Don't fly through Amsterdam

[Neil Summers]

I was glad to find out about the problems as I was in the process of booking my flights for a bowhunting trip to Uganda which would have sent me through Amsterdam. I had a couple of clients experience the confiscation of broadheads while traveling through Amsterdam in the last couple of months. Debbie Gracy from Gracy Travel International has been in contact with the Dutch Customs looking for clarification and as a result I contacted the Hunting Report to put out a warning which is below:

Bowhunters about to fly to Africa through the Netherlands need to change their travel plans immediately if they plan on traveling with broadheads of any kind for their arrows. The Hunting Report has received word that the Netherlands police at Schiphol Airport are actively searching bow cases for broadheads and threatening hunters with fines and jail time for entering the country with "contraband." Already three bowhunters that we know of have experienced this while transiting through the country. According to the hunters, police told them all arrowheads are illegal to possess in the Netherlands as are all folding knives. They also stated it did not matter that they had not tried to clear Customs with these items or that they were only transiting the country. We are also told that there are no provisions for acquiring a transit permit for such items, as there is for firearms and ammunition. One hunter lost $2,500 worth of custom broadheads designed for hunting thick-skinned African game when those items were confiscated from his bags.

If you are booked on a flight that transits through The Netherlands, call your travel agent immediately to change your flights. Under no circumstances should you attempt to transit through the Netherlands with broadheads or folding knives in your luggage. The Dutch authorities are taking a hard-nosed approach to this, and are prepared to begin fining or even jailing hunters. See the next issue of The Hunting Report for more on this development. - Barbara Crown, Editor

[Cane Knife]

Thanks Neil!  Great info for those lucky enough to hunt Africa.

[cacciatore]

Too bad,this is absurd,but is a logic consequence when you enter a country that doesn't like the hunt.Most of the European country are against bowhunting as well.So enjoy your seasons.

[giff]

who carries $2500 worth of broadheads with them?

[dragonheart]

probably took all the arrows too.

[Joseph]

A friend of mine had trouble with that back in 2004 but they were overnighting and had got there luggage and were going through customs when it was discovered that they had broadheads and knives with them. They spent the night in the airport with them and their luggage under gaurd.  When I went through Amsterdam in 2005 on my way to South Africa they never said a thing about them but I just changed planes, apperently they have gotten more uptight about that kind of stuff.  You would think with all of the happy brownies they would be a little more relaxed     Oh well, good thing to know.  Thanks for the warning.  Joseph

[Hit-or-Miss]

Ok, so let me get this straight... drugs are legal, and the "Red Light District" over there is well known, but I can't take Broadheads through? For Real??? LOL!!!!

[amar911]

I ALWAYS carry folding knives in my checked baggage when I travel, including the times I fly through Amsterdam. I have never had any trouble, but it is good to know the risks involved. This may cause me to eliminate any travel through the Netherlands even though it is my family's fatherland. I don't like that sort of restriction on knives and broadheads, but we here in the U.S. can hardly complain when we have the most restrictive (abusive?) screening of almost anywhere in the world. Air travel used to be fun -- now it is an ordeal. Of course, rather than simply blaming the authorities who have been charged with protecting us, we really ought to focus our anger on the terrorists who made it part of their objectives to create turmoil and expense to aid them in fulfilling their purposes. I don't like the restrictions, but they have been implemented as a response to public demand for safety, even if the response is an overreaction.

As an aside, I like Joseph's quote from Margaret Thatcher about the problem with socialism. On the other side of the coin, every political system has major flaws, as was pointed out by another famous British Prime Minister when he was talking about our hallowed British/American system: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” Winston Churchill

We need to work hard as voters to protect our traditional rights, like our bow hunting traditions, or as the minority in our democracy, we will lose those rights. Being subject to the will of the majority is what has been called "the tyranny of democracy". Bow hunters are definitely a small minority, and traditional bow hunters are a tiny, tiny minority.

Allan

[MrWinkles]

Originally posted by Hit-or-Miss:
Ok, so let me get this straight... drugs are legal, and the "Red Light District" over there is well known, but I can't take Broadheads through? For Real??? LOL!!!!

