Every year we get reports of thinning ranks in the hunting community, and every year people pontificate the reasons why. Well, here is one of them.
In this video, we have Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings killing a fenced-in, blind elk with a spear.
Do you think I am joking? I wish I was. Notice the psychotic look on the guys face, caught up completely in the thrill kill.
People like this do far more harm to hunting than any “anti” group ever will. Garbage like this will ultimately destroy hunting. Hunters who condone this by not rising up against it are doomed to let their sport perish as we evolve as a species. What a sham operation, and what a disgrace of a hunter. Dropping a spear on a corn fed elk in a fenced-in central Illinois preserve is pathetic.
Hunting is not in trouble because of this action, this is not hunting, this is not even related to hunting. This like going to a Carnival, he paid and entry fee, and he is in a controlled environment on private property.. You are poisoning the well of truth with this sickening event for and agenda which demonizes those of us in the hunting community who would never participate or approve of this nonsense. I suspect if this were a beef cow instead of the elk you would not have attacked hunting in it’s entirety as you have done..
I think the author does well in documenting this. It happens all the time. There are game ranches everywhere and it is becoming a big ticket source of revenue.
The desire of some for instant gratification, or big accomplishments in a small amount of time are pushing this event to become more and more popular.
and like it or not Greg, the layperson audience defines this video as hunting.
I heard of two insanely horrible things this week, the first is a student in Texas wants to genetically clone your elk for you so you can see what it would of looked like a few years older younger ect. Just send them the DNA and in a few years time on a private game ranch you can shoot it again! just be ready to pay $$$$$$
Another was one of my friends told me a game ranch he had heard of was cutting the testicles off of bull elk, something about the process was making them grow insane antlers for the season all to the delight of the big corporate money bags that would fly in to shoot a nice rack.
Hunting is all about connecting to the reality of life, learning the appreciation of a meal by getting it yourself the hard way, not every hunt is a successful one, you could write thousands of pages of philosophy that is by passed by events like this.
And don’t think for a second this video is in the minority, go buy a copy of the latest Cabellas big game hunter video game and see for yourself the image that hunting is molding itself into.
I used to hunt when I was a teenager. Now, I don’t like to kill animals. I don’t like to see them thrash around in the throes of death. I don’t like the smell of entrails if I clean them too quickly in the field and nick the intestine. I could go on and on. Those who have never hunted don’t realize that killing is a bloody, smelly act. Killing a human or an animal is no different. One usually doesn’t think about what happened until the deed has been done–unless it was premeditated and then we laws and law enforcement to deal with that. Gun ownership is a right and privilege of being a citizen–but if one owns guns then s/he has the responsibility to use it wisely in a legal manner. I used to hunt when game was plentiful and we had to have some skill to find it. Sneaking up on a woodcock, pheasant, or partridge takes a little skill. The same with deer when you get up early in the morning, freeze your tail in your blind, and wait for a neck or chest shot. You don’t shoot a doe if you don’t have a permit. You don’t shoot bambi unless you’re a jerk. You don’t clip off several shots it you don’t get a good bead the first shot. If you shot something, you track it and then give it a pop in the head to kill it quickly. Death should be quick–not slow and painful.
I respect real hunters who practice “respect for their quarry, respect for the environment, respect for other hunters and outdoor enthusiasts”. I have great disrespect for those people who trash our environment and treat our wildlife with total disrepect. If I ever needed to hunt again, I could and I still remember the rules of the woods and hunting etiquette taught to me by other hunters. I believe that anyone who hunts needs to take a gun safety course, be properly licensed, and should hunt with someone who knows what they are doing. Real hunters, are woodsmen, and sportsmen and we want to know that when hunting season rolls around each year that their will be adequate game. It all comes down to being good stewards of our earth and all that lives on it.
I have no respect and great disdain for those those who kill animals in an un-sportmanlike way. I also believe that if you kill something you should eat it. If you can’t eat it then you don’t kill it. As far as killing pennned up animals with a sword. This is nothing more than a freaking circus slaughter. People who have a need to do this need to be penned up and have one massive gladiator event. Mankind won’t miss these worthless, wastes of life one bit.
Jim I completely agree with everything you stated there. It takes more work to do the right thing, doesn’t it?
Nathan -
Your genetic elk story scares the hell out of me. But to tell you the truth, it doesn’t surprise me at all because that is the way hunting seems to be headed – towards this penultiumate form of gadgetry – and what’s more ultimate than tinkering with DNA?
