The Sierra Club makes an interesting move

I just read over at the Hog Blog that the Sierra Club has a new website up for hunters and fishermen, sierrasportsmen.org. I poked around it a bit, and I'm impressed with the level of outreach the Club is taking to get sportsmen and women on board.

My own conservation ethic, and ultimately, the reason I write this blog, is due to growing up hunting and fishing. I have always hunted and fished, since before I can remember. My Dad took me out fishing on the Sacramento Delta for bluegill, crappie and the occassional bass, and when I was old enough, I was given a bb gun and later, a shotgun. Today I hunt and fish as much as I can.
This is an ethical decision, as well as a decision based (potentially) on my primal subconscious, and it was a question I asked myself years ago as an ethical question: Should I hunt and fish, or should I abstain? I answered this question in the affirmative, and over time I have come to agree more and more strongly with the decision to kill and eat wild animals. In time on this blog, I'll explain more and more why I hunt and fish and encourage others to do so, as well. Among other reasons, I feel I must take some responsibility for my presence on this Earth, I feel that by supplementing our diets with wild game and fish we lessen our needs for industrial agriculture, I feel I have learned infinitely more about ecosystems and the interconnectedness of flora and fauna.

I also feel I have learned infinitely more by interacting with the wild, by being a part of the wild, than I would have if I had only visited and observed the wild from time to time. It's this connection that makes conservationism, or whatever you want to name it, a personal calling for me. I don't have to anthropomorphize nature or animals to feel closer to or understand it all, I get to actually be a part of it all. I get to be a small part, rather than build things up or dumb things down to my level.

Hopefully, Sierra Club's efforts will pay off for the Sierra Club, for hunters, and most importantly, for the wild. I think that the Sierra Club can benefit from hunters' perspectives. I also think that many hunters can benefit from the Sierra Club. I do know that polarized politics will keep many gun owners away from the Sierra Club for reasons outside of the environment, and that will be unfortunate.