This is the letter I sent to TOm and the editor of the paper.
> I'm pretty appalled at a recent article you published!
> Do editors even look up any basic facts anymore? The
> author (Tom Stienstra) of this article had an opinion
> and I respect that, but is basing his facts on
> conjecture and speculation good for the readers, arn't
> you a little to far from Disney land to be dreaming up
> stuff like this? This article sums up this
> newspaper... incompetent!
> You should do a little research before you send your
> rant off to press... Do newspaper hacks even do
> reserch anymore, or do they just use thier divine
> intelligence to whip out articles? Apparently you're
> lacking in that catagory...
>
> Dart hunting as you call it, is called "Green Hunting"
> and its been around for quite some time in Africa and
> some limited areas in the rest of the world. Many
> upon many of the "Big five" have been taken on Green
> hunts. Green hunts are growing in popularity but not
> much. They cost basically the same and the danger is
> still there if not more. Tranquilized animals are
> still VERY dangerous.
>
>
> This is quoted from you article" Catch-and-release
> hunting solves many
> problems:"
>
> -- It solves the problem of killing an animal that you
> do not eat, which violates a basic ethic of most
> people regarding trophy hunting.
>
> Where do you get your information? Just because some
> hunter doesn't eat what he kills doesn't mean it goes
> to waste! Many animals are donated to the needy, why
> don't you tell them there's no more food to feed their
>
> children! What about a rancher who sends 200 head of
> cattle to slaughter every fall so you can eat your
> McBurgers? He didn't eat any of those by he
> essentially put them to death! Or the chicken farmer
> that sends 20,000 chickens to the packing plant, he
> killed them but didn't eat them either.
>
> All animals deserve respect, and in my opinion
> trophies have the utmost respect! How many cow head
> shoulder mounts do you see in living rooms or full
> bodied free ranging chickens in some ones den?
>
> -- It gets past the highly buffered experience of
> seeing the animals at
> long range, particularly from a vehicle, and then
> capturing them with a
> high- powered rifle with a scope or camera with a
> 1000-mm lens.
>
> Again, what are you talking about? The average range a
> whitetail deer is shot and killed at is 75 yards. Most
> African game is taken at this range as well and
> closer. You could almost hit it with a rock. The
> average shot taken with a bow and arrow on a deer is
> 18 yards. Do you think they need to get closer?
>
> -- Because there would be no trophy kill fee, it
> solves the financial realities of hunting big game in
> Africa. Fees now charged include $75,000 to $100,000
> for an elephant and $50,000 to $75,000 for a lion.
>
> Umm why don't you do a little research on this one as
> well, especially the trophy fees you quote! Green
> hunt still require a trophy fee! You obviously don't
> know where these trophy fees go to do you? I'll let
> you do some sleuthing on that one. Maybe give you
> some practice!
>
> Bull elephant hunts can be had for around
> $10,000-12,000. No where near your examples... For
> huge trophy bulls you could double that number...
>
> Depredation Cow elephant hunts can go for as little as
> $2,500. Loins average around $8,000 for a lioness and
> about $12,000 for male. No where near your "Animal
> Planet" numbers. Again do a little research.
> Do you know how what those trophy fees do for the
> countries economy (see sluething above)?
>
> You mentioned Kenya, they have such a bad poaching
> problem because they have no hunting, which means no
> $$$$ for game officers. Just a dozen elephant trophy
> fees could double their gross domestic product!
>
> Hunting is more than just killing at least you got
> that right! But animal populations need to be
> controlled some way or another. Do you know how many
> elephants there are in Africa?
>
> I would be surprised given the amount of
> misinformation that you spewed forth in your article,
> it appears to me you got your info from the Discovery
> Channel or more likely the Disney Channel. Estimates
> place the population close to 700,000 wild elephants
> in Africa or roughly the same number of elk in the US.
>
>
> Do we need to have dart hunts for elk? Hardly! Do
> you know how much food those elephants need to survive
> for a year? Take the number of elk and what they eat
> and multiply by 15... Do you know how many animals
> are impacted by over grazing of elephants?
