Post by Woody Williams on Jun 14, 2006 11:57:03 GMT -5
The following article was actually posted 06/12/2006 on ESPN Outdoor.com by J. B. Absher.
Hunters to WHA: Please go away, quickly
I want you to know upfront, good readers and friends of the ESPNOutdoors.com News Hound blog, that if it were not for you I would not spend the time to write about last week's announcement that an organization calling itself the World Hunting Association plans to launch a deer tranquilizing and release competition on a high-fence private ranch in Michigan.
But just in case some of you have not yet been informed about this misguided effort, here it is in a nutshell:
David Farbman, real estate mogul, game-farm owner and organization CEO, plans a high-dollar competition, with a $500,000 combined purse for the first two events, where gun shooters and bowhunters will stalk and shoot deer with tranquilizer darts. In addition, he touts state-of-the-art Web site interactivity, pay-per-view television shows and more.
Bloggers, outdoor writers and hunting forum contributors have been quick to cry foul, and I expect other leaders in the hunting industry to follow suit.
My good buddy Mike Hanback at the Big Buck Zone blog believes hunters and the outdoor media will likely place the "world tranquilizer tour" in the trash-heap of history in short order.
I hope so.
Eric Sharp, the longtime outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press, agrees with me that Farbman's idea is one of the worst he's ever heard.
"Farbman wants to show hunters knocking Bambi down with tranquilizer darts and reviving him so he can be shot again," Sharp wrote in yesterday's column. "You couldn't hand the animal-rights activists stronger propaganda. Farbman proposes using deer merely as living targets."
Potential sponsors named in the World Hunting Association's June 6 press release lost no time heading for cover.
Eastman Outdoors, the parent company of Carbon Express Arrows and Gorilla Treestands posted disclaimers on its Web sites this weekend indicating, "No formal agreement exists between the World Hunting Association (WHA) and Eastman Outdoors Inc."
Most hunters will likely be as disgusted as I am about the thought of televised tranquilizer-dart, fenced-hunting competition. I thought it couldn't get any worse than the hair-brained scheme last year by the Texas ranch owner who proposed hunting over the Internet. Many state lawmakers took action to ban such a practice in their states during the 2006 legislative session.
Perhaps the same thing will occur with this ill-conceived effort.
My faith in hunters and the hunting community is unwavering. I believe they'll speak loudly and in unison on this one.
The link: sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/g...blog_Absher_JR
Hunters to WHA: Please go away, quickly
I want you to know upfront, good readers and friends of the ESPNOutdoors.com News Hound blog, that if it were not for you I would not spend the time to write about last week's announcement that an organization calling itself the World Hunting Association plans to launch a deer tranquilizing and release competition on a high-fence private ranch in Michigan.
But just in case some of you have not yet been informed about this misguided effort, here it is in a nutshell:
David Farbman, real estate mogul, game-farm owner and organization CEO, plans a high-dollar competition, with a $500,000 combined purse for the first two events, where gun shooters and bowhunters will stalk and shoot deer with tranquilizer darts. In addition, he touts state-of-the-art Web site interactivity, pay-per-view television shows and more.
Bloggers, outdoor writers and hunting forum contributors have been quick to cry foul, and I expect other leaders in the hunting industry to follow suit.
My good buddy Mike Hanback at the Big Buck Zone blog believes hunters and the outdoor media will likely place the "world tranquilizer tour" in the trash-heap of history in short order.
I hope so.
Eric Sharp, the longtime outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press, agrees with me that Farbman's idea is one of the worst he's ever heard.
"Farbman wants to show hunters knocking Bambi down with tranquilizer darts and reviving him so he can be shot again," Sharp wrote in yesterday's column. "You couldn't hand the animal-rights activists stronger propaganda. Farbman proposes using deer merely as living targets."
Potential sponsors named in the World Hunting Association's June 6 press release lost no time heading for cover.
Eastman Outdoors, the parent company of Carbon Express Arrows and Gorilla Treestands posted disclaimers on its Web sites this weekend indicating, "No formal agreement exists between the World Hunting Association (WHA) and Eastman Outdoors Inc."
Most hunters will likely be as disgusted as I am about the thought of televised tranquilizer-dart, fenced-hunting competition. I thought it couldn't get any worse than the hair-brained scheme last year by the Texas ranch owner who proposed hunting over the Internet. Many state lawmakers took action to ban such a practice in their states during the 2006 legislative session.
Perhaps the same thing will occur with this ill-conceived effort.
My faith in hunters and the hunting community is unwavering. I believe they'll speak loudly and in unison on this one.
The link: sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/g...blog_Absher_JR
