The Shotgun Conservationist
Why Environmentalists Should Love Hunting
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
At the intersection of hunting and conservation, a man shares his personal journey from staunch anti-hunter to compassionate, ethical hunter, weaving together a larger history of humans, animals, the environment, and our food systems.
The Shotgun Conservationist doesn’t teach us how to hunt, it explores why we should hunt. As public lands remain imperiled, factory farms pollute the earth and subject animals to inhumane conditions, and global uncertainty presses us all to be more self-sufficient, there has never been a better time to take up hunting. Writer, natural historian, and public speaker Brant MacDuff has done just that. An avid animal lover and raised as a non-hunter, MacDuff started his journey intending to investigate the claim that “hunting is conservation.” So convinced, he now holds a hunting license in four states and gives lectures on the positive impact it has on conservation efforts nationwide.
Armed with years of experience in the field and a deep love for the natural world, MacDuff tells the provocative, humorous, and insightful story of how he became a hunter. Along the way, readers meet a cast of colorful characters and learn the firsthand research that helped change Brant’s mind. You may not book a hunting trip after reading The Shotgun Conservationist, but you’ll have a new perspective on and appreciation for those that do.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hunting can be both "environmentally and animal friendly," according to natural historian MacDuff's fervent debut. Formerly zealously opposed to hunting, MacDuff got into the sport after realizing he didn't want to give up eating meat, but wanted to consume it in the most planet-friendly way possible. He recounts his first kill, a buck in New Jersey, noting that its heart was "the first meat I had ever eaten that was environmentally and emotionally guilt free." MacDuff makes a case that, through the taxes and fees hunters pay, they are largely responsible for financially supporting most governmental conservation programs, and that hunting is the most climate-friendly way to acquire food. Responsible hunting, he notes, comes with such benefits as habitat preservation, maintaining sustainable wildlife populations, and combating climate change, as "biologists can use the information gathered by hunters to understand the most drastic changes taking place in localized segments of the environment." Without getting overly sentimental, MacDuff eulogizes each of his kills while recognizing that "it's impossible to value the individual and the group with the same weight." MacDuff's conversational writing will keep readers hooked, and his well-considered reflections offer plenty of food for thought. Nature-minded readers will find this full of insight.
