For many, the death of an animal is an issue that is difficult to deal with. In a society which is increasingly distanced from the harshness of nature, where food comes with no real physical association wrapped up in plastic with glossy advertising, death is a difficult issue to deal with. Ironically ethical hunting, which so many people disapprove of, has the potential to take conservation to another level. Without animals to hunt, without a value, many species, particularly those animals in less developed countries, stand little chance of being conserved. There are few poorer organisations than the conservation bodies who struggle to make even modest successes of threatened species. Hunting, if conducted closely with good scientific research, has the potential to increase the number of wildlife conservation success stories.

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Game species have long been associated with man, beginning in the days when Neolithic man pursued herds of animals with basic weapons. These animals enabled man to survive, by providing not only meat, but also clothing from skins, and tools from bone. Even today in a largely urban majority, some societies still behave in a hunter gatherer fashion, pursuing caribou and reindeer and living a nomadic lifestyle. For most of us these days are over, but many still feel the need to seek the solitude of wild places to pursue game. Man has progressed since the hunter gatherer and now he is in a position where management is aimed at integrating rural production, whilst retaining a viable healthy population which exists in equilibrium with the natural processes. ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting

Without the natural predators which once would have regulated population density, animals such as deer (in the UK) are now liable to exponential population increases aided by benefits from agriculture and increasingly mild weather patterns. Without limiting factors such as predation and climate related mortality the population will continue to grow until disease and starvation take effect. The result is a population which fluctuates massively and, in an intensively managed environment such as our own, conflict would arise from damage to arable and forestry land. The result of this is severe indiscriminate culls of the population like the culls which occurred with deer using shotguns. The careful culling of select animals by the deer stalker can reduce these issues, to a point where the population is balanced and in equilibrium with the environment. The benefits of this are a healthy deer population with reduced vehicle collisions, fewer conflicts with forestry and agriculture and a sustainable harvest of healthy organic meat. Deer are now valued as a sporting quarry and play a major part in the income of many rural estates with the knock-on effect of sporting tourism benefiting other areas of tourism, such as hotels and B&Bs in rural areas.  ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical hunting ethical  

The UK presently boasts approximately 10,000 stalkers who have passed through formal training such as the deer stalking certificates (DSC). The benefits of this training are extensive. Valuable meat is supplied to the public in top condition as stalkers are trained to recognise diseased animals that must not enter the food chain. Stalkers are trained in the correct handling of high velocity deer calibres with a high regard for public safety and the increased risks this now creates in a country with a large human population. With suitable training such as the DSC qualifications stalkers can feel that they are fully prepared, and responsible for their actions.