There has been quite a bit of chat lately regarding the concept of “Trophy Hunting” both within the hunting community as well as outside of it. Time and time again, as I have begun to follow some of these conversations along the way, many have taken a very biased and uneducated turn.
The core of much of this disagreement seems to be rooted in the fact that many in the mainstream news media have continually, for decades now, confused, conflated and interchanged the term trophy hunting and poaching to describe wildlife atrocities far and wide throughout the world. Because of this many inside the hunting community, mostly new hunters of which we have a lot of lately, also have made a definitive effort to distance themselves from the label of Trophy Hunter. Divided we will fall, this is certain. More on that a bit later.
Trophy Hunting is not poaching and poaching is certainly not Trophy Hunting. It is illegal to kill an animal and simply cut the head off and leave the meat laying in nearly every single state in the union as well as Canada and Mexico. This act would be considered poaching and the perpetrator deserves to have their ass hauled into a courtroom and have their hunting privileges taken away for the better part of a decade or worse.
I have had the good fortune to be afforded the opportunity to hunt all over this planet and never have I once seen a big game animal killed and beheaded and left to lay, Africa included. Every single ounce of meat provided by any hunt I have been a part of globally for big game, predators aside, as that is another subject altogether, has resulted in every bit of edible meat being consumed by humans who were more than happy to have it.
Africa is the epicenter of global poaching and Trophy Hunting interestingly enough. However, these are not the same people and activities, not by a long shot. The Trophy Hunters in Africa, usually foreigners, and mostly Americans are paying money to experience a hunting adventure like none other on earth. They are also playing a very vital role in sound wildlife management which in the end conserves the species that call a very dangerous and unstable place home. The rhinos and elephants you see on the news left to rot in the hot savannah sun with their tusks and horns missing are killed by poachers. Usually African poachers, locals that take it upon themselves to poach an animal to benefit financially from the illegal take by selling off the parts of the animal on the black market. In many countries in Africa the governments have become so corrupt that they themselves partake in illegally poaching their own resources for money, ie Zimbabwe. The only factor keeping many of these populations alive today on a continent such as Africa, even with the corruption in the governments, is the value of these animals to hunters. And Africa is not alone in this.