Tag Archives: sport hunting

Hunting: the Sport of Sociopaths

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How can some people torment and kill animals and call it a “sport?” They must have the same merciless attitude as Canadian pig farmer, hands-on butcher and serial killer, Willy Pickton.

When asked by a Vancouver police interrogator to reveal the locations of the 49 women he’d murdered over his career (some of whose remains were ground up, mixed with pig meat and sold or given away to friends or family), Pickton asked, “Why should I do that?” To which the investigator replied, “For the families. They need to know.”

Willie’s chilling comeback summed up his entire outlook on life, “Not my problem, shit happens.”

Pickton was clearly a sociopath (or psychopath, if you prefer), and so must be those who subscribe to his “shit happens” philosophy. While a lot of folks are pretty unsympathetic about things that don’t directly affect them, hunters (like serial killers) take it a step further, by making bad shit happen to others.

Still not convinced that hunters are sociopaths? Consider these quotes from “diehard” bowhunter and NRA spokesman “terrible” Ted Nugent, about his favorite sport: “There’s an absolute surety to the hands-on conservation lifestyle of hunting, fishing and trapping…” or “If you want to save a species, simply decide to eat it. Then it will be managed – like chickens, like turkeys, like deer, like Canadian geese.” and “I get a full predator spiritual erection from hunting bear, lions, coons, housecats, escaped chimps, small children, scared women and everything else that can be chased and/or hunted.”

Now, if that guy’s not a sociopath, Willy Pickton’s just a pig farmer.

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Game Departments Must Think They’re God

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Cannon Beach, nestled along the northern Oregon Coast, used to be a prettymore housepix 235 peaceful place. It’s a nice, romantic getaway or a great place to bring the entire clan. Haystack Rock, perched immediately off CB’s two mile stretch of sand, appears on more post cards and magazine covers than any other feature on the entire coast.

Folks stay there to escape the noise and manic pace of Portland or Seattle, enjoying quiet walks, hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the native wildlife. A small herd of elk lives there and can sometimes be seen taking their own cautious walks out on the beach in the early morning, foraging on the thick, leafy salal bushes in Ecola State Park or resting on the grass in city parks at the edge of town, adding to the natural character of area.

Cannon Beach is not the kind of place people expect to run into cammo-clad Elmers with shotguns or compound bows stalking the area’s half-tame animals.

But when the town’s parks and community services committee wanted to limit the local hunting season to only one month, the Oregon state Department of Fish and Wildlife told them they could not limit the hunting season and instead set five seasons there, totaling 90 days.  And although the town of Cannon Beach wanted to restrict hunting to bows and arrows and shotgun slugs, the ODFW informed them that buckshot would be allowed as well.

Yes, you read that right—now any hunter who wants to can blast a 700 pound bull elk with a shotgun. What a mess that would be for some sightseeing family to come across. And how many elk and deer, who were nearly out of range at the time they were shot at, will escape with a gaping, bleeding, lead-filled hole in them?!!

According to the almighty ODFW, hunting on the Ecola Creek Forest Reserve will be extended from one month to 92 days, beginning Aug. 24. And rather than being limited to one season from Sept. 28 through Nov. 1, five seasons will be allowed through Dec. 8!

The great and powerful ODFW have decreed that hunting dates in the reserve shall be:
• Aug. 24 through Sept. 22: bow hunting for deer and elk.
• Sept. 28 through Nov. 1: shotgun hunting for buck deer.
• Nov. 9 through Nov.12: shotgun hunting for bull elk.
• Nov. 16 through Nov. 22: shotgun hunting for bull elk.
• Nov. 23 through Dec. 8: bow hunting for deer.

This is just another example of state game departments pushing their weight around, defying the will of the people and town councils, not to mention the will of the wildlife. Who do “game” regulators think they are, God? Sorry, but I hear that position has already been filled.

Text and Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Text and Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson

Why Are TV Networks Airing Reality Shows That Glorify Stupidity And Cruelty To Animals?

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Where I live we don’t get television reception, so my viewing time is spent the old fashioned way: watching DVDs from Netflix. On those occasions when I find myself flipping channels somewhere that has cable, the rapidly-spreading spate of “reality” wildlife blow up tv t-shirtsnuff shows gets me so worked-up I feel like pulling a John Denver and blowing up the TV. But that would do little to slow the scourge of brainless, conscienceless drivel plaguing our society like a pandemic super-bug.

Clearly, cooler heads than mine are needed to combat this ever-growing menace. Therefore I hereby relinquish the pulpit (temporarily) and turn it over to Justin Forte, who, ever since nimrod networks started cropping up across the cable TV wasteland, has been asking the question…

Why Are T.V. Networks Airing Reality Shows That Glorify Stupidity And Cruelty To Animals?

