The privilege and the problem

I am not a huge adherent of big-city living. However, I will say this of Edmonton: if you are a hunter it could be a lot worse living in a greater metropolitan area of approximately 1.2 million. Right on the periphery of our (creeping) suburbs exists some excellent opportunities to escape and indulge in the imperative of the hunt. Even living quite centrally I can be into publically accessible, good waterfowl wetlands within 35mins, big game in less than twice that. Online mapping tools and apps even deliver to you detailed directions for each of the multitude of public access lands close the city.

Furthermore, in Alberta we are not subject to onerous hunting licence requirements or lengthy exams, we don’t need to enter lottery draws in the hope of getting an opportunity to sit in a specific duck blind on a highly pressured public wetland in the hope that birds will pass that spot, and we don’t pay for access. All that you do is show up, find a safe spot that you think will work, toss out decoys and (try to) shoot birds. It’s that easy; we are that fortunate.

As a show of respect we have those amongst us who express their gratitude like this:

I really should have taken a better photo as the whole area was a mess of hulls, take-out cups, cans, an old chair, bags etc. I took out 2 bags of garbage and should have gone back for more.  As an insult to injury there were also 2 empty boxes of lead shot loads – this being illegal to shoot at migratory birds since 1999 (this blind is over water, so not sure what else they would be shooting at?)

More to the point, this is not a rare sight in Alberta. Runners, dog walkers, bird watchers et. al don’t see the hunters with integrity, they see this. If we don’t pursue excellence in our conduct, knowledge and duty to set an ‘ecological-example’ then hunting, and hunters, will lose.

© Brian Joubert

Video: Hunting and Bubye Valley Conservancy (Zimbabwe)

A very interesting video that deconstructs the logic of incentive, land use priorities and conservation, in a very clear manner. Lions saving rhinos and a whole set of interrelated management symbiosis. It is seldom these stories that we see on social media and ones that should perhaps be occasionally inserted between the strident calls to save wildlife, the calls that appear to infrequently extend beyond cyberspace.

There is room for critical discussion here, of course, but the process is undeniably a useful one.

http://www.hunterproud.com/?p=103

Enjoy

Controversy: Timbavati Rhino Hunting (South Africa)

This is an open letter from Timbavati Game Reserve Chairman Tom Hancock regarding the limited hunting of selected rhino in that reserve. A recent controversy erupted when it was ‘discovered’ (although it has proceeded quite openly for years) that amidst the current and alarming rhino poaching crisis in South Africa, white rhinos were being legally hunted in this flagship reserve along the western boundary of Kruger National Park. Accusations flew and social media exploded with vitriol.

1)      Should an individual’s personal revulsion to rhino hunting translate into ban or cessation? I understand someone’s personal aversion to hunting, or hunters, but do these sentiments equate to sound conservation polices? Ironically, some of the most respected and erudite conservationists say no, antipathy to rhino hunting should not translate into bans because properly conducted it is a tool that has served the species very well.

2)      It is clear that illegal horn traders have fronted as ‘legitimate’ clients with shady outfitters and there is no doubt that this ‘loophole’ is a serious threat to the industry and credible conduct. I agree that this is a serious problem, driving any current benefits towards a zero sum outcome.

The letter makes their case quite simply. Draw your own conclusions:

Book Review: "Game Changer- Animal Rights and the Fate of Africa's Wildlife" by Glen Martin.

They tell of the baby elephant that was saved in a specific locale, but they don’t tell of the scores of other elephants in the region that were killed because of crop depredation or land tenure disputes. IFAW’s methods have thus proved effective in saving individual elephants, and for this their strategy is sound. Setting up elephant rescue centres is doable. But the larger mission implied in their work – “saving” Africa’s elephants – remains unfulfilled and may in fact be sabotaged by IFAW’s own work. The lavishing of hundreds of thousands of dollars on the suckling of baby elephants while locals see their maize crops razed and their cattle stomped flat by irrate pachyderms sends the familiar, loud , and dissonant message to rural Africans: too bad about you; this cute little elephant comes first.(Glen Martin, pg 200).

