To answer the question, yes.
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In 1900 there were 500,000 whitetail deer in the US, now there are 18,000,000.
In 1907 there were 41,000 Rocky Mountain Elk, now there are 800,000.
In the 1950's there were 12,000 Pronghorn antelope, now there are 1,000,000.
In 1935 there were only 73 trumperter swans known to exist in the lower 48, now there are 900.
Destruction of habitat and commercial exploitation had reduced populations to critical levels. Contrary to popular opinion, hunters were not the cause of this decline. According to conservation experts, it was the excise taxes and license fees of the sportsmen of this country that helped to pay for programs that helped rescue many species of wildlife from extinction.
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From the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Hunters are part of the reason many of you have even seen a deer or elk. Hunters/sportsmen pay an 11% tax on guns, ammunition, and hunting equipment that helps fund wildlife areas and such. Without these, many species would have become extinct.
People who hunt are harvesting the excess population from the wild, its pretty simple actually. Animals need food, shelter, and space to live, its in limited supply. The bag limit set for a particular game is set by your states natural resources commision. They calculate how many animals the land can maintain, and estimate how much the population will grow in a year. Then the excess that the land cannot support is allowed to be killed. Another point to this argument of being conservationist's is the fact that many of these animals natural preditors have been hunted close to extinction, like the wolf and mountain lion.
I completely agree with the argument towards those of you who buy meat at the store can't do the dirty work yourself. I don't particularly enjoy butchuring deer, but I enjoy the time spent with friends in the outdoors and I love the taste of the meat. Last year, I didn't pay for an ounce of red meat or fish from a grocery store. One of my roommates and I bring in all the meat (except chicken) to support the three of us, and give some to our families to enjoy.
If you don't like it, you're entitled to your opinion, but I would be willing to wager that you may have done things that I would consider morally comprimising too.
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