When sailors arrived on the island of Mauritius what was their reason for hunting dodo birds? Was there something inherently valuable about them, was it for food, sport? What human reasons led to their extinction?
Early on, the primary reason for hunting dodos was for food. Mauritius was discovered by the Dutch in 1598, and used as a stopover while going to Asia for picking up food. Before populations of feral animals were established, dodos, who didn't fear people and were easy to catch, was the easiest meal, and therefore primarily targetted.
After 1638, dodos were already becoming rare, and Dutch interest in them faded. This year a permanent settlement on Mauritius was established, and attention now turned to feral goats and pigs as sources of food. The last documented description of dodos are shipwrecked sailors in 1662, who found them living on a small off-coast islet, where they possibly even killed the last ones.
Therefore, while human hunting certainly contributed, it is likely that the main reason for the extinction of the dodo was not human hunting directly, but rather the introduction of feral species that the dodo had no adaptation to, especially rats and pigs, who would eat unprotected nests and chicks. This is strongly implied by the fact that the last dodos survived on a small islet where these animals had not become established yet.
Source: The most recent research on the dodo by Anthony Cheke:
The Dodo and the Red Hen, A Saga of Extinction, Misunderstanding, and Name Transfer: A Review