On New Year's day, I went for a walk on the beach. It's a calm beach along a calm bay. The bay alternately flushes and is flooded by the tides through a narrow connection to the larger sound. In summer it's a fine place for fishing. And in winter that channel is a fine place for loons and for wild ducks, like the exquisite goldeneyes and the elegantly streamered long-tails. I love to see the arctic-breeding species that come to keep us company through our shortest and coldest days. And I love to hear them. I also know, though it's hard to imagine it when we're tucked in tight and snug, that all winter they are keeping their faith, and ours, throughout the season's bitterest storms and longest nights.
A minute into my walk, I come across the gouge of truck tracks on the usually undriven shore. A few yards past, the sand is trod with boot-prints and a heap of shotgun shells. What species of animal marks its territory by sprinkling plastic shells?
And from the bay, mere moments later, the muffled crack of guns.
I think of the ducks who so cheer me through winter.
I think of the duck shooters who enter the birds' most secure haunts and private places, where they go to feed, to hide, to widen the gap between themselves and the grasp of foxes, owls, hawks and eagles. But anywhere they go, seeking sustenance or solace, humans appear, regularly and unannounced. Three months of the twelve-month year, the shooting is a near-constant feature of being near the shore. The noise, which reaches into each room of my home, starts at dawn. Especially on weekends, in the predawn darkness I lie in bed hoping for the sound of heavy rain or wind enough to keep duck hunters home.
Unlike duck shooters, deer hunters perform a service. In the absence of predators like wolves, in the protection of the suburbs, the white-tailed deer that were once shot almost to extermination in our region have in the last few decades come back in such force that they create intense pressure on seedling trees and native shrubs, hazards to drivers, frustration for gardeners, sharply increased rates of Lyme disease (because they are a necessary host to the tick that spreads it) and such severe competition with each other for food that winter starvation likely causes them more suffering than a lethal gunshot. In short, though it's not something I'm interested in doing personally, deer hunting does some good. Plus, I've never heard of deer hunters intentionally leaving the deer they've shot. As far as I know, they're all after meat.
Contrast duck hunters. Numerous times, I have seen duck hunters make no attempt to retrieve ducks they've killed or crippled. I have seen them throw ducks they've shot -- but do not want -- into the bushes and brush. Or just leave them on the beach among their spent shells. I have also found half a dozen hunter-killed wild geese tossed into the woods beside the road. I have found dying long-tailed ducks struggling after being shot (including one whose eye had just been shot out) while the "hunters" were standing in plain sight just a few hundred yards down the same beach, shooting at birds flying by, utterly disinterested in retrieving the dying birds or ending the suffering they'd inflicted. That time, they were shooting only about a hundred yards from the nearest houses, a clear public nuisance.
Another time, I saw a boat motoring rapidly across the surface of the bay, charging groups of sitting waterfowl, with a shooter in the bow blasting at all the ducks trying to get airborne ahead of the fast-approaching hull.
Apparently, they think all this is fun. I hate it.
As I implied, I enjoy fishing. I find it satisfying, and often exciting. And the fish, delicious. But invariably over the course of a season, a few hooked fish may break the line, or baited rigs will snag on the bottom and break off. And who knows what happens to the fish who drag those rigs or find that bait? Surely some die. Fishing is merely hunting for animals with gills. But my fishing disturbs neither my neighbors nor all the fish in the area. Its strategy depends on the fish being able to feed undisturbed by the very boats that seek them.
Duck hunting chases ducks from their best feeding locations and forces them to use up more of the precious energy they need to survive the cold.
Who does this? Not your average person. Average people who have indoor things to do, or who need to go shopping, people who like to be warm in winter, who don't like to be wet when it's cold out, who don't like to keep still while their feet and fingers are uncomfortably numb, register low among the ranks of duck-hunters.
The edges of civilization, be it remote locales or mere shorelines, attract people who are not average. In winter, outside, it's really only nature lovers and nature hunters. There's some overlap in motivations: getting away from average people is one. Getting nearer to the seasons, and to the wildlife, are others. I share them all.
I am, by predisposition, a hunter. When fishing I am avid. And I used to train hawks and hunt with them, mainly for rabbits which I -- and the hawks -- ate. As a pre-teen I flirted with a fascination in the possibility of hunting deer or birds. When I was 12, I shot a grackle with a pellet-gun. It never occurred to me that I might hit a bird and fail to kill it. Astonished, I saw the bird attempt to rise, and, disabled, drag itself into the undergrowth. Thus ended my personal interest in guns.
