Calif. Hunter
Active member
Elk slaughter spotlights disdain for "slob hunters"
By Chuck Oxley
The Associated Press
Close-up
BOISE, Idaho
Mid-November is a gorgeous time of year in the Idaho
backcountry,
with granite peaks dusted by snow and abundant wildlife on the move.
That was the scene at Tex Creek, near the Wyoming state line, at dawn
last Nov. 15.
But within hours, it became a killing field, as groups of hunters shot
volleys of
gunfire into cornered, frightened and confused herds of elk that had
no escape.
"The area was packed with hunters and there were 1,500 elk on the
mountain. There
was no place for them to go," said Terry Thomas, regional manager with
the Idaho
Fish and Game Department. Early winter weather had pushed huge numbers
of elk into a
confined area in front of the hunters' guns.
Jubilant hunters who were on the scene early used radios and
cellphones to call
their friends in town, alerting them to the easy prey. People who
hadn't hunted in
20 years grabbed their rifles, hopped in their pickup trucks and
headed for the
hills.
Some had hunting licenses; some didn't. Some had elk tags, verifying a
legal kill;
others didn't. Some people chased elk with their pickup trucks; others
took wild
shots from more than 600 yards, wounding animals that would die
slowly.
"There were not just single shots coming from the valley. There were
volleys of
shots," Thomas said. "We heard people on radios talking about taking
multiple elk.
One told his buddies, 'Don't shoot any more, I've got four down.' "
The killing continued, at a lesser pace, for three days, with little
regard for
regulations or ethics. In those days and the days that followed, game
wardens wrote
more than 50 citations for misdemeanors. One felony charge was filed.
At least 20
elk were killed illegally, and more than 20 cases are still under
investigation.
The hunting community has a term for these people: "slob hunters."
They are the ones
who disregard regulations and traditions, and ethical concepts such as
"fair chase."
They are also the ones who give animal-rights groups like the People
for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals ammunition to use against the sport of hunting.
"This doesn't sound like a hunt. This sounds like murder," said
Stephanie Boyles,
spokeswoman for the Norfolk, Va.,-based organization. "Nothing they
did that day
could be considered sportsmanlike."
Teaching ethical hunting
Jim Posewitz teaches ethical hunting at Montana State University and
has written
"Beyond Fair Chase: The Ethic and Tradition of Hunting." He said
incidents such as
Tex Creek happen because the hunters have so little appreciation for
the animal, how
wild animals came to be valued by society and the effort it has taken
to restore elk
since the late 1800s, when excessive hunting almost wiped them out.
While understanding varies from person to person, most hunters do
pursue their sport
from an ethical base of right and wrong. The basic concept is fair
chase, an idea
developed in the conservation movement that began in the late 1800s
and early 1900s.
In the 1800s, from the Lewis and Clark expedition on, animals were
taken for
commercial profit in the West. As a result, populations of big game
and some smaller
animals, such as beaver, were devastated. The buffalo simply were
gone.
"Even the number of elk had fallen to just 40,000 animals when
Theodore Roosevelt
came out West to hunt and ranch in 1886," Posewitz said.
But Roosevelt and like-minded conservationists changed the standard.
No longer were
wild animals hunted commercially for profit. The idea of conservation
and
sportsmanship developed; a hunter was someone who cared about recovery
and
restoration.
"The heart of that sporting code is what we are talking about today,"
Posewitz said.
Posewitz and Boyles have common ground in discussing hunting ethics,
agreeing that
the problem is rooted in education and exacerbated by modern life.
In Idaho, hunting classes are a prerequisite to purchase a hunting
license for
anyone born in 1975 or later. But young hunters are not the problem,
Posewitz said.
It's the older generation who exempted themselves when the
hunter-education laws
were passed that needs a refresher course in fair chase.
"We have not done a very good job of teaching. If you don't know those
things, the
tendency to behave badly or casually is enhanced," Posewitz said.
The other problem is simply a matter of time, Boyles said. Hunters,
particularly
urban dwellers who set foot in the forest only on an autumn weekend or
two, aren't
willing to put the time into their own training.
"They don't want to spend time in woods actually tracking and learning
how to stalk
an animal. They want to get in and out quickly and hang their trophy
on the wall,"
Boyles said.
"We call them the weekend warriors, the ones who only want to go out
one or two
days" to hunt big game during the entire season, said John Hansen, a
game warden for
the Idaho Fish and Game Department whose territory includes the Tex
Creek drainage.
"What that translates to, is that the ethics fall out the window and
you tend to
replace your hunting skills with technology."
Guiding younger hunters
Posewitz suggests that ethical-hunting education should be taught for
adults, and
the thousands of volunteers who now teach younger hunters could take
on the job,
perhaps with a new hunter-education association to issue course
certifications.
Private landowners, who often hold the best hunting grounds, would be
more likely to
give permission to proven ethical hunters and not allow others, thus
making it a
more attractive proposition for the old-timers to take the classes, he
said.
"The hunting-education community is ready for this. What has been
lacking is
government's ability to say, 'do it,' " he said.
An educated population of hunters would go a long way toward
preventing unethical
behavior and inhumane kills. Most important, they could avoid
succumbing to the
kinds of instincts that allowed Tex Creek to happen, Fish and Game
manager Thomas
said.
