Saw this on another site and thought it was fitting to many of the discussions here.
What is a Sportsman?
by Hal M. Harrison printed on the back flap of 1955-56 British Columbia hunting regulations..
If you are one of the thousands of persons who do nothing more for conservation than to buy a hunting and fishing licence annually, you are not a sportsman; a hunter or fisherman perhaps, but not a sportsman.
If your interest in hunting and fishing is solely in killing more game and catching more fish, you are not a sportsman. Furthermore, if all hunters and anglers were like you ,your sport would be doomed.
The game commission alone cannot supply enough game for hunters whose only interest is killing. The commission cannot stock enough fish to supply the demands of licence holders who are interested only in getting their limit every time they're going fishing.
Wild life is a heritage to be cherished and conserved. If it is to be harvested, it is to be harvested wisely. And when it reaches a danger point, it is not to be harvested at all. When hunters and fishermen come to realize that this vast wilderness of ours and the wild life within it belongs to all of the people of the province; when they come to realize that hunting and fishing is not a game in which they try to beat the other fellow; when they learn that killing the things we cherish just for the sake of killing is wild-life bankruptcy; and when they decide that it is their job, not just the other fellow's, to help conserve and bring back our precious wild life; then and only then will all of our nimrods and anglers be called sportsmen.
Just as sure as the game violator is a thief, so is the person who answers "Bunk" to the above statement a menace to the future of sport afield. He's the guy who's taking it away from us without giving a thing. He's the one we sportsmen will have to work on before he puts an end to public hunting. He's a tough guy , and the only way we can reach him is to play it his way . . . tough!
If you are a real sportsman, the big thing after all is getting out of doors. You hunt and fish and you enjoy it, but it's because you are in the open . . . in the woods, the fields, the mountains, along the streams, in the marshes. That's what really counts.
Let's continue to enjoy the out of doors . . . in many ways. An lets guard jealously the wild life and the wilderness that WE own . . . you and I . . . WE own it.
What is a Sportsman?
by Hal M. Harrison printed on the back flap of 1955-56 British Columbia hunting regulations..
If you are one of the thousands of persons who do nothing more for conservation than to buy a hunting and fishing licence annually, you are not a sportsman; a hunter or fisherman perhaps, but not a sportsman.
If your interest in hunting and fishing is solely in killing more game and catching more fish, you are not a sportsman. Furthermore, if all hunters and anglers were like you ,your sport would be doomed.
The game commission alone cannot supply enough game for hunters whose only interest is killing. The commission cannot stock enough fish to supply the demands of licence holders who are interested only in getting their limit every time they're going fishing.
Wild life is a heritage to be cherished and conserved. If it is to be harvested, it is to be harvested wisely. And when it reaches a danger point, it is not to be harvested at all. When hunters and fishermen come to realize that this vast wilderness of ours and the wild life within it belongs to all of the people of the province; when they come to realize that hunting and fishing is not a game in which they try to beat the other fellow; when they learn that killing the things we cherish just for the sake of killing is wild-life bankruptcy; and when they decide that it is their job, not just the other fellow's, to help conserve and bring back our precious wild life; then and only then will all of our nimrods and anglers be called sportsmen.
Just as sure as the game violator is a thief, so is the person who answers "Bunk" to the above statement a menace to the future of sport afield. He's the guy who's taking it away from us without giving a thing. He's the one we sportsmen will have to work on before he puts an end to public hunting. He's a tough guy , and the only way we can reach him is to play it his way . . . tough!
If you are a real sportsman, the big thing after all is getting out of doors. You hunt and fish and you enjoy it, but it's because you are in the open . . . in the woods, the fields, the mountains, along the streams, in the marshes. That's what really counts.
Let's continue to enjoy the out of doors . . . in many ways. An lets guard jealously the wild life and the wilderness that WE own . . . you and I . . . WE own it.
