FAIRLEE, Vt. — The fenced-in hunting ground covers 129 rocky acres of hilly forest near the Connecticut River, a rugged place where 200 “exotic” animals, from American buffalo to wild boar, roamed — with a price on their heads.
Stalked and shot as trophies — often at close range, according to law enforcement officials — the animals allegedly fetched from $750 for a boar to about $6,000 for an elk in a captive-hunting camp that state wildlife officials said operated illegally but advertised openly on the Internet.
Comments
Tennis with the nets down. Just the thing for people with plenty of money, little time, and no compunctions.
The article said something about these hunters getting a trophy animal? Some trophy.
"Yup, boys, I drove up to Vermont in my SUV, sipping a Latte all the way. Got out, paid my $6K. Roughed it out there on that 4-wheeler. Sure enough, ten minutes, I got that sucker. Good day hunting, I tell ya."
You can bet that is NOT the story he tells when he hangs that head on the wall. Nope.
I don't hunt anymore, have no problem with people who really do hunt.
Tossing in this thing about veterans hunting is a dodge. They would be happy, maybe even happier, hunting just like everyone else. With the equipment available today it is possible to get them in the field hunting.
The whole concept is disgusting.
Ridiculous and idiotic pastime for adults, wrong lesson for the kids.
Shame on my state.
Perfect setting. I think the folks heading up this park should be the hunted.
Grief,
We eat meat, from animals that we breed in captivity.
I dont view this as very different from that, as a concept.
Now if the "hunter" wants to embelish HOW he/she actually "got the big one", thats not the fault of the ranch.
I'm not a fan of hunting in the first place. Rarely do hunters actually drop their targets in their tracks. Shooting a deer in the hip and watching it crawl a mile or so while screaming in agony is not something I find entertaining. If you've never heard a deer scream in pain, it sounds like a baby crying. This, however, brings brutality to a whole new level. Real heros.
Can't they put a GPS tag on the anilmals so it doesn't take two days to find them?
I have no problem with hunters who eat what they kill; after all, I eat meat sometimes myself, and someone kills it. If I objected to the killing of animals for meat I would become a vegetarian, as have many others. I don't see much difference between these fenced-in "camps" and animals that are bred and raised for meat, then taken to a slaughterhouse to be killed. Again, for those who object to the process, they can choose not to eat meat. I would object to killing an animal just for the "trophy" or just to check it off of a list, while not eating the meat. I also think that hunters should try to attain some competence so that they can kill the animals quickly, with a minimum of suffering.
An instantaneous bolt to the head is a lot more humane than a .308 round in the hip, paralyzing the animal's hind quarters. Watching it drag its limp body across the field with its front hooves is enough to turn anyone vegetarian.
And why doesn't it surprise me that Texas has more of these camps than anywhere else?