This article addresses the controversy over including hunting as a part of outdoor education. Historically, figures such as Julian Smith, of the Outdoor Education Project of the 1950's, advocated hunting as a critical element of educating children and youth about care and protection of natural resources. Henry David Thoreau saw hunting experiences as a means of becoming acquainted with nature. As with any human activity, hunting is engaged in by individuals with varying degrees of interest, competence, and responsibility. Because there are between 16 and 18 million licensed hunters in the United States, there is an implied obligation for outdoor educators to work toward educating hunters to live up to the highest standards of ethical behavior. Animal rights activists and anti-hunting groups have disseminated teaching materials to schools which emphasize simplistic and moralistic approaches in dealing with complex ecological, biological, social, and economic issues. Research has found a definite relationship between hunting and rural tradition and identified three types of hunters based on motivations for hunting and attitudes toward wildlife: meat hunters, sports hunters, and nature hunters. Nature hunters primarily hunt to be outdoors in the natural environment, and have a strong concern about and affection for the environment. All types of hunters scored higher than those who oppose hunting in factual understanding of animals. Decker found that hunters mature in their goal orientation from achievement and affiliative toward appreciative orientations. This paper contains 32 references. (KS)