I love to hunt, but geebus!

[m-a-r-k-7]

Arn't hippos... endangered?

[Recon by Fire]

Army, I actually met a few "blokes" in Iraq that were Africans and big game guides. They had some good stories as well. I was surprised to find out some of teh countries in Africa actually allow no hunting at all. They still run safaris there, but only for photography. I'm not a big game hunter but i would love to go on one of those trips!

[i_baked_cookies]

Hey kids! What's the lesson here?

Let's kill animals at point blank range for no good reason!

[beam]

LOL! Too funny this thread.

Some people need to realize that the biggest contributors to wildlife habitat and preservation are HUNTERS!!! Not PETA members. There is easily verifiable data on that.

Also, the fact that the stupid animal was charging gives the hunter even more of a reason to shoot it in the face. DUH. You guys act like that is the bad thing. So let me get this straight...1000lb animal with known reputation for killing people is charging straight at you...and you wouldn't kill it? Or are you saying don't get yourself in a position where a 1000lb animal will charge you? I don't get it.

Hunting is a valid way of building and maintaining a healthy ecosystem in the modern world. I live in Iowa. Deer are like rodents here. In many cases they invade city areas and thousands are hit by cars every year costing some people their lives. We do them a SERVICE by hunting them. Why? Because without the hunting seasons, their numbers would grow even more obscene and they would begin to die as a result of disease.

Maybe the whole hunting thing is something that if you don't grow up with it and learn it in its proper perspective, you can easily write it off as cruel and disturbing.

[etjoyride]

My mom was anti-hunting until i was 12(and still kind of is), but around my 10th b-day i realized that hunting was a natural course of life. MAN IS MEANT TO HUNT!!! BASIC INSTINCT.

So you can learn

[wad04]

[paint magnet]

A few random thoughts...

I seem to remember hearing that hippos can bite adult crocodiles in half with relatively little effort. Due to the nature of big-game cartridges (i.e., gigantic bullets do not travel far or have very good trajectories), most shots are generally taken within sixty yards.

Regardless of whether killing it was justified or whether it took skill to just stand there and shoot it, Mr. Sullivan either has nerves of steel or a death wish.

Oh, and the nicer big game double-guns cost more than many high-end luxury cars.

A .600 Nitro Express cartridge weighs two pounds and could just about kill someone standing on the opposite side of a bank vault door.

[paint magnet]

Hunting deer and many other animals is necessary (believe me, I know, I live in South Carolina where you see people dying as a result of car wrecks involving deer all the time), but what I think he's trying to say is that you don't really see a lot of people getting killed by hippos each year.

All of the big 5 (hippos, elephants, buffalo, lions, and tigers) are endangered though, so there really is no reason other than "sport" (I use that for lack of a better term) to kill them. They're not over-populated (or they wouldn't be endangered), they pose no threat to humans, other than maybe a few photographers who happen to get too close, and there are plenty of other animals that can be killed for food.

[wad04]

no, he's trying to imply the over population of animals doesn't happen.

and squid, your comments towards army were clearly offensive and unnecessary, you have every reason to be banned for that.

[bam wannabe]

i too am against the hippo shooting. i mean, come on! he shot one that was just standing there. if i saw some guy walk up to me with a huge gun and aim at me, im not going to just stand there and guarantee getting shot. i would chrage at the guy too. but to shoot a hippo? thats like shooting an obese man trying to run at you. its a little hard to miss hitting it.

but theres a big difference between shooting deer, and taking down a hippo. why shoot the hippo? the only reason is for sport. thats messed up. to shoot a deer or turkey or something like that for food is fine with me. my dad used to go hunting all the time. i just dont see the purpose in shooting an animal that is endangered and was just sittin there until he decided to walk up on it with a freakin huge gun.

[FactsOfLife]

Oh yes... Judging by my post I'm all for PETA. Wait... Those are a bunch of nutsack, extremist, idiots. Just because I think killing animals for sport is stupid doesn't mean a damn thing in regards to what you just said.

You inferred that you felt it was ok to just kill them because they kill people. I'm sorry... But some people are just full of themselves. Animals are no more 'overpopulated' as a whole than people are. All he did was stand there, wait for it to charge, and shoot it in the face.

For a person to be able to kill something just for a trophy... Well, he must be pretty damn stupid, indeed. Don't try and give me some life speech... Maybe you missed the point I was trying to convey, and that is senseless killing of animals for comic or entertainment value is wrong. No justification necessary. It is very unlikely that the guy cares about feeding the 'tribes.' This moron is probably no different than the stupid hicks in my town that drive around killing pet cats. This goes for all the jackasses that would pay MONEY to WATCH some guy shoot animals in the face.

So why don't you take your monkey-skull, redneck BS, and try to educate yourself on what goes on outside of your simple, ole' fashioned life... Wait, what was the point. You obviously know everything about Africa, you joined the army.

