OCR Text |
Show for another brood. The result is a staggered hatch, eliminating elimina-ting a total kill of newly-born offspring by a single spell of bad weather. So the predator does have a credit side to his ledger. He serves a definate purpose in nature's scheme of things. THE CREDIT SIDE OF PREDATION Sportsmen have long looked upon predatory animals as a serious threat to the sport of hunting. The common belief was that any animal that killed a game species should be exterminated. ex-terminated. Today, this thinking think-ing is being challenged. Various methods have been undertaken to control predator populations and thus protect the more desirable game animals. ani-mals. Natural predation. however, how-ever, is an essential part of nature's well calculated scheme for a healthy wildlife population. popula-tion. Predators harvest part of the surplus of any wildlife crop, taking the weakest, the physically phy-sically handicapped, and the sick. What they d not kill will be removed by weather, disease or starvation. What most sportsmen do not know, is that predators are an asset to the sport. A predators victims are usually the weakest weak-est of a given wildlife species because they are the easiest to catch. Thus the predator helps to maintain a healthy and alert population of game species. Predation also helps to control con-trol disease. Only the physically physi-cally superior among the preyed prey-ed upon species survive to reproduce. re-produce. The result is a better game animal for the hunter to harvest. Even the natural nest robber serves a useful purpose. He forces the feathered victim to move to another area and try |