Feature

Reading, Writing, Reloading? Teaching Hunting in Schools

There is one piece of good news for animal advocates: The number of U.S. hunters has declined from a peak of about 19 million in 1975 to 12.5 million in 2006, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.^[1] And hunting is losing appeal to younger people. “The hunting population in general is aging,” said Tony Aeschliman, a spokesperson for the Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation.^[2]

But the decline of hunters has made the powerful gun lobby gung ho about marketing hunting to children. With backing from the National Rifle Association, West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill this past spring that permits hunting classes in schools. Similar legislation was introduced in other states as well, including Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Ohio and Alaska .

“The idea was to try to get the bill passed in at least one state,” said Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People. “Once that was accomplished, it could be circulated by the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC has pushed state-level pro-hunting and anti-‘animal enterprise terrorism’ bills since about 1992. ALEC distributes generic adaptations of state bills that it likes to all right-leaning legislators in the U.S., who typically begin introducing them in dozens of states.”^[3]

Many of the West Virginia bill’s advocates cite the importance of tradition and getting children back in touch with nature. The idea, apparently, is to get the kids off the couch, where they might be killing ogres or trolls in video games, and into the great outdoors -- killing living beings.

State Senator Billy Wayne Bailey, who introduced the bill, said, “Hunting is a way of life in West Virginia.”^[4] Yes, Southern folk hero Daniel Boone got his first rifle and started hunting at the age of 13. But why not just let this 18 th-century tradition die a natural death in the 21 st century? Evidently, not with a gun lobby so cynical that it will rob the cradle to keep selling firearms.

As U.S. students’ test scores fall behind those of their counterparts in other technologically developed nations, West Virginia legislators have come up with a new campaign: No Child Left Without a Gun. Education Week, in a 2008 report, gave West Virginia a grade of B- in overall education quality. How odd to see West Virginia schools respond by promoting courses in hunting.^[5]

Guns simply have no place in school. “In the post-Virginia Tech era, there is absolutely no reason to be bringing unloaded guns, toy guns, or any guns into schools,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “What West Virginia is doing is essentially trying to bolster gun sales and hunting participation by advertising to children, which is really cynical.”^[6]

Of course, the NRA thinks gun education in public schools is a nifty idea. Responding to Helmke’s statement, managing editor J.R. Robbins wrote on the NRA Hunters Rights Web site: “How does teaching kids respect for firearms and safe gun handling lead to violent behavior?”^[7]

So it was with tragic irony that, shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, the Washington Post asked, “Why are gunmen so apt to carry out their lethal rampages at American schools?”^[8]

Guns and Money

The arguments supporting public school hunting ed -- it’s a tradition, it gets kids out in nature, it teaches gun safety -- are disingenuous. Hunting brings in nearly $270 million a year to West Virginia’s economy, according to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources.^[9]

Regarding a West Virginia proposal to require public schools to teach middle and high school students to hunt, a n op-ed piece in the Charleston Gazette-Mail observed: “Since the Department of Natural Resources is funded mainly from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses, the decline in hunters has put a severe strain on their budget. Press reports have estimated [the 2007] shortfall at between $1.5 and $1.8 million due to the loss of license revenues. This law is a blatant attempt to make up a large part of that shortfall by shifting the cost onto the school system instead of raising fees for hunting licenses.”^[10]

One would assume, quite reasonably, that state fish and game departments or departments of environmental protection would be concerned about habitat conservation and the protection of endangered species. But because most such state agencies depend on hunting and fishing for revenue, their mission is often skewed to artificially inflating populations of animals hunters would want to kill.

There are plenty of alternatives. While hunting is in decline, bird-watching and nature photography are on the rise. The number of wildlife watchers has grown to 71 million in 2006, up from 62.8 million in 1996, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.”^[11]

Must Deer Be Controlled?

Hunting advocates invariably argue that the deer population needs to be controlled by killing. They claim that it will reduce the number of road accidents when vehicles hit the animals, endangering both deer and humans.

There are about a 1.5 million reported instances of drivers hitting deer in the United States every year. Deer rarely survive. More than a hundred car occupants die, and another 10,000 people suffer injuries. Insurance companies pay out about $1 billion in claims each year to cover these accidents.^[12] West Virginia has the highest rate of auto accidents caused by hitting a deer, and the state Division of Highways counted nearly 16,000 deer killed in vehicle accidents in 2006.^[13]

Clearly there is a problem, but hunting is not the answer. It is actually part of the problem. A 2002 study by Friends of Animals found that hunting actually exacerbates roadway deaths of deer because it can frighten deer into darting out to roadways. About half of all these collisions occur in just three months: October, November, and December -- hunting season.

The executive director of the Missouri Insurance Information Service has urged drivers to be especially cautious during the hunting season, because people are “chasing deer out of the woods.” The Erie Insurance Group recorded “an average of 34 deer claims a day” in a particular year, but added “that number rose nearly five times on the first day of buck season and doe season for 157 and 160 deer losses, respectively.”^[14] And the State Farm insurance company observes that the autumn months comprise the peak season for deer-car accidents. In the midst of both mating and hunting, deer are more active and more likely to roam beyond their normal territory.

Need we control deer populations? The whole philosophy of deer management is questionable. Hunting is often a reason for unnaturally large populations, not nature’s answer to it.

Nature ensures that the deer population is limited by available food, territory and winter weather conditions, which restrict both food and range. Well-fed deer naturally have more fawns than those living where food and leafy shelter is less plentiful.

As the size of the deer community increases, there is less food and leafy shelter available for each deer. Numerous studies over the years have shown that both the reproductive rate and the survival rate of deer will then decrease. Thus, a natural balance.

Moreover, in large populations, deer conceive later in the season, and that results in late-born fawns with a reduced chance of surviving through the winter. So although hunting reduces the population in the immediate sense, it stimulates early reproduction and augments the chances for survival in the next generation.

As for reducing the chances of auto-deer collisions, the East Hampton Group for Wildlife has carried out a pilot study in January 2008 that indicates roadside reflectors can reduce such collisions.^[15] The reflectors were installed along a stretch of road in East Hampton, NY, by the East Hampton Fence Company.

“This study is small, but it shows that the reflectors are promising,” said Bill Crain, the group’s president. In a press release, the group’s vice president, Ron Delsener said, “The study suggests humans can live in harmony with wildlife.”

Deer tend to follow certain defined and regular routes. Where deer regularly cross roads, fencing, signage or signs with blinking lights used during certain times of the year can help. Community driver education campaigns can teach basic precautions, including respect for speed limits and extra vigilance when driving at dawn and dusk during autumn and winter months.

We at Friends of Animals unequivocally oppose hunting and the destructive approaches that cater to, and foster, hunting. And it certainly has no place in our schools.

Footnotes