On admittedly thin evidence, I believe the capacity for pain is higher in warm-blooded animals like ducks and people than it is in fish. Fish act agitated when hooked, and they can act panicked or shocked. But crippled birds seem to really suffer, to show true misery.
I have known some duck hunters. Many are likeable, admirable people. A small percentage of duck hunters are fine naturalists and some even devote their life's work to wildlife conservation. There are also hunting groups whose conservation works or dollars are based on the idea that more ducks overall will mean more ducks to shoot, and that both are beautiful things. And I concede, after all, the beauty in a working retriever and the human-dog working bond.
But other duck hunters -- the ones I most often see -- strike me as slobs. The shooters near my house don't use dogs; they're shooting bay- and sea-ducks for fun, not for meat. They like to kill them but don't want them. Their mess and the wasted birds they leave intentionally; there's no excuse for it. And unlike deer hunting, which benefits people, the land, and the surviving deer, no justification for duck hunting rings true.
But isn't it justification enough that, despite hunting, the abundance of many pond-oriented ducks has been increasing in the last half-century? Well, saltwater ducks -- the main ones that people in my area shoot -- have been declining. Yes, duck hunters pay for a lot of conservation. So do conservationists who don't kill ducks. I invite the former to join the latter. There is too commonly in waterfowl hunters a blind spot for the suffering inflicted. And inherent in the sport is the repugnant waste of killed bay- and sea-ducks that nobody eats.
What is the answer? As a lifelong advocate of fresh air and taking kids outdoors, my recommendation to those interested in this form of recreation is: stay inside. On the couch. Eating sugar and watching movies and playing video games. Safely indoors, out or harm's way, develop your capacity for compassion and humane treatment of animals and people. If you must interact with animals, play with a puppy or get a parakeet. If you must go out, I suggest you challenge yourself to take up birding, which requires vastly more skill and knowledge but still gives you an excuse to buy nice, waterproof boots and a cool camo jacket, and to get wet and cold anyway.
But if that just isn't you, put yourself under house arrest where you're less a menace. Or -- go deer hunting.
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Equally important are hunters obeying the letter and spirit of the law. Hunters as with society at large have members without the morals or self discipline to do this. This is where fellow hunters, family and associates have to speak up and exert peer pressure to get them into compliance. Ethical hunting is a challenge as is living ethically.
However, the comments have been thoughtful, surprisingly respectful (arguably more than I deserved, I'll grant) and, for lack of more words: classy.
I worked for Audubon for over 20 years. The chairman and the VP for sanctuaries were avid, avid duck hunters. Collectively their work saved more ducks than they killed. I'm a fisherman whose fishing led to a lifetime of ocean conservation. That's part of the evolution of these things; sometimes it takes people in the field, interacting with and using these wild animals, to first see what's going on and what is needed.
With that, I'll close. Again, thank you.
As a duck hunter I know exactly of the types you speak of. However your argument is flawed. Sure your hook and line don't chase fish out of their feeding spots, but a stick of dynamite does. That is the comparison that should be made. An ethical hunter doesn't shoot unless he has a good chance of a kill shot, doesn't overhunt an area to the point where birds will no return and will not shoot into large flocks of birds, for fear of scaring large amounts of birds out of a feed field. Some cripples do get away, but if I had to compare the amount of birds that I let get away with how many fish I leave hooked swimming around, there are as many or more fish that have suffered due to me than waterfowl. I personally have swam through sloughs that are full of cow shit and dead cows in near freezing temperatures to retrieve downed birds that most hunters consider unfavorable. I welcome you to come hunt with an ETHICAL waterfowler in the central valley of CA, and perhaps I can prove you wrong.
Sincerely,
A concerned Westcoast Whacker
P.S. Have you bought your federal duck stamp this year?
I don't like the sound of the cars going by on the freeway on a clear day, but I am free to move to another location. I don't need to belittle them or suggest that they are all ignorantly engaging in the ruination of our planet. If I see someone egregiously breaking the law, I do something about it. I suggest you do the same.
As mentioned, depending on the laws of your state you have witnessed at the minimum: wanton waste of game, shooting from a craft while under motorized power, littering, and shooting within a safety zone without written permission. Any of those acts if documented deserve a call to you local game officer. They can't be everywhere at once, so they need your help. Then take the next steps. If you are asked, sign the complaint and show up in court and do your part to end unlawful activity. Any hunter I respect would be glad you did. Certainly more so than having you make disparaging generalizations about hunters as a whole. If I lumped all journalists into the same category as you, they would cringe.