Alongside biology, pecuniary incentives and conservation sociology are ever more important core foundations in wildlife management and in the efforts to conserve Africa’s – and the planets’- wildlife. In Game Changer: Animal Rights and the Fate of Africa’s Wildlife, Glen Martin provides a thought provoking analysis of what he describes as the ‘ascendancy of animal rights based conservation policy’ and how it is driving the decline of many of Africa’s great game populations. The apotheosizing of Africa’s mega fauna as ‘untouchable’ has had perverse outcomes in many areas once rich in wildlife. While the reasons for decline in wildlife can stem from poaching, Malthusian population expansion and agrarian conflict, Martin highlights exactly how and why a hands-off legislative approach further compounds these threats and often provides a disincentive for local-level conservation efforts. If the people that live with and share the landscape with wildlife are divorced from conservation decision making processes, denied compensation for wildlife conflicts, edged out of wildlife-based incomes and generally  shut-off from legal and sustainable use they not only lose conservation incentives but often see wildlife as a menace to other land-based livelihoods. Simply put, the old adage of ‘if it pays it stays’, albeit often bandied about a bit casually, often underpins the most effective conservation policy.

Rinella on water

Always striking how hunting is often seen as an egregious activity while many people who care about wildlife often allow things like golf courses to be established, relatively unchecked. 'Developments' run roughshod over wildlands with impunity, being sold as vital social goods. Ok let me not rant any further, this one just got me thinking...

Steve Rinella on water in the west

Stabbing TR in the back?

"Sportsmen" stab Theodore Roosevelt in the back

 

Some interesting issues coming to light in the US:

1)      Is the North American model of public wildlife access ‘socialist’? Yes, because highly gentrified wildlife for the elite is a great road to walk! NOT. Ideology trumps process and preferred outcomes all the time with rabid ideologues.

2)      Game disappearing from the western states? I am no expert but could that have to do with urban sprawl? The proliferation of ‘ranchettes’ on heavily subdivided family farms? Habitat degradation? Agricultural competition?

These strident privatization voices emitting from those with a political and economic incentive are concerning indeed…

© Brian Joubert

A horse named Ovis: a sheep story

Ovis (C. Craig)

Well his name isn't really Ovis, it’s actually Taco, but for the six days he carried my butt up and down steep rocky trails we didn’t know that – he was borrowed from someone else you see. ‘New Horse’ was his more used alias but ‘Ovis’ seemed fitting for a horse that carried me on my first attempt at hunting Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis).

My interest in pursuing these icons of mountain game has remained on simmer for the last few years and I should admit this with some self-criticism. This is because the constraints on sheep hunting in Alberta are essentially self-created. Barring a few areas with licences on a draw-only basis, most sheep can be pursued by residents of the province with an over-the-counter tag. That’s right, you buy a tag, lace up your boots and pursue Big Horn rams! Of course these licenses are for ‘Trophy Rams’ only, limiting the hunter to rams with a very strictly controlled minimum horn length (tips must pass an imaginary line that extends from the front of the horn base past the front of the eye). Legal rams are therefore not exactly a Sunday morning doddle to bag but hey, only ones ambition, skills and physical condition separate you from pursuing one of the apogees of the hunters’ realm. Why didn’t I try this earlier?

On measuring success

The satisfaction of participating.

Bear camp this spring was a success. I didn’t get a bear. I was however part of a successful hunt where my friend took his first (he is an otherwise very experienced hunter, just not with black bears). My proposal for the hunt was that seeing as he had never hunted bear and I had taken one in the same area last year, he should have the first opportunity. I was happy to attempt any subsequent opportunities and was keen to attempt it with archery gear (perhaps with some temerity!).

The joy of being in camp.

After our success on the first evening I was thoroughly enjoying being out and being a part of the bear success. The camp was great, we were shooting our bows, my partner was having her first big game hunting experience, we were philosophising in camp chairs and skinning/butchering a bear over cups of tea – damn grand if you ask me.