I agree that “hunter” in the video is not “on the fringe” as many would like to think. That’s incredibly common. The “good guys” are outnumbered these days it seems.
So is not up to the ethical hunters to be loud and bring non ethical hunters to the “table”. As in any group, if you want to keep the activity going, you need to moderate it, keep a good presence/reputation. Where are the ethical hunters speaking up? Many of them just defend these guys from what I see…which makes me think they ARE these guys. RMEF could do something big…Cabellas could realize what they are purporting…
I think hunting used to be viewed in a more respectable light when people depended on it more for subsistance than for sport. It seems like brutally killing animals has taken the place for some people who seem to have no other socially acceptable outlet to unleash their anxieties. Maybe they should enlist and serve in the military. We could use some ninja types to finish a couple of wars. Yes, I think ethical hunters need to speak up not just to protect their reputation but to also protect the very wildlife they like to hunt. Being from Michigan, Ted Nugent has become the only person to really speak up–I like his music but I dont’ agree with many of his ideas but sometimes the guy speaks the truth.
People need to realize that these different species exist for a reason as they did for thousands of years–in an ecosystem there are many different types of creatures and they all play a part in the balance of nature. We can’t kill off one species without adversely affecting another. I am speaking from a biological (scientific) perspective. Not a hunting, religious, NRA, political, or sociological perspective. In my mind, the creature that is out of control and abusing its environment is humankind. But of course as long as people can make money by exploiting earth’s resources they will do it. We need to practice stewardship. My grandfather had a gravel pit and harvested trees, and killed farm animals as needed to make a living. He also planted trees for another lumber crop (for another family member to harvest–he practiced sustainable forestry). My family also planted trees in our gravel pit and turned it into a nice oasis for people and animals. The farm animals were raised for the purpose of feeding the family. It’s possible to make a living from the earth without permanent exploitation. My question is aren’t American citizens sick of the idiots in Washington only giving lip service to being environmentalists? It’s time we start an “Environmentalists Party” and we only have environmental issues as part of the platform. We have plenty of dems and repubs who enjoy tossing around the same old issues (with hardly ever any resolution).
Jim – you are 100% correct about the balance of the ecosystem – that we can’t kill off one animal and not expect there to be some sort of negative consequence. Lookat the black footed ferret as a prime example. The idiots that poisoned those into near extinction hate prairie dogs, when that was their most effective predator.
Thank you for the story about your grandfather. Sounds like he knew what he was doing.
What you see there is NOT hunting and Jared Allen of the Vikings can NOT be classified as hunter. He’s a juiced-up killer, he’s as merciless in a canned hunt as he is on the field running down quarterbacks. I honestly believe he doesn’t differentiate between the two.
I would like to address how modern hunters are being painted in an inaccurate light here, but I have a feeling that I’m in the lion’s den…so I’ll quietly tiptoe out of here.
Bob -
I definitely know that what Allen did wasn’t hunting. However, that sort of thing is the mainstream these days. It’s a big problem for hunting – especially when all the shows on TV fail to call it out, as well as the mainstream magazines.
At the risk of arguing over semantics, these canned hunts are not “mainstream” — the practice is illegal in many states. Please don’t lump the two together, you’re doing a great disservice to many great conservationists who also happen to be hunters (something that’s not inseparable, btw).
Mike, thanks for posting this video. As a lifelong hunter I had trouble watching it but it needs to be shown and seen. As per the question if this is hunting or just killing for the sake of killing, I think it matters what hunters think of this, but what is important is what the 85-90% of the population that are not hunters make of it. Hunters need to defend our hunting heritage from those that do not understand it. Videos such as this, canned hunts, slob hunters all contribute to the general public misunderstanding. The heritage of hunting is not being destroyed by those outside the hunting community, but by some viewed by the general population as members of the hunting community. We are destroying our heritage from the inside out. We need to police our ranks, to be vocal when abuses such as this are played out, we need to promote fair chase and we need be clear to the majority of the population that equate this video with hunting that it is in fact an insult to everything related to fair ethical hunting.
Thanks for doing your part.
Tim – Thanks for the comments. What you said is exactly the point I am trying to make. Hunting’s worst enemy is behavior such as that in the video. If that becomes entrenched into the mindset of modern hunters, it’s trouble time.
Well said on Tim’s part. What was captured on video is the fringe element of hunting population, it most certainly isn’t “mainstream”. Like everything else in life, hunters as a group get a bad rap because of the actions of a very small minority — and that’s what seems to get focused on by the media and animal rights groups rather than all the positive things that hunters and their organizations (Ducks Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, et al) accomplish.
