Given the story today about the poaching of elephants, this video on Reddit caught my eye. It part of a show called Under Wild Skies What is this shit? For some reason, NBC Sports Network has been airing an NRA-sponsored hunting show called Under Wild Skies, which apparently airs on NBC. This video shows a lobbyist named Tony Makris shooting an elephant in the face. I am surprised to see NBC airing the scene. It shows that, while one cannot swear on television or show certain types of intimate scenes, you can still shoot a elephant in the face. [WARNING The video contains graphic and disturbing images]
I am also confused why this is so impressive. The elephant is standing there and you shoot it at close quarters in the face with a powerful weapon. The elephant however does not die after two shots but lingers in pain before it is finally put down. The episode ends with celebration with what appears to be champagne.
The program identifies Makris as a lobbyist. Some stories identify him as an NRA lobbyist. Other stories describe the show as “sponsored by the NRA.
The episode is filmed in the Botswana wilderness where he is led to around 20 feet from an elephant. While the number of elephants continue to fall in the country, a ban on trophy hunting will not kick in until 2014. That leaves people like Makris rushing to kill elephants while they still can.
I have hesitated to comment on this article because the video was so disturbing to me that I was concerned that I could not be objective. I see no sport in this disgusting killing and this human being should be ashamed of himself.
But it’s adolescent macho! Who cares about the rest?
The .577 in my view is strictly a dangerous game rifle and should only be used as such. It is expensive to shoot and you are looking at $150.00 or so in ammo just to sight it in, not to mention how much your shoulder is going to ache afterward. Seems too impractical for anything else in my view. BUt to each his own I guess.
Bron,
See if you can find someplace where you can shoot one, then get back to us on how it worked out.
I looked at the .577 shots in the video. Actually I had already seen it. It is not true they didn’t have much trouble. It kicks like a mule. Your point was that maybe he was not in good enough shape to walk much. That is not a rifle to be shot by somebody in bad physical condition.
NRA Lobbyist … hell no
That’s Dick Cheney ….!!!
Seriously, it is …!!!
Bron,
I’ll agree deer and bison are mostly instinct and not very complex.
NRA Lobbyist Shooting Elephant In Face
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sounds like floriduh politics
OS:
Move ahead to about 4 min and they are shooting the TRex. They dont seem to have as much problem.
Bron,
If the hunter is healthy enough to shoot a T-rex .577, he is healthy enough to walk. I enjoy target shooting, but you couldn’t pay me enough to pop a cap with one of those monsters. I value my rotator cuffs and collarbones. The price of $23+ every time you pull the trigger ought to tell you something.
Here is what it looks like to shoot one. This is at an indoor range somewhere in the middle east. The men in the video are apparently trained riflemen, but not this rifle.
Did he have a little PP?
One of the guys I know who hunts, hunts with his wife all over the world.
That guy didnt find the right woman.
Gene H:
I dont know the answer to that. I think there may be a couple of larger mammals that are as you say. But I think it is a reasonable statement to make concerning deer and Bison.
Also, I used to live next to a guy in Dallas who was a big game hunter. He had been all over the world to kill things, most of which were inedible. He probably put some taxidermist’s kids through college. His house looked like a natural history museum exhibit gone wrong.
And he wondered why he never had more than a date or two with women after he brought them to his house for the first time.
He was a real charmer.
Some animals show measurable signs of self-awareness and decision making based on learning (such as elephants and dolphins). They make choices.
So you are certain all animals don’t have free will?
I’ll stipulate most don’t. They are simple creatures, all instinct and of low cognition. But not all of them are. That we don’t fully understand their abilities and/or limitations suggest withholding such a broad statement might be wise, Bron.
ARE:
Sitting in a tree stand isnt hunting either, it is waiting. What is the difference?
The only difference is someone brings the animal to you instead of it wandering in front of you. Since animals dont have free will how is it any different?
There is a story which is fading into oblivion which comes out of Chicago. Last July 27th some cops, who remain unidentified, went into a nursing home and shot to death a 95 year old WWII veteran who was refusing treatment for some illness. The suburb is Park Forest. This blog had a good article on it but there has been no follow up. We need to petition our government for redress of grievances here. We need to demand Eric Holder to prosecute the killers under the federal criminal civil rights acts. These astardBays are worse than the elephant killer here although he is a close second.
ARE/Darren/OS:
Maybe the guy couldnt walk very well?
But I agree that a healthy male should not be shooting ducks in a barrel. And one who cant walk should just buy the meat pre-packed.
Me too. We have bison all the time at our house, but there is no “sport” in shooting animals in what is essentially a feed lot and claiming a trophy. Psychologically, that is little different from buying a military medal at a pawn shop and wearing it like it was earned.
I have no problem with hunting for food or thinning the herd so there will be enough for the rest to eat, thus ensuring survival of the herd. Endangered animals are quite another proposition altogether.
Bron.
Yes, I have eaten bison meat on several occasions and I don’t have any illusions that the slaughterhouse bison are treated much different than cows. My objection is as ARE points out in the comment above about these poseurs and the worst kind that just cut off the head or the skin / antlers and leave the entire carcas behind as a waste, then go home and bask in the glory of the trophy they have mounted on a wall.
ARE:
I agree, the hunters I know kill for the freezer or give the meat away. I dont hunt, I shot 2 deer once and that was enough for me. I dont care if other people hunt but I would rather flyfish with a small tippet than hunt with a small tip, if you know what I mean. At least based on Gene’s observations.