IA Born

I am a professional wildlife biologist and former wildland firefighter, originally from Iowa. Hunting is not just about filling a tag and killing an animal and I instill that in my kids every day; although I explain the difference between the native wildlife/game we hunt and respect and the non-native wildlife we need to get rid of. Same with fishing. Its not always about catching fish and I teach them that we don't take more than we need, but we don't typically put non-natives back in the water and we don't feel remorse for helping the ecosystem.

I believe in conserving the entire ecosystem, because if the ecosystem fails, everything fails. I am both a conservationist and a hunter, but I'm a conservationist first. I have no problems sacrificing my hunting and fishing desires in the name of conserving species and, especially, the ecosystem.