Tiger "Hunting" in the USA (Hold Muh Beer, Redneck Alert!)

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[jstone78]

Tiger "Hunting" in the USA

US Federal officials are investigating more than a dozen ranches in the USA where "hunters" shoot tigers, jaguars, leopards and mountain lions.

In some cases animals have been tranquillized and tied to trees and then shot, or released in areas the size of a football field to be killed by high-paying customers.

A report in San Jose Mercury News in California quoted Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Bill Talkin saying one tiger at a Monterey Ranch was shot dead in its cage when it refused to move out. Witnesses said another had walked less than 30 metres from its cage when it was shot.

One of the ranchers charged, Floyd Lester Patterson III, told the newspaper that the 38 criminal charges filed against him were "overblown".

"The way they're talking about like it was a crapshoot or something. It wasn't nothing like that. I'm a hunter and I lead guided hunts. There's nothing wrong with that."

Talkin said the federal authorities confiscated photos and videotapes of black jaguars, tigers, leopards and mountain lions being shot on the Patterson property. The hunters came from all over the USA.

David McMullen, also a Fish and Wildlife Service official, said that leopard, jaguar and mountain lion skins fetched about $5,000 on the black market, while a Bengal tiger skins could cost more than $10,000. Many of the skins come from old or sick animals that died in zoos.

The 5,000 acre Patterson Ranch is a working cattle ranch, but most of the stock were sold when feed became scarce during the California drought. The Pattersons also run a "California Ram Hunt" for legal hunting of exotic sheep, boars and deer on the ranch.

[jstone78]

Disgusting. This incident insults and dishonors all self-respecting game hunters, who believe in the importance of sportsmanship.

Genuine big game hunters of old, like former President Teddy Roosevelt, must be rolling over in their graves.

[Vigilantcitizen]

That ain't hunting, it's killing.

[Tijeras_Slim]

These guys would piss themselves just reading The Maneaters of Kaumon by Jim Corbett. Disgusting cowards.

[fourdeuce82d]

one tiger at a Monterey Ranch was shot dead in its cage when it refused to move out.

How about a compromise: if the tiger won't leave the cage, you can still kill it- as long as you get in the cage with it, and use a knife.

[CheezyD]

They should put these "hunters" in the cage with the big cats. Let's see how tough and mighty they are then.

People (using the term loosely) like this do nothing but damage the image of legitiamte hunters and gun owners.

[gdc314]

I'm very truely sickened by this story...

[for-q-clinton]

Actually comments like yours tend to hurt hunters also. It reminds me of people saying, "Give a deer a gun and see how you like it".

The same thing applies here. So what if someone isn't as good of a shot or as brave as others, does that mean he's not allowed to experience a hunt? If the animal isn't an endangered species, I say so what...kill the animal as you see fit.

Many people believe it's only ok to hunt to feed your family, others it's ok to hunt for trophies (but it must be a legit kill. And I guess to some killing them on a high-fenced controlled area is legit hunting to them. My point is there's a wide range of views on hunting. If you dismiss this type of hunt, you're one step away from dismissing your type of hunting.

[Lion Den Dan]

When one buys a ticket to one of these slaughter houses, one buys the beef. It should make little difference is the buyer shoots the animal in its pen or in the pasture. The important thing is that the kill is clean and quick. The animal, when paid for, belongs to the buyer and is his to dispose of within reasonable limits of compassion which should be as good as the slaughter house.

Sniveling about this being a hunt is stupid. It is a kill. Call a Spade a Spade and move on. ----- Yea, I've got my ass-bestus suit on.

[Sawdring]

Who buys black jaguars, tigers, leopards and mountain lions to eat?

[jstone78]

{"....So what if someone isn't as good of a shot or as brave as others, does that mean he's not allowed to experience a hunt?...."}

Did you read this part from the article?

>>>>In some cases animals have been tranquillized and tied to trees and then shot<<<<<

If the so-called "hunter" is so much of a loser, that he is unable to shoot an animal unless it is tranquillized and tied to a tree, I am of the opinion that he lacks the mental competence to be a gun owner. If a so-called hunter lacks the basic competence to aim a gun properly, then giving him a gun endangers the welfare of himself and that of others.

