -if that -reduction in yield in a 5 acre field. Trees thrive also. (Where they are allowed to by humans!) Deer do no significant damage to tree growth either, even when planting is NOT managed by people, or saplings protected.
I am out there all the time in all seasons, and notice these things
