Hunting provides many benefits.
It is the major driver in generating funding for conservation plus it’s the main tool used by biologists to successfully manage wildlife populations.
For the individual hunter, hunting promotes a healthy lifestyle.
Let’s take elk hunting, for example.
Elk live well off the beaten path. To find them, hunters must often hike for miles while climbing foothills and mountains or cross other spacious terrain into the backcountry.
That means sportsmen and women alike take the time beforehand to either maintain or improve their physical stamina in order to prepare for hunting season.
And if successful once in the field, they must have the strength and energy to pack out the field dressed meat on their backs.
A recent survey shows there are many reasons why hunters hunt.
Among them is to spent time with family and friends, to experience nature up-close and for recreational purposes. But the main reason is simply for the meat.
Wild game provides lean, healthy organic, nutritional protein.
Again, let’s focus on elk.
U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows elk has a higher protein content than grass-fed beef, chicken or pork. It also ranks higher than deer, wild turkey or wild ducks.
And it has fewer calories and less cholesterol than all those species.
Additionally, other than wild turkey, elk has less fat content than all of the mentioned species as well as lamb, pronghorn antelope and wild pheasant.
On top of that, it is delicious and bounteous. The average field-dressed elk yields approximately 195 pounds of meat which translates into about 520 nutritious, six-ounce servings.
Supporting conservation while promoting an active, healthy lifestyle highlights the fact that Hunting Is Conservation.