Understanding the ethics of the non hunter

I am a fairly recent hunter but in my time in the field I have learned a few things about the people around me. I have learned that 1st world people who were never part of their food chain are very uncomfortable with the idea of death and even more uncomfortable with the idea of surprise and pain. Most of them have never taken much more life than neglecting a goldfish as a child. Fewer yet of them have given much thought into what it takes to raise a steak, a porkchop, or a nugget. Even vegetarians don't get off free in this regard as habitat loss due to the ever expanding spread of agriculture is a wildlife destroyer worse than the average freeway kill toll.  Out of sight - out of mind is a comfort  until cognitive dissonance finally rears it's ugly head.

This brings me to the Ricky Gervais giraffe hunting nonsense on facebook. Ricky Gervais decided to pull a picture by a famous hunter and ask the question of "What must've happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal & then lie next to it smiling?"

Simple answer is  "because I like to hunt. I had an opportunity for a once in a lifetime perfectly legal hunt and I took it." A giraffe is not an endangered species - neither is an north american elk - nor a deer. They are all pretty and amazing in their own way. They are also all legally hunted by people comfortable with that idea.

There is also the perception that hunting cannot be fun to be ethical. For most hunting and fishing is very difficult - expensive - and a gamble. When it works out to be a successful day (usually it is not) it's hard to not grin from ear to ear. Why is this wrong? Work that works out should not be a solemn event.

So to the people who decry hunting exotic animals in far away lands - look at your own hypocrisy. If you eat - you are killing something. If you use energy you are killing something. Life must be extinguished for life to go on. Just because you don't see the blood doesn't mean the death didn't happen. To mentally disconnect the two is truly a first world problem.