Future of Big Five Hunting

[wesheltonj]

@FLhunter7 don't get discouraged. You are further a long in planning than I was at your age. I honestly thought Africa would be one of my last trips due to the wrong assumption it was expensive. @cagkt3 gave you some solid advice, get your bachelor's, and get your company to pay for your Masters and I would go the MBA route. I got my MBA while working full time, and the nice part is you don't have any free time to spend money, lol. . . .

Yes, get your Bachelors degree. I understand this is not going to be very popular. But as far as an MBA., unless you go to "certain" schools (Ivy's, MIT, Chicago, Stanford, Thunderbird) you are wasting your time. Graduates from those school are going to get the best positions. If you really want a second degree, go to law school, pass the bar or get a M.S. in Petroleum Engineering from UT Austin.

 

[steve ahrenberg]

Except all one has to do is read the stories here and other forums about the illegal hunting in Zimbabwe, and the graft of Zimbabwe and Tanzania, and perhaps Trump was right.

By and large, we have made our own problems. I read a thread over on another forum by a well known African PH. He is now stating that "Its OK to go shoot stuff and leave it in Africa." If the Professionals in our industry say it's OK, well then it must be.

I can't see going to shoot something to simply takes its picture...

This is a hugely divisive issue. I get clobbered ANYTIME I bring it up. Those that agree with me, will only PM me in agreement. They see the ass kicking I am getting and want no part of it.

Personally, I don't think Trump was referring to any illegal hunting activity. I think he was making a very public and very declarative statement about his feelings. If he was referring to illegal activity, why make the importation for legally sport hunted trophies nearly impossible.

 

[Tam Dl]

What can't you bring back to the US? Elephant tusks? Can you bring back skin? I see the skin in leather products all the time. If the only thing is skin, just get a measurement going and have fake ivory tusks made up. Look at fish trophies, they are all fiberglass that is painted. Then the country can sell off the tusks to the chinese, who also have their interest in elephant parts. Plus someone gets money for the plastic tusks/reproductions. More money all around.

I think the biggest problem is people think trophies are only shot for the photo or the mount. They don't understand that trophy hunting (at least in NA) normally means a reduction in the take, more outdoor experience, less killing. The African version these days seems more like put and take and in the most extreme cases leads to a direct farming analogy. That isn't hunting to me, but the farming case seems pretty defensible. It is certainly more humane to acquire say one domesticated cow and put it in your pasture, then have it expertly shot, rather than dragging the thing hundreds of miles to a kill floor. For meat, it is the ultimate case of local food.

The weakness in the farming model is that it makes sense for the animals, and it makes sense for the farm and the environment. It makes the person who paid 275K, say, to get his name in a book, for a canned hunt, look like a bit of a stooge to the average person. That is too bad given what is at stake for the environment.

The trophy fees in Africa are a plus and a minus. Putting a high value on animals is good, and the fact you have to pay for wounding is better than the system in NA. But it leads to the perception that all that would be lost is a rich people's pastime, and people like queering things like fox hunting if they can come up with a reason.

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The most important thing to understand is that perceptions on all this are not driven by rationality, any more than on anything else. The main factor is that people are resentful. Resentment is a terrifying motive, and managing the resentment some people may feel towards hunting, colonialism, elites, anything to do with guns, etc... is the key.