Guest Rant by Justin Forte

What is it with television networks showing these stupid reality shows about bumpkins and glorifying killing and exploiting wild animals lately? It is beyond disgusting! All you see any more on most networks is one brain-dead reality show after another! Networks like Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC, and The History Channel are supposed to show programs that raise IQ levels not lower them! All you see on these networks and several other TV networks anymore are garbage shows that glorify trapping, torturing, and killing wildlife for profit and entertainment!

If it isn’t that, the networks show other reality shows of people acting like brain-dead yuppie idiots or people craving attention for doing ordinary stuff that other people do all the time that they think they should be on TV and get a medal for doing! WTF?

It is really sad, disgusting, and disturbing that the media has gone so low and is force feeding this garbage to the masses, and our society is suffering for it! Personally, I would love to see a social study experiment conducted to show the negative effects these reality shows are having on our society. I think these brain-dead reality shows glorifying animal killing and stupidity is dumbing down the masses and I think it is high time we stand up to the networks airing this garbage before they turn us all into brain-dead idiots and zombies from all this lousy programming they keep airing!

One of the best things we can do to put an end to these lousy reality shows that glorify animal killing and stupidity is to start complaining to these networks by calling, emailing, and sending letters of outrage over their programming. Another is to boycott the networks that show them. Cut the networks off from their ratings and they will begin to lose money, then we will be able to force them to bring back intelligent programming and entertainment like they used to show before they started showing the garbage they are showing now.

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Why YOU Should Care About the Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee

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Hunters should realize that their God-given right to remain silent protects them from having anything they say used against them…, such as the information in this article in Outdoor “Life” magazine…

 

Hunting Access: Why You Should Care About the Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee

by John Haughey

It may appear to be nothing more than semantics, but a proposal to make the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee a permanent advisory panel rather than one that must have its charter renewed every two years by Congress is a significant step in ensuring wildlife, habitat conservation, and hunting are priorities in federal land-management decisions.

The Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (WHHCC) advisory committee was created in 2010, replacing the Sporting Conservation Council, to advise the Interior and Agriculture departments on wildlife and habitat conservation, hunting, and recreational shooting issues on federal land.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the WHHCC requires Congressional reauthorization every two years for it to continue operating. The committee was renewed for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal years, but rather than renew its charter for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years, Rep. Robert Latta (R-Ohio) has proposed a bill that will make the panel a permanent advisory committee.

The Sportsmen’s Heritage And Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act introduced into the House by Latta and three co-sponsors on July 23 exempts the WHHCC from the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s two-year renewal stipulation by making it a “permanent” committee.

“Ensuring that sportsmen and sportswomen have an advisory capacity role across future Administrations is vital for all who enjoy the great outdoors throughout the nation to engage and provide consensus recommendations to federal agencies that will benefit from the Council’s vast experience and expertise,” Latta said. “I am confident that this legislation will serve to the betterment of current and future generations of hunter-conservationists.”

“This legislation will ensure that sportsmen are able to provide first-hand knowledge of the wildlife and hunting issues to the federal government,” agreed Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus.

The bill was referred to the House Natural Resources and Agriculture committee where it will be reviewed before introduction onto the floor.

Like its predecessor, the revamped committee would include members of state fish and wildlife agencies, bird and big-game hunting groups, representatives of Indian tribes, and leaders in tourism, hunting equipment, and farming industries.

Members would serve staggered terms of two, three, and four years. The committee would meet at least twice a year and file an annual report.

For more, go to:
— House Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus -Sportsmen’s Priorities Moving in Congress

— New wildlife and hunting advisory committee proposed (Video)

— H.R. 2799: To establish the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee to advise the Secretaries …;

Unfortunately Twinkies are Back, and Sport Hunting isn’t Gone Yet

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In honor of the return of the Hostess Twinkie (just announced on CNN Money), I’m revisiting a post I wrote last November, entitled:

“Sport Hunting Should Go the Way of the Twinkie”

Bemoaning the end of the Twinkie era (the company was only able to sell 36 million of the nutrition-less, lard-filled sponge-cakes last year and thus had to declare bankruptcy), the press have been calling Twinkies an American icon; a “family tradition,” even.

But what do Twinkies have to do with sport hunting? Well, both are long-standing traditions that should never have been. Hostess Twinkies (on par with hot dogs and canned spam) are an extremely unhealthy, potentially addictive, pseudo-food gimmick that should never have been invented, while hunting is a murderous act of desperation that should never have been taken lightly enough to have morphed into a sport. Both have seen better days, but while the Twinkie, along with its partners in crime, Ho Hos and Ding Dongs, will soon be ancient history, the US Senate is considering forever enshrining sport hunting with its very own act of Congress, the “Sportsmen’s” Act of 2013.

