My hometown's notion of "economic development" was big-game hunting. In fact, school vacations were scheduled around the deer and elk hunts, an acknowledgement that many students would skip school to take part in the hunt. Many schoolteachers — my father among them — would go, too.

Hunting was such a part of our social fabric that every student was required to take a hunter safety course sponsored by the state division of wildlife. The instruction included live firing of .22-caliber rifles at paper targets.

In the fall, it was common to see deer or elk carcasses hanging in front of people's homes. If my father's hunt was successful, he and my mother would cut the meat on our kitchen table, wrap it in freezer paper and store it in the stand-alone freezer. It supplemented our food supply for the entire winter.

To hunt for food is one thing. To hunt animals merely to hang a trophy head on the wall is immoral, even if it is legal. But I've grown to believe that hunting is necessary to help control animal populations and curb disease.

Try explaining that to animal rights activists who have been protesting Montana's first public bison hunt in 15 years. As the hunt got under way last week, press reports suggest there were far more observers than hunters. The Denver Post reported that 17-year-old George "Buddy" Clement of Belgrade, Mont., was surrounded by press and animal rights activists moments after he killed a bison outside of Yellowstone National Park.

According to press reports, one observer asked, "How do you feel?"

The teen, rattled by the unexpected attention, sputtered: "It is . . . really big."

The report went on to explain that Clement's family planned to gut, skin and pack the bull buffalo to their home about 60 miles from the park, where they would cut it into several hundred pounds of buffalo steaks and chops.

Some people have protested this hunt because hunters are gunning down animals that are practically domesticated. Anyone who has visited Yellowstone National Park in recent years can attest to the brazen nature of bison. Traffic jams are commonplace because the bison seem to enjoy walking and standing on paved roadways.

Even though these bison have had safe refuge in the park, which makes them less wild than unprotected herds, make no mistake, they are still wild animals. Nearly every time I have visited Yellowstone National Park, I have encountered people (despite multiple warnings from park rangers, literature and signs about menacing the wildlife) who attempt to approach the bison. It's mind-numbingly stupid, considering the size and speed of these beasts.

I think bison are majestic animals. But I must confess that they are not nearly as special to me as they used to be. In my childhood, the only bison I ever saw were in a wildlife preserve outside of Denver.