1899
01-07-2015, 12:35 AM
Several quotes that I like from Kai-Uwe Denker. I hope that all political parties (especially Dr. Weaver of the Green Party) consider these quotes as I believe that the vast majority of Resident hunters feel the same passion and hold the same beliefs as Mr. Denker.
Hunting is an ancient human activity. As such it means experiencing an original way of life in unspoiled nature. Hunting can be the purest form of eco-tourism. And yes, of course we enjoy hunting.
Of course we enjoy the thrill of a stalk. Yes, of course we enjoy the adrenalin rush when facing a wild un-collared lion. There is nothing wrong with that, these are inherent components of our own nature. City people seem to have forgotten that man can and should be part of nature. And above all, the laws of hunter and hunted are the very foundation on which nature rests.
If we still want nature and that is the principle decision mankind has to take we have to understand and accept it as it is; and true, honest hunting is the very school of life....
Please forgive me, if I here state that the same wild fire that some boring anti-hunters instinctively and unknowingly admire in the eyes of a lion, before it was man-handled and collared, is still alive in a hunters heart.
But we dont enjoy killing. We have to kill to have hunted. And when at times we have to kill, we try to do so clean and quick and painless. At the same time death is part of life it is not always easy to accept this, and this is the very difficult part of hunting, but it also is part of nature.
We hunters want and need nature.
The principle of sustainable use ensures large-scale nature conservation outside of National Parks and that is what every nature lover should support free of irrational ideological agendas.
Africa is unique in the diversity of its wildlife and the stark beauty and silent grandeur of its landscapes.
Like all other continents, Africa will run its course to catch up with the first world. Nature lovers from the developed countries of the north cannot expect that African Governments will neglect their people in favour of wildlife.
But it appears logical that African countries protect some of their natural beauty not only for its own sake, but also to the best advantage of the national wellbeing. And the principle of sustainable use is the proven concept to combine these two important aspects.
Hunting is a very important aspect not only in nature conservation, but also in the self-examination of humankind. Hunting is an age-old human activity, only hunting has enabled the survival of the human species, there is nothing strange or perverted about somebody being a hunter, as some people nowadays often want to have it. The pronounced hunting instincts and hunting qualities of our ancestors laid the foundation to all human culture. We have to realise that such an important aspect of the human evolution is deeply embedded in the human instincts. However, we hunters also very clearly state that we feel that hunting should be conducted according to very strict legal regulations, ethical behaviour and in circumspection....
Ethical hunting, these moral standards of humanity kindled through awareness and compassion in dealing with nature and wild animals, while still accepting nature's laws, is of immense value to humanity. This knowledge keeps the qualities of rejuvenation alive within humanity, as opposed to the very likely self-destruction of humanity by the selfish disregard of the everlasting laws of life.
They say hunting is applied nature conservation, hunters are true conservationist this is a wisdom that is so trite by now, that one feels reluctant to use this phrase any longer.
Yet it is true.
The very interest in wild animals and their environment, which is the basic precondition for any conservation thoughts, in pre-historic times most likely could first be observed in hunters, who took interest in animals and had to know their behaviour. The hunting related interest in wild animals and the knowledge of the environment by ancient hunter-gatherer cultures can thus be described as the very origin of all conservation efforts by mankind and also of zoology.
To this has to be added the urge of hunters to experience original, unadulterated settings, and a true understanding of nature, which also is a precondition to real conservation.
I knew a dear old lady who lived on a farm and was a fond animal lover and readily donated money for conservation projects. And by the way she was very critical about hunting. But ones a leopard killed one of her goats, a hunter would be called to shoot that leopard.
As hunters we have a somewhat broader understanding of nature conservation. Any true hunter takes the greatest delight in really unspoiled nature with an intact spectrum of species and accepts the basic laws of nature without which nature could not function.
These somewhat longwinded words of introduction to an award giving ceremony that is very important to us, seem necessary.
Because more and more a rift develops between different conservation groups that ultimately seek to accomplish the same goal. This is detrimental to what we all want. Because the only difference between a hunter-conservationist and a non-hunter conservationist is the fact that the former is of the opinion that humans are integral part of nature, while the latter seems to have reached a state, where he considers himself no longer part of nature.
And a final one from Theodore Roosevelt:
No one, but he who has partaken thereof, can understand the keen delight of hunting in lonely lands. For him is the joy of the horse well ridden and the rifle well held; for him the long days of toil and hardship, resolutely endured, and crowned at the end with triumph. In after years there shall come forever to his mind the memory of endless prairies shimmering in the bright sun, of vast snow-clad wastes lying desolate under gray skies; of the melancholy marshes; of the rush of mighty rivers; of the breath of evergreen forest in summer; of the crooning of ice-armored pines at the touch of the winds of winter; of cataracts roaring between hoary mountain masses; of all the innumerable sights and sounds of the wilderness; of its immensity and mystery; and of the silences that brood in its still depths.