WATCH OUT GUYS! The professor is here! He makes dinosaurs!

I'd ban that for a dollar.

[FactsOfLife]

Hunting deer and many other animals is necessary (believe me, I know, I live in South Carolina where you see people dying as a result of car wrecks involving deer all the time), but what I think he's trying to say is that you don't really see a lot of people getting killed by hippos each year.

All of the big 5 (hippos, elephants, buffalo, lions, and tigers) are endangered though, so there really is no reason other than "sport" (I use that for lack of a better term) to kill them. They're not over-populated (or they wouldn't be endangered), they pose no threat to humans, other than maybe a few photographers who happen to get too close, and there are plenty of other animals that can be killed for food.

Negative, hippos kill a crapload of people every year. One of the bizarre tidbits of African life.

[Indignant]

I thought the video was pretty kickass. Crazy stuff.

[Army]

Apparantly, some people failed reading comprehension;

I said:

...If you look closely, all the animals had been wounded by the "hunter", leaving the very dangerous job of killing the beast to the PH.

Then Squid countered with:

For a person to be able to kill something just for a trophy... Well, he must be pretty damn stupid, indeed. Don't try and give me some life speech... Maybe you missed the point I was trying to convey, and that is senseless killing of animals for comic or entertainment value is wrong. No justification necessary. It is very unlikely that the guy cares about feeding the 'tribes.' This moron is probably no different than the stupid hicks in my town that drive around killing pet cats. This goes for all the jackasses that would pay MONEY to WATCH some guy shoot animals in the face.

Squid obviously did not read anything past his initial opinion of the video. His "point" shows he knows very little about game management, hunting, or being able to differentiate between hoodlums killing his cats, and a professional hunter downing a wounded and enraged animal. This is called "ignorance", and his other posts continue to compound this;

To whit:

Are you stupid? It doesn't mean it's ok just to randomly kill them, for 'sport.' Hunting for food is one thing, but hunting for sport is totally unnecessary. Then again, I don't know many people this day in age who have to hunt to get there food, considering the availability.

Since Squid does not have any notion of what transpires outside his bedroom (or his Mom's basement, we don't know for sure), he wouldn't know about the 30-40 million hunters in the USA alone, that would rather harvest clean, natural, non-chemical tainted meat from wildlife, which in turn assures genetically healthier breeding of animals for next season. He seems to be secure in the notion, that it is OK to kill, as long it is anonymous, and we can simply buy the meat from the supermarket. "Sport" hunting rarely occurs, and is universally condemned by hunters for its destructive means.

Oh look, more nonsense:

You inferred that you felt it was ok to just kill them because they kill people. I'm sorry... But some people are just full of themselves. Animals are no more 'overpopulated' as a whole than people are. All he did was stand there, wait for it to charge, and shoot it in the face.

I never "infer" anything, I say what I say. If YOU wish to interpret my words to mean anything else, try to make more sense of it.

Animals do indeed over-populate beyond the means for the land or area to sustain them, resulting in starvation and rampant disease. Ask anyone in the Canadian goose flyways if they still have a lawn or a clean pond. Ask someone that has lost their dog or cat to coyotes or mountain lions. Ask someone that has T-boned a deer with their car. See, unlike humans, animals do not possess the ability to reason, which is why they just stare at the pretty lights....just before you wrap your bumper around them.

As for just standing there, the PH knows that Hippo's and Cape Buffalo have terrible eyesight, but incredible sense of smell. Should the PH (or the luckless client hunter that originally wounded the animal) make any sort of sudden movement, the beast will quickly charge...as you did watch them do just so. What the PH was doing, was ENDING the hunt quickly and humanely as possible. Hippo's are not the cute docile cartoon doofs that you seem to think they are. They can run faster than you, and bite you literally in half. If the PH has offered a Hippo hunt, then that means they are overpopulated in that area, or a rogue Hippo has become a danger to the local tribes.

But how could you know all that......you're not in the Army, right?.

Bam Wannabe, MARK 7, I BAKED COOKIES, Hippos are only endangered in certain regions of Africa, same with Elephants, Rhinos etc. There is NO "sport" hunting in Africa, all parts of the animal are used by the locals for food, clothing, tools, and tribal needs. Indeed, the tribes welcome client hunters that help them gain needed food. Often, much of the hunting activity revolves around tribal customs . The PH didn't simply "walk up on it", it had already been wounded by the client hunter, he was making sure the hunt ended quickly and humanely as possible before any person gets killed....and yes, that means a freakin' huge gun for freakin' huge animals.

Surprisingly contrary to Squids stupid assertion, there is no Piggly-Wiggly, Sams-Club, or Food Giant in Zimbabwe.

[SpecialBlend2786]

Still don't like the video much at all, but I for one have learned alot from this thread about hunting

Thanks for the explanation Army. quod erat demonstrandum