Many times we have rightly complained that our appeals, our arguments were given little consideration by the "general" press, and when they did they always tended to denigrate us. On this occasion the discussion is entirely ours, our world of hunting and hunters. Do we really want to do some self-criticism?
More or less we are all united in saying that anti-hunts move on the basis of preconceptions, of positions that ignore the simple knowledge of issues related to nature, traditions, correct and modern management of the territory. We were outraged by unsubstantiated accusations, we tried to explain our reasons by always finding the same rubber wall.
And what do we do on the other hand? Do we make exactly the same mistakes, are we equally obtuse towards those who do not practice our kind of hunting?
How many times have selection hunters been told: shooting a still animal that eats is not hunting. It is very simple. It's like shooting a grazing cow. And the same selecontrollers who say about hunting in hunt: it is not ethical, it is not sustainable, it is barbarism. The tordaioli and larkers are "cellettari" to use a derogatory term that indicates a minor hunt. Some woodcocks are among the most extreme, they are against everything that does not exactly correspond to their strict model of hunting. There are those who decide that hunting abroad is easy and unethical (perhaps because they have never gone there), those who make the distinction between huntable species, obviously legally, as if to be a good hunter you should only hunt what they say.
In short, looking carefully at this picture, I would say that the anti-huntsmen are not wrong in saying the nonsense they continually support if we manage to be so ferocious among us.
In my opinion, the key is knowledge, information. Understanding the hunting of others, trying to know their traditions, history, technique, before judging. Then, it is obviously legitimate to have different opinions and tastes, but the important thing is not to despise in a preconceived way what is not known or practiced. United we win, divisions instead continue to weaken us and if we continue like this we will have very little to fight between us, in the meantime our enemies will have thought of taking away our passion.
Good luck to all.
Federico Cusimano