IDFG Commissioner resigns over hunt photos

I think the majority of Americans could use a LOT of education about hunting in Africa, from the financial contribution to conservation, how it affects commercial poaching, how the meat is used by local tribes, and so on. I include myself in this group.

All that said, it takes a special kind of stupid to take a photo like that and tell someone you killed a family of baboons. There is NFW that will EVER end well. For that matter, if I shot a doe antelope and twin fawns (legally of course) and posed them together and said I killed a family of antelope, I would probably garner a similarly negative reaction.
 
JLS said:
I think the majority of Americans could use a LOT of education about hunting in Africa, from the financial contribution to conservation, how it affects commercial poaching, how the meat is used by local tribes, and so on. I include myself in this group.

All that said, it takes a special kind of stupid to take a photo like that and tell someone you killed a family of baboons. There is NFW that will EVER end well. For that matter, if I shot a doe antelope and twin fawns (legally of course) and posed them together and said I killed a family of antelope, I would probably garner a similarly negative reaction.
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I agree with you, but let's be real...these guys are going over there to kill a bunch of stuff and maybe a trophy or two. The things you mentioned are just a justification. I'm certainly not as educated on the topic as I could be either. I just don't buy the story that the majority of these guy's primary motivation is funding conservation, feeding hungry people, and fighting poachers. I think that's what many people have a problem with.
 
MJE2083 said:
I agree with you, but let's be real...these guys are going over there to kill a bunch of stuff and maybe a trophy or two. The things you mentioned are just a justification. I'm certainly not as educated on the topic as I could be either. I just don't buy the story that the majority of these guy's primary motivation is funding conservation, feeding hungry people, and fighting poachers. I think that's what many people have a problem with.
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Maybe so. Maybe they just want a lot of cool shit for their trophy room. I don't know, and I'm not going to get completely hung up on whether their "justification" is altruistic or not.

If the Wilks Brothers offered up conservation easements with access on a bunch of their properties for reasons other than being completely benevolent, would people care, or would they say "look bigger picture?"

In the end, if there truly are beneficial reasons for African hunting, I'm not going to get too hung up on why folks went in the first place. They are the only ones who likely know the truth. For that matter, much of what you described could easily be applied to a number of hunters in North America as well.
 
Has everyone looked at the picture that was sent out? Propping up the family with the baby in the arms of the mother is just a poor choice on his part. Yes it was legal. Yes, baboons are pests they are like coyotes are here. But the thing is this picture is being seen by those that do not know this. The very people that don't hunt but decide at the voting booth if "we" get to hunt. The non hunters that are on the fence about hunting see this and decide "our"future". That picture should have not been sent out in the manner that is was.............
 
Don K said:
Has everyone looked at the picture that was sent out? Propping up the family with the baby in the arms of the mother is just a poor choice on his part. Yes it was legal. Yes, baboons are pests they are like coyotes are here. But the thing is this picture is being seen by those that do not know this. The very people that don't hunt but decide at the voting booth if "we" get to hunt. The non hunters that are on the fence about hunting see this and decide "our"future". That picture should have not been sent out in the manner that is was.............
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On another hunting forum I was just chastised for using the same language that you did. I was told that "family" and "mother" are terms we should not be using because it assigns human values to animals. :rolleyes: Evidently, we're part of the problem.
 
While I get it, the argument of "well it's legal" doesn't really resonate with me. I will admit that the act itself doesn't bother me as much as the bragging and sharing of the photo, but I don't think it's expecting too much to see the morality at play here. I'm sure there are places in Africa where it's "legal" to do a lot of crazy shit, but that doesn't mean that I have to support it.
 
What completely baffles me is what the hell was he thinking? Obviously not a FNG to the hunting world, how did he think this would turn out?

To steal a Buzz phrase “anyone with 2 brain cells firing” could see how this would end.
 
Stupid decision? Yes.

Should result in losing his job? No way, especially in Idaho.
 
Don K said:
But the thing is this picture is being seen by those that do not know this. The very people that don't hunt but decide at the voting booth if "we" get to hunt. The non hunters that are on the fence about hunting see this and decide "our"future". That picture should have not been sent out in the manner that is was.............
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That’s what I’m hung up on as well. Too many people happy to make a shit show of something like this, especially with African animals. It has the potential to make some people (albeit not very thoughtful people) regard all hunters as cruel maniacs, when we wouldn’t have even been on the radar otherwise.

And I thought he sent this picture to friends? Might want to rethink his friend list.
 
fwagner said:
Killing a baboon is fine with me if it's done legally.....but. Shooting a family of baboons just because is dumb, he deserves what he got. I would have fired him because of his mustache alone!
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Yeah, the 'stache was a bit too "Geraldo" for me. The guy evidently doesn't think ahead. Posing that dead Baboon family like that was bound to offend just about anyone. To the PETA folks, the primates look like humans.
 
I don't care that he shot a "family" of baboons, they are a scourge. I don't care that he posted it to social media, I don't think anyone else really cares either. But there is a certain faction of people in the world who will find any excuse to ruin people they don't agree with. He gave those people an excuse.

My understanding is that the commissioner's position is an unpaid one.
 
I see a lot of hunters comparing baboons to coyotes or other vermin. I grew up on a farm in a very rural area and we killed a lot of vermin when we had the chance. Carried guns in the tractors when making hay as coyotes would come out after mice or other small critters. Over a few day period a group of raccoons got into the granary and I think we ended up killing 8 of them with traps and .22s. Never occurred to us to pose for a picture with all the vermin. Also never though to call it hunting.

I have no problem with the guy killing the baboons just a problem with how it is presented.
 
When I met Blake he was wearing a ‘Public Landowner’ tee. I believe he’s also affiliated with ID BHA
Spending all that money to go to Africa and kill a giraffe, a leopard and a baboon ‘family’ just shows the extensive lengths green decoys go to show they’re not covertly against hunting. Lol
 
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