Those of you fortunate enough to own a first edition copy of Exposing the Big Game are in possession of a collector’s item. Subsequent printings will have the word “Twinkie” removed, since future generations will have no idea what they were. [Update: Twinkies are back much to the delight of Elmers and Elmerettes everywhere].

The following paragraph from the book mentions the iconic junk food in association with an exceptionally despicable form of hunting–bear baiting…

Sometimes Elmer sets out a pile of “bait,” using whatever he happens to have on hand. Today it’s Twinkies and hot dogs (no surprise there). Then he waits in a lawn chair safely perched on a tree stand (a platform secured high in a tree, reminiscent of his childhood tree-house) for an unsuspecting ursine to discover his offering. To pass the time, Elmer reads a frightening bear-scare story in the latest issue of his favorite sportsmen’s magazine. After a while, a beastly bruin catches wind of his Twinkies. Now it’s time for action! With the scary bear’s attention focused on the goodies, the plucky huntsman makes his kill.

Unfortunately, now anti-hunters won’t be able to use the “Twinkie Defense” if they go ballistic to protect an animal from hunters like Elmer.

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Recreational Shooting Might Just Be Relaxing

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Sometimes I get the urge to go out shooting things for sport. You know, recreational shooting, like hunters do, except instead of shooting quail or coyotes or pronghorn or prairie dogs, the targets would be quail or coyote or pronghorn or prairie dog hunters.

There’s probably nothing more relaxing than pecking off quail hunters as they take flight, lying in wait or setting out traps for wolf or coyote hunters, or blasting at prairie dog or pronghorn hunters from a distance of 200 yards or more. Shooting can sure be soothing and killing is the ultimate sport.

Sound like crazy talk? Maybe, but the thing is, while I’m just being facetious about taking lives in the name of a hobby, sport hunters are dead serious.

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson, 2013. All Rights Reserved

Hunting Is Not a Sport, It’s Sadism

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I know I’ve said it many times before, but allow me to reiterate: hunting is not a sport, it’s sadism. Football, baseball, basketball and hockey are sports. Bicycle racing, marathon running, pole vaulting and shot putting are other examples.

I went skiing yesterday; skiing is both an outdoor activity and a sport. It tests one’s skill and promotes quick reactions and good balance. Skiers can challenge themselves by going faster, taking steeper runs or skiing heavier, untracked snow.

Boxing, karate, and tennis all qualify as sports; each one pits two people—perhaps not equally matched, but equally willing—in a friendly contest of skill or chance. Granted, the human hunter without weapons is not as equally suited for survival as any non-human animal. Every last squirrel, rabbit or mallard would laugh at the efforts of an un-armed human hunter.

To compensate for being the obvious underdog, sport hunters are the most ruthless, cunning, conniving and—especially in the case of bowhunters or trappers—the most barbaric and monstrous creatures to ever walk the earth. Today’s hunters who want a challenge can opt for lower-tech, less accurate equipment like bows and arrows or black powder rifles. But that just increases the chance that their living targets will get away only wounded, rather than killed outright. If they want to call it a sport, hunters should arm the animals to at least allow them a fighting chance.

The key element clearly lacking in the so-called “sport” of hunting is that both sides are certainly not equally willing. Serial killers may consider stalking and killing their victims a sport, but any sane member of society would have to disagree.

It’s high time we sane members of society take a firm stand for the non-human victims of hunting and demand an end to killing in the name of sport.

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Meet Thy Enemy

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Paul Ryan with 8 Point Buck

Safari Club International Recognizes Congressman Paul  Ryan as 2013 Federal Legislator of the Year

Safari Club International

Safari Club International

Washington, DC – -(Ammoland.com)- Safari Club International (SCI) is pleased to  recognize Representative Paul Ryan (Wisc.) as the 2013 SCI Federal Legislator of  the Year.

The award will be presented during the evening banquet on Jan. 25, 2013 at  the world’s greatest convention dedicated to North American and international  hunting, the 41st Annual Safari Club International Hunters’ Convention.

“No other legislator is more deserving of this award after the 2012 election  cycle than Congressman Paul Ryan,” said SCI President John Whipple.

“Being an avid hunter, Congressman Ryan was a champion to our cause, and put  the preservation of hunting heritage in the national spotlight during his 2012  vice-presidential campaign. Be it in a business suit or full field attire,  voters across the country saw the indelible image of him, with his bow at full  draw; showing indisputable evidence of his commitment to being the voice for  sportsmen and women both on the campaign trail and in the 112th Congress. SCI is  proud to honor Representative Ryan as the 2013 SCI Federal Legislator of the  Year.”

