Nobody needs to hunt anymore, and the rural lifestyle that supports it has been diminishing, so this seems like a natural evolution:
Hunters remain a powerful force in American society, as evidenced by the presidential candidates who routinely pay them homage, but their ranks are shrinking dramatically and wildlife agencies worry increasingly about the loss of sorely needed license-fee revenue.
New figures from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that the number of hunters 16 and older declined by 10 percent between 1996 and 2006 — from 14 million to about 12.5 million. The drop was most acute in New England, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific states, which lost 400,000 hunters in that span.
Further down in the story is the even bigger decline in those who fish -- 15 percent; guess that isn't hot-button enough. The animal-rights people see this is a good thing, but without the fees from hunting and fishing licenses, state wildlife agencies would lose the major source of their funding. And we lose more of our understanding that "nature" is everything -- we are a part of it, not separate from it. I never hunted and have only fished sporadically, but I grew up where people kept chickens and pigs and everybody had gardens.Those who have no concept of the basic food chain don't really understand other dynamic systems, either.
