Michael J. DeLor, PhD, lectures in politics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. In his free time, Dr. Michael J. DeLor has an interest in hunting.
Both on a local level (helping the local wildlife stay in balance by killing overabundant predators and prey) and the global level (reducing the need for wasteful farming practices), a new generation of hunters is being motivated by necessity rather than the thrill of the hunt.
In 2020, 19,000 people in Germany applied for a license to hunt wild game--boar, deer, foxes, and ducks--and 4 in 5 of those people were successful. This is double the number a decade ago. A distrust of the meat industry seems to be driving this sudden uptick in licensed hunters; whether due to COVID-19 being spread by German pork factories or ethical concerns about battery farming, more Europeans are questioning what goes into their food. For some, the solution is to go outside and get it yourself.
The United States has also seen an increasing interest in hunting: in 2020, Michigan had more hunting license applications than it had in the past 20 years. Moreover, the Journal of Wildlife Management identified a new demographic of hunters that is more diverse than the typical hunting crowd, of whom 90 percent are white and 70 percent are male. Their motivations were similar to the German hunters: hunting could be a way to get ethically sourced meat and therefore reduce the pollution and suffering caused by the meat industry.
