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Field sports areoutdoor sports that take place in thewilderness or sparsely populatedrural areas,[1] where there are vast areas of uninhabitedgreenfields. The term specifically refers to activities that mandate sufficiently large open spaces and/or interaction with naturalecosystems, includinghiking/canyoning,equestrianism,hawking,archery andshooting, but can also extend to varioussurface water sports such asriver trekking,angling,rowing/paddling,rafting andboating/yachting.
Field sports are considered nostalgic pastimes, especially among country people. For example, participants of field sports such asriding andfox hunting in theUnited Kingdom frequently weartraditional attires (British country clothing) to imitatelanded gentries andaristocrats of the19th-century English countryside.
Field sports, by definition, involve activities away from typical human settlements, which implies entering into natural areas usually devoid of human presence. Such encroachments can potentially causeecological disturbances to the wildfaunae andflorae, includingenvironmental contamination by littered wastes (especially non-degradableplastic waste), wildfire risk from campfires and cigarette butts, disruption ofgroundcovers andtopsoil due totrail-making andcamping, damages torocks byanchors used foraid climbing,irresponsible luring and feeding of wild animals, andlight andsound pollution that can frequently triggerstartle responses andterritorial behaviors, leading toanimal attacks,nest abandonment,habitat fragmentation and evenhabitat loss.
Some field sports, especially hunting and fishing, involve the catching and/or killing of wild animals (collectively referred as "game") for meat, for removing species in conflict with humans (often as volunteered assistance to farmers and landowners), or simply for personal leisure andtrophy (i.e. sport hunting or "sporting").[2]Opponents to such sports consider them controversial, and even immoral, on grounds ofanimal cruelty (regarded asblood sports using wildlife),animal welfare (of theworking animals such as horse andhunting dogs) andenvironmental protection (concerns forhabitat conservation,overexploitation andpoaching), especially those involving commercial incentives such assafaribig game hunting.
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