> They are still being hunted. You're using the term hunt as if it were for
> sport or food only.
Yes, and you are using the term in the same sense as shoppers hunting for bargains. Which is fine, except you go on to assert that the aerial aspect renders it unsportsmanlike and dishonorable. That's why the term "hunt" is inappropriate where you and those who think like you are concerned, Honorable sportsmen recognize the need to play stewards of the land and other animals, controlling predator populations is one small part of that. What isn't established, whether the wolf populations need to be thinned or not. You're picking a bone over the method used, instead.
> Animals being sought and killed for population control are being hunted.
> When bison from Yellowstone are killed by ranchers who erroneously believe
> they transmit brucellosis to their cattle they are hunted and killed.
The wolves are not being hunted, except in the very general sense you favor. They are being exterminated in an expedient manner given the climate and the particulars of the regions this "hunting" is occurring in. I note your failure to lodge similar objections to rattlesnake drives, where other "unsportsmanlike" behavior is commonly used or for the control of rodents in domiciles. Do you secretly think that mouse traps should be outlawed unless they are humane? What are your other thoughts on the "exterminate versus hunt" topic?