 After my friend’s bear was tagged I had this feeling that the trip was a great success and began to feel that it no longer mattered as much if I got one or not. I have had similar experiences while fishing my favourite runs for Yellowfish, on the Vaal River in South Africa. At times, after making a number of successful pocket casts and getting into a few fish in a rapid, I have felt like I have been granted my fair share of success and harassed the fish enough. I have then retreated to watch birds and Monitor Lizards and laze on rocks – often even in the face of a likely looking eddy imploring me to try and cast a Gold Ribbed Hares Ear into it!

Meat eating anti-hunters: a logical house of cards?

Bear burgers - 'horrible', superior
 or morally indifferent to beef? 

I have, on occasion, had chance to debate the morality of hunting with anti-hunters of the most nonsensical kind (at least to me) – those who will readily tell you that hunting is ‘bad’, all while tucking into a hotdog. I am amazed how the adherents to this argument fail to see that this is a clear invitation to repudiate this house-of-cards logic.


In my humble opinion, the ethics of eating animals is bifurcated insofar as you think it is either indefensible to kill and eat any animal, or you believe that it is in fact morally acceptable to eat meat. If you are an adherent to the former, then any accusation towards hunting as ‘wrong’ or cruel has some philosophical foundation. Of course it is not automatically granted immunity from debate under these conditions. However someone who does not eat meat or use products from dead animals, by virtue of this view, has a certain degree of absolution from the immediate cause of death of food animals (even this though is specious, as most food production results in significant numbers of animal deaths).

Hunting and Web 2.0 – Is YouTube hurting hunters’ image?

It’s ironic that I am writing a post about hunting and open-source web material on a blog! Undoubtedly public web sources for hunting can be great for learning, reviewing and meeting likeminded outdoors people. There are lots of interesting blogs, forums, podcasts and video sites with tips, tutorials, information sharing and entertainment for hunters and shooters; I know this because I chew up a little too much time on these! However there is much on the web, most notably videos, which leave me feeling uneasy…
I have given this topic quite a bit of thought, usually after seeing some video on YouTube that leaves me feeling like I should be looking over my shoulder to make sure no-one saw what I was just watching! My point is that sources like YouTube are full of just terrible examples of why short clips can do a lot of damage to hunter PR. Now I have to pick my argument carefully here as there are some very obvious potential holes for criticism.

Lions in the news. Again.

Lion tranquilizing and re-location 1997
(yes, thats me, in my 'youth')

This past couple of weeks has seen a number of notices and reports land in my inbox regarding the petition supported by various animal rights groups to list the African lion as an endangered species in the USA. With an endangered species status, American hunters could no longer legally import lion parts they have collected in Africa. Americans import more than half of all lions hunted in Africa. The motivation behind the petition is that with the overall rapid decline in lion numbers, preventing Americans from importing legally hunted lions will make noticeable inroads into slowing the decline of wild lions.

Neat summary of the hunting imperative:

More on the lion Issue...

http://www.safarinewsreel.com/hunterproudfoundation.htm

Update: Research by Bauer and van der Merwe (2004) and Chardonnet (2002) reveal the number is likely closer to 30 000 or more (according to Conservation Force). Chardonnet estimates up to 14000 in Tanzania. Rolf Baldus and Craig Packer believe there may be more in that country alone. The other question is who made these historical population estimates? Obviously there were more lions a century or 50 years ago but if experts battle to conduct large scale lion counts today, how accurate were those conducted a half century ago? With a fractional off take of large males, even managed per sub population to ensure sound pride social structures, the sustainable removal of a few males per annum seems qute plausible.

©Brian Joubert

The whole truth please

I love this talk by Dereck and Beverly Joubert (no relation by the way). I am inspired by their passion and in many ways, like Kerasote or McCallum, by their quest to look for beauty and poetry in nature beyond scientific rationality – something that can be hard to justify in the face of orthodoxy. I have a great respect for their hard work; few people can match their dedication and the shear time spent in the field. I have also been an ardent fan of their work from their early magnificent films like Lions of Darkness and Eternal Enemies.