I am appalled and insulted by your view of duck hunters. I am avid waterfowler and have pursued ducks and geese for the past 14 years. I will not claim to have retrieved every bird I have shot as no deer hunter can claim to have found every deer they have hit if they have been hunting any length of time. However I have taken measures to reduce loss by buying and training a Labrador retriever whose senses are far superior to mine. I imagine you are unaware of the fact that waterfowl hunters are required to purchase a Federal Duck Stamp every season. The entirety of this money goes back into preserving and restoring areas used by waterfowl, such as the bay that you enjoy so much. I buy 2 stamps every year because the cost of a stamp has remained the same since the early 90's, $15, but inflation has not, so the effectiveness of my purchase has depreciated considerably. I am also a member of Ducks Unlimited which is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of waterfowl and wetlands. Now that we have straightened out the dollars and cents of the situation we will discuss the biology. (cont.)
I apologize about the hunters that you have experienced who are obviously breaking the laws and who do not carry the ethics of duck hunting like the rest of us. If you would like to experience duck hunting first hand and how it is truly done then I invite you to hunt with my group in Mendota, California. It is your choice to become educated on obviously someting you know nothing about.
Something to think about.
Waterfowlers:
Expend nearly $1 billion annually on trips and
equipment
Waterfowlers:
Total economic output of $2.3 billion, 21,415 jobs,
$725 million in employment income, and pay over $330
million in taxes
Waterfowlers:
Much of the revenue for conservation of important
waterfowl habitats comes from waterfowlers this includes the beaches you walk on.
Based on the funding reports identified in the previous post, I take exception to your comment that “Yes, duck hunters pay for a lot of conservation. So do conservationists who don’t kill ducks. I invite the former to join the latter.”
I suggest that if we as a society care about wildlife resources and would like to see abundant wildlife populations perpetuated well into the future, the reverse is true: the latter will need become engaged and work with the former to ensure that wildlife agencies continue to have the dedicated funding resources needed to do just that. This will certainly not happen if your recommendation for solving what started out to be a law enforcement issue is for people to stay inside.
Like you, I have known many duck hunters as well, and fall into the category you describe as having devoted my life’s work to conservation. However, there is no basis for your statement that “a small percentage of duck hunters are fine naturalists.” My experiences as a wildlife biologist, an avid duck hunter and a life-long conservationist (of all wildlife species) is contrary to what you’ve experienced, in that many duck hunters are extremely knowledgeable and dedicated naturalists.
I understand your concerns, but feel they are not fully informed. More importantly, I am equally frustrated with the behavior that you’ve experienced. Thank you for your consideration, and once again, for this teachable moment.
A few recent papers are worthy of your review, many of which can be found in a publication by The Wildlife Society (http://issuu.com/the-wildlife-professional/docs/twpfall2010). Authors describe the cornerstone of the wildlife profession as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (Model), which has advanced the conservation of fish and wildlife resources and their habitats for more than a century.
Implementation of the Model in the U.S. has been primarily through a “user pay – user benefit” system of conservation funding, and has resulted in the purchase of lands, restoration of wildlife populations, development of science-based management programs and the sustainable use of wildlife through regulated hunting, fishing and trapping programs.
This has resulted in a conservation funding stream like no other in the world, and has helped increase our nation’s biodiversity. Funding to support fish and wildlife conservation have been the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act (P-R funds) and the 1950 Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act, in addition to revenues generated through the direct sale of hunting and fishing licenses. In 2009, more than $1.1 billion in funding from such license sales ($764 million) and P-R funds ($336 million), used to support state agency conservation efforts. In contrast, birders in the U.S. were estimated to have spent $12 BILLION on trips, and $24 Billion on equipment during 2006, none of which funded wildlife conservation programs (http://library.fws.gov/pubs/birding_natsurvey06.pdf).
I read your article with great interest knowing that you care about waterfowl, and are frustrated by the events that you repeatedly witnessed re: hunters chasing waterfowl by boat (rallying), failing to retrieve and disposing (wanton waste) of waterfowl, all of which are illegal under Federal and State Law. Thankfully, we have dedicated wildlife law enforcement professionals who are responsible for enforcing these highly regulated activities, and a full compliment of citizens (both hunters and non-hunters alike) who won’t, and shouldn’t tolerate such unethical behavior. For this reason, you should have taken the initiative to report these events to the DEC's Stony Brook office, your local Conservation Officer or Federal Agent. This is the first step toward solving the problem.
However, what started out as a recurring law enforcement issue, transitioned into an essay that confuses the issue and fosters misconceptions about several things, and ultimately ends with a recommendation for hunters to become couch potatoes.
From this, you have provided a very unique opportunity to educate, for which I am grateful.