While I have some sympathy with the hunters' claim that the "wild" animals on "hunting farms" have a better life than industrially farmed domesticated animals, and that the meat from the hunted animals is most probably healthier than that of industrially farmed animals, I find their criticism that people who condemn hunting but continue to eat industrially farmed meat are hypocrites to be beside the point. The fact that eating industrially produced meat is most likely immoral does not mean that eating hunted eat is not immoral too. Two wrongs do not make a right. As an ethical vegetarian, I am immune from the charge of hypocrisy and I believe that both kinds of meat-eating are immoral.
In fact, criticism of hunting does not primarily concern meat but the morality of killing for pleasure. For, while hunters will tell you that they are hunting for conservation sake and for healthy meat, a primary motivation is the undoubtedly intense pleasure of the hunt and the killing itself.
The charge of hypocrisy can also backfire, too. If hunters claim to be hunting for conservation and ecologically sustainable reasons, then one would have to scrutinise how they live the rest of their lives. If they travel great distances to get to hunting grounds by airplane and car, if they play golf or engage in similarly wasteful activities, then they are guilty of hypocrisy themselves.
In fact, criticism of hunting does not primarily concern meat but the morality of killing for pleasure. For, while hunters will tell you that they are hunting for conservation sake and for healthy meat, a primary motivation is the undoubtedly intense pleasure of the hunt and the killing itself.
The charge of hypocrisy can also backfire, too. If hunters claim to be hunting for conservation and ecologically sustainable reasons, then one would have to scrutinise how they live the rest of their lives. If they travel great distances to get to hunting grounds by airplane and car, if they play golf or engage in similarly wasteful activities, then they are guilty of hypocrisy themselves.