So with all the excitement of late regarding the opinions of professional hunting organizations regarding captive bred lion shooting and the usual controversy associated with enthusiast hunting clubs/organizations, what is the perceived benefit associated with membership?

Most of the older professional hunters in SA and Namibia that I have known for over 25 years no longer participate in PHASA or NAPHA as they maintain the organizations are little more than self glorifying knitting groups. Many hunters have left enthusiast clubs for the same reason; they do little to actually protect hunting rights in Africa.

So for those who still participate, whether professional hunter or enthusiast, what is the benefit of membership beyond the obvious marketing benefits for professional hunters and bumper stickers for club membership?

Sadly, by siding with the antis, they have made themselves even more irrelevant!

They have put their foot squarely in their mouths, just for publicity sake!

The main benefit of a PH or operator being a member in theory is that the association's enforce ethical and legal hunting practices. In practice, since membership is voluntary associations have no real teeth.

Still, association's like Zimbabwe's SOAZ/ZPHGA do tend to attract the top operators so I would rather book with a member.

And, what Saeed said, because they are all old boys clubs of necessity, so there will be agendae, good or bad.

Andrew you cant compare PHASA with NAPHA this are 2 Very different Organisations when it comes to Ethics.

quote:

Originally posted by ijl:
The main benefit of a PH or operator being a member in theory is that the association's enforce ethical and legal hunting practices. In practice, since membership is voluntary associations have no real teeth.

,,,,,,

Please note at the onset that this posting includes some PHASA-bashing!

I was (note the past tense) a member of PHASA many years ago. Even then, as now, PHASA had/has a very clearly written set of rules in their "Code of Ethics" to which member's are expected to adhere. My very often repeated questions put to various PHASA EXCO membersabout "What does PHASA actually do to force, or at least encourage their members to abstain from offering their clients "Put & Take" hunting, lead me, repeatedly and on every attempt by any EXCO member at providing a reply, to conclude that PHASA actually condones and accepts "Put and Take" hunting as just the way things are done in South Africa. My own personal "hatred" (this is the most appropriate word that I can think of now to describe my feelings) of any action that even slightly smells like a "Put & Take" shooting eventually led me to part ways with, let me call it the "old" PHASA. I simply refuse to be a member of an organization which speaks about their highly regarded "Code of Ethics", but all senior members including two past (at that time actually acting) Presidents of PHASA actually admitting that they really do not care that members do not adhere to their own prescriptions about ethical behavior.

I have known about all manner of canned lion shooting uner guidance of PHASA members for many years. My own son has in fact been working as general manager of arguably the largest South Arican breeder of, and trader of canned lions for many years. I really know some of the horror stories about canned lion shooting from inside information, as well as just what every active Professional Hunter in South Africa will naturally know.

The more recent actions [2016 AGM] of the "old" PHASA, before aligning their constitution with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, by temporily forebidding PHASA members from involvement in ranch lion "hunting". This action seems (I don't know?) not to be motivated by the fact that the PHASA members voting at the AGM had any ethical issues with such hunting as the resolution lapses as soon as some other organization [SAPA] can "prove" that the shooting of such lions holds some [unquantified] conservation benifit to the remaining wild lion populastion in, presumably omly South Africa. Just try to get your head around this: A hunting organisation prohibits their members from participating in a distastefull to some, but perfectly legal activity of shooting a ranch-bred lion nder certain conditions. But this restriction remains only valid until some other organisation that is most definately not a real conservation organisation, can "prove" (to who?) that such ranch bred and released lion shooting holds aome (unquantified and undescribed) conservation advantage for the remaining true wild lions (presumably only the South African wild lion populations). Who in hell is going to make the call if the arguments provided by SAPA hold water?

The whole handling of the 2016 PHASA AGM most definaqtely is not convincing me that I should really now join PHASA.

Now, with the "new" PHASA constitution aligned with the requirements of our country's Constittion, PHASA - note the members and not the EXCO decide to, well what exactly have the members decided? I tell you what I have decided, that I do not want to be a member of the new, or old, PHASA at all!

IMHO there is absolutely no benifit in being a member of PHASA; their past Presidents actually condoned, and once the then current President did so at a meeting of the Free State Professional Hunters Forum in response to my motivated question, actually condoned offering "Put and Take" trophy shooting disguised as trophy hunting by their members.

I do not know how the really ethical South African Professional Hunters and Hunting Outfitters are going to go about "saving" PHASA, but I doubt very much that I will even bother to join that party. I think Saeed worded my feelings very well:

quote:

Sadly, by siding with the antis, they have made themselves even more irrelevant!

They have put their foot squarely in their mouths, just for publicity sake!

I feel that I owe it to the true trophy hunters of the world who wish to enjoy the wonderful trophy hunting opportunities in South Africa to end this tirade on a positive note. I pledge to give my full cooperation to the ethical newest PHASA or any other new hunting organisation that attempts to get our industry out of the shithole in which years of PHASA's condoning unethical practices has landed the South African hunting industry in. I'm never going to insist that you or anyone should, like I do, regularly and consistantly condem the use of "Put & Take" methods to make money by satisfying a trophy animal demand, but unless PHASA or any other new Hunting organisation, starts doing it, I'll not be one of your members either!

Andrew you perfectly characterized what has been happening for decades. From time to time there is talk about forming a truly "Professional" Professional Hunter's organization in SA and Namibia where members would be carefully vetted and monitored and would follow a narrowly defined code of ethics. The problem is, 99% of the hunters going to Africa are only concerned about "can I get my trophies and not get ripped off by the operator". With that type of clientele, the Professional Hunter's organizations have become little more than fraternities with the occasional kegger party for good measure. Why they pretend to be anything more is beyond me...

The actual truth never is very palatable is it?