Sect: The Hobby Hunters

The word sect (from Latin secta 'party', 'doctrine', 'school of thought') is defined, among other things, as follows: A small community such as hobby hunters, often with a hierarchical structure, whose views are usually very radical and far-fetched and contradict the fundamental ethical values of society.

The latter is evident, for example, in the hunting code of honour of hobby hunters, which stands in direct contradiction to animal welfare laws in many countries, or in the prohibited depictions of violence against tortured wild animals in the media. The fundamental ethical values of our society also prohibit the torturing or shooting of animals, or the offering of such acts.

The Swiss Criminal Code states the following on depictions of violence in Art. 135 (similarly in Germany):

…, anyone who produces, imports, stores, markets, advertises, exhibits, offers, shows, makes accessible, acquires, or possesses objects or performances as described in paragraph 1, insofar as they depict acts of violence against persons or animals, shall be punished with a custodial sentence not exceeding one year or a monetary penalty.

Characteristics of an aggressive sect

Cross-border commonalities of the sect «hobby hunters» include: Hunters' tall tales, death rituals, warlike music-making, glorification of violence, hatred of competitors, ideological brainwashing, junk biology, aberrant thinking, militant media propaganda, clothing, anachronistic nature experience, etc.

Hobby hunters fall into the category of aggressive sects, with a drive to proselytize children in schools as well as in politics, and a pronounced militant sense of elitism. In many places, according to media reports, mafia-like structures, corruption and criminality accompany the shooting culture of hobby hunters. Well-known propaganda material of the recreational hunters is filled with images and accounts of their trophy and weapons cult, which actually disgusts +/- 99% of the normal population.

Saint Hubertus (Eustachius) serves as a fig leaf and patron saint for the sinister practice of hunting. Hobby hunters deliberately choose not to follow the noble teachings of Hubertus.

Diffuse hunting doctrines worldwide

Diffuse hunting doctrines can be found every few degrees of latitude and altitude on the map. Hobby hunters in the far north beam with broad smiles, claiming that kill traps are fair and humane. Foreign hobby hunters disapprove of shooting juvenile animals or mother animals, while Swiss hunting authorities sing the highest praises of themselves and have developed special reward systems for hobby hunters. Hobby hunters obscure hunting ideologies with wildlife biology. Fox hunting is frowned upon in some areas, while in many regions it is carried out with fanatical frenzy — because the fox is seen as a hunting competitor — even though the biology of a fox in Geneva does not differ significantly from that in Greece. But of course, where a hunting ban would cause no population problems whatsoever, hobby hunters create them — guaranteed! The same applies to winter feeding or closed seasons, which can look completely different on one riverbank compared to the other. Hobby hunters do as they please. Southern European hobby hunters shoot the protected birds of northern Europeans out of the sky as they fly to their summer or winter quarters. Even when it comes to their tools of the trade — weapons such as rifles, crossbows, bows and arrows, and ammunition — the wild boar whisperers cannot agree. In the canton of Obwalden, for example, elevated hunting stands are prohibited aids, etc.

In Germany, it is not considered fair chase to shoot roe deer with buckshot, unlike in Switzerland or Sweden. Any hobby hunter can be a cult leader — and as a territory chief, effectively is one. What matters above all is that it be militant, unscientific, and pointless. This runs like a common thread through the followers of hunting associations. Who today knows a hobby hunter who has nursed a sick wild animal back to health? As a rule, wild animals are wounded by hobby hunters and die miserably in the face of a hobby hunter's grimace, departing for the eternal hunting grounds.

Recreational hunting regulates nothing

Recreational hunting does not regulate in the sense of maintaining natural population levels of wildlife, but instead creates inflated or suppressed stocks. The unnatural problems and overpopulations are manufactured in particular by the hobby hunters themselves, so that the recreational hunting community can assign itself a supposedly legal mandate. Recreational hunting has long since had nothing to do with honourable wildlife management; it has simply degenerated into an ever more brutal slaughter of wild animals, beyond all ethics. Organising attractive hunts is the agenda. In the relevant circles, this is deceptively referred to as “wildlife populations adapted to their habitat,” “fine regulation,” “two-stage systems,” “dynamic management,” “development assistance,” “harvesting,” “skimming” — or similar animal-contemptuous propaganda.

Recreational hunting is not about extensive biodiversity or the protection of individual wild animals, but about money. In many places, the militant recreational hunting sect is granted access to cause problems that would not otherwise exist at all.

Humans and wildlife alike deserve scientific wildlife management — not the sectarian practice of recreational hunting.

What the hobby hunter of today considers “good” has nothing to do with truth, science, honour, decency, ethics, consideration for others, or anything else — except what the hobby hunter wants. In this way, the violation of others’ rights, every foul, every wrongful act is perpetrated by the hobby hunter.

That is to say, when a hobby hunter is confronted with something unpleasant or threatening, the object in question — whether a person, an animal, an idea, a group, or anything else — is placed in the “absolutely evil” category, because if the hobby hunter cannot stand it, it simply cannot be good!

The hobby hunter briefly described: They can feign anything just to get what they want. Hobby hunters lack conscience and empathy by definition. Here is an example: A hobby hunter family has two sons. One commits suicide with a hunting rifle. At the following Christmas celebration, the parents give their other son the exact same weapon. When asked why, they say: «The weapon works perfectly!»

Animal welfare advocates have long been regulating wildlife populations in an ethical, scientifically sound, and sustainably responsible manner — without decimating them like militant cult followers. Everywhere hobby hunters are not active in nature, there is a richer biodiversity. Areas where wildlife is heavily hunted produce an even greater over- or underpopulation. The size of wildlife populations and the damage caused by wildlife browsing are not necessarily greater in hunting-free areas than in areas where hunting takes place.

If hobby hunters allegedly genuinely engage in nature conservation, they do so independently of their hunting activities. Hobby hunters protect roe deer fawns from death by mowing in spring, only to shoot them in the back in autumn.

How imperfect and pitiful is a cultural landscape in which hobby hunters must chase, torment, and kill living beings for fun? Anyone who still believes today that wildlife populations can only be managed through hobby hunting is either poorly informed or profits from it.