CNN Film "Trophy"
- Thread starter Colorado Cowboy
- Start date
ore hunter
Very Active Member
- Jul 25, 2014
- 699
- 114
You are right. The publicity for the show has a hunter with his rifle pointing at "something" you can't see, then shows a full picture of a rhino giving the illusion that he is going to shoot it. I am pretty sure rhinos are completely protected. Unfortunately I'll be at a shoot in Az and won't have access to the show.
JimP
Administrator
Well, I watched it and to me it left more questions unanswered than it answered.
It did cover the problems of the rino's quite well in showing that if there is no economic value then they have no value. The same was hit or miss on elephants and lions but wasn't covered very well.
In the long run I don't think that it will change very many minds one way or the other or even get people talking about it one way or the other except for on internet forums like this one.
Just so that some of you know, I did go to South Africa to hunt plains game and saw a lot of what was on the show first hand. However it is hard to explain a lot of it to a non hunter that has their mind made up on the other side.
It did cover the problems of the rino's quite well in showing that if there is no economic value then they have no value. The same was hit or miss on elephants and lions but wasn't covered very well.
In the long run I don't think that it will change very many minds one way or the other or even get people talking about it one way or the other except for on internet forums like this one.
Just so that some of you know, I did go to South Africa to hunt plains game and saw a lot of what was on the show first hand. However it is hard to explain a lot of it to a non hunter that has their mind made up on the other side.
JimP
Administrator
There is a different mindset with hunting in Africa than here in the states, it is more along the European ideas. The vast majority of it is going to be on game farms and high fences but the properties are larger than most think. The ones that I hunted on a person would be hard pressed to walk from one side of it to another in a day if not two days or even more. Plus the animals that I hunted acted just as wild as any animal here in North America.
Granted there are the canned hunts. The one for the croc in the show was a canned hunt and I actually think that part of it was put on by the show. I can't believe that someone would hand someone else a beer after taking a shot at a animal, but then from their accent I would say that the person that shot the croc was European also. But we also have canned hunts here in North America. I know where you can go shoot a 500" bull elk if you have the money along with bison and deer.
You just have to realize that over there if the animal does not make the landowner money then they are worthless and will be done away with. Which is not much different than anywhere else.
Granted there are the canned hunts. The one for the croc in the show was a canned hunt and I actually think that part of it was put on by the show. I can't believe that someone would hand someone else a beer after taking a shot at a animal, but then from their accent I would say that the person that shot the croc was European also. But we also have canned hunts here in North America. I know where you can go shoot a 500" bull elk if you have the money along with bison and deer.
You just have to realize that over there if the animal does not make the landowner money then they are worthless and will be done away with. Which is not much different than anywhere else.
I thought it covered the economic benefits as well as the actual harm being from poaching, and not hunting, fairly well.
They couldn't help but throw in the dramatic music and close-ups of elephants dying though, which I find distasteful. I doubt it changed any minds, but may have educated some to the benefits of hunting in those countries.
Not my favorite portrayal, but I don't feel like it was a hatchet job either.
They couldn't help but throw in the dramatic music and close-ups of elephants dying though, which I find distasteful. I doubt it changed any minds, but may have educated some to the benefits of hunting in those countries.
Not my favorite portrayal, but I don't feel like it was a hatchet job either.
JimP
Administrator
I can't believe that Philip let the elephant die like it did. It would of been so easy just to put it down completely with one shot.
He is a member on a African Hunting forum that I am on and I know for a fact that he has more respect for a animal than was shown in those scenes.
He is a member on a African Hunting forum that I am on and I know for a fact that he has more respect for a animal than was shown in those scenes.
Extractor
Active Member
Started watching for maybe 15 minutes, I thought it was boring, seen this flik before. Anti's won't change thier minds any more than I will about the value of hunting. Our job as I see it is to be ethical stewarsds of wildlife and the outdoors and persent a positive image to the undecided majority.
Wow, when I read comments like this, I'm left scratching my head:
You just have to realize that over there if the animal does not make the landowner money then they are worthless and will be done away with. Which is not much different than anywhere else.
That may be the case in Africa and Europe, but that's far from the case here.
Wildlife here does have value beyond what we can sell it for, if it didn't, we would be right in the same boat as Africa. Thankfully, we aren't there yet and its my hope we never get there.
I do believe that we must be mindful of the commercialization of wildlife that is ramping up here. In some cases, we need to either slam, or pump the brakes or its going to spiral out of control.
When hunting here turns into the African model...its over for me, everything I've fought for has been lost at that point.
You just have to realize that over there if the animal does not make the landowner money then they are worthless and will be done away with. Which is not much different than anywhere else.
That may be the case in Africa and Europe, but that's far from the case here.
Wildlife here does have value beyond what we can sell it for, if it didn't, we would be right in the same boat as Africa. Thankfully, we aren't there yet and its my hope we never get there.
I do believe that we must be mindful of the commercialization of wildlife that is ramping up here. In some cases, we need to either slam, or pump the brakes or its going to spiral out of control.
When hunting here turns into the African model...its over for me, everything I've fought for has been lost at that point.
JimP
Administrator
The high fence operations in South Africa are what you make of them. Most of them you will never see the fence except for when you enter the property. It isn't like what you would see down in Texas, and as I mentioned you would be hard pressed to walk across some of the properties in a day or even two. While the animal for breeding are bought at a livestock auction most of the animals that you would hunt are just as wild as any animal is here in the US and just as hard to get close enough to shoot.
Until you actually experience a hunting safari over in South Africa you will never realize just what it is. I know that I went over with a idea in my mind of what it would be and on the first day I was in country that reminded me of hunting elk in the cedars here in Colorado with the animals just as hard to find. Granted when we sat down and started to glass we spotted quite a few different type of animals but spotting them and stalking them to get a shot are two different things. I spent close to 4 hours trying to get close to some gemsbok/oryx with nothing to show in the end except for a lot of scratches from the thorns that are on every brush over there.
Also most of the animals that you would hunt are animals of opportunity in that you can go after what you see if you have the money for it. One day you might be after a impala and end up with a kudu, you just never know.
Also the economic situation over there is a lot different than it is here. The old European idea of landowners and workers is what it is, even in the outlying towns and country side you would be surprised at just how people live. Forget about indoor plumbing and electricity, that is for city folks or the landowners themselves.
It is hard to pass judgement for what goes on over there unless you have experienced it first hand and not many shows on TV are going to do that.
What about it?
The US had some folks, damn few at the time, that were forward thinkers that stopped it because they placed a higher value on wildlife than to just be sold via market hunting.
At the same time, those same forward thinkers realized that we wanted our public wildlife to have a place to live that wasn't privately owned. We wanted our wildlife to have equal consideration in regard to public land management.
Its not the same thing, by a long shot.
If all wildlife here, becomes simply an asset that is assigned a dollar value, and only roams on private property, stick a fork in us...we're done.
What separates the NAM from what is going on in African is vastly different. We manage our public lands with equal consideration being given to wildlife, we actually still have public lands, with the states holding wildlife in Trust for the public.
IMO, there isn't even a remote comparison. The US puts a lot of value, other than monitary, on our wildlife...and I'm thankful for that.