QUOTE
gadbearr:
I had never heard of a \"canned hunt\" before. How shameful. I guess when you have more money than God you can afford to have the animals brought to you so you can kill them.
GB & HF - Not in defense of Cheney mind you, but of hunting in general:
A 'Canned hunt' was not what Cheney was participating in. Many anti hunting / anti gun advocates use the term 'Canned hunt' for a wide variety of hunting practices to try to disparage hunting in general. Most sportsmen are really good, concerned, environmental conservationists. In fact $3.50/$5 for conservation programs nationwide comes directly from outdoor hunting and fishing enthusiasts.
Cheney was on a ranch where they released birds into the local environment specifically for the sportsmen.
What happens when you release a lot of birds? They fly away right? If they fly off of your land then your investment in raising the birds is gone forever, and you have no sport. Further, your land may not be rich enough in the kinds of foods needed to attract or keep what you want to shoot in the first place.
Hence release hunts: generally a good grounds person will release the birds at least 24 to 48 hours in advance so that they have time to get into the brush and settle down - but not generally time to migrate off your shooting land.
A couple of days later the shooting party will come out and walk the edges of the fields where the game has generally settled into the more dense brush that separates most fields.
Usually a well trained dog is used to 'Point' the hunter to where the game is settled hiding in the brush, then to 'Flush' the game so that it flies away, and then to 'Retrieve' the game bird if the hunter has been successful.
A release hunt is good conservation because you release a lot of game birds, and generally only kill a fraction of the ones released. The rest of the birds are free to roam and replenish local game stocks – in effect going wild and becoming part of – and strengthening - the local wildlife ecology. Sometimes you do get a chance to shoot one of these 'wild' birds or their descendants.
IMO - Most hunters would be disgusted by a true ‘canned hunt’ where an animal (usually a big game animal) is released into a small fenced enclosure solely for the ‘sport’ of someone shooting them from a safe distance minutes after they have been released. Such practices are inhumane, and actively discouraged by almost all environmental and hunting organizations.
Although I prefer ‘wild’ hunting, I have been on many release hunts and can tell you that the game has a much better chance of getting away than of being shot by most of my hunting companions. In my Blog last August I actually wrote about one release hunt I participated in on the island of Sicily.
Remember too that almost all hunters eat what they kill. You might be a little squeamish about the ‘bloodiness’ of the sport; but how is it worse than farm raising chickens just to reach over grab one, chop its head off, then hang it waiting until the blood runs out and you can de feather it, and sell it to the public in plastic wrap.
I find that to be far less palatable; with less thought and concern about the animal, and very unsportsmanlike.
Rob
Ed for sp
[ February 17, 2006, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: ITJock ]