[archy]

Genuine big game hunters of old, like former President Teddy Roosevelt, must be rolling over in their graves.

Nah. They understood that there were differences in the customs and methodologies of hunting in different regions, just as there had been considerable differences between the philosophies driving the Native American hunters and the White commercial hunters who nearly exterminated the buffalo- with whom those engaging in *canned hunts* would find very little pleasure, indeed, I suspect.

But much of the interest for the prepackaged *ranch hunts* comes from the end of the days of the great safari hunts in Africa and India. I enjoyed just a very small taste of that life while working on the African continent, just enough to realize what I'd missed. But of course after the human population is thinned by pestilence and war for another decade or two, that may be a pretty neat place to return to, once again. And Theodore Roosevelt [who detested the familiarism *Teddy*] certainly enjoyed himself there in his day.

-archy-/-

[archy]

How about a compromise: if the tiger won't leave the cage, you can still kill it- as long as you get in the cage with it, and use a knife.

That can be done, though wild pig hunts in the brush are more fun and more equal- if you use the right knife. And a tiger is not necessarily as fearful under such circumstances as you might imagine, but you better not try that with a leopard or Cape Buffalo.

The Hawaiians, btw, figure a cane spear is a better tool for brush pig than a knife. They have a point, but either will make one squeal exactly like a stuck pig.

[for-q-clinton]

All I'm saying is that it's only an animal. It has no soul, so what the big deal. I understand that it's not good to torture them and kill endangered species, but that's it. I don't care if a blind guy wants to hunt and needs to have the animal sleeping, tied up, and in a sac with somone holding the gun and the blind guy just pushes a button--if that gives him the satisfaction of hunting, great for him. Which by the way I know a near-blind guy that does hunt. He basically sights in a specific spot and his spotter tells him to shoot. If hunting is good for you and I, who are we to say he shouldn't be allowed to hunt (as long as it's safe and he doesn't endanger other humans).

[SicTransitGloriaMundi]

From what I understand, many of the "hunters" on those canned safaris are so inept that the guides end up doing everything except pulling the trigger. I think it's almost as bad to have someone drive you to where the animals are, as to have them catch the animal and bring it to you.

[TEXASPROUD]

Archy,
T.R. was a heck of a hunter, and considering the high quality guides he had such as Fredrick Courtney Selous(Pamwe Chete) it must have been one hell of an adventure. I lucked out this year and got one of the limited edition Winchester 1895's in .405 Winchester. In itself, the gun brings thoughts of our former president to mind. Alas the gun is still a Virgin and I'm still trying decide weather to make it a working gun or sell it to a collector.

[for-q-clinton]

I think it's almost as bad to have someone drive you to where the animals are, as to have them catch the animal and bring it to you.

I feel the same for scuba divers and snorklers. I just got back from the bahamas and was shocked that loads of people would go out on a boat to a reef that the resort had already scoped out to ensure the fish were active that day.

Back when I was a snorkler and scuba diver, I went to the coast and started swimming--miles sometimes until I saw at fish. That's the only approved way to snorkle. If only people did everything the hard way, things would be so much better and people would appreciate the hard lives that fish have. {/sarcasm}

[for-q-clinton]

I also forgot to mention my views on hunting. I say if you can't kill the animal with your bare hands you're a wimp and shouldn't be hunting. How fair is it to have a knife or a gun when you hunt?

[for-q-clinton]

oops forgot to post [/sarcas]

[Lion Den Dan]

Who buys black jaguars, tigers, leopards and mountain lions to eat?*****

Hungry people with money. Actually, it is not a question about eating the animal. It is an answer of who owns the animal. I suspect that primitive man favored Oryx over Tiger for the Thanks Giving cookout. By the way, did you ever try to eat a buzzard? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Terriergal]

If the drugging/tying to a tree kind of stuff is true, that's sick. I resent the term "hunt" being used in any form for that. Why would *anyone* pay good money for that? I tend to think this is propaganda from the PETA left. They could just as easily have the owners of the animals put it to sleep and SAY they shot it, for all that trouble.

Something just doesn't ring true here.