This system is way too lenient. Any system of this kind should be based on the traditional penalties imposed by the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

First, there should be no credit for how hard you had to work for any other animal, much less cumulative credit for hard work in prior years. Do you get credit in the confessional against your many sins for your few good deeds? I don't think so.

Second, running laps, push ups, etc. is like getting a Hail Mary for a homicide. I say auto-da-fe for the quick 90 pounder and between ten and fifty lashes with a cat 'o nine tails for lesser offenses, with the final sentence to be handed out by the Inquisitor of the purist's choice.

Now, having just signed and faxed away my latest safari contract, I must leave this thread and write the Pope for a dispensation.

I've got a proposal that will allow even the luckiest hunter in the world who shoots a "trophy-size" animal just off the road 15 minutes into his hunt.

Guides/Outfitters/PHs etc would build a small track near their camps and if you got lucky you would have to do so many laps to "earn" the animal. The number of laps would of course be different for each area, each animal and how big it was with some factor thrown in for intangibles such as how close to the road, how close a shot, the animal being asleep or tied to a post . For example if you were to shoot a 90lb elephant the first 15 minutes into your hunt (and it was your 1st time out for elephant) you might need to do 20 laps a day for the duration of the hunt. Of course if you were older it might only be 5 laps a day but you get the idea.

For those mobile camps that don't have room for a track you could substitue sit-ups or push-ups or even jumping jacks.

Do you think that would satisfy the purists?

Any other suggestions on insuring all trophies are "earned"?

DB Bill

I arrowed a 158 gross whitetail on my farm after hunting app. 1 hour and 15 minutes this season. The previous 2 years I put in at least 150 hours each season and never drew my bow. I let lots of lesser bucks walk by. Is it okay to pro-rate over the 3 years so I won't have to run any laps? A few years ago I shot a leopard out in the open the first day of my safari. I spent the next 11 nights trying to get a good bushpig. Do ya figure I owe anything on that one? I sure hope your system isn't adopted because I don't want our clients at the Omo camp stirring up a lot of dust running up and down the runway.

Rich Elliott

Rich....I figure if you need to "work" extra if you get an easy trophy then you should be able to accumulate credit for the future when you work extra hard ... double credit if you work hard and don't get anything.

But I must say a big leopard on the 1st day would eat up a lot of accumulated points. I spent 16 days and nights on my 1st trip and it was hard coming home without even a smell of a leopard. The next trip, we didn't get a hit until about the 6th day and then I suffered thru 2 days of being run out of blinds by elephants.....I was certainly accumulating points.....the 3rd evening was the charm and the follow-up would more than allow me to qualify as having earned that trophy.

DB Bill,

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the follow up. Neither of us had our shotguns as we were only intending to put up a few baits so it was following a mediocre blood trail with a .30-06 w/ 180 Noslers and an FN/FAL with .308 Solids. About 300 yards past the rocks and into the grass the PH said something like, they usually don't go this far with a lung hit. Then I spotted a stick with blood on it between 2 rocks. When I jumped up on one of the rocks I saw him dead on the other side. Surely I earned a few points on that.

Rich Elliott

Surely this system calls for a market where you can trade bonus or punishment rounds - and if there is a market, we could also expand into futures, options and other derivates. We could divide the market into segments, one for African plains game, one for the Big Five etc etc. Naturally, SCI would have to be involved and take a cut of every transaction running on our system. There it is: capitalism at work...

Tongue in cheek - mike

Wouldn't it be easier just to shoot the purist (aka armchair great white hunters)?

Trust me any hunter taking any game no matter how long it takes has already earned it and has most likely allot of hours in the woods doing so. A hunter should be rewarded ever so often with a easy hunt.

I'm not sure why you'd bother with all this running about. Seem silly to me. Maybe this would better suit your purposes--here is a link to a 5x6 34" mule deer mount for sale:

Ebay

After all, you've already earned the money, now go order your trophy! I'm sure there are many other great mounts to be bought, this is just the first I found. Good hunting!

Mikea,

That was priceless!

while this would be good for guys like I know a couple of that don't even know what kind of rifle they own, but go out and driving along see a great one, get out, pop it. But I do agree withthose that posted that work hard and should get accumulated credit. I have hunted dear 3 years, put in more time than most of the people I know, and get doodly squat each time, if next year I go up one day and get it within an hour of hitting my area then I think I am still ahead in the game.

What about credit for all the work that went in BEFORE the hunt, remember, some guys are married! :-)

Red