CNN's Film 'Trophy; Big-game hunting and wildlife conservation in Africa'

[The Hedgehog]

Didn't watch it. Would rather watch 2-3 episodes of Cops than a CNN program on trophy hunting.

 

[jzeck2]

Fin,

Pretty spot on.

As a hunter I have a hard time thinking that the hunting that was portrayed in CNNs show is something that I would feel good about not to say how the 80% of non hunters looked at it. In fact I said to my wife while we watched it together, "Dear, I never want to go to Africa on a Hunt" hoping to win a few points on $$. In the next sentence I slipped in a moose hunt in Newfoundland would be more my style. Don't know if she caught the second statement. I do believe a better show would have been made if based on our North American Model of Conservation. If my wife is reading, I think the Canadians are doing a marvelous job of moose conservation in New Foundland.

To put myself in the othersides mocasins they couldn't have picked a better cast to put hunting in a bad light. Of course one doesn't know about editting and maybe they cut the parts that make these folks appear as if they have a clue. I kind of doubt it however but I'm not quite willing to chuck to whole cast under the bus yet.

I did find myself having a little bit of sympathy for the rhino farmer. I could imagine that if he does go under it would be a mass slaughter. However, if he ever sold a rhino to be "hunted" I think who loses any credibility I would be willing to give him. Maybe it is a renewable resource, I have a hrad time believing his solution can save rhino's at there current population levels, but it would be worth a try. Just don't sell a hunt for them.

To close, everytime something like this appears, it just makes it all the more important that the rest of us portray hunting as an ethical pursuit of food and our heritage.

Oh by the way, just got done eating a bison burger and getting an elk loin steak out of the freezer to unthaw for the next day just before the show aired and was setting on my bison robe (draped over the couch against the better judgement of the wife by the way) and using an elk leather throw pillow to rest my elbow on (not the one that the steak came from it ( the pillow) was from 3 elks prior.

 

[MTGomer]

When rhinos get old enough they lose the ability to breed but they don’t stop being ornery and aggressive to young rhinos.
I could be a billionaire and would never shoot a rhino, elephant, giraffe, zebra etc but if someone wants to pay $360k to kill that angry, mean old rhino, as long as the money goes to conservation there is nothing wrong with it.

 

[Roamer]

Last April my wife and I and a good lifelong friend went to Africa to hunt Cape buffalo.
Let me preface this post by saying I am far from wealthy I work in a grocery store I like to hunt hard we used to bow hunt elk out of the backpacking camp for over 20 years in the Eaglesnest wilderness area I’ve done a solo goat hunt and 2 solo archery sheep hunts.
The trip to Africa was awesome I was a little bit concerned about the high fence thing but once you went through the gate you never really Dealt with it unless we drove by to go to a hunting area.
The places were huge if I would’ve wanted to walk from one into the other damn sure better pack a sleeping bag. Our outfitters said the fences were for as much to keep people/poachers out as to keep the animals in. We did some spot in stock hunting but mostly we walked. The buffalo hunt was incredible we snuck to them 40 yards and when I shot my Buffalo I was only 2 inches from where my outfitter said to shoot him but I wound up with a wounded Buffalo instead of a dead Buffalo and let me tell you tracking a wounded cape buffalo was everything I had heard about.
When we cut up with him I shot him again he turned and charged then I shot again in the outfitter shot and he piled up 10 feet to my left. To this day I still can’t believe I didn’t have a brown stain my hunting pants
After my buffalo my wife shot an impala then I hunted Gemsbok for four days and never got a shot at one wound up shooting a wildebeest instead.
The entire experience was awesome and I would recommend to anyone it was nothing like some of the stuff on the tv show.
Really enjoyed it so much we’re going back for a planes game archery hunt in three years.
Do I like what we have here better oh hell yes but just do your homework ahead of time and it can be a great experience

 

[RyanT]

Started watching. The type of hunting this documentary portrays is pretty far beyond the hunting I, and pretty much everyone else on here, participate in. Would be nice to document how average hunters here in the U.S. promote and contribute to conservation, but I guess that may not be as big of a story as the African stuff.

My thoughts. Too boring to show what most of us do, so have to find a more screen worthy story...