I am a hunter. I hunt whitetailed deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, rabbits, coyotes, foxes, etc. This does not mean that I loathe these creatures. In fact I have pet wolves and red foxes. I have called in foxes and coyotes (varmints as they are called here) with mouth calls and electronic calls simulating the sounds of a dying rabbit to harvest them. I do not eat them, so call it sport hunting if you are inclined to do so. I LOVE my pets, but can differentiate between a pet fox and a wild fox. I do not want to see the destruction of a wild species, but I enjoy hunting and as a plus I am helping control the populations. I am not cruel to the animals that I pursue, I respect them and their cunning. I feel that it is sort of a contest between myself and them, although you will say that they are an unwilling participant. I am sure that deer are an unwilling participant when wolves prey on them also. I hunt deer for the meat and for the trophy also. If I am to harvest a deer, wouldn't it be better to kill a mature buck that has enjoyed life to a certain extent, or a young deer that hasn't had a few years to enjoy it? I would rather eat lean meat from a deer than steroid fed livestock any day. As for them being "defenseless" animals, they have a sense of smell 10,000 times greater than ours, eyesight AT LEAST as good as ours, and a flighty nature that keeps them constantly in synch with their surroundings. I consider myself lucky when I bring one home. I spend a great amount of time in the forests, enjoying the solitude, and watching animals of the forest, not killing even 1% of what I see. Sometimes I sit for hours in subzero temperatures just to harvest a single deer. I strive for the "one-shot, one-kill" mentality, which may not always happen in this imperfect world. I do not wish for an animal to suffer needlessly. As for vegetarians, eat what you want. Just please do not tell me what I can eat. Plants ARE living beings also, breathing in exact reverse of us humans, only the inhaling and exhaling are not apparent to the human eye. Every life needs to get their energy from another life in order to survive. That is the cycle of life as we know it. If it were not for hunters spending billions of dollars a year, habitats would not be conserved in the manner that they are now. Portions of the funds I spend for licenses and hunting and fishing supplies goes back into the conservation of the habitats and creatures that I love to hunt so dearly. When our ancestors came to America, we drove out and destroyed most of the predators that keep species in check. Now they have no natural predators, only myself and my fellow brotherhood of hunters. We are now trying to restock areas here in the USA with native species that no longer exist in these areas. We may hunt, but we try to put back what we take from the land.