I'm not a hunter. I've never even owned a gun. I fired a friend's 22 once at some bottles and cans on the top of a fence. It was a lot of fun. But I think I'd have a hard time shooting an animal unless it was hopelessly injured or attacking someone or some other animal I cared about. But to spend $70k to fly to Africa and shoot elephants? Honestly, I don't get it. The "fun" in this completely escapes me. Is there anyone here who thinks this would be fun? I'm not telling you you're evil or wrong or even misguided. I'm just trying to understand something that has never made sense to me.
I love to shoot clays, skeet, sporting clays, trap, it's all good and a lot of fun. I don't hunt though. Quite a few of my shooting buddies go bird hunting and I may try it sometime with them, but probably won't. Obviously birds are not big game, but how is hiring as guide, setting up a tripod to rest a gun, and sighting in an animal with a scope to shoot at distance a challenge or accomplishment?
It’s not my thing, nor do I have the disposable funds to toss away $70 grand to do it, but I imagine that there is an element of danger which appeals to big game hunters. Witness the guide who died this past week by a pair of grizzlies. Or the bow hunter who got mauled by a balck Bear after he checked on his condition.
There is a reasonable argument to be made about culling herds and conservation efforts associated with both animal selection and the money that hunting brings in. What always makes me laugh are the saps who view these animals as being defenseless and cuddly— as if a 500 pound leopard is just a really, really big kitten. Just look and see what these big cats do in urban centers in India and South Africa.
I no more begrudge hunters of their hobbies than I do auto enthusiasts who spend copious amounts of money on a vehicle that will never be driven anywhere close to what they are capable of. To each his own.
“In a civilized and cultivated country wild animals only continue to exist at all when preserved by sportsmen. the excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wild life, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination.”
