What are Hunting Trophies?

Hunting for trophies has been common in Africa for a long time already. Due to its rich nature, expert hunters fly to the region just to find big games.

If you are looking for highly coveted ones, you can hunt on the same region for what they call as “Big Five”. These are buffalo, leopard, lion, rhinoceros and elephant.

Not only hunting boosts the tourism in the African region, it also improves the cash flow of its locals. However, there is an international council which governs the hunting practices internationally. They make sure that hunted animals are not endangered species.

There are also ranch hunters that go for antelope from different areas such as Asia and Africa.

Nevertheless, there are also trophy hunting on the Pacific Islands where ranches in Florida and Texas are found.

Ranch hunted animals are usually targeted and purchased with a fee. Some hunters may pay up to 4,000 USD to hunt games that are exotic in nature.

Nevertheless, these games are protected by a conservation management office. It is illegal to hunt threatened or endangered animals. Moreover, some Governments, such as in the US, require an animal hunting fee before you can proceed with the activity.

Trophies include but not limited to tanned hides, animal pelts as well as elephant tusks. The concept of acquiring a hunting trophy does not end in just getting these parts. These must undergo a taxidermy process.

Taxidermists utilize several methods to prepare your trophy for display. For example, preparing a head includes skinning, cleaning, bleaching and dressing.

After preparation, taxidermists cover up the defects and blemishes. They will make cosmetic repairs to make the trophy look lifelike. Because of this tedious process, most hunting experts consider taxidermy as an art.

In general, gaining trophies can mark you as an effective hunter. Trophies are physical mementos with a corresponding memory of your expedition. By looking at them, you can remember the thrill and intense experience you encountered even after the hunt.

Collection of Trophies

If you want to hunt for trophies, you must start exploring the wilderness. Nevertheless, hunting requires proper planning, specialized equipment, permits, hunting license and financial resources. In fact, you can spend at most 20,000 USD when collecting big games.

There are several organizations internationally that offer memberships. Trophy hunters can participate on travels around the world to find a big game. Most participants are wealthy business man having hunting as their hobby.

Hunting exotic trophies may be difficult to accomplish. Expert hunters even travel half way across the globe to Southern part of Africa just to find them.

Should you be able to get these prized trophies, they need to get imported to the animal protection area. You must note that animals are protected with the Act for Endangered Species. It cannot be readily brought home on a different country. Despite these challengers, hunting collectors may purchase several trophies on open markets.

Controversy in Hunting Trophies

There are countries that do not allow hunting endangered species, especially if the run on small numbers. Nevertheless, sport hunting participants can get an approval from International Trade of Endangered Species Convention (CITES) to take your trophies home. As long as you accomplish and comply with the requirements you will not encounter any issue.

So, why is hunting, such as wild boar hunting, and collecting trophies controversial? Illegal hunters, also known as poachers, hunt even on closed seasons. Moreover, poachers tend to slaughter a number of animals just to get trophies. These trophies can be sold on a huge amount, mainly the reason why they do it.

Taking animal trophies may be difficult to sympathize especially for animal lovers and wildlife conservationist. However, hunting animals for sport can provide benefits to the ecosystem. Discussed in the next section are the advantages of it.

There are several arguments with regard to the pros and cons of hunting like pheasant hunting. Moreover, some groups may not be in favor of getting hunting trophies. Nevertheless, there are still positive arguments which regard trophy collection as contributory.

Some hunting advocates stress that hunting contributes to the conservation of wildlife. Moreover, it promotes stewardship in the environment. It can also aid in defending endangered species by hunting their predator, such as turkey hunting. This restores the balance on the ecosystem..

According to some US Government institutions, trophy hunting can provide economic incentive. Ranches may bread hunted species to eliminate the risk of species’ extinction. For the past years, wild ranches in Southern part of Africa economically.

More hunters are becoming interested in exploring hidden gