A story in “Heard around the West” disappointed me. As an avid hunter, environmentalist and military officer, I found that the piece, which derisively described the buffoonery of “hunters” in connection with an anti-poaching operation in a Western state, demonstrated one of the fundamental weaknesses of the increasingly ineffective environmental movement.

Attitudes of many environmentalists alienate moderate members of the general public and prevent cooperation and consensus among like-minded groups. The lawbreakers in the story were poachers, not hunters. The person who wrote the piece should have enough maturity and awareness to make that distinction. The end results of this and similar barbs by environmentalists towards ethical hunters are significant barriers to cooperation between these two groups, both of which have very compatible goals.

Chris Bailey Valdosta, Georgia