Imagine a wilderness area in Africa where hunters pay to hunt. Whereas nothing gets wasted, let’s be clear that they are not hunting because they are hungry, they hunt because they love hunting.

Imagine the animals they pay to hunt are old males and they view these as trophies. The money they pay to hunt these trophies sustains this area and without which, the wildlife would be lost to poaching.

Imagine that this position changed and the hunters shifted from hunting the old males on a sustainable basis, to where they shoot everything, to where there is nothing left.

Imagine that once there is nothing left, the area is no longer economically viable as a hunting area and the decision is taken to remove the indigenous habitat and replace it with rows and rows of alien vegetation.

Imagine that this is how a field is made, where no life is intended to be left, no animals, no birds, no indigenous vegetation and where even the insects are poisoned.

Imagine that anti-hunters view hunters as murderers.

Imagine that, by the same measure, a field can only represent a wildlife holocaust.

Imagine this is where the food and clothes for most, including the anti-hunters, originates from.

Imagine that there are places which are even more irreparably damaged then fields. Places which lie deep under tons of concrete. Cities.

Imagine that principles are only principles when you are prepared to pay for them.

Imagine that you only see what a person really values when you strip the words away and look at where they are prepared to spend their hard earned money.

Imagine that anti-hunters spend their hard earned money on fields and cities.

Imagine the staggering hypocrisy of a person who elects to fund wildlife holocausts yet sees fit to criticize hunters.

Imagine challenging them to factually contradict the above position.

Imagine they cant.

Imagine the best they can do is insult.
We knew Theunis well. He had a degree in psychology and anthropology. He was an extremely intelligent man who understood people and the world. Out of fear of association, it would have troubled him immensely that confused hypocrites(who can’t prove they are not) would have spoken well of him. The reversal of this position is that it is complimentary that they speak badly of him. He would have wanted it no other way.

Message from Theunis’s friends directed to his detractors and to those who may not have had the privilege of knowing him.

Ivan, thank you for posting this.

Interesting way of framing the debate and proving the sustainability of what we, as hunters do, and what those who only criticize, don't. Thanks Ivan.

Yes simply the very best format of the argument I have ever read - exceptional !

Wonderful. Thanks for posting that, Ivan

Outstanding!

My head bows. I did not know the gentleman, this epitaph says all I need to know of him. Thank you for sharing.

If you can in fact judge a man by his friends, Theunis must have been a good one.

Amen!

Thanks for posting Ivan.

thank you Ivan for that post.

Outstanding

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
My head bows. I did not know the gentleman, this epitaph says all I need to know of him. Thank you for sharing.

Beautifully penned!

+1

Perfect!

Very nice. Thanks for posting

Brilliant. I have forwarded to many, hunters and antis. does this appear anywhere else? It may do more good to forward from someplace other than a hunting site.

quote:

Originally posted by Marty:
Brilliant. I have forwarded to many, hunters and antis. does this appear anywhere else? It may do more good to forward from someplace other than a hunting site.

Marty, it is on Ivan's Facebook page as well

https://www.facebook.com/ivanc...GES_TIMELINE&fref=nf

Outstanding....

Well said.

We hunters are part of nature. Fully invested, both spiritually and financially.

Anti-hunters are non-participants, observers only.

Like the audience at a movie.

For them, nature is a mere diversion.

This powerful eulogy takes that truth one step further, and points out that the anti-hunters actually do more in their daily lives to destroy nature than sustain it.

Shame on them.

And Bravo to Theunis.