Trophy Hunting

[bogtrotter]

I always brought the antlers back from the animals I shot in Scotland - the first dozen or so years as skull mounts, after that I just had the antlers cut off. In reality there are only so many trophies you can have before you have to start to find other things to do with them. These days I'd rather put the antlers to good use than simply have them hanging around gathering dust.

Even then there is a limit to how many priests, walking sticks, knife handles, etc. you can make.

Keeping a trophy just because you happened to shoot something is really quite an illogical thing to do. What, after all, is the purpose of a trophy? It doesn't signify any particular individual hunting prowess, rather it is evidence of a fortunate set of circumstances - although not for the animal itself!

Surely the pleasure is in the hunt? If the focus is on the trophy then why not just buy a set of big antlers from a shop and be done with it?

While I agree and have never kept trophies of my own , But my Grandson's wanted his first stag which he shot with me and I prepped for him he still has 15 years on.
Likewise my clients mainly Europeans kept every head they shot including button Bucks
Though they would not have called the trophies they were memories in their words much better than a photograph looking a a particular head even years later they could recall the day the weather the company the hunt and so on.

 

[sh1kar]

Ok, just with all the posts of what is right and wrong then it shows in this case that cost was the factor.

For 1 of the 4 of us

 

[willie_gunn]

Though they would not have called the trophies they were memories in their words much better than a photograph looking a a particular head even years later they could recall the day the weather the company the hunt and so on.

Possibly a lesson for me there, as these days I'm lucky if I can recall what I had for breakfast!

 

[Oh6]

Bye the way, if your summation of the act is correct it’s also completely unenforceable.
If I shoot a creature I can’t import or export any of the bits or pieces, but if I gift it to you, you having taken no part in the taking of the creature, you can now legally export/import as you like because you didn’t kill it.
Presumably therefore, you can also dispose of your legally acquired and legally imported private property thereafter by gifting or selling it back to me at some stage.

Shhhh....!

 

[wildfowler.250]

Honestly think if you ditch the word trophy, it’s already more palatable to the general public. No one really gets offended referring to these items as taxidermy. Trophy has far too much negativities associated with it.

 

[VSS]

A week or two back, there was a headline about the coroner recommending tighter firearms legislation following the Plymouth shootings. A headline that undoubtedly was meant to appease the general public, but when you actually got down into the meat of the article you realised that he wasn't really recommending tighter legislation at all - just a few tweaks, together with more rigorous enforcement of existing rules.
I have a feeling that the current trophy ban headline will prove to be similar - a nice soundbite to appease the voters, but in reality just minor tweaks and enough loopholes remaining to allow things to continue pretty much as is, but with tighter scrutiny.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Semi auto rifle ban, fox hunting ban, pistol ban, Hm now what else don't we like? I tend to see the UK as a bit broken the majority the bans hit have no voice.

 

[enfieldspares]

My local MP is Henry Smith unfortunately!
I wrote to him before and got a reply that basically said “I don't care what you say scumbag, stick your letter up your a***”
But not in them words.

Well I hope, at least, it was nevertheless in a friendly manner?

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

The proposed ban on the import of hunting trophies to England, Wales and Scotland is not yet law (and might never be).

Yesterday the Bill received a robust challenge in the House of Commons thanks to the interventions of Sir Bill Wiggin MP and Sir Christopher Chope MP (both members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Shooting and Conservation) and the Bill was amended to limit it to endangered species covered by existing rules under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (previously the Bill put under scope any hunted species) and that an oversight Advisory Board of experts is created to work with the Secretary of State on the progress of any legislation.

That's still not good enough because the proposals remain fundamentally flawed and superfluous given that imports (and exports) are already regulated under existing rules designed to ensure that international trade in animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild. Moreover, where permits are given to import hunting trophies into the UK it is precisely because they have been certified as having been harvested sustainably.

There is growing awareness in the media and amongst politicians that they have been duped by the antis. Many people and organisations in UK and overseas have been pushing back against this Bill and Professor Amy Dickman put across great arguments from a place of expertise in the British media this week in the lead up to the final Commons debate.

BASC will continue lobbying against the Bill and we can expect further scrutiny and amendments to this unnecessary Bill in the House of Lords. Some further context in the following BASC article:

Trophy hunting bill misses its target - BASC

The Hunting Trophies Bill can only work if it’s revised to target unsustainable practices over those that conserve threatened species.

basc.org.uk

 

[enfieldspares]

The proposed ban on the import of hunting trophies to England, Wales and Scotland is not yet law (and might never be).

So, may I ask, and BASC can use this if it helps this to ridicule the author of the Bill. If enacted as the author intended this Bill (or at a subsequent time) could prohibit a shooter returning to the UK from Eire with a couple of pin feathers in his hat from the one woodcock he'd shot and had cooked by his hosts in Eire and then eaten the night before his return to the UK? And therefore make him a criminal? And again could this also at a subsequent time prohibit he or she bring back the wings of, say, a teal they had shot to tie a teal, blue and silver for the fishing season?

