What is trophy hunting article... Thoughts?
- Thread starter lukew
- Start date
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Good read that I agree with in most cases. The only exception I take is with the statement "today's trend of only valuing hunting as a means of food provision places us dangerously close to reliving a past where the future of North American wild game was bleak". With today's game management practices, the danger of over harvesting is almost nil. Today every state and the federal government manages it's wildlife scientifically and for sustaining populations. The real problem is whose paying for it. Hunters and fisherman through their license fees and taxes on guns and ammunition do most of it. Fees go up and some users feel the pinch and end up doing less hunting and fishing. We must find a way for ALL users pay there fair share. I mean hikers, campers, bikers and everyone who uses our outdoor resources.
I found this to be like something you'd see on politico - pushing an idea and poorly at that. With his savage rifle.
Winchester
Veteran member
JimP
Administrator
People have gotten the idea of "trophy hunting" from those of us that head to far away lands and only bring back the "trophy" parts of the animals. They could care less that the meat from the animals that were shot was consumed locally and if possible we would love to bring at least some of that meat home here to the US but government regulations prevent that from happening.
I did see one time where there was a elephant hunt and the producers of the TV show did show just what happened to all of the meat of the elephant. The locals swarmed to the location once they heard that there was meat available for the taking. They brought whatever they could to pack that meat home. Most just slung it over their shoulders and headed home with their youngsters in tow with each of them packing what they could carry.
But these type of shows are far and few between and usually are not broadcast on a network that non hunters would watch.
I would suggest that a lot of people would learn quite a lot if they would watch the movie Trophy with a open mind. One of the hunters in it is the gentleman that I am going to be hunting with in South Africa in 2022
Here is one of the trailer of the movie.
And most of my "trophy" animals have been shot with a Weatherby rifle, except for a couple with a Thompson Center and CVA muzzle loader. Oh yea there are those others that I have shot with my Thompson Center Contender pistol.
I did see one time where there was a elephant hunt and the producers of the TV show did show just what happened to all of the meat of the elephant. The locals swarmed to the location once they heard that there was meat available for the taking. They brought whatever they could to pack that meat home. Most just slung it over their shoulders and headed home with their youngsters in tow with each of them packing what they could carry.
But these type of shows are far and few between and usually are not broadcast on a network that non hunters would watch.
I would suggest that a lot of people would learn quite a lot if they would watch the movie Trophy with a open mind. One of the hunters in it is the gentleman that I am going to be hunting with in South Africa in 2022
Here is one of the trailer of the movie.
And most of my "trophy" animals have been shot with a Weatherby rifle, except for a couple with a Thompson Center and CVA muzzle loader. Oh yea there are those others that I have shot with my Thompson Center Contender pistol.
I think anytime you aren't killing the first legal animal you see, you're hunting for more reasons than just meat.
I'm not convinced that when we don't shoot the first animal we legally can that it just automatically falls into the category of trophy hunting either.
I'm also not convinced in any way, that whatever definition we give trophy hunting that its "conservation" either.
Continually selecting animals with the largest antlers/horns is not conservation. True conservation would be killing animals across the spectrum of the population. In nature, the youngest age classes have the highest mortality. If that's what we're trying to replicate with hunting, then humans should be killing a higher percentage of younger age classes over middle aged and older age classes.
The same to a lesser degree with the older age classes, mortality in the old age classes have more to do with weather events than predation. Also, a segment of the populations should die of old age, that means we're providing everything that species needs to live a full life.
Yet, human hunters rarely select the young of the year, and there just aren't many animals that reach the older age classes, so hunters aren't selecting those either.
What we all tend to select are the least likely of the species to either die from predation OR from weather events, in other words, I don't know that we should be trying to sell the public on "trophy hunting is conservation". I don't believe it is, at all. We are NOT in any way replicating what happens with natural selection (including what happened historically when people did hunt for survival). We have the luxury of hunting for all kinds or reasons, reasons that our ancestors didn't get to enjoy.
IMO, its best to just say that we all hunt for our own reasons, and we all kill animals based on our idea of a self imposed selection process that likely differs from hunter to hunter. And that's good enough, and really doesn't need to be defended.
What we can all agree on is that we want to have deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, goats, ducks, fish, and even those animals we don't run hooks or bullets through, to be around in high enough numbers to keep the populations viable.
I'm not convinced that when we don't shoot the first animal we legally can that it just automatically falls into the category of trophy hunting either.
I'm also not convinced in any way, that whatever definition we give trophy hunting that its "conservation" either.
Continually selecting animals with the largest antlers/horns is not conservation. True conservation would be killing animals across the spectrum of the population. In nature, the youngest age classes have the highest mortality. If that's what we're trying to replicate with hunting, then humans should be killing a higher percentage of younger age classes over middle aged and older age classes.
The same to a lesser degree with the older age classes, mortality in the old age classes have more to do with weather events than predation. Also, a segment of the populations should die of old age, that means we're providing everything that species needs to live a full life.
Yet, human hunters rarely select the young of the year, and there just aren't many animals that reach the older age classes, so hunters aren't selecting those either.
What we all tend to select are the least likely of the species to either die from predation OR from weather events, in other words, I don't know that we should be trying to sell the public on "trophy hunting is conservation". I don't believe it is, at all. We are NOT in any way replicating what happens with natural selection (including what happened historically when people did hunt for survival). We have the luxury of hunting for all kinds or reasons, reasons that our ancestors didn't get to enjoy.
IMO, its best to just say that we all hunt for our own reasons, and we all kill animals based on our idea of a self imposed selection process that likely differs from hunter to hunter. And that's good enough, and really doesn't need to be defended.
What we can all agree on is that we want to have deer, elk, pronghorn, moose, goats, ducks, fish, and even those animals we don't run hooks or bullets through, to be around in high enough numbers to keep the populations viable.
I guess I am to " civilized "??? I have never fired a savage rifle.
I've nothing against them. just never had a desire to own one.
I also no longer feel a desire to explain my motives for hunting to those who do not. those who are rational , need no explanations . those who are not , cannot ever be swayed.
I've nothing against them. just never had a desire to own one.
I also no longer feel a desire to explain my motives for hunting to those who do not. those who are rational , need no explanations . those who are not , cannot ever be swayed.
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