Scott A. Paterson
Get the facts out on duck hunting
Guest Column
Scott A. Paterson
Get the facts out on duck hunting
I have been reading the anti-hunting advertisements that have been in The Hub and several local papers for some time now and have finally gotten to the point that I feel compelled to respond. I happen to be an avid outdoorsman and conservationist. I enjoy hunting, trapping, fishing and anything else that comes along with it. I am also the chairman for the Monmouth County Chapter of Ducks Unlimited. As I continue to read these articles that have been calling for the end of duck hunting along the Two Rivers area, I sit back and wonder what has precipitated this movement? Was it someone who is just against hunting or someone that had a bad experience with a hunter, or maybe someone who just does not understand why people hunt? I would like to think it is the latter.
I would like to provide a little information for the people behind the advertisements and maybe they can get a better understanding of why people hunt.
Tradition is, of course, part of it. Most of the people who enjoy the outdoors and hunting have had it bred into them from their fathers or grandfathers.
Others, I am sure, simply have a love of nature and all that it provides. I happen to be both and, while I do enjoy hunting, I can also enjoy many days in the outdoors without it. Hunters, historically, have more knowledge of, and show greater care for, the environment than nonhunters. The reason is that they are the ones that spend the most time outdoors and have come to respect and care for it.
In 2001, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hunters and fishermen provided $1.8 billion through licenses and fees to help fund conservation efforts nationwide. The advertisements that have been appearing on a weekly basis would have you believe that hunters are careless, cruel and a menace to society.
The facts do not support the premise. If it were not for legal, law-abiding hunters, those funds would be lost, thus endangering the future of wetlands conservation.
Ducks Unlimited alone has conserved and protected over 10 million acres of wetlands and continues to enhance local areas as well. It is fair to say that waterfowl migrations on this continent would be vastly different today if it were not for hunters.
I would never deprive someone the right to their own opinion; after all, that is what makes this country great.
But facts, unlike opinions, are not a subjective matter, and the facts do not support the opinions expressed in those advertisements.
Hunting locally has been a part of this area since its inception. Baymen, hunters and fishermen are the reason people are still able to enjoy these very rivers that have become overdeveloped and overcrowded. These same people who enjoy their home on the river should be thanking hunters and fishermen, not telling them that they cannot utilize the environment which they have helped to preserve. Next, will they be telling people who enjoy jet skis or boats that they are too loud and that they also should be banned from enjoying the river?
Maybe the person paying for this advertisement can tell me what they have done for the conservation and preservation of our rivers and wetlands habitat. Until then, I think they should stick to facts and not fiction.
I would be happy to speak to any of those who feel differently and exchange facts on this issue. You can write Monmouth County Ducks Unlimited at P.O. Box 482, Rumson 07760
Scott A. Paterson is chairman of Monmouth County Ducks Unlimited