Using the “I do it because it’s legal” is a very one dimensional and counterproductive argument, in my humble opinion.
It‘s basically an invitation to the antis to pressurize the government to make any particular forms of hunting illegal.
Rather, hunting should be defended on moral/environmental and socio-economical grounds.
All animals (even problem animals/predators/livestock killers) should be hunted with the objective of ending their lives as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Terming anything as a “Killing Contest” is a mark of crass tastelessness on the part of the hunter.
Now, on the other hand… It’s abundantly clear to me that this Mr. Sutton fellow is a pompous self righteous coarse fool who thinks that he is entitled to talk about trophy hunting without actually knowing anything in-depth about it. In my humble experience, “Hunters” like him are the true threat to hunting. Just because he practices one form of hunting, he thinks that he has a right to condemn hunting practices which are conducted by other hunters.
When he doesn’t realize that his boot licking of the anti hunting brigade (regardless of how eloquently it‘s written) will do him no good in the long run. Those who are seeking to ban hunting of the lion in Africa today, will seek to ban the hunting of the whitetail deer in the USA tomorrow.
Photographic safaris never can or will replace hunting safaris. Let me ask you all something. When a tourist has come to Africa (for instance) and taken his nice photograph of a lion, will he ever return to Africa again ? No, because he has taken his photograph and next year, he will spend his money elsewhere. A hunter though, will keep returning to the forests to hunt wild game on a relatively consistent frequency. Because hunting is his food for the soul. And he will keep paying for it. He is the better long term consumer of wildlife. Ergo, he is the reason why wildlife must exist.
One of these days, I also have a bone to pick with whatever muttonhead thought up the name “Trophy Hunting“. It’s such a one dimensional & shallow title. The name infers that we shoot a lion (for instance) solely for the purposes of lopping it’s head off to mount on our walls or skinning his hide to adorn our floors while the rest of the animal lies rotting… whereas nothing could be further from the truth. Big game hunting is so much more than that. As a matter of fact, I’ve hunted several lions over the years (to date) & I only retained the hide from the first male.