>
> Man has effectively taken the large predators out of
> the ecosystem, consequently "prey" populations are for
> the most part under our control though the use of
> hunting. We really can't bring the large carnivores
> back unless we kick millions of people out of their
> homes so that the wolves, mountain loins, and grizzlys
> can have their habitat back, we don't want any
> eco-hikers killed either.
>
> Even non hunters aren't going to give up their 1/4
> acre in suburbia! What would happen if you told all
> the people of California to pack their
> stuff and get out because the mt. lions want their
> habitat back, or better yet what about the Southern
> Coastal Grizzly bears that have been extinct in
> California for more than 100 years?
>
> What would happen if we went to a "catch and release"
> system for deer hunting in the east? All most every
> state east of the Mississippi is WAY over
> populated with deer. There are more deer right now
> than there has ever been EVER! Some areas have over
> 200 deer per square mile, where the average should be
> about 20. Hunters take millions of deer every and
> they still can't control the populations. Deer put a
> strain on the ecosystem and all animals suffer. Other
> animals in the ecosystem are becoming extinct or close
> to it due to the over populations of deer. Plants in
> some areas have become extinct due to over grazing.
> Hunters are doing all they can but anti's are making
> it increasingly more difficult for the hunters to try
> to control the populations.
>
> How would you propose that we take care of the deer?
> Dart them and sterilize them? Look at how many deer
> are killed each hunting season, and look at how the
> population is still expanding! There is NO POSSIBLE
> WAY that "dart hunters" are going to dart as many deer
> and sterilize them as hunters are going to kill, ever.
>
>
> If we go to dart hunting you will easily loose half
> the hunting population if not more, and the ones that
> decide to start won't hold a candle to the hunting
> populations out there now. That would mean that the
> harvest will effectively be about 25% of what it would
> normally if we're luckey... Because only 10% of the
> hunters take 90% of the deer... Darting them still
> wouldn't take their mouth out of the feed bucket. The
> only way is to KILL them and eat them as nature
> intened!
>
> What's wrong with some one enjoying themselves in the
> woods and occasionally bringing home a deer to eat on
> for the winter? Does it go against your morals? I'm
> sure there are may things that you do that go agains
> my morals but I don't care and let you live your life
> as you see fit!
>
> Do you have any idea how much it would cost to dart,
> measure and record all this information? Millions!
> Hell the game commissions don't have enough money
> operate as it is. I guess we could raise taxes to pay
> for it, but why not let hunters pay for it, something
> they enjoy anyway?
>
> People in this country and the rest of the world for
> that matter need to wake the hell up and take close
> look at themselves and what they eat. They have no
> problem going to the grocery store to pick up a
> package of steaks, hamburger or chicken breasts, but
> are repulsed by some one shooting "bambi".
>
> At least "bambi" got to live its life as it saw fit
> and
> not in a pen somewhere being fed artificial
> "sweeteners"! Would they think differently if they
> could buy "bambi" at the grocery store?
>
> Your "Curt Gowdy" remark is laughable. That little
> thing called research would have helped you with this
> one... you could have looked in your TV Guide. There
> are four (4) chanels, thats right 4, on cable TV right
> now dedicated to hunting and fishing. Also ESPN airs
> hunting and fishing shows every Saturday, and Sunday
> morning and also every day of the week, at some time
> or another!
>
> Hunting is as much a way of life for man as it is for
> a Lion or wolf in my opinion. Sure we could go to the
> store and buy our meat but deep down inside me and all
> the other hunters on this planet, we have the
> primal instinct to go out and bring our own meat home
> from the woods the same way our ancestors did 200,000
> years ago, its called instinct!
>
> Telling a hunter he has to dart his animal is like
> telling a wolf he can no longer kill his dinner but
> has to eat processed dog food like Fido made
> out of processed animals and corn. At least the wolf
> doesn't have to kill any more...
>
> Thanks for all the thoughtful insight, spreading lies
> like this are helping to put an end to hunting and our
> ancestoral herritage in this country. You should
> stick to things you know so much about like all
> the economics and new industries that this will
> create... What about the billions that will be lost
> and the programs they fund? Why don't you do us all a
> favor and learn some facts? Its pretty sad when
> someone tries to argue about something they know
> abosulutely nothing about it!
>
> Ivan Clark
