What do you Albertans think about this guy's ideas about what hunting is about? Granted, he's not talking about a regular guy going out and buying a tag, but he doesn't seem to know that people eat what they kill.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Platt_Michael/2009/02/25/8523191-sun.php
"Michael Platt
Wed, February 25, 2009
Some people go for ice cream when life gets them down, others spend $230K to kill something and mount it to the wall
UPDATED: 2009-02-25 02:55:40 MST
By MICHAEL PLATT
If you'd lost millions down the stock-market drain, you'd probably have a hankering to shoot something too.
How else to explain the near-record setting bid for the right to kill a bighorn sheep in Alberta, which raised a whopping $230,000 at auction earlier this month -- the second-highest haul ever for a hunting licence -- and the largest bid in more than ten years.
That's one motivated rich person: A quarter-million dollars just to see something die.
It's almost unknown to Albertans who don't shoot, yet it's an auction that makes our province a near-legendary hunting ground for those who lust for the glassy stare of a stuffed critter over the mantle.
Your government, like it or not, is in the business of selling lives to the highest bidder -- the highest ever being a 1998 bid of $405,000 for a treasured bighorn tag.
It's called the Alberta Minister's Special Licence, and every winter since 1995, three animals -- a mule deer, elk and bighorn sheep -- are auctioned off by the government to anyone with deep pockets and an empty space on the wall.
Paying more than a quarter-million for the bighorn permit -- a tag generally snatched up by rich Americans -- earns the hunter the right to stalk his prey for a couple of weeks after the regular season ends, in areas known for old sheep.
Yes, these are the same shabby ruminants that are only slightly less common than trees along mountain highways, but for hunters, they are valued trophies to take home, the older the better.
This isn't about filling the freezer with food: It's about curly horns, and older sacrificial rams have bigger curls, which means geriatric ungulates are the target of wealthy hunters, who are usually geriatric men.
The sheep are apparently the most valued because hunters need to collect the whole set -- there are a few species of wild sheep, and not having a Rocky Mountain bighorn head is a void only massive amounts of cash can remedy.
It's why the sacrificial deer and elk were only worth $48,000 and $16,000 respectively -- plenty enough to pay for a set of antlers, but nowhere near old-ram money.
To be fair, the cash raised does go towards a good cause, and is split among various wilderness protection groups in Alberta, the result being a healthier habitat for the animals that aren't shot.
"We've raised about $3 million over the past decade -- it is a trophy hunt, and a lot of hunters want the bighorn sheep," said Darcy Whiteside, spokesman for Sustainable Resource Development.
"This year was close to the record. It's the largest bid we've seen in a long time."
The rich ram-hunter is not the only person using Alberta as a big-game hunting ground.
While most local hunters are out for food and sport, facing the elements to track their quarry, there are hundreds of non-Albertans happy to pay big bucks to come to the province to shoot in sheer luxury.
Outfitters obtain the tags from the province for a set price, and are then free to charge whatever the market will allow for their services -- the result being $15,000-plus hunts that remove sport from the equation.
One wolf-hunting outfitter -- in a typical example of the kind of service offered in Alberta -- describes waiting in heated camouflaged blinds, as wolves are lured to well within 200 yards with meat and other baits.
It's as easy as shooting from the comfort of your own couch -- and about as sporting.
Outfitters offer the real deal too -- hunts that actually involve, well, hunting -- but the demand for results from those with thousands of dollars to spend on dead animals means they have to make it easy. Alberta earns about $1 million a year selling tags to outfitters, and again, the money goes to a good cause.
It's all blood money to be sure -- and the fact some so-called hunters are willing to kill without a hint of sporting chance for the animals makes it a distasteful fee to collect.
That some animals die to maintain a healthy environment for those who escape may be ironic, but it's a little-known reality -- one for which Alberta is famous."
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Platt_Michael/2009/02/25/8523191-sun.php
"Michael Platt
Wed, February 25, 2009
Some people go for ice cream when life gets them down, others spend $230K to kill something and mount it to the wall
UPDATED: 2009-02-25 02:55:40 MST
By MICHAEL PLATT
If you'd lost millions down the stock-market drain, you'd probably have a hankering to shoot something too.
How else to explain the near-record setting bid for the right to kill a bighorn sheep in Alberta, which raised a whopping $230,000 at auction earlier this month -- the second-highest haul ever for a hunting licence -- and the largest bid in more than ten years.
That's one motivated rich person: A quarter-million dollars just to see something die.
It's almost unknown to Albertans who don't shoot, yet it's an auction that makes our province a near-legendary hunting ground for those who lust for the glassy stare of a stuffed critter over the mantle.
Your government, like it or not, is in the business of selling lives to the highest bidder -- the highest ever being a 1998 bid of $405,000 for a treasured bighorn tag.
It's called the Alberta Minister's Special Licence, and every winter since 1995, three animals -- a mule deer, elk and bighorn sheep -- are auctioned off by the government to anyone with deep pockets and an empty space on the wall.
Paying more than a quarter-million for the bighorn permit -- a tag generally snatched up by rich Americans -- earns the hunter the right to stalk his prey for a couple of weeks after the regular season ends, in areas known for old sheep.
Yes, these are the same shabby ruminants that are only slightly less common than trees along mountain highways, but for hunters, they are valued trophies to take home, the older the better.
This isn't about filling the freezer with food: It's about curly horns, and older sacrificial rams have bigger curls, which means geriatric ungulates are the target of wealthy hunters, who are usually geriatric men.
The sheep are apparently the most valued because hunters need to collect the whole set -- there are a few species of wild sheep, and not having a Rocky Mountain bighorn head is a void only massive amounts of cash can remedy.
It's why the sacrificial deer and elk were only worth $48,000 and $16,000 respectively -- plenty enough to pay for a set of antlers, but nowhere near old-ram money.
To be fair, the cash raised does go towards a good cause, and is split among various wilderness protection groups in Alberta, the result being a healthier habitat for the animals that aren't shot.
"We've raised about $3 million over the past decade -- it is a trophy hunt, and a lot of hunters want the bighorn sheep," said Darcy Whiteside, spokesman for Sustainable Resource Development.
"This year was close to the record. It's the largest bid we've seen in a long time."
The rich ram-hunter is not the only person using Alberta as a big-game hunting ground.
While most local hunters are out for food and sport, facing the elements to track their quarry, there are hundreds of non-Albertans happy to pay big bucks to come to the province to shoot in sheer luxury.
Outfitters obtain the tags from the province for a set price, and are then free to charge whatever the market will allow for their services -- the result being $15,000-plus hunts that remove sport from the equation.
One wolf-hunting outfitter -- in a typical example of the kind of service offered in Alberta -- describes waiting in heated camouflaged blinds, as wolves are lured to well within 200 yards with meat and other baits.
It's as easy as shooting from the comfort of your own couch -- and about as sporting.
Outfitters offer the real deal too -- hunts that actually involve, well, hunting -- but the demand for results from those with thousands of dollars to spend on dead animals means they have to make it easy. Alberta earns about $1 million a year selling tags to outfitters, and again, the money goes to a good cause.
It's all blood money to be sure -- and the fact some so-called hunters are willing to kill without a hint of sporting chance for the animals makes it a distasteful fee to collect.
That some animals die to maintain a healthy environment for those who escape may be ironic, but it's a little-known reality -- one for which Alberta is famous."
