One thing which seems to be obscured in most of the talk about these kind of issues is the chasm between hunting as a way of subsistence, and hunting as recreation.

The two things aren't variations of the same basic things - hunting purely as recreation is a perversion of hunting as a way of subsistance. Types of hunting where the hunters don't even eat the creatures they kill are the clearest example.

The other perversion is the industrialisation of the process.

And with things like automatic rifles and machine guns you've got both perversions at the same time.

Traditional hunting methods involve a link between the hunter and the hunted. Methods which don't require this are somehow degrading.