| Hunting
is the practice of pursuing animals for food, recreation, trade
or for their products. In modern use, the term refers to regulated
and legal hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the
killing, trapping or capture of animals contrary to law. Hunted
animals are referred to as game animals, and are usually large mammals
or migratory birds.
By definition, hunting strictly speaking, excludes the killing -though similar techniques may be used- of individual protected animals, such as bears which have become dangerous to humans, as well as the killing of non-game animals, domestic animals, or vermin as a means of pest control. Hunting can be a component of modern wildlife management, for example to help maintain a population of healthy animals within an environment's ecological carrying capacity. In the United States, wildlife managers are frequently part of hunting regulatory and licensing bodies, where they help to set rules on the number, manner and conditions in which game may be selected for culling. The pursuit, capture and release, or capture to eat of fish is called fishing, which is not commonly categorized as a kind of hunting, although many hunters may also fish. Trapping is also usually considered a separate activity. Neither is it considered hunting to pursue animals without intent to take them, as in wildlife photography or birdwatching. The practice of hunting for plants or mushrooms is a colloquial term for gathering. |
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