Giving up hunting

[Bazz]

Due to the amount of poaching that is going on I have finally decided to give up hunting for good. Elephants,rhinos and even tigers will be extinct within a decade. Also lions and other species are on the decline. Also I am no longer interested in killing creatures for the fun of it,the only hunting I will be doing is with the camera.

 

[Savage Hunter]

Where do you have to hit an animal with the camera in order to get a clean "one-throw" kill?
What size camera is most effective for dangerous game?

 

[spike.t]

bazz there are lots of elephants in african countries so to say they will be extict within 10 years is pretty far fetched. hunting has nothing to do with the tigers problems as there is no legal tiger hunting, their problem is mainly loss of habitat due to massive human population growth, and the ludicrous chinese/eastern medicine practices. similar problems with the rhino involving the medicine farce. not sure you ever got the meaning of hunting if your idea was doing it for the fun of killing...............................

 

[BnC 04]

Hunting with a camera is a viable option Bazz and wish you the best in your new adventure. However, I don't know of any fellow hunters that "kill for the fun of it".
I also believe that a chunk of my hunting dollar goes to fund the anti poaching efforts which is greatly needed IMO.
Not sure how much funding "Green Tours" are putting into conservation but would like to know.

 

[Bazz]

Where do you have to hit an animal with the camera in order to get a clean "one-throw" kill?
What size camera is most effective for dangerous game?

Ha ha

 

[Bazz]

bazz there are lots of elephants in african countries so to say they will be extict within 10 years is pretty far fetched. hunting has nothing to do with the tigers problems as there is no legal tiger hunting, their problem is mainly loss of habitat due to massive human population growth, and the ludicrous chinese/eastern medicine practices. similar problems with the rhino involving the medicine farce. not sure you ever got the meaning of hunting if your idea was doing it for the fun of killing...............................

 

[Velo Dog]

Hunting with a camera is a viable option Bazz and wish you the best in your new adventure. However, I don't know of any fellow hunters that "kill for the fun of it".
I also believe that a chunk of my hunting dollar goes to fund the anti poaching efforts which is greatly needed IMO.
Not sure how much funding "Green Tours" are putting into conservation but would like to know.

+1.

 

[Red Leg]

Due to the amount of poaching that is going on I have finally decided to give up hunting for good. Elephants,rhinos and even tigers will be extinct within a decade. Also lions and other species are on the decline. Also I am no longer interested in killing creatures for the fun of it,the only hunting I will be doing is with the camera.

I will assume, since you have been part of our community for a while, that I am not dialoguing with a troll. If you wish to give up hunting because you no longer wish to hunt, then that is a legitimate personal decision. I would note that if you are not giving up the consumpton of meat at the same time that you are on a slippery ethical slope. I am not sure what the difference is between shooting an animal yourself and paying someone to beat a cow in the head with a hammer. But again, putting up one's guns is a legitimate personal decision.

Where I differ, is the implied notion that your not hunting somehow will contribute to the survival of any species. Indeed, I think your decision has exactly the opposite effect. The only reason any huntable populations of game exist in Africa is because of the value they represent to the local population. In Tanzania, for instance, large amounts of dangerous game live in proximity to rural human populations. A lion, for instance, is an intollerable threat to a cattle herd unless he has a value of his own greater than the depravation he causes. Some PG competes with livestock and all of it is just so much protein without hunter generated value.

If we all were to put away our guns, I am absolutely certain that virtually all "wild" game would soon virtually disappear from the planet.

 

[Nyati]

I never hunted "for the fun of killing".

So I will continue hunting in an ethical way.

 

[Velo Dog]

I will assume, since you have been part of our community for a while, that I am not dialoguing with a troll. If you wish to give up hunting because you no longer wish to hunt, then that is a legitimate personal decision. I would note that if you are not giving up the consumpton of meat at the same time that you are on a slippery ethical slope. I am not sure what the difference is between shooting an animal yourself and paying someone to beat a cow in the head with a hammer. But again, putting up one's guns is a legitimate personal decision.

Where I differ, is the implied notion that your not hunting somehow will contribute to the survival of any species. Indeed, I think your decision has exactly the opposite effect. The only reason any huntable populations of game exist in Africa is because of the value they represent to the local population. In Tanzania, for instance, large amounts of dangerous game live in proximity to rural human populations. A lion, for instance, is an intollerable threat to a cattle herd unless he has a value of his own greater than the depravation he causes. Some PG competes with livestock and all of it is just so much protein without hunter generated value.

If we all were to put away our guns, I am absolutely certain that virtually all "wild" game would soon virtually disappear from the planet.