"Certain" drug(s) are "legal". Not all drugs are "legal".
"Soft" drugs...which means cannabis(as far as I know cannabis is the ONLY "soft" drug.) which means your post should have said "cannabis is "legal"" not "drugs(plural) are "legal""...

I guess if you used only facts in your post it would not look like the "bad" place you wanted it to look like, so therefore you stretched the facts.

Certain drugs that have never resulted in a death in all of recorded history are "legal"(once again ONLY cannabis). Unless you count the deaths that the Govt caused by making a plant a black market item.

Did they forget prohibition and Al capone??
Nope they didnt forget, they simply saw it as a money source / job security.

Its like calling poachers, hunters.

Yes, it is lame that you cant take braod heads there, Id have learned that before I went there though.   :rolleyes:  

Thanks for this thread.

By the way even cannabis is illegal over there. Its simply "tolerated" because it doesnt hurt anyone.(Unless that person lets it. Kinda like "words dont hurt...unless you let them".)

[MrWinkles]

Reply to amar911
I agreed with you post until you said.

"Of course, rather than simply blaming the authorities who have been charged with protecting us,   we really ought to focus our anger on the terrorists who made it part of their objectives to create turmoil and expense to aid them in fulfilling their purposes. I don't like the restrictions, but they have been implemented as a response to public demand for safety, even if the response is an overreaction."

Maybe we should focus on the citizens "overreaction" as well?

That should be the real focus IMO because we will NEVER STOP TERRORISTS, but maybe, just maybe, we can help our citizens become "tougher" and more able to handle themselves instead of relying on / enabling the govt to control us.

Its cause and effect.
You can say that... beCAUSE of terrorists the EFFECT is stricter laws governing US citizens.

Or you can say
"beCAUSE of our weak citizens and their propensity to overreact / let the government control us, the effect is terrorists."

[amar911]

Mr. Winkles,

I agree with what you are saying about needing to address our overreactions, but I think it is better public policy for us to place primary blame on the terrorists for exploiting our basic human fears rather than to blame our fears (the weakness of our citizens and the propensity to overreact) for causing the acts of the terrorists. While there is a certain amount of logic to the latter position, it places ultimate responsibility on someone other than the wrongdoers. There is no doubt that terrorists are encouraged by our fears, our overreactions, our publicizing of their acts of terror, etc., and we should try to deal with terrorism in the same way we have been encouraged to deal with fear in the past. FDR said, when talking about the Great Depression, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." That is not entirely true with respect to terrorism, but I agree that overreacting to fear feeds terrorism. Just as the terrorists are ultimately responsible for the evils they spawn, the rest of us (governments included) do bear responsibility for our own actions and reactions. As Winston Churchill also once said, "The price of greatness is responsibility." If we are to be great, we all must take responsibility for ourselves. Part of that responsibility is to remain rational, attempt to control our fears, and be measured in our responses and reactions. You are correct that, as individual citizens and governments, we have failed to constrain our reactions and have unduly restricted our liberties along with unintentionally encouraging terrorism by showing the terrorists that their methods work.

Sportsmen like us have responsibilities too beyond those of average citizens. As bow hunters, the only way I know to deal with the Dutch taking the position they have on folding knives and broadheads is to book our flights so we do not go through the Netherlands, and to make our reasons known to those in the Netherlands who are setting those policies. Economics is the largest single factor used by governments in making decisions, and while our economic impact may be small, it may still have an effect, especially if all the people who want to have folding knives in their checked baggage (many times the number of people who want to carry broadheads in their luggage) avoid Dutch airports. KLM, the large Dutch airline, needs to know these policies will cost it lost passenger revenues.

I am not going to discuss the subjects of drugs, prostitution, prohibition or gangsters in this thread, because I do not think they bear any substantial relationship to the Dutch ban on folding knives and broadheads. I will leave those subjects to others.

Allan

[MrWinkles]

I like your post Allan.
   

[Benny Nganabbarru]

They are a hard-headed people. I have relatives there, and they will not even try to understand why hunting might be important and necessary in other parts of the world. They view us with a sense of superiority in terms of culture and values. Would you believe, they still eat meat, but they send their cattle to Poland to get killed, processed and packaged, and then they ship the meat back.

Of course, I've made generalisations. I'm sure there are many Dutch who are decent and thoughtful, but many seem to think they're too good for the rest of the world.