I have a problem with it, because of the means used to do it, like you said babysteps, why not use a gun? A club seems cruel and like a prolonged death for the seal.

Now if they are overpopulated and causing damage to the ecosystem and the community around it then I'm okay with hunting, but in a way that isn't as cruel or torturing for the animal, it should be a quick death with little or no suffering.

I have seen the damage overpopulation of a certain species can do, I live in a rural area and deer are a big problem here, they have no preadtors (except for the odd bear and occasional times a coytote pack takes them down) they graze out the cow fields, when in heat bucks will attack humans and pets, and don't even get me started on how much damage they do in car accidents and crops. If there wasn't to be a hunting season, the population would sky rocket and they would in the end kill themselves out with dieases and starvation, which would in turn send the whole ecosystem on a tetter totter of doom.

So I can see the neccessity of the hunt if the overpopulation is that bad, like the above metioned deer problem we have here, but it should be done in a non-cruel way, I just don't see the point of using a club..