If I have one gripe about your site, Mike, it’s that you seem to take delight in spotlighting the actions of the idiots out there rather than pointing out accomplishments that are directly attributable to ethical, hardworking sportsmen and women — which greatly outnumber the doorknobs that media likes to draw the public’s attention to.
That would be a good study- measuring hunting ethics in the field… wonder how that would be done???:)
“If I have one gripe about your site, Mike, it’s that you seem to take delight in spotlighting the actions of the idiots out there rather than pointing out accomplishments that are directly attributable to ethical, hardworking sportsmen and women — which greatly outnumber the doorknobs that media likes to draw the public’s attention to.”
That’s because the goal is to kill hunting, and destroy gun ownership, bow owner ship, and so forth, the mob rule theorizes that the hunter must go.. Democracy is not freedom and it never was.. It is a tool.
The youth of America, the scholars, and increasingly the corporate professionals, regularly profess that Democracy is Freedom. This is trouble. The concepts of freedom and democracy conflict so regularly that Plato pronounced, “Democracy leads to anarchy, which is mob rule.” Freedom is the ability to decide and act for one’s self. Democracy requires all people to conform their action to the rule of the majority.
“Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.”
Hunting ethics has been lost and is in trouble, thanks to this education system failing us, when I went to school we learned ethical behavior, 30 years ago that class went out.. Now the bad people get all of the attention, and the decent people get tainted, by people who can’t write their own blogs but spend their time pasting and copying bad news that supports their agenda..
Hunting is not sustainable, just read the Earth Summit – Agenda 21 – The United Nations programme of action from Rio – ISBN 92-1-100509-4 .
Hiking about with a back pack, tent and camera are not sustainable either.. Your next Mike..
I witnessed to many examples this season in the Crazy Mtns. of sorry acts involving Wildlife, that ashamed Me, (lifetime hunter)! Know wonder people are against us.
Bo – thx for your comments. Do you have any specificn examples of the negative actions you saw?
There’s also been some bad behavior amongst some PGA players, but that shouldn’t give the entire tour a black eye…
I think what is important here is that hunters and non-hunters dialogue. I used to hunt but I no longer hunt–mostly for personal reasons. If I moved to a region where hunting was more commonplace and my lifestyle changed, then perhaps I might once again hunt and fish.
The right to own firearms and weapons to defend ourselves and procure food(guns, bows, knives, etc.) is a constitutional right. We can never let that be taken away. Currently, our government in it’s efforts to protect us from “terrorism” and other “violent acts” committed with firearms is encroaching on this constitutional right and our right of personal freedom and expression. Whereas, we do need our government to enact and enforce sound laws, we don’t want them taking away our constitutional rights and freedoms in any sector of our lives.
For the most part it seems that hunters and non-hunters agree that we must protect and preserve, in perpetuity, all of our natural resources and wildlife. We must also protect, preserve, and respect the laws and people of this country in the process. Individuals who disrespect and destroy those things that we hold dearly must be held accountable for their actions. If our laws are ineffective, unenforceable, outdated, unethical or immoral, then we, “citizens” must change them. We can’t be apathetic and silent about how we feel. Just as we have freedoms, we also have a duty to be vocal, to dialogue, and act accordingly or others will take away these rights. Just look at how voters act during election times, do we really look at the candiates and issues and vote our conscious, or do were merely vote along our traditional party lines entrusting our politicians to put laws in place. For most of us, I think it’s the later. For a long time we have trusted our politicians and not been active in our country’s policy making process. Of course it’s become “politically incorrect” to speak out and if we do, then we chance being branded a fanatic. Too bad! If American citizens (hunters and non-hunters) don’t speak out and become active in our government and law making, then we give our politicans and special interest groups “carte blanche” (Unrestricted power to act at one’s own discretion; unconditional authority) over us, our rights, and what we can and cannot do anywhere.
Idiots who kill or maime animals inhumanely and trash our environment should be prosecuted and put in jail. In conclusion, let’s use our dialogue to focus on what is best for our animals and environment.
“For the most part it seems that hunters and non-hunters agree that we must protect and preserve, in perpetuity, all of our natural resources and wildlife. We must also protect, preserve, and respect the laws and people of this country in the process.”
I think that statement gets lost too often in the anti-versus-pro hunting argument. Well said.