Originally Posted By: Bradsbirds
Playing devils advocate here, but do you think all non hunters would understand hunting in the dark ? Would you explain it to them only in a favorable context for you or describe all the dangers of night hunting? And you really don't know of any sloppy night hunters just wanting trigger time and being unsafe ?
You may find yourself in a similar situation as the contest someday is all I am saying. And your arguments for explaining contests to non hunters may get thrown back at you.
We don't have 1,000+ acre ranches around here so in order to have lots of acreage to hunt it requires obtaining permission from numerous land owners and, at least in my situation, in several different counties. 100% have welcomed me night hunting and I'm thankfully still hunting properties secured several years ago. Is that "every non-hunter", no, but its 100% approval for that activity vs 100% against contests. They appreciate me being there vs not having anything to do with me being there if it was contest-related. There's really no other way to explain it. DAA explained how he was able to justify his personal hunting to his non-hunting friend and then asked for suggestions on how he could justify killing contests to his non-hunting friend.... no one has responded. [/quote]
As far as me "justifying" PERSONAL hunting to my non-hunting friends vs. "justifying" CONTEST hunting to my non-hunting friends...
There is no difference. Hunting is hunting. What are you trying to accomplish when you hunt? Let's call a spade a spade, hunters are trying to kill their prey. Many of us try to do this in the most ethical way possible, but make no mistake about it, I am trying to kill the predators I call. Kind of hard to skin them any other way, isn't it? Crocodile Dundee said so, if I recall the film correctly. Now, if a hunter is out to control the population, kinda gotta kill them for that too, dontcha? Yep. If your hunting to eat, more humane to eat them after they are dead, isn't it?
So just WHAT is so bad about contests? Is it the "possible" unethical behavior of some of the participants? So we should just automatically say that ALL contest hunters are unethical simply because they participate in contests. Then we are ALL guilty of unethical behavior simply because there are unethical hunters out there. We are ALL poachers because there are poachers out there. NO. You are guilty of the crime when you commit the crime. Not because someone else commits it.
So is it the financial part of the contests? How is a financial reward for a contest ANY worse than someone getting paid to be a guide? Aren't you profiting from the death of the animal? What about those of us who sell the hides? Aren't you profiting from the animal? What about taxidermists? Yep, profit. Uh-oh, the "P" word. Why is "profit" as bad word? I build guns that I sell that others use to kill animals. I do this at a profit. Am I an unethical person because I make profit? No.
So let's talk about the "image" myth. Contest hunters are so bad for our image. Why? Because they post pics? Ummm, I could be wrong, but I think that many of us on this forum post pics. Does that make us unethical. I don't think so. Our "image" is going to be bad to anti-hunters no matter whether you post a pic or not. Anti's hate us. They don't understand why we do what we do and they don't want to understand. I hunted for many years before forums like this existed. I CHOOSE to share my hunts with others. They can take that or leave it. Personally, I appreciate when others share so that I may learn to be better.
I hunt. I hunt predators. I enjoy it. I like the challenge. I hunt alone, I hunt with others. I mentor new hunters. I have guided. I have hunted for population control, nuisance control, fur, meat. Its ALL recreational for me. So yes, when I hunt in contests, IF I hunt in contests it's recreational. I like the added challenge, the differing strategies. Do I HAVE to hunt contests, nope. I can take them or lave them. But to outlaw them, I won't get on board with. If there is NO science behind eliminating them, then I don't agree with outlawing them. The excuses for outlawing are arbitrary at best, as I have shown. The excuses are political.
My sincere concern is that you will NOT assuage anti-hunters. It's the Death by 1000 cuts. You give them an inch they WILL take a mile. They will smell blood in the water and they will want more. They already tried to ban bobcat and mountain lion hunting in Arizona by claiming it was "trophy hunting." They tried to make hunters feel guilty for taking "trophies." So if I use the edible parts of the animal AND take a trophy, should I feel bad? Am I unethical? NO. But it was how they were justifying their position for banning the of killing these "beautiful animals" as they put it. When they couldn't get bobcat and mountain lion hunting banned, they just moved on and switched gears to go after "hunting contests."
As far as getting a 100% negative response to hunting requests just because you hunt contests, while I wasn't there for those conversations, I can't really say what objection a landowner who invites me to hunt coyotes but has an issue with me doing it if I am involved with a contest. Personally, the landowners I hunt for, don't care that I am/am not hunting in a contest. They have a problem and I offer a solution.
I have yet to have a 100% positive response from 100% of the landowners that I have asked to hunt any property. Invariably I get told no by some landowners. Some tell me why, others don't. I may or may not respectfully ask about their opposition. Sorry that I cannot get onboard with the "hunt contests" cause us to not have land to hunt argument.
I hope this cleared up some of the "questions" and positions of competition hunters. Again, if you don't like contests, then don't participate. But don't sit there in judgement of me because I do.