Hunting selectively thins out the slowest birds, thus exerting subtle but important pressure to lift the genetic fitness of remaining breeding stock. Hunters must pass a rigorous training program in identifying game and protected species before obtaining their permit to hunt. Many members of the community have a very strong family and cultural tradition of self sufficiency which includes the desire to fish and hunt for their own food. Those who do not feel this desire have no right to stop those who do, simply on their own unsubstantiated perceived moral grounds. It is hypocritical for those who eat butcher-killed meat, or wear leather clothes, or make use of modern medicines and surgical techniques, to criticise those who choose to hunt for their own food.
Every duck harvested from the excess population is a chicken saved.
The total in food terms is the same. Hunters contribute to the retention of vast areas of wetland habitat which would otherwise have been lost to agriculture a century or more ago. The result will be a great diminishment of the numbers of the birds this Bill claims to want to save. The majority of duck shooters sharpen their skills before the season begins by shooting clay targets. Most duck hunters only hunt twice per year, and rarely even go close to filling their bag limit.