 

[Andrewslater]

Reading through many of these post it appears this is as much of a class war as it is anything else. Even on here with comments about how others should be spending there hard earned money.

I have not been involved in trophy hunting but have read a fair bit on it and stories of peoples trips. Clear that for most the trip and the experience and knowledge gained is the highlight, for those that can afford it the trophy is just a bonus.

What exactly should a rich texan with a very large room fill that room with?

 

[stubear]

What even is “trophy hunting”?

If I shoot an animal, eat it’s meat and throw all the inedible bits in the bin then that isn’t a “trophy hunt” and is acceptable.

If I shoot an animal, eat it’s meat and keep one of the inedible bits to stick on my wall that then becomes a “trophy hunt” (even though I’m actually using MORE of the animal than in the previous example) and somehow I am now a bastard.

Explain to me how that works someone because I’ve made this point numerous times and every time people go “oh yes good point” (even people who don’t shoot and are ostensibly against hunting) but we all keep calling it “trophy hunting”. It isn’t - it’s going abroad to hunt there, so hunting tourism in fact.

We need to be more politically savvy - we should stop giving ammo to the antis and calling it “trophy hunting” (with all the negative connotations that has) and call it hunting tourism.

 

[Mick9abf]

The proposed ban on the import of hunting trophies to England, Wales and Scotland is not yet law (and might never be).

Yesterday the Bill received a robust challenge in the House of Commons thanks to the interventions of Sir Bill Wiggin MP and Sir Christopher Chope MP (both members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Shooting and Conservation) and the Bill was amended to limit it to endangered species covered by existing rules under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (previously the Bill put under scope any hunted species) and that an oversight Advisory Board of experts is created to work with the Secretary of State on the progress of any legislation.

That's still not good enough because the proposals remain fundamentally flawed and superfluous given that imports (and exports) are already regulated under existing rules designed to ensure that international trade in animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild. Moreover, where permits are given to import hunting trophies into the UK it is precisely because they have been certified as having been harvested sustainably.

There is growing awareness in the media and amongst politicians that they have been duped by the antis. Many people and organisations in UK and overseas have been pushing back against this Bill and Professor Amy Dickman put across great arguments from a place of expertise in the British media this week in the lead up to the final Commons debate.

BASC will continue lobbying against the Bill and we can expect further scrutiny and amendments to this unnecessary Bill in the House of Lords. Some further context in the following BASC article:

Trophy hunting bill misses its target - BASC

The Hunting Trophies Bill can only work if it’s revised to target unsustainable practices over those that conserve threatened species.

basc.org.uk

Excellent news Connor. Has BASC thought about joining with others and putting forward funding to bring representatives from Africa to speak directly to MP’s and perhaps do some media work and do some sort of roadshow around the MSM?

There’s nothing quite like actually having someone from an affected country there to put an anti back in their box.

 

[willie_gunn]

We need to be more politically savvy - we should stop giving ammo to the antis and calling it “trophy hunting” (with all the negative connotations that has) and call it hunting tourism.

We should also abolish the CIC, Boone & Crocket, the SCI Record Book, BASC’s measuring service, and all other trophy measurement registers.

Fees should be standardised for shooting an animal, and no longer differentiate between male and female.

 

[sh1kar]

OK. So my netsuke and okimono and ivory handled old knives collections now worthless

My Holland royale and small gauge best guns now worthless

My first edition Roland Ward books 100-150 years old now worthless?

 

[Jon P]

So, may I ask, and BASC can use this if it helps this to ridicule the author of the Bill. If enacted as the author intended this Bill (or at a subsequent time) could prohibit a shooter returning to the UK from Eire with a couple of pin feathers in his hat from the one woodcock he'd shot and had cooked by his hosts in Eire and then eaten the night before his return to the UK? And therefore make him a criminal? And again could this also at a subsequent time prohibit he or she bring back the wings of, say, a teal they had shot to tie a teal, blue and silver for the fishing season?

I believe the proposed bill does not include birds & fish .

 

[Stalker62]

What, after all, is the purpose of a trophy?

It is (for me) a memento.

I should like the option of 'legally' continuing to have them.

I have never shot any animal for its skull or its antlers or its hide.

…we should stop giving ammo to the antis …

 

[willie_gunn]

I have never shot any animal for its skull or its antlers or its hide.

As ever, @Stalker1962, the problem is not that you or I have done this, but that there are plenty of others out there who have.

Next time you see a thread on SD asking “will this make Gold?”, “where can I shoot a Gold medal roe buck?”, or “do you think I should get this head measured?”, use it as a reminder as to why the Hunting Trophies (Importation Prohibition) Bill came about, and why you can no longer bring those valued mementos back.

 

[Stalker62]

OK. So my netsuke and okimono and ivory handled old knives collections now worthless

My Holland royale and small gauge best guns now worthless

My first edition Roland Ward books 100-150 years old now worthless?

What time would you like me to pick them up?

 

[Stalker62]

... perhaps do some media work and do some sort of roadshow around the MSM?

Had to look that up...

MSM
1) short for mainstream media.