Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday Sunday

MJ75

Well-Known Member
I'll confess to being a big fan of Louis. I've watched a lot of his documentaries and have never been dissapointed with his work. He comes across as a genuinely decent guy who's easy going persona has a habit of dissarming his subjects, which results in them opening up much more than they ever would to your average journalist.

Anyway, Louis has been to South Africa to make a documentary on hunting in game farms. It's on BBC2, sunday at 9:00pm.

I expect it will provoke some intersting and emotive discussion here.

Regards
Jared
 
I like him too, some times i think it is a bit cringing watching him with the constant asking of the same questions, but it is quite obvious which angle he will take :rolleyes: , it`s the BEEB for gods sake. :lol:

wadas
 
Lets make some assumptions I drew from the advert and see if they come true in the show:

1- He will visit an establishment that offers 'canned' hunts for big game, possibly lions.

2- He will repeatedly question some Afrikaans game farm owners to defend hunting, something which we all know can make people outraged.

3- He will concentrate on the more 'macho' elements of fieldsports, and no female hunters will be shown.

4- Mention will be made of 'rich American/European tourists' at some point in the programme. Possibly with a short interview with a large/old/wealthy specimen.

4- He will conclude the show with some thoughts which highlight the camaraderie etc but "cannot reconcile killing with fun" or some other such simplistic view.

I may be only 24 but, every single 'documentary' on hunting or shooting I have ever seen has been so partisan and one-sided as to be laughable. At most I have seen a grudging nod towards the benefits of wildfowling towards the preservation of marshes (in one programme, once...).
 
I'm not a fan of the sanctimonious attitude often taken by the BBC. But I think I'll wait until I've seen the show before passing judgement.

However I can confirm that the documentary will focus on "Wealthy tourists" and canned hunts in game reserves. And he will interview a farmer who breeds lions which are to be hunted.

I expect he'll attempt to highlight the sadness felt by people who raise animals to be shot. Whilst emphasising the fact that they make a very good living doing what they do also.

The repeated questioning is a technique employed to get people to open up more and elaborate on what they have already said.

We shall see whats said..... :)
 
I have to admit to liking him too but I can't help feeling that this one is not going to be what we would have wanted!
 
Hi Boghossian,
Boghossian said:
Lets make some assumptions I drew from the advert and see if they come true in the show:

1- He will visit an establishment that offers 'canned' hunts for big game, possibly lions.

2- He will repeatedly question some Afrikaans game farm owners to defend hunting, something which we all know can make people outraged.

3- He will concentrate on the more 'macho' elements of fieldsports, and no female hunters will be shown.

4- Mention will be made of 'rich American/European tourists' at some point in the programme. Possibly with a short interview with a large/old/wealthy specimen.

4- He will conclude the show with some thoughts which highlight the camaraderie etc but "cannot reconcile killing with fun" or some other such simplistic view.

I may be only 24 but, every single 'documentary' on hunting or shooting I have ever seen has been so partisan and one-sided as to be laughable. At most I have seen a grudging nod towards the benefits of wildfowling towards the preservation of marshes (in one programme, once...).

OOww! you have spoilt it for me now! :lol:
 
I saw a trailer to this last week, but only briefly. Louis appeared to be having an argument with a South African Ranch owner.

I only hope it is not a repeat of a ranch breeding Lions or something similar for some sad bastard to come and shoot within a fenced area of a few hundred hectares. If it is bad news I hope that PHASA is able to gain access to the programme, and throw anyone involved out of the Hunting profession.

BUT.......... lets wait and see, but I am not holding my breath on it, as someone has already pointed out the BBC are not exactly pro hunting in any form. ;)
 
Well this should be good, as beowulf has already said its been spoilt for me. Its good to see that the Beeb is spending our money making programmes that will of course been totally unbaised :evil: I liked Mr Theroux not now. The big problem is simple, these people should go their with an open mind, but they dont, they have this concieved idea that we are all monsters and that shooting bambi, thumper and simba etc is a bad thing. On my trip to africa last year unfortunately no hunting involved. I had this discussion with a lady who ran a game reserve looking after cheetahs. Lovely lady, she asked if any of the group shot, I said yes, she then asked would I hunt in africa, yes was the reply to that. I expecte to be greated with a bit of a bad response, I could feel the eyes boring into the back of my head from the other members of the group. Her reply was surprising, hunting of all kinds in Africa was a good thing, the shock on my fellow travels faces was unforgettable and totally wonderful from my point of view. I had to ask why, money is the simple answer, the cost of conservation is not met by the tourist. On the whole hunters contribute more to the economy than tourist. But I let you read this very good article:
http://www.biaza.org.uk/public/images/campaigns/rhinoDocs/hunting.pdf
To me it makes sense, and if Mr theroux had read this perhaps we would have a program thats balanced, but this is the beeb and shock value has to be part of it to justify the licence money they get, idiots fools morons. I could use worse language but I fear I may offend beowulfs delicate dissposition.
 
