Do the public really view hunters as evil?

Thats a hard one.

In one way, no. Because some animals are predatory by instinct and sometimes hunting can be neccisary to survive. (Sorry for the bad spelling.)
Sometimes, if you hunt and use each and every body part and every body for something needed (medicine, food etc) it's kind of like balance.

But yeah, if a hunter killed just for the hell of it and to prove that they can, I believe that's wrong.

I have conflicting thoughts about hunting. I don't frown on people who do it. I feel better about it if you use the animal for meat. Certainly no problem if you are hunting food. I enjoy fishing. I've been fishing for 25 years. Always catch and release though, unless I'm going to cook the fish, which is not often. When I was a boy my father would take me on hikes where we'd be quiet and sneak around the woods with binoculars to look at animals. It was so much fun and it was a thrill to see animals, like the ones I'd seen in Bambi up close. I later realized that we were using all the tactics of hunting, except for the part where you kill the animals. It was like catch and release hunting. Personally, I prefered it that way. So, while I don't have a problem with folks who do hunt, I wouldn't do it. It's just not my thing.

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If the hunting is only done as a sport or for trophy, I do think it's a terrible thing to do, yes. I think you've only ever got a real excuse to hunt an animal if you really need the food and live a 1000 miles from any place where food can be bought, it's somewhat acceptable. But if you can just go buy the food and it's just for fun, then I don't agree with it.

I view CANNED hunters(meaning people who hunt illegally such as: Shooting hand raised animals, declawing them, de fanging them, etc) as evil

Money isn't the root of all evil. Love of money is.

animal killers

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