Jfet
AH legend
Hunting: What is it?
In the Hunter Safety Course, I teach at my high school there is a section that discusses the six stages of hunter development. This is the course developed by the Outdoor Tomorrow Foundation and the Dallas Safari Club. These six stages include the following:
1. Shooting Stage: This is where the priority is getting off a shot. This can lead to bad decisions that endanger others.
2. Limiting-Out Stage: Success is defined by bagging the limit.
3. Trophy Stage: Hunter is selective and determines success by quality rather than quantity.
4. Method Stage: Process of hunting becomes the focus. Hunter may still want to limit-out but places higher priority on how it’s accomplished.
5. Sportsman Stage: Success measured by total experience.
6. Give-Back Stage: Part of the process of becoming a true, responsible sportsman is becoming involved in efforts to make hunting a respected sport. That includes teaching proper knowledge and skills to others, working with landowners, and cooperating with wildlife officials.
I have had a student refer to these 6 steps as the process of becoming a Master Jedi Hunter.
I tell my students that we all go through these steps. It is imperative that we get through step 1 very quickly. It is ok through your hunting life to revisit the other 5 steps. However, steps 5 and 6 are where the true joy of hunting is experienced.
As hunters and members of AH we are currently involved amongst ourselves in a debate about what is hunting. Is shooting a lion that has been released hunting? Is shooting a whitetail deer from around a feeder hunting? Is shooting an elephant after miles of walking hunting? These are questions that have been discussed in North America since mid-1800’s. They came to fruition with George Bird Grinnell and Theodore Roosevelt forming the Boone and Crockett Club. It was Grinnell and his magazine Forrest and Stream along with his many books on hunting that was at the fore front of changing how North Americans viewed hunting. Grinnell’s mission was to change us from market hunters to sports hunters. From full exploitation of wildlife to sustainable conservation of wildlife.
Let us continue with this debate. It will make us better hunters. Let us remember that we are on the same side. In the end, we need to all be able to sit together at the campfire and enjoy each other’s company.
My hope is that the individual that killed the croc in the documentary Trophy will watch it and see the difference between his hunt and Phillip Glass’s hunt and will choose to emulate Philip.
In the Hunter Safety Course, I teach at my high school there is a section that discusses the six stages of hunter development. This is the course developed by the Outdoor Tomorrow Foundation and the Dallas Safari Club. These six stages include the following:
1. Shooting Stage: This is where the priority is getting off a shot. This can lead to bad decisions that endanger others.
2. Limiting-Out Stage: Success is defined by bagging the limit.
3. Trophy Stage: Hunter is selective and determines success by quality rather than quantity.
4. Method Stage: Process of hunting becomes the focus. Hunter may still want to limit-out but places higher priority on how it’s accomplished.
5. Sportsman Stage: Success measured by total experience.
6. Give-Back Stage: Part of the process of becoming a true, responsible sportsman is becoming involved in efforts to make hunting a respected sport. That includes teaching proper knowledge and skills to others, working with landowners, and cooperating with wildlife officials.
I have had a student refer to these 6 steps as the process of becoming a Master Jedi Hunter.
I tell my students that we all go through these steps. It is imperative that we get through step 1 very quickly. It is ok through your hunting life to revisit the other 5 steps. However, steps 5 and 6 are where the true joy of hunting is experienced.
As hunters and members of AH we are currently involved amongst ourselves in a debate about what is hunting. Is shooting a lion that has been released hunting? Is shooting a whitetail deer from around a feeder hunting? Is shooting an elephant after miles of walking hunting? These are questions that have been discussed in North America since mid-1800’s. They came to fruition with George Bird Grinnell and Theodore Roosevelt forming the Boone and Crockett Club. It was Grinnell and his magazine Forrest and Stream along with his many books on hunting that was at the fore front of changing how North Americans viewed hunting. Grinnell’s mission was to change us from market hunters to sports hunters. From full exploitation of wildlife to sustainable conservation of wildlife.
Let us continue with this debate. It will make us better hunters. Let us remember that we are on the same side. In the end, we need to all be able to sit together at the campfire and enjoy each other’s company.
My hope is that the individual that killed the croc in the documentary Trophy will watch it and see the difference between his hunt and Phillip Glass’s hunt and will choose to emulate Philip.
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