By Chuck Oxley
The Associated Press
Close-up
BOISE, Idaho
Mid-November is a gorgeous time of year in the Idaho
backcountry,
with granite peaks dusted by snow and abundant wildlife on the move.
That was the scene at Tex Creek, near the Wyoming state line, at dawn
last Nov. 15.
But within hours, it became a killing field, as groups of hunters shot
volleys of
gunfire into cornered, frightened and confused herds of elk that had
no escape.
"The area was packed with hunters and there were 1,500 elk on the
mountain. There
was no place for them to go," said Terry Thomas, regional manager with
the Idaho
Fish and Game Department. Early winter weather had pushed huge numbers
of elk into a
confined area in front of the hunters' guns.
Jubilant hunters who were on the scene early used radios and
cellphones to call
their friends in town, alerting them to the easy prey. People who
hadn't hunted in
20 years grabbed their rifles, hopped in their pickup trucks and
headed for the
hills.
Some had hunting licenses; some didn't. Some had elk tags, verifying a
legal kill;
others didn't. Some people chased elk with their pickup trucks; others
took wild
shots from more than 600 yards, wounding animals that would die
slowly.
"There were not just single shots coming from the valley. There were
volleys of
shots," Thomas said. "We heard people on radios talking about taking
multiple elk.
One told his buddies, 'Don't shoot any more, I've got four down.' "
The killing continued, at a lesser pace, for three days, with little
regard for
regulations or ethics. In those days and the days that followed, game
wardens wrote
more than 50 citations for misdemeanors. One felony charge was filed.
At least 20
elk were killed illegally, and more than 20 cases are still under
investigation.
The hunting community has a term for these people: "slob hunters."
They are the ones
who disregard regulations and traditions, and ethical concepts such as
"fair chase."
They are also the ones who give animal-rights groups like the People
for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals ammunition to use against the sport of hunting.
"This doesn't sound like a hunt. This sounds like murder," said
Stephanie Boyles,
spokeswoman for the Norfolk, Va.,-based organization. "Nothing they
did that day
could be considered sportsmanlike."
Teaching ethical hunting
Jim Posewitz teaches ethical hunting at Montana State University and
has written
"Beyond Fair Chase: The Ethic and Tradition of Hunting." He said
incidents such as
Tex Creek happen because the hunters have so little appreciation for
the animal, how
wild animals came to be valued by society and the effort it has taken
to restore elk
since the late 1800s, when excessive hunting almost wiped them out.
While understanding varies from person to person, most hunters do
pursue their sport
from an ethical base of right and wrong. The basic concept is fair
chase, an idea
developed in the conservation movement that began in the late 1800s
and early 1900s.
In the 1800s, from the Lewis and Clark expedition on, animals were
taken for
commercial profit in the West. As a result, populations of big game
and some smaller
animals, such as beaver, were devastated. The buffalo simply were
gone.
"Even the number of elk had fallen to just 40,000 animals when
Theodore Roosevelt
came out West to hunt and ranch in 1886," Posewitz said.
But Roosevelt and like-minded conservationists changed the standard.
No longer were
wild animals hunted commercially for profit. The idea of conservation
and
sportsmanship developed; a hunter was someone who cared about recovery
and
restoration.
"The heart of that sporting code is what we are talking about today,"
Posewitz said.
Posewitz and Boyles have common ground in discussing hunting ethics,
agreeing that
the problem is rooted in education and exacerbated by modern life.
In Idaho, hunting classes are a prerequisite to purchase a hunting
license for
anyone born in 1975 or later. But young hunters are not the problem,
Posewitz said.
It's the older generation who exempted themselves when the
hunter-education laws
were passed that needs a refresher course in fair chase.
"We have not done a very good job of teaching. If you don't know those
things, the
tendency to behave badly or casually is enhanced," Posewitz said.
The other problem is simply a matter of time, Boyles said. Hunters,
particularly
urban dwellers who set foot in the forest only on an autumn weekend or
two, aren't
willing to put the time into their own training.
"They don't want to spend time in woods actually tracking and learning
how to stalk
an animal. They want to get in and out quickly and hang their trophy
on the wall,"
Boyles said.
"We call them the weekend warriors, the ones who only want to go out
one or two
days" to hunt big game during the entire season, said John Hansen, a
game warden for
the Idaho Fish and Game Department whose territory includes the Tex
Creek drainage.
"What that translates to, is that the ethics fall out the window and
you tend to
replace your hunting skills with technology."
Guiding younger hunters
Posewitz suggests that ethical-hunting education should be taught for
adults, and
the thousands of volunteers who now teach younger hunters could take
on the job,
perhaps with a new hunter-education association to issue course
certifications.
Private landowners, who often hold the best hunting grounds, would be
more likely to
give permission to proven ethical hunters and not allow others, thus
making it a
more attractive proposition for the old-timers to take the classes, he
said.
"The hunting-education community is ready for this. What has been
lacking is
government's ability to say, 'do it,' " he said.
An educated population of hunters would go a long way toward
preventing unethical
behavior and inhumane kills. Most important, they could avoid
succumbing to the
kinds of instincts that allowed Tex Creek to happen, Fish and Game
manager Thomas
said.
