While you have to laugh, so do I. We hunt because we enjoy it, love it even, it's the challenge of an activity as ancient as humanity itself. I presume you likely have quite a few interests I would deem deviant, or distasteful: ####, video games perhaps, impossible action movies, partying and boozing, obnoxious gas powered toys like tricked out quads or sleds or trucks maybe. If I didn't hit your favourite past time I don't agree with, don't worry yourself, I assure you there are several things you like that c-fbmi, myself, and many others in this thread would scoff at. Some I'm sure I'd even see you as lesser for. But I respect the fact that because I don't understand something, doesn't mean everyone else is wrong. I'll even gladly state my opinion, as you have, and I say this to hopefully open your eyes a bit.
How about boiling it down to one simple fact?
Without trophy hunters, that make the preservation of the more exotic and rare wild animals and their equally exotic and rare habitats valuable, we would have lost untold scores of species by now in the wild.
If you take the value sign off wildlife, which is there because hunters like c-fbmi, myself, and again many others here gladly pay for the pleasure of the hunt the wildlife is quickly wiped out to replace it with say cattle. Or, its habitat is destroyed by logging or burning of grassland for crops. Africa literally still has big game in abundance thanks largely in many areas to trophy hunting, without it, there would only be patchy maize plots and maybe a few dog sized antelope lucky to enough to avoid the snares. For example, African governments then value wildlife as they gain millions in trophy fees, and suddenly clamor to preserve the game and their habitat in the face of other "development", like cattle ranching. It is unbelievably ignorant of you to sit behind your monitor in Fort Mac and judge and denegrate all trophy hunters with one brush, as I can assure you trophy hunters have done more than you ever have or could for wildlife, wildlands, and their preservation and future.
Finally, I can tell you also know nearly nothing of hunting in general, meat, trophy, or otherwise. If you had any idea how difficult the hunts we ugly trophy hunters embark on are despite all our modern technology, and how often we return empty handed and smiling for the experience anyhow, you would hopefully begin to understand. It's nature's ultimate challenge, and taking a fine example of a rare trophy animal is an achievement, feeling, and joy no video game, bike/sled/quad/truck toy, party, or anything else can offer even a fraction of. We hunt because it is humanity's oldest sport and our instincts and passions have not yet forgotten it, and like all sports, those most interested in them gravitate towards the most challenging end of that sport's spectrum. Just because you can't grasp it doesn't mean it's wrong, it's actually far from that, and without it I would be extremely fearful for wildlife.
