Photo taken by Benjamin Murphy

Nathan Pritchard, as a hunter sits in a tree stand, the snow starting to fall around him and hearing the rustling of the leaves as the last of fall fades. He sits wondering what he’ll see that day, have their efforts been enough to preserve the herd. 

Nathan Pritchard is an active-duty Coast Guardsman, originally from Indiana and currently stationed in Saint Ignace, Michigan. As an avid hunter, conservation is something that is foremost in his mind, especially when it comes to chronic wasting disease and protecting the animals and their interactions with automobiles. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, Chronic Wasting Disease affects cervids (deer, elk, and moose) and there is currently no cure for this disease and it affects the brain of the animal. With the disease spreading to different regions, it takes hunters like Nathan to do their part in conservation and help mitigate the disease. “After harvesting an animal, a lot of hunters are encouraged to take samples and send them to the DNR so they can determine whether or not that herd they are hunting has the disease,” Nathan stated. This shows that many hunters are already taking steps to assist the department of natural resources in tracking the diseases amongst animal herds. 

Kobi Weiland is another active-duty Coast Guardsman also stationed in Saint Ignace and hailing from Sitka, Alaska. He has known Nathan for just over a year and they have served on the same cutter for that time. While not an avid hunter, as a native Alaskan still has direct insight into the world of hunting. 

According to Science Direct, hunting draws an economic boost through the collection of tags and licenses. When asked about hunting for tourism in Alaska Kobi went on to say, “it is big, but they can’t take very many animals so it contributes to the economy, but to my knowledge it’s not massive. It’s bigger in parts than others.” 

The increase in regulated hunting can play a direct role in reducing animal related car crashes saving people money, time, and potentially their lives.  Nathan stated, “coincidentally or not down in Indiana, that’s the primary area I’ve grown up hunting about within the last 10 years they actually opened up more high caliber rifle cartridges during hunting season and extended rifle season a couple more days.”  He went on to discuss how these actions were taken to help reduce the collisions between animals and cars.

Kobi backs up the claim of conservation with this statement, “hunting is huge in Alaska, it’s we do subsistence gathering and so it’s a big source of food for a lot of people, a continuing supply of big game is essential for a lot of small communities.” This directly relates to maintaining the health of a herd and continuing to protect the animals from disease and accidents. Alaska Department of Fish and Game shows that it is throughout many communities and occurs year-round as a way of living for many cultural ways of living.

Hunters like Nathan go a long way to helping preserve the environment and helping to reduce disease and even lower the amount of car accidents. Another aspect that hunting helps is tourism and economic boosts. These can be tracked through the amount of license purchases. Biologists also rely on hunters to help track animal numbers in specific areas. In doing so hunters have become more conservation based than stories have told.

Overall, no matter where an individual is from conservation as a hunter plays vital roles in protecting animals and humans alike from disease and accidents. Profiling different hunters in the ways that they approach conservation adapts a larger learning network to assist younger hunters and teach them safe and effective ways to preserve the sport that they all enjoy.