[fabsroman]

That is hilarious OneShotBandit. "Liberal Hunters"

Let me throw this out there. There are two extremes of sportsmen. Those who actually care about the environment, and those that only care about themselves. I have hunted with guys that kill over a 100 ducks in a day, well over the limit, and they don't even eat them. They do the same thing with geese and throw them in the dumpster. They throw their trash in the bay while we are fishing. They spend tons of time and money in the pursuit of the biggest whitetail of the year so that they can prove that they are the best hunter.

Then there is the opposite side. Hunters that go out there just to hunt. To experience the hunt with their buddies, dogs included. Essentially, to have a great time. If they kill a big buck, they are not sending pics of it via telephone. They are not calling every relative they have. They are content with shooting nothing the entire day or leaving with a limit.

Let me ask you this question. Why is an elephant hunt such a trophy hunt if it requires you to win the lottery, or mortgage the house, to do it?

I have killed two decent size bucks. To most, they are big. To those mentioned in the first paragraph, they merely have antlers. I have killed tons of waterfowl and limit upon limit of doves. The two bucks are great memories of mine, but that is because there are two great stories behind them. The limits of birds really don't provide too many great memories for me, then again, there are some limits that do (i.e., the guys that treated my dad and I like 2nd rate citizens and did not let us hunt in with them only to watch us limit out on geese before they even killed one in the field next to us). Some of my great memories are the following:

1. Wounding a goose 2 years ago just to watch my 7 month old lab run over a hill and emerge a couple of minutes later with the bird. It was well over a 200 yard retrieve and I thought I was going to have to chase the bird and dog all day. My dog was so proud he was shaking his tail the entire way back and I was extremely excited. That was the only bird we killed that afternoon because they were flaring (i.e., we left something out in plane sight that we didn't see until we left). I consider that to be a great hunt.

2. Earlier in that year, I went hunting with the 4 1/2 month old puppy and my dad again. I crushed two mallards that peeled off a group of 5 and came through the trees. The puppy retrieved both. That was all the action for that day, but it was a success.

I can go on and on about this, but trophies are what you make them to be. What is funny is that people that care so much about what is hanging on the wall miss a lot of what hunting is about.

If somebody wins the lottery and goes on that "dream" elephant hunt, does that make them a better hunter than the guy next door? How about a better person? Does the hunter that pulls the trigger on a bald eagle become a better hunter than the guy that doesn't? Is the guy that has permission to hunt the best property in the state a better hunter than the less fortunate guy that has to hunt public property?

At the end of the day, I can understand elephant hunting if the population is too great AND they cannot feasibly be relocated to an area that is lacking native elephants. Then, I am all for it, but I still think the "trophy" status of the ivory should be diminished. The "trophy" status of the ivory is what almost ensured that you would never have the opportunity to hunt an elephant regardless of whether or not you won the lottery. Kind of like the guys that shoot over the limit on Cans (i.e., ensuring that Canvasbacks become extinct) or those polluting the waterways to ensure that there are no fish for the next generation. Why is it that most men and women have to have what is not plentiful.

I could go on and on about this. Shark fin soup is another example.