I'll try to keep an open mind, but suspect Bog may be right.

The pup may only be 24 but he's a healthily hardened cynic already. Lord help him (and us) when he gets to my age - or, God forbid, Beowulf's ......
 
My advice is to not bother watching. You know whats going to happen and there will be the interview with the worst of ther worst examples of hunting. Good sensible even handed programming doesnt get ratings. What would happen in Wife Swap if everyone was polite to each other and abided by the rules of the game - boring.

Mark
 
Here is the extract from the BBC website outlining the program.

Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday
Sun 6 Apr, 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm 60mins
The South African hunting industry is big business; it is now cheaper and easier to hunt than ever before. Louis travels to Limpopo Province where he stays at a hunting lodge - Shingani Safaris - owned by professional hunter Riaan Vosloo. Louis discovers that companies like Riaan's cater to hunters of all abilities and budgets - the cost of a trophy animal ranges from as little as $250 for a baboon to as much as $70,000 for a rhino.

An American hunting party arrives and Louis spends time trying to understand their motivation to kill and travels out with them each day to private game farms where wild animals are reared for hunting. Louis meets Lolly Furie and Piet Venter, two men who own game farms where the animals are hunted. He discovers that the men have an attachment to the animals on their land. They will only allow bow hunting on their property, as the noise of gunshot causes the animals stress.

A few days later Louis journeys with novice hunter Ann Marie, who originally came only to accompany her husband. But she has become caught up in the excitement and decides she wants to hunt an animal herself. The next day, Louis visits lion breeder Piet Warren who insists that hunting, by putting an economic value to the animal, has allowed populations of exotic species to flourish. Finally, Louis is challenged to hunt an animal himself. [AD,S]
 
He's been given the opportunity to shoot an animal himself. Personally I doubt he will. The BBC couldn't possibly be seen to be shooting animals at the license payers expense could they???

Personally if he does, I hope he shoots plains game. It's beyond my comprehension how anyone could shoot a lion, leopard or bear. Or even an elephant except in extreme circumstances. Malcolm gave a good example some weeks ago when a job needed to be done. But it's not sport, trophy hunting in a canned hunt. It's like fishing for trout with trout pellets for bait in the brood stock ponds of a fish farm and telling your ates your a great angler because you can catch a big fish.
 
Kettle's on biccies ready, missus banished to the other room, i'm looking forward to this. I hope he isn't too biased. but there is no way he will shoot anything.
Ezzy.
 
Why is it that when there is something that I want to watch there is no chance of being able t get near the telly but when there is crap all on, \i have nothing better to do!!!!
Yes I missed it but I am going on the internet to download it!
 
Just watched it, and as ever although i do like him he was his very annoying self with his constant same questioning. :rolleyes:

As someone who shoots and has done so for many years i too find it hard to explain the reasons for shooting something, so for me i suppose it is something that was done by my father and uncles and cousins, so being brought up with it sempt a natural thing to do, had this not been the case, then who knows? :rolleyes:

There is one thing for sure, if it wasn`t for hunting in Africa, wether you like hunting or not, there certainly wouldn`t be the game that there is as it would have all been poached. We as shooters can see this as obvious and can see the bigger picture.

I don`t think that bow hunting should be allowed though, but that is only my opinion.

wadas
 
Well, that could have been a whole lot worse!
Apart from opening with the young girl shooting and the fact he was never going to really shoot something himself, it wasn't that unbalanced.
Mack
 
I'm with wadas on the bow hunting, and I find it strange that this was the focus of the programme. Maybe the rifle is less dramatic for the TV viewer, or maybe bow hunting does disturb the animals less thereby getting more kills per day per hectare?
Mark
 
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