SF Chronicle : Shooting with dart guns would revolutionize big-game hunting

sfgate.com ^ | 3-14-2004 | Tom Stienstra

[Trailer Trash]

The world's oldest and now most controversial sport -- big-game hunting -- could be transformed into a provocative quest acceptable to most anyone if a new sport were created: catch-and-release hunting.

Imagine the thrill of tracking, spotting, stalking and hunting the world's greatest game animals at close range in Africa -- lion, Cape buffalo, leopard, elephant and rhinoceros -- without killing any of them.

[Mr. Mojo]

Police Chief wants Star Trek phasers

[glorgau]

I'll wait here in the armor plated helicopter while Jim goes down and wrestles with the angry lions...

[dcwusmc]

bump for later

[Conservative til I die]

If you're such a big man, why not put the bow and black powder down and fight hand-to-hand with your prey?

[meatloaf]

I don't know about that. Anyone stupid enough to dart and then stand next to a cape buffalo shouldn't be allowed to contribute to the gene pool. There is one desirable consequence. Namely the buffalo coming to its senses and nailing the idiot hunting with a dart gun.

[tcuoohjohn]

well...I think that going bare handed with wild pigs is not very advisable. Nasty mean critters not adverse to slicing you up when provoked. Did participate in a pig sticking on horse back once. Used lances. Great fun. The horses didn't like it worth a damn though.

[paul51]

"I sure do like elk meat."

That's the other problem. We're all supposed to be vegan

[LearnsFromMistakes]

You wake up with a terrific headache. Not the sort of pleasure experience that causes addiction.

Riiiight. None of our vices have any negative side-effects...

[paul51]

Go tell them they have no balls and report back to us.

[185JHP]

I'd like to trank an elephant, then cut off the tusks. I'd wait many years before returning to that country, though. "Say, you look kinda familiar..."

[tcuoohjohn]

well...I think that going bare handed with wild pigs is not very advisable. Nasty mean critters not adverse to slicing you up when provoked. Did participate in a pig sticking on horse back once. Used lances. Great fun. The horses didn't like it worth a damn though.

[tet68]

Or switching to Wiffle® balls would revolutionize Major League Baseball.

Oh, oh, Oh!
Man, I think we're on to something here!
Maybe we can convince the Kerry Campaign to start
negociating with Al queda to use Wiffle® Bombs.
Big puff of smoke, lots of confetti flying around,
Nobody gets hurt, maybe some red dye.
Score one for the Terrs.
Then we can get back to the things that really matter
like how bad we were in Vietnam etc.

/sarcasm

Wiffle® Bombs, it just sounds like something a democrat would invent, say you don't think algore already invented
this ?

[giant sable]

Most cape buffalos, elephants and leopards (that's three of the big five, and I suspect it is also true for rhinos as well) are shot at less than 60 yards -- because of the trajectories of the big calibre guns, the nature of the hunts, and most of all because of the need to make sure such very dangerous animals are really dead. As I've written here before, I shot a cape buffalo at less than forty yards -- in the heart, and he still ran a long ways (luckily, the other way) and still almost managed a charge when I got up to him. For that reason, I suspect most darting of really dangerous big game is done from blinds or trucks. In the case of rhinos, who are almost blind, stealh is everything. Walk up and dart a cape buff at 50 yards and, if he sees you, he will kill you -- or die from the massive dose you need to drop him in his tracks.
As for calling big game hunters cowards, I'll leave you to your opinion. I will note, however, that our ancestors were just as happy to poison big game, drive it off cliffs, or worry it to death with a dozen hunters as to face it down alone with a spear.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[B4Ranch]

"It would be very easy to unintentionally kill the animal, or have it regain complete consciousness while you are standing over it getting your trophy picture taken.

Neither situation would have desirable consequences.
"

But it certainly would make for exciting pitures!

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Frohickey]

-- It solves the problem of killing an animal that you do not eat, which violates a basic ethic of most people regarding trophy hunting.

-- It gets past the highly buffered experience of seeing the animals at long range, particularly from a vehicle, and then capturing them with a high- powered rifle with a scope or camera with a 1000-mm lens.

-- Because there would be no trophy kill fee, it solves the financial realities of hunting big game in Africa. Fees now charged include $75,000 to $100,000 for an elephant and $50,000 to $75,000 for a lion.

I don't think this journalist has ever done any big game hunting.

The animals killed in a safari are not wasted. They are eaten by the guides or the meat given to the villages.

Also, how much are photo-hunters going to pay for the opportunity to take a picture, its sure much less than what the safari hunters are paying now. Plus, if the revenue for keeping these beautiful animals around go away, how long do you thing before the land and the animals go away in order to make room for something more productive, like mining, or farming?

[Frohickey]

Personally, I don't think I would want to shoot a charging Cape buffalo (or a Rhino) at close range with a dart. A 700 Nitro wold be more to my taste.

I would. I would even get as close as 50 feet to a charging Cape Buffalo (or a Rhino).

The only dart I would use would be this though. :D