“It is an honor to be recognized by Safari Club International and its members  as the 2013 Federal Legislator of the Year. I’m grateful to win this award and  even more excited to be able to pass on to my children the hunting traditions  and values that SCI stands for,” Ryan said. “The values of sportsmen and women  have been a focus throughout my career and I will continue to support the  hunting traditions and rights we cherish.”

Aside from his legislative work in Congress and with Safari Club  International, Ryan is a member of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC),  having previously served as co-chairman for CSC in the U.S. House of  Representatives from 2007 to 2011.

Becoming an SCI Member: Joining Safari Club International  is the best way to be an advocate for continuing our hunting heritage and  supporting worldwide sustainable use conservation, wildlife education and  humanitarian services. JOIN NOW: http://www.safariclub.org/Join.

Safari Club International First For Hunters is the leader  in protecting the freedom to hunt and in promoting wildlife conservation  worldwide. SCI’s approximately 200 Chapters represent all 50 of the United  States as well as 106 other countries. SCI’s proactive leadership in a host of  cooperative wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian programs,  with the SCI Foundation and other conservation groups, research institutions and  government agencies, empowers sportsmen to be contributing community members and  participants in sound wildlife management and conservation. Visit the home page  http://www.safariclub.org

Read more at Ammoland.com: http://www.ammoland.com/2013/01/paul-ryan-as-2013-federal-legislator-of-the-year/#ixzz2ISLTVbhV

No Market for the Truth?

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I was watching a PBS documentary on the Alaska Lands Act and how the concept of protecting the wilderness was met with opposition by local resource extractors who had the patrician perception that the land was theirs and theirs alone and who wanted no part of any new ideas such as land preservation for the sake of the wildlife and nature itself.

The resident’s closed minded stance was reminiscent of that taken by the owner of a bookstore in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast who refused to carry my book, Exposing the Big Game: Living Targets of a Dying Sport, on the grounds that there’s “no market for an anti-hunting book” around there.

While I do not doubt there are a higher percentage of hunters in that smallish tourist town compared to the national average, I don’t buy that no one living there or travelling through would be interested in expanding their knowledge on the subject of animal protection. There are certainly plenty of new pro-hunting books and magazines out these days, some of which were for sale in that very shop.

Based on what she told me, it’s clear that the bookstore owners’ snubbing of Exposing the Big Game was due to there being hunters among her family and friends and thus she did not want anything in the store that might expose the dark underbelly of sport hunting. It was just another case of someone doing their part to suppress the truth about the myriad of malicious ways that the animals of the Earth are being exploited for the benefit of just one narcissistic, overly-acquisitive species.

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

 

 

Like the KKK, the NRA will eventually Fade Away

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Comparatively speaking, the body of hunters in America is withered and shrunken, only a wee fraction of its former self. Today there are six times as many photographers, bird watchers and others who enjoy seeing animals alive as those compelled to make them lie down and die. Like the KKK and the SLA, the NRA has seen its day and will rightfully fade away. Literally, figuratively and statistically, hunting is a dying sport.

But non-hunters should not be lulled into a false sense of security for wildlife. Sportsmen, though a skeletal minority, are a shrill and voluble 5 (or 6) percent when it comes to forcibly interjecting themselves into animal issues; they‘re reluctant, to say the least, to kiss their blood-sport goodbye and join the civilized world.

The NRA and other heavily-funded hunting groups are pushing to pass laws such as the odious “Hunting Heritage Protection“ acts (already shoved on several states), aiming to enshrine their perceived “birthright“ to shoot and kill nonhumans recreationally.

Worse yet are the unconstitutional Hunter Harassment laws, which essentially punish residents and land-owners for trying to protect animals and keep hunters off their properties. In direct answer to the drop in sportsmen’s numbers, meddlesome state game departments are encouraging young kids to get a taste for killing (perverting their natural affinity for animals).

Alabama opens deer season two days early for children under the age of 16 (so they’ll have a better crack at “bagging“ one), and Maine holds a “Youth Deer Day,” allowing pre-season bow hunting for children ages 10 to 16. States like Illinois and Colorado are preying on women by offering hunting lessons for single mothers, while the private pro-hunting programs “Becoming an Outdoors-woman“ and the NRA’s “Women on Target” are seeking to enlist the future Sarah Palins of America.

Fouler still are the ongoing schemes to open more and more public lands to hunting…

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The preceding was excerpted from the book, Exposing the Big Game: Living Targets of a Dying Sport