If you say you are doing it "to preserve a fine tradition and strengthen family bonds" you are a moron, a bullshitter, and a sociopath.
Unless you are trolling, your words display a remarkable intolerance for others. Most of the hunters I know-- and I know a few, although I do not hunt myself-- they are not drunken fools, nor are they irresponsible with their weapons, nor are they inhumane people. Practically every hunter I know is intensely focused on improving his skill at dispatching his prey with the absolute minimum of delay and suffering. A perfect kill is one in which the prey never has time to realize that his life is gone. I have never met a hunter who was interested in causing an animal to suffer. And the largest proportion of hunters I have known have been genuine conservationists, often more competent at jealously guarding the wilderness than my well-meaning green friends.
Out here in the rural farmland, we rescue, TVNR and maintain barncats. They are the namesake of my fledgling business. FeLV and FIP are epidemic here. There is precious little financial support for endeavors such as ours. I will not subject you to descriptions of the suffering that these diseases cause for these critters. Some of these cats are very smart and Roadrunner cagey. If we cannot capture them for expensive euthanasia at our local shelter or the much more expensive counterpart at our vet, they are doomed to die alone and unsheltered, suffering in ways that are thankfully incomprehensible to most of us. I have personally witnessed this, developing a stomach-churning familiarity with the progression of the most extreme manifestations of the two diseases.
That is how I met some of the hunters I know. You see, a real hunter knows what caliber round to use to avoid spatter that can spread the disease. Real hunters possess the skill to place a single precision shot, instantly dropping the sick baby. Some hunters who helped us have shared our bottomless grief at the loss of fine animals (who are instinctively recreational predators and hunters in their own right). Those who did not share our grief at least respected it.
I do not mean to shame you for your words. Your view is easily understood. The thought of hunting is repugnant to many. Unfortunately, there are hunters (as there are in ANY class of people) who heartily deserve such scorn. But I would respectfully request that you look a little deeper before condemning an entire class of your own species, many of whom may be just a little more substantial than your stereotype allows. Hunting demands a set of precise skills that not everyone can acquire and a social posture that not everyone wants (or is able) to maintain. IOW, like every other human activity, hunting has its sacrifices and its rewards. Start there, and you might find that your own world suddenly becomes a lot bigger.
Just my two cents.
