quote:

Originally posted by BWN300MAG:
I recently accepted a postion with the Tulsa Housing Authority. That is helping the poor and down-trodden find a place to live. As I set up my desk, personal items, trophy photos, etc. I found most of the people there had no clue Ele hunting was even legal much less something someone in their right mind (not necessarily me) would want to do. Given the fact that most of these people are of the female persuasion, I did not think it best to drop the hammer on them with bloody hunting stories. Instead I chose a different approach.
I spoke to them of the people in the area. I had not really concerned myself much with this aspect of the hunt, since I got back in may, until I started in on the soft-hearted women at work to convince them I was in fact not the devil.
I explained the lack of necessities the people dealt with on a daily basis. I explained how the meat they recieved from my kill would provide much needed nourishment for the next month or so. At some point during my discourse, I remembered a little boy who was at the kill site.
I took pictures of the kid. As the work on the elephant began, I noticed him in our dried up riverbed, with a rather aversive look on his face. He could not have been more than 5 or 6 and was dressed in typical African villager style - ragged ill-fitting clothes. He watched us all day as we sat in the shade and held conversations on numerous topics that are of no consequence. But every time I looked up, there he was staring at us, staring at me. Even with the heightened sense of elation I was feeling from my recent victory, his look seemed to cut through me.
Then he was given a chunk of meat. It was almost as big as his head (I am embellishing here just a bit). For the rest of the day I could not shake the little guy. His almost disdainful look transformed into a look of admiration. When I got up and moved, his eyes followed, if I went to far, here he came. Why, I even got a smile or two out of him! I had given him meat! You would have thought he had just won the lottery.
Anyway, the women melted and sang my praises (not often that happens! ) and now hold me in a higher regard. Some are still holding out, but then, you can't make every dog in the pack happy everyday.
But it got me to thinking rarely do we hear stories about how one's hunt affects the people in the area. It just kind of brightened my day when I thought about how glad the people were that I had swwatted the jumbo. Singing and who-haing, the kids playing around the site. It was like a big festival for them. For me it was like a rock concert and I was center stage. damn - what a feeling!

Anybody else?