Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
Has it been established that the dentist KNEW he had illegally taken the Lion at the time he shot it? It is possible he did not know what the guide was doing. Are Elephants on the endangered list in the country they were in or is it legal to take one there? If that country allows it then he did nothing wrong asking if he could harvest one. At least in the case of the Elephant most certainly the meat would have gone to local people and would be a big help to them.
He is an experienced big game hunter. This was not his first hunting trip to Africa, he knew the farm is next to protected reserve, he was on the truck with dead animal to bait the lion from the reserve. He also illegally killed a bear in Wisconsin, lied about it and found guilty with 1 year probation.
If he didn't know and he is a good hunter, he and his guide should reported to authority about the accident killing of the lion, be he went ahead cut off the head, skin the dead lion and tried to destroy the GPS collar to hide to illegal hunt, and immediately looking to kill a large elephant to harvest the tusks.
I'm not against legal trophy hunter, but luring a protected lion from reserve to kill it is what almost everybody is upsetting.
I know about the bear incident and while it doesn't help him it doesn't mean he did the same thing with the Lion. That is an assumption on your part. It is just as possible that he learned from that experience and decided to go straight as it is he repeated the crime. I have not seen anything yet( and I may well have missed it )that shows definitively this was a purposeful violation.
I am an experienced North American waterfowl hunter but I don't know every area( re: refuges, private land, public land, etc... ). I could get a map and hope I stay on open ground but most likely I would hire a guide and expect them to know where it is legal to hunt or not when I am outside my own area. Being an experienced big game hunter who has been to Africa before means squat( Africa is HUGE )unless he has hunted that exact area prior and knew it was next to a preserve. Even then he had to know they were near it at the time and I consider it reasonable to say he didn't realize it. I have hunted out of state areas a few times and it takes many, many, trips to the exact same spot to learn the lay of the land. Those trips need to be close together as well because the environment changes constantly.
You claim he knew the Lion was on the preserve prior to luring it out and shooting it but I have not seen that reported as fact. Just speculation( again I might have missed it ). Do you have a link showing prior knowledge or is it just opinion/speculation?
The dentist being on the truck dragging a carcass to lure in a Lion is not a crime. It is only a crime if it was done to lure the Lion out of the preserve. Otherwise it is just a baiting tactic. Show me he knew that is what they were doing, while doing it and not later, and it changes my view of the whole thing.
While I understand your view on reporting accidental kills to the authorities, I have to wonder if you have any clue as to the consequences of doing that? The hunter would face massive fines or maybe even jail( I don't know the punishments in the country he was in )as would the guide who would also most likely lose their guiding license and all the company equipment and such. Over an "accident" it is too much.
Just because they cut the head off and tried to hide the GPS doesn't mean they knew the Lion was on a preserve at the outset. It is possible, and reasonable to assume, when they found the Lion and saw the collar they panicked and tried to cover it up THEN. I don't defend that act either so don't jump down my throat. I understand it though after seeing how trying to be honest about a hunting accident can get you in a ton of trouble.
Friend accidentally shot 3 Black ducks with one shot. Limit is one with 2 in possession. Just as he pulled the trigger something spooked the small flock decoying in and as they flared up to escape they sort of balled up and 3 birds fell at the shot. Now, the rest of us all had our Black ducks at the time so we couldn't take them for him( actually not legal btw but I would do it to save the bird and save an honest person getting in trouble )so he only had 2 choices really. He could hide the 2 extra in the grass and leave or keep them and risk getting in trouble. He chose to keep them and not waste them.
The wardens were at the ramp when we got back checking people coming in from hunting. My friend didn't even wait to get checked. He walked up to one of them and explained what happened. The guy had no previous game violations and a completely clean criminal record. Not even a vehicle ticket. He was hammered! He received multiple citations, for an ungodly amount of money, and even had his shotgun seized( never got it back ). He had his license suspended for a year as I recall too.
It was 100% an accident that could happen to any bird hunter. We all explained the situation and as said he went right up and owned it. No benefit of the doubt or leniency. Just slammed the poor guy. So was it worth it for him to do what he did? I would say morally yes but in reality no. It doesn't pay to be honest in a situation like that. All it means is you voluntarily confessed to something and you will get creamed over it. I would not admit to any crime if I were out of this country and most definitely not in Africa or the Middle East.
Again, I don't know the whole story here and I don't think anyone really does yet. I think some are leaping to conclusions and I simply want to see all the facts 1st as I usually do. IF he knew what the guide was doing and purposely lured the Lion out to shoot it then he should be nailed over it. If he didn't know and just panicked when he tried to hide the collar I can sort of understand why.
JMHO and my
