With that statement, the person who says it clearly does not realize that going to the local grocery and buying a couple steaks is contributing to the death of that animal. When they go to the shoe store and but leather shoes, again there is the same result. On the second argument, they are absolutely correct! Killing is not a sport, never has been a sport and never will be a sport. Hunting is the sport that hunters participate in and killing is the smallest component by far. Virtually all of the hunters time is spent observing their prey's habits, movements, and learning about the animals environment. In other words it is a nature walk with a goal. Understanding why we hunt is probably the most important part of any argument. When hunters don't give a good reason to hunt, they lose all credibility. Maintaining the ecological balance by ensuring that particular types of game populations don't get too large is a good reason for hunting. It doesn't justify hunting on the emotional level, however. Unfortunately anti-hunters base their opposition and attacks right there.
Hunters have much more to back up what they have to say. First, hunters say that you help the wildlife out because it is a good way to control the population. This is very true, because the wildlife conservation agency regulates how many deer are killed to maintain a healthy and safe population and to punish those who break the laws, severely. Without being a hunter it is hard to imagine how important thinning out the herd is. In the state of Missouri alone, on the first two opening days out of season, there were 114,000 deer killed. For every 1 deer their will be on average 3 the upcoming year. (http://whytohunt.com/).
If we were to let them go, hundreds of thousands of deer would turn into millions in one state and that would be devastating to both the wildlife and humans. For Example, In J.B. National Cemetery, the deer population got so big that the deer were eating all of the flowers and decorations that loved ones left.