Decent article about the rise in people finding adventure in trophy hunting in Saturday December 19 edition.

It's not political, just equating the hunt to other endurance sports and why people are drawn to it.

Can anyone copy this and post it here?
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Can anyone copy this and post it here?
Cal

Trophy Hunting's Unlikely Boom


After retiring from baseball this autumn with three World Series rings, the former San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt set his sights on another kind of sports trophy: a grizzly bear. But upon calling a hunting guide in Alaska that specializes in trophy game, Affeldt got a surprise: “The first spot I could get was 2017,” he said.

After decades of declines in the number of American hunters, their ranks have inched up this century, according to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service surveys. But unlike a half century ago, when most hunters made do with rabbits, squirrels and birds, today’s growth is being fueled by one segment in particular: Big game. Especially popular are high-end guided hunts like the 10-day, $32,000-plus pursuit of moose and grizzly that Affeldt signed up for.

Not only do these hunts promise the chance to land a big trophy—a rack of elk antlers for the library wall, for instance—they’re also tapping into the same extreme fitness boom that has fueled rising participation in triathlon and marathon. “We hiked 10 miles a day through the mountains carrying a 50-pound pack—and that weight doubled after we made a kill,” says Graham Hobbs, a New York real estate executive who ran a marathon and lifted weights to prepare for a 10-day Alaska hunt this September.

Continued at link

Good article.

I do hope that US Fish and Wildlife realise the full impact on hunting in an economy and the billions attached to equipment, services etc

Gotta get the mentality back that hunting is a healthy outdoor pursuit and one that could keep our kids off those dangerous streets.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

I do hope that US Fish and Wildlife realise the full impact on hunting in an economy and the billions attached to equipment, services etc

Politics is all that matters Mate.

The anti's have done a good job of making up and stigmatizing the term "trophy hunting". In reality, isn't what we do, just plain hunting? I really only see two types of hunting, subsistence hunting (because it's your only means of getting meat) and just plain 'ole hunting (because you enjoy being in nature, the thrill of the chase and providing meat and game management through this process). In the latter case, you might retain a "trophy", as something to memorialize the experience, but isn't the end result the same as the subsistence hunter? One might argue that if you hunt in a distant land, where you're not the one retaining the meat, that you've crossed over into a third type of hunting, called trophy hunting. The anti's have somehow stigmatized this type of hunting as being devoid of providing meat and game management and is merely a blood sport. The fact is that meat ended up on someone's table and game management was practiced. The only real difference is that we've divided the act of taking the animal and the resulting benefit between different parties.

quote:

Originally posted by gsganzer:
The anti's have done a good job of making up and stigmatizing the term "trophy hunting". In reality, isn't what we do, just plain hunting? I really only see two types of hunting, subsistence hunting (because it's your only means of getting meat) and just plain 'ole hunting (because you enjoy being in nature, the thrill of the chase and providing meat and game management through this process). In the latter case, you might retain a "trophy", as something to memorialize the experience, but isn't the end result the same as the subsistence hunter? One might argue that if you hunt in a distant land, where you're not the one retaining the meat, that you've crossed over into a third type of hunting, called trophy hunting. The anti's have somehow stigmatized this type of hunting as being devoid of providing meat and game management and is merely a blood sport. The fact is that meat ended up on someone's table and game management was practiced. The only real difference is that we've divided the act of taking the animal and the resulting benefit between different parties.

You might find people wondering if organisations like SCI have done a better job than the antis when it comes to making up and stigmatizing the term "trophy hunting".

As a global bunch, we hunters have been slow to react to the real threats to our activities and it is now biting us in the arse. My fear is that we have
gone past the tipping point. "Peak hunting" is behind us and we're now in rear guard mode attempting to put off the inevitable for as long as possible.

yup

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

I do hope that US Fish and Wildlife realise the full impact on hunting in an economy and the billions attached to equipment, services etc

Politics is all that matters Mate.

And the reason why every American Hunter should 'consider' Don Trump for POTUS.

The POTUS offspring supporting the industry cannot be a bad thing!

I took a few minutes to write to this journalist and applaud him for his well balanced article and included some important stuff that he needed to know about Africa.

His email - kevin.helliker@wsj.com

I thanked the author, too. Perhaps we all on AR should send him a note of thanks. Not only did he do the right thing, but he chanced getting his peers and superiors angry. He needs tone encouraged to pen more pieces.
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
I thanked the author, too. Perhaps we all on AR should send him a note of thanks. Not only did he do the right thing, but he chanced getting his peers and superiors angry. He needs tone encouraged to pen more pieces.
Cal

That would be a great and maybe Lane could forward him some material re sustainable Lion hunting? Let us try and see if he is prepared to write another article on hunting?

I wrote him as well.

Emailed him this morning

He sent me a nice e mail.

I sent him an email and received a reply. Level headed sounding fellow.

I sent him a note . . . also suggested that the growing locavore movement might make an interesting and related follow up piece. Shared with him the quote, we kill to have hunted, we do not hunt to kill. He liked that.

I wrote him a thank you note for his article, applauded his effort, and provided a quote as well.

He mentioned in his story that some persons may say that hunting is cruel.

I quoted for him the famous 19th & 20th century African hunter, Denis D. Lyell:

"Many people say that shooting is cruel, and so it is; but not nearly so brutal as the atrocities perpetratd in dispatching domesticated stock for human consumption. A hunted animal, when fairly stalked and killed, suffers infinitely less than an ox or sheep led to its death through the blood-reek of an abattoir, therefore those who decry what they call "blood sports" are canters so long as they continue to practise carnivorous habits."

Cecil may be new to we 21st century hunters, but the opposition to hunting is centuries old.

It was a very good article, but since I know most all of the guys mentioned, it was really a promo piece for selling high tech hunting clothing for Jason. Having said that, I do agree that they all hunt hard and the right way and that Lance is a damn nice guy and very good guide.

I didn't see this story when I read this issue, but I had not thrown it away before I traveled to CO for Christmas, so I read it upon returning home.

What is interesting to me, and none of you have commented on it, is that much of the slant of this story focuses on "extreme hunting" - not luxury African hunting, but hunting that requires you to be in shape, etc.

I would guess most non-hunters would find "extreme hunting" much more palatable than your typical African hunt. Put it this way: to the best of my knowledge, the Journal has not printed one letter to the editor objecting to this story (I did miss Mon-Wed of this week). Do you think the reaction would be the same if the picture of that immensely obese hunter was shown posing with a lion?