The Freep has an interesting and surprisingly unbiased article about how increased sales of firearms and ammunition is netting Michigan a huge revenue windfall.
Of course the Posse has been following the bullet bubble for some time, but this does point out something that most (non-rural) people don’t know: Hunters are great for the environment.
Both hunting and fishing improve wildlife habitat and therefore the environment as a whole. The direct benefit is of course to limit the wildlife population and thus preventing destructive overgrazing (not to mention vehicle collisions). But taking a deer, rabbit or other animal does more than thin the population: it also provides food.
Each wild animal that we remove from the wild means less reliance on commercial animal production, which also puts an increasing strain on the environment. It’s a win-win: one less deer in the woods = one less potential accident = less need for commercial meat production.Want to reduce your carbon footprint? Eat a deer. [Note: I could care less about carbon, but it is fun to turn the environmental arguments against themselves.)
Call this the direct benefit.
The article outlines the indirect benefits: money for habitat preservation and restoration. Anyone who has ever bought a license and wandered Michigan’s fields and lakes knows that sportsmen have always been outstanding practical environmentalists. If the water is fouled or the ground polluted, game animals can’t flourish. Conservationists (which means an environmentalist with a brain) get this.
Moreover, they develop a love of nature and the environment that is personalized and realistic. Most environmentalists love the earth only in the abstract – they have no real tie to it. They think animal frolic and play and that without Man, there would be no suffering or hardship. The notion that life in the wild is a constant struggle to them – “red in tooth and claw” is entirely alien.
With Christmas approaching, we'd like our readers to share how they are going to help the earth. What piece are you buying? I'll get things rolling by announcing that I recently purchased a vintage Sig Sauer P226 to be featured in a gun review shortly.
What are you getting? You are getting a new gun, right? You do love the earth, right?

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