Red Leg,

Well said.


Bazz,

In The Kruger Park alone, there are many thousands more elephant than the vegetation can support today.
Game Wardens have been culling them - bulls, cows and calves.
Not only does this remedy fail to generate one single badly needed penny for the people of South Africa but worse yet, it is an additional tax expenditure to pay the Wardens and the large crews of people and equipment needed to deal with all that carnage.

It seems like an elementary mathematical solution to simply charge hunters, a reasonable fee to hunt these over-populated tree smashers, and under the law to require a licensed PH to be present with each hunter, so nothing unsporting happens.

One way or another, those excess elephants are going to get shot, that is a fact.
Why not put a small fortune into the anti-poaching fund at least, instead of draining it?

Now repeat after me:
"There are none so blind as those who refuse to see and none so deaf as those who refuse to hear".

Regards,
Velo Dog.

 

[bassasdaindia]

I wish you all the best with your new hobby.

 

[Biddleman]

Since you're going to start hunting with a camera, I'll be glad to take those pesky rifles off your hands.

 

[PeteG]

Bazz,
It is a shame that you have decided to give up hunting.
I don't think you should assume ethical hunting is damaging to wildlife populations, least of all elephant.
A big impact on wildlife is human encroachment and poaching, the latter is strongly fought with the aid of hunters contributions. The former, well, that would be a much longer discussion.
Many people in Africa and elsewhere make a living and support their families, employees, employees families and extended families on ethical hunting in government as well as private concessions. Many of those employees and family members would turn to poaching themselves should they not have a solid income.
Someone commented to me today that "hunting for conservation" was a bit of a joke. I explained my opinion and he was willing to listen, he walked out with a different and supportive view.
Stay positive

 

[Mike70560]

Due to the amount of poaching that is going on I have finally decided to give up hunting for good. Elephants,rhinos and even tigers will be extinct within a decade. Also lions and other species are on the decline. Also I am no longer interested in killing creatures for the fun of it,the only hunting I will be doing is with the camera.

This kind of post makes me revert back to my old less kind and less gentle self.

What a load of crap.
Tigers have not been legally hunted in years.
The number of rhino that are legally hunted is insignificant.
The number of elephants legally hunted is insignificant.
If all you were doing was killing for the fun of it the best thing for you to do is to quit hunting. I seriously doubt you ever were a hunter much less ever hunted any of the species you listed.

I will not even start listing the ways hunting supports wildlife and the local communities, because an anti-hunter could never understand.

Troll.

 

[spike.t]

Bazz you say in your profile that your favourite african country is kenya, now doesnt their banning of hunting in 1977 and the subsequent decimation of their wildlife from poaching maybe get your brain working? with the safari companies out of the way and the anti poaching they provided stopped the poachers had a field day...............................a similar thing is happening in zambia in the govnt gmas that arent under safari company operation. some of the safari operators have tried to do anti poaching in these areas but have been told heavy handedly not to by the govnt dept................i have no problem with you stopping hunting and become a photographic type person/client but the reasons you give i find naive and ridiculous . yes poaching is a massive problem and anti poaching costs lots of money and time, of which the hunting community contributes a substantial amount in the way of cash but also the operators, phs and game scouts spend time on the ground hunting these scum, and you dont know whether they are armed with anything from muzzle loaders up to G3s and AK47s etc, so maybe the money you arent spending on hunting you wouldnt mind donating to some of the anti poaching units that need cash desperately . photographic works fine in certain areas but there are a lot of govnt hunting areas that are totallly unsuitable for photographic type operations, so what do you suggest happens to these areas?

 

[Bobpuckett]

Bazz Don't know what brought this on maybe your wife hit you in the head with a skillet, but if you are truly hunting and killing animals for fun of it then it is time to lay down the weapons and just carry the camera. But to think that not hunting will save the wildlife take a close look at the country's that have band hunting. That is where the animals are dispiriting from poachers value of wildlife through hunting is why we still have wildlife. Just something to think about.

 

[accipiter]

Bazz,

I think a lot of us are interested in why you made such a radical shift in attitude. How about explaining more about why you made this decision? How many years have you hunted?

 

[MJ75]

I smell troll, a patient troll, but troll none the less!

Tiger and Kenya are the giveaways.

 

[PeteG]

I smell troll, a patient troll, but troll none the less!

Tiger and Kenya are the giveaways.

Mmm, suspecting likewise now as well.
Shouldn't have wasted my time posting previously by the looks of it!

 

[Mike70560]

And "killing creatures for the fun of it" is a another giveaway.