It’s not simple to say exactly, does hunting animal a crime or not. As far as I’m concerned there is two ways.
On one side, we all live in the law-based society, so we have many laws witch control any spheres of our life. In this connection we have enough legal acts for manage any problem of hunting animals. In this way all killing committed within the law are not crimes.
But there is another side, I mean we are all animate beings and we have an instinct for self-preservation
Hunting is a cold blood murder by cowards who dress up like Rambos and use guns to kill unprotected animals, just to confirm their lacking virility. If one challenges them to fight with bare hands against an equal or a superior than them, they would piss their pants and run away.
Psychology has risolved the hunting issue: the gun is a substitute of missing or insufficient phallus....
As for excuses like "populations control" etc, I evoke the international conventions andEuropean Parliament instructions, which are always in breach by the "controllers", who are audacious enough to support their criminal against nature activities because the have a very good backing by the weapon industry that spares no life, not even the human one.
BUT: In my country, I have the pleasure and honour to stand alone against hundrends of thousands of them, and give a Court fight, always with Justice justifying my arguements, while next day they demostrate their disrespect to Justice too...
So, yes, hunting is a crime, in so many different ways, and those who comit it are so brave to hide behind....thumbs