Fellas, there's a MYSPACE.COM blog about how great the WHA is going to be. I went to it and sent a message stating that it would be a disaster. This is the reply I received, and my answer back to them. I cannot find the link to the blog, but answering it is a waste of time because you do not get to put your thoughts on their blog, unless they approve it..and guess what...they aren't going to approve anything but positives unless they're silly.
Dear Ray,
The WHA is not putting the lives of these deer in danger. We have taken careful measures to ensure their health and safety. The chemical tranquilizer has nearly a 100% recovery rate and the entire darting process will be handled by extremely experienced professionals who have done this hundreds of times with no casualties. Our overall goal is to bring Hunting to the Amercian public; millions of people who do not understand our sport. We really don't see how we could "screw hunting in the balance." What we will do is show the public that hunters are very intelligent, careful sportsmen and that hunting is a perfectly natural, legitimate and moral pasttime: something that has been missing from the mainstream media's view for far too long.
Rob
___________________________________________________________________
Rob,
Even Chuck Sykes correctly doesn't claim that there is NO CHANCE these deer will be inadvertantly dead as a result of this activity, and he is a smart man for doing so because he KNOWS the truth.
Spin this any way you like, the darting process is NOT being handled by professionals..its being handled by hunters out of treestands who have NOT darted hundreds of deer. What about deflections? If you have ever hunted you know that is a fact of life. When a dart gets bumped and goes into the organs of the deer what will you do then? How about hitting them in the eye? Stuff happens when you hunt, Rob.
You have drunk the Kool Aid, Rob...the fella who was hired to do your marketing quit and went back to selling seeds after a couple of weeks because he, like the rest of us who are not out to make a quick buck understand the long term consequences of what you are doing rather than trying to get beer money for next week.
If your plan is to show hunters as being intelligent then you have picked the wrong bunch to do it because so far the discussions on many websites they have participated in have left me and others with the impression they are for the most part young, easily influenced, lacking in historical perspective, no understanding of hunting's history in this country, and not very bright.
Rave on...you are preaching to someone who won't succumb to hype and fluff. I understand how the selling game works and reject your premise for the show as faulty.
And, if you think this bastardization of hunting is going to somehow cause mainstream media to drink your kool aid then you are really kidding yourself. They are going to USE your show to put us in the worst possible light and they will not be swayed from that by you, me, or Farbman. You haven't even begun yet and Comedy Central is already asking for hunters to appear on one of their shows. They'll make jackasses out of everyone that appears...cause that's what they do.
Ray