With November ending and December beginning, many Arrowhead students are heading to the woods to participate in an old, annual tradition: hunting. Although some  students at Arrowhead participate, others are not in favor of this activity.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in order to hunt, you have to complete a hunter’s training program if you are born on or after January 1, 1973. A hunter’s license and a hunter’s permit are also required; both of those prices vary by the animal that is being hunted and can be found online. All of the “need to know” information before one heads off to hunt can be found at http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/hunt/ .

Robby Shattuck, an AHS senior, says, “I go to Dakota, Wisconsin, to hunt. I got into hunting because it’s what my entire family does. I’ve been hunting for nine years now, and I enjoy it a lot; it’s a fun experience to be able to track your meat and eat it. I also just enjoy being in nature in general.”

Michael Hall, AHS science teacher, says, “I enjoy the isolation it provides, I enjoy getting away from the pace of everyday life.”

Gabbi Pancheri, an AHS junior, says, “I don’t understand why people feel the need to kill innocent animals just for their enjoyment. It’s absolutely ridiculous to me and is promoting a violent community. There are many better ways that people can spend the winter with their family: sledding, going for hikes, and so on.”

Sydney Flynn, an AHS senior, says, “The only type of hunting I have a problem with is Big Game hunting. No person should be killing elephants, giraffes, and lions, just for the money. These animals are endangered and it is so wrong. I don’t think that hunting deers and duck is that bad though; it helps with overpopulation. I would never participate in hunting. I could never kill an animal, but I don’t have an opinion of people that choose to.”

In response to hunting criticism, Shattuck says, “People have been hunting forever. As long as it is done properly, there should be nothing said against it. When I hunt, I hunt to kill right away and not put the animal through any pain. I’m not killing the animal purely for enjoyment, I’m killing it to eat it. Some of the meat that we kill is donated too, which is helping others more, not harming them.”

Hall says, “Hunting is not for everyone. Done properly, hunting is good for the environment.  It balances populations.  Obviously hunting negatively impacts the individual animal being harvested, but the species as a whole benefits from the revenue hunting creates, and all the work done with that revenue to improve habitat for game species.”