by Ted Kerasote

About the author: Ted Kerasote is the author of Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt and Heart of Home: Essays of People and Wildlife.

In America, and in general, we dislike hunters. We dislike them because they use tools of destruction. And we dislike them because they kill beings who more easily win our affections—mammals rather than fish. Even those who want to engage the values of primalness often dislike hunters because they insist on getting blood on their hands whereas most of us are satisfied with less graphic measures—songs, drums, a simple walk through the trees. Most importantly, though, we dislike hunters for their dishonesty—for how their actions do not live up to their claims that hunting is a noble and conscientious activity.

Some hunter advocacy groups claim that these accusations are no...