I guess we're going to leave it here, Andy.
I am unconcerned about what is legal
I don't care about antelope and how many we have, or how great the wildlife programs are and how well they've done at keeping species alive and vibrant.
All of that is irrelevant to my concern.
Apparently I am incapable of enough eloquence to get my point across, so beyond this I'll not comment longer because I will begin to sound like a broken record.
There are other countries in Africa where lions do roam free and prior to right now a hunt in one of those countries could have been planned- right at the moment even there we now see restrictions on them....in fact, the restrictions are due to OVERHARVEST causing a lack of adult lions, according to the PH's I am talking with.
What I am saying is that at some point we must begin deciding that just because the law doesn't rule something out, we still ought to think twice about doing it.(it makes no difference if your only intent is for the fence to keep poachers out- it STILL keeps animals inside)
The subtle distinctions we are very comfortable with will be LOST in the minds of non-hunters. To them, a fence is a fence- and they understand what fences do- they keep things out AND they keep things in. Just ask any dog owner(we have 90 million dog owners in this continent and they'll tell you- you idjit, the fence keeps my dog from running off!)
Bear baiting does make sense to us- if your goal is to make certain you are not killing a female with cubs and that's typically the reason for baiting.
Chasing mountain lions with dogs makes sense to us- beyond the fact you'd probably never SEE a mt lion on foot by yourself within shooting range with a bow- it also allows you to selectively take the males or older specimens or pull your dogs off and go to another track.
But lions being bred in an enclosure for one purpose- to be killed- by being thrown into another enclosure a few days weeks or months prior to the "hunt" happening- does that sound like what we ought to be about, whether its legal or not?
There was a guy who was going to fence in areas around resorts all over the country, bring in "celebrity" hunters to kill the bucks on TV on a circuit, and have a NASCAR or PGA for buck hunting- he even talked about using darts and releasing the deer when people began raising concerns.
The outcry here was amazing. How much different are these penned lion hunts than what this fellow was attempting to do here in the states? the only thing missing are the bleachers and live cams.
If success is the only thing that drives us, how do we reconcile that with limiting our ability to take game by using a weapon with strict limitations?
Remove fair chase and we begin down a road that will eventually lead to a place not many of us will recognize or like.
what we do individually affects us all. Because the world is truly a "global village" now, what happens in the far reaches of Australia can have an impact on what happens here, or in England- anywhere.
Yes, our individual circumstances are different- It's very interesting to me that in America our forefathers were able to revitalize our wildlife-in the face of the same issues you have in Africa- subsistence hunting and market hunting- WITHOUT the use of fences.. It can be done.
"the true hunter counts his achievement in proportion to the effort involved and the fairness of the sport." - Saxton Pope
I respect your right to feel the way you do- but I think in the long run its the wrong direction if our goal is for those who comes after us to enjoy the same privilege we have- to go afield and chase animals with stick and string- 'with a heart for any fate.'
Good hunting to all of you.
Topic: African Lion with BW recurve (Read 10655 times)
