USSA Combats False Impression Left by Newsweek Hunting Story

The United States Sportsmen's Alliance (USSA) is leading the way with a major effort to respond to a negative article on hunting that ran in the January 12, 2009 issue of Newsweek magazine. In order to combat the false impression left by the piece, the USSA reached out to groups and wildlife management professionals nationwide to rebut its flawed premise.

The article, titled "It's Survival of the Weak and Scrawny" is a full-scale attack on hunting as a conservation tool. In the piece, the author quotes a biologist from Quebec, Canada with the theory that hunting leads to inferior animals being left to breed, thus leading to what is describes as "evolution in reverse."

Recognizing the flawed premise of the article, the USSA drafted a letter to the editors at Newsweek making clear that the conclusions asserted in the article are not the consensus that has been reached by the wildlife management community. The USSA also pointed out that anti-hunting groups would likely use the article’s conclusions to advance their agenda. Further, the USSA reached out to numerous wildlife management professionals and organizations, encouraging immediate responses to the article.

Many groups and professionals rose to the occasion and have been sending a steady stream of letters rebutting the half-baked argument advanced in the article. The Pope and Young Club, the official record-keeping organization of North American mammals taken with bow and arrow said that if the article’s premise were accurate, “we would be seeing fewer and fewer record-class quality entries in our record book with each passing year. In fact, the opposite is true. “

The USSA will continue to respond every time false ideas about hunting are advanced.