Anyways, there are more, but I am tired and am struggling to make this post as eloquently as deserved by the above noted quotes.
Hunting is an ancient human activity. As such it means experiencing an original way of life in unspoiled nature. Hunting can be the purest form of eco-tourism. And yes, of course we enjoy hunting.
Of course we enjoy the thrill of a stalk. Yes, of course we enjoy the adrenalin rush when facing a wild un-collared lion. There is nothing wrong with that, these are inherent components of our own nature. City people seem to have forgotten that man can and should be part of nature. And above all, the laws of hunter and hunted are the very foundation on which nature rests.
If we still want nature and that is the principle decision mankind has to take we have to understand and accept it as it is; and true, honest hunting is the very school of life....
Please forgive me, if I here state that the same wild fire that some boring anti-hunters instinctively and unknowingly admire in the eyes of a lion, before it was man-handled and collared, is still alive in a hunters heart.
But we dont enjoy killing. We have to kill to have hunted. And when at times we have to kill, we try to do so clean and quick and painless. At the same time death is part of life it is not always easy to accept this, and this is the very difficult part of hunting, but it also is part of nature.
We hunters want and need nature.
The principle of sustainable use ensures large-scale nature conservation outside of National Parks and that is what every nature lover should support free of irrational ideological agendas.
Africa is unique in the diversity of its wildlife and the stark beauty and silent grandeur of its landscapes.
Like all other continents, Africa will run its course to catch up with the first world. Nature lovers from the developed countries of the north cannot expect that African Governments will neglect their people in favour of wildlife.
But it appears logical that African countries protect some of their natural beauty not only for its own sake, but also to the best advantage of the national wellbeing. And the principle of sustainable use is the proven concept to combine these two important aspects.
Hunting is a very important aspect not only in nature conservation, but also in the self-examination of humankind. Hunting is an age-old human activity, only hunting has enabled the survival of the human species, there is nothing strange or perverted about somebody being a hunter, as some people nowadays often want to have it. The pronounced hunting instincts and hunting qualities of our ancestors laid the foundation to all human culture. We have to realise that such an important aspect of the human evolution is deeply embedded in the human instincts. However, we hunters also very clearly state that we feel that hunting should be conducted according to very strict legal regulations, ethical behaviour and in circumspection....
Ethical hunting, these moral standards of humanity kindled through awareness and compassion in dealing with nature and wild animals, while still accepting nature's laws, is of immense value to humanity. This knowledge keeps the qualities of rejuvenation alive within humanity, as opposed to the very likely self-destruction of humanity by the selfish disregard of the everlasting laws of life.
They say hunting is applied nature conservation, hunters are true conservationist this is a wisdom that is so trite by now, that one feels reluctant to use this phrase any longer.
Yet it is true.
The very interest in wild animals and their environment, which is the basic precondition for any conservation thoughts, in pre-historic times most likely could first be observed in hunters, who took interest in animals and had to know their behaviour. The hunting related interest in wild animals and the knowledge of the environment by ancient hunter-gatherer cultures can thus be described as the very origin of all conservation efforts by mankind and also of zoology.
To this has to be added the urge of hunters to experience original, unadulterated settings, and a true understanding of nature, which also is a precondition to real conservation.
I knew a dear old lady who lived on a farm and was a fond animal lover and readily donated money for conservation projects. And by the way she was very critical about hunting. But ones a leopard killed one of her goats, a hunter would be called to shoot that leopard.
As hunters we have a somewhat broader understanding of nature conservation. Any true hunter takes the greatest delight in really unspoiled nature with an intact spectrum of species and accepts the basic laws of nature without which nature could not function.
These somewhat longwinded words of introduction to an award giving ceremony that is very important to us, seem necessary.
Because more and more a rift develops between different conservation groups that ultimately seek to accomplish the same goal. This is detrimental to what we all want. Because the only difference between a hunter-conservationist and a non-hunter conservationist is the fact that the former is of the opinion that humans are integral part of nature, while the latter seems to have reached a state, where he considers himself no longer part of nature.
And a final one from Theodore Roosevelt:
No one, but he who has partaken thereof, can understand the keen delight of hunting in lonely lands. For him is the joy of the horse well ridden and the rifle well held; for him the long days of toil and hardship, resolutely endured, and crowned at the end with triumph. In after years there shall come forever to his mind the memory of endless prairies shimmering in the bright sun, of vast snow-clad wastes lying desolate under gray skies; of the melancholy marshes; of the rush of mighty rivers; of the breath of evergreen forest in summer; of the crooning of ice-armored pines at the touch of the winds of winter; of cataracts roaring between hoary mountain masses; of all the innumerable sights and sounds of the wilderness; of its immensity and mystery; and of the silences that brood in its still depths.
Anyways, there are more, but I am tired and am struggling to make this post as eloquently as deserved by the above noted quotes.