Eskridge concluded that hunting serves as an outlet for stress and tension that otherwise could contribute to violent behavior.

Eskridge's research is consistent with other research that finds that owners of sporting firearms tend to learn shooting skills from parents and family, have fewer accidents, have lower rates of violence and use their firearms for sport shooting more often than protective owners.

Indeed, research suggests that, contrary to what some anti-gun and anti-hunting activists claim, when people enjoy more sport shooting it may contribute to more peace, social stability and conservation action in a community.

Award-winning Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck has probably reviewed more studies on the psychological makeup of weapons users than anyone else has.

His research finds that, "gun owners are not, as a group, psychologically abnormal, nor are they more racist, sexist, or pro-violent than non-owners are."

A study of high school students in Rochester, New York, by Lizotte and and Sheppard, found that kids who owned and used legal guns (which means with parental supervision), had lower rates of crime, drug use and delinquency than kids who had no guns, or those who had acquired them illegally.

A number of studies find that as many as 65 percent to 75 percent of hunters are motivated to hunt each year because of psychological connections with nature that are unique to hunting. Hunting, they feel, helps relieve stress, which improves mental health.

There is a popular misconception that many hunters drink to excess and engage in reckless behavior. A recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey found that 82 percent of those surveyed believed that "a lot" of hunters broke hunting laws or practiced unsafe behavior, such as drinking to excess and firing guns recklessly.

The research that I have seen finds that less than 3 percent of all citations by game wardens involve intoxication and drug use, but that is beside the point.

The false negative image of hunters as reckless slobs is created by media bias that reports only on poachers and accidents, coupled with rumors purposefully spread by animal rights activists who openly admit they lie to stigmatize hunters.

Mr. Hightower is correct that a percentage of the population does suffer from mental illness. According to a recent study conducted by Robert Kessler of the Harvard Medical School, 26.4 percent of the US population suffers from anxiety disorders and depression. This is the highest rate in 14 countries that Kessler studied.

Generally speaking, anxiety disorders are most prevalent in crowded urban areas, where coincidentally hunting license sales are lower.

In contrast to Mr. Hightower, health professionals Eaton, Shostak and Konner (a psychiatrist), write in their outstanding health and fitness book, "The Paleolithic Prescription," that devaluing hunting traditions can weaken healthy social standards and even contribute to juvenile delinquency, which is a form of mental disease. They write:

Our ' hunting instinct' has gone awry in 'civilized' society, where the thrill of the chase and the kill are no longer part of our experience and there are no clear avenues of expression except, perhaps to our peril, in the streets and subways of today's urban jungles.

Apparently Mr. Hightower has admitted that he cannot substantiate his 40 percent statistic. He also might want to reconsider his claims about hunting safety.

Thanks to Hunter Education classes, which are now required in all 50 states, it is now statistically safer to be in the woods during hunting season than to drive to the woods. And, according to the National Safety Council, hunting is far safer than baseball, tennis, golf and even ping-pong.

Writing in Time magazine's Nov. 30, 1998, edition in a special feature story on school shootings and after extensive interviews with school psychologists and forensic experts, Lance Morrow concludes that "teachers and counselors report that kids who are taught to hunt responsibly are generally more mature and better-mannered - and saner - adolescents in the wilds of modern American culture."

Mr. Hightower is entitled to his opinions, but clearly they are not rooted in science. If he's looking for nut cases in the woods, he might be better off studying squirrels.