71.8 million people in the United States said they enjoyed watching wildlife in 2011. Six percent, or about 18,702,000 of the U.S. population hunts. Make no mistake- these groups are not discrete from each other. The idea that hunters do not like, or at an absolute minimum respect animals is ludicrous.

"In Europe, a tradition began of giving harvested animals a “last bite” to show respect and thankfulness to the animal. Native Americans were particularly reverent about hunting, and their practice of thanking and asking forgiveness of the animal in prayer has carried on with many American hunters today."

I was recently on a hunt in Namibia. Before you skip the rest of the article and write me off as a inhumane murderer for this behavior, understand that hunting is not a quest to bring pain, violence, or suffering. In fact, any hunter will tell you they intend to limit the violence and pain in this challenge, and find their success not in death, but in the pride of being self-sufficient and conquering a difficult task. I've never seen anyone walk 13 miles, over multiple 1000 foot rocky mountains for a tofu burger.

Let me include the basic concept that is incredibly important to remember, yet often forgotten, in any discussion about hunting: poaching is not hunting. Poaching is a crime; poachers, criminals, and the moment a hunt is no longer fully and completely legal, it falls into this category of poaching. The inherent unregulated, criminal nature of poaching means we cannot know exactly how many animals they take, however, hunting is monitored for conservative reasons and can be numerically evaluated. 200 million animals are killed yearly, however, 139 million of these are birds and other small game- things my cat has dragged into the garage with him after a long night out. Meanwhile, 4.6 billion animals were projected to be slaughtered for food in 2016, and a staggering 9.5 billion farm animals were slaughtered in 2007 and 2008.

As for endangered animals, for example, the elephant- poachers killed approximately 100,000 African Elephants in just three years; hunters, 4,624 between 2005 and 2014. Hunting is not causing their endangerment, poaching is. Hunting cannot be held unaccountable entirely, however, elephants killed in mass numbers by cyanide, without any trophy fee being paid, is far from a legal trip.

In African countries, hunting is more than just a trophy sport. It is a substantial part of the economy, especially in rural towns. Hunting brings more tourists through small towns, far away from big cities, than any other activity. Trophy fees go towards maintenance and care of these grounds and animals. These towns are filled with meat eaters, who are given or sold the meat from these wild game hunts, giving a whole town a food supply. As this PETA article points out, we, as a people, do not need to hunt our meat to survive. Beyond shifting from wild game to meat farms, we could shake up the food chain bygiving meat up entirely. However, this is an unfortunately privileged stance. In In Namibia, where they have not seen more than two inches of rain in over a year, and from Nauchas, where the closest city with a supermarket is 3 hours away, the easily accessible meat is necessary.

Hunting was introduced to Namibia in the 1960's, and then thefences went up, water holes were dug, and "pests" that had been killed to avoid competition with cattle were valued and cared for, using money from these hunts. When the funds gained by conservancies for trophy hunting were eliminated, most were unable to maintain their grounds.

The ranch I was recently on is owned by Jaco van der Merwe, spans over 109,000 acres, and boasts 3,000 wild animals. Cheetah, leopard, kudu, gemsbok, springbok, warthog, wildebeest, eland, duiker, steenbok, baboon and more roam the land freely- he only fences his 200 cattle. There are water holes and salt licks, however, these are not bait. In the excruciatingly dry mountains of Namibia, water and salt are hard to come by and crucial to the health and overall survival of these creatures.

Jaco started hunting on this game ranch in 2000, because his passion for the wild game was so much, and he wanted to share that. Nearly every hunter we met there agreed; they do this because they love the plains game and the challenge they pose. It is not only the animals living on this ranch, under his care. He employs 22 locals, and houses nearly 70, the families and children of his employees.

The meat is one of the larger benefits of the sport. 100% of each animal is used, either on the camp, or sold in town, when the camp has excess. 280 trophies are taken each year, 10% of the animals known to frequent the land. Poaching is kept at bay because of the movement of the hunters around their lands. Farmers in the area, cattle and game, keep a watch for poachers in the night, and just being present on the land is enough to keep many at bay.

If the hunting here stopped, more than half the workers would be laid off, and made to leave the ranch. The animals would also be forced away, though in a more violent manner. The competition they pose to the cattle, given the low carrying capacity of the dry lands, demolishes their value in these areas when they are no longer being hunted. The end of legal hunting would not discourage poachers, who would suffer no more than they do now. However, the townspeople would not stop attempting to get their meat; traps, spears and even rocks would be used to kill the animals, leading to more suffering and violence. And the hunters will be the first to tell you there is no need for excess pain.

"I'm sure that man as a species does not need to hunt, but I'm just as sure that some men do, just as some men need to work the soil or compete or drive fast cars. If there isn't a hunter inside each human, then it becomes our job to show people that there is a human inside each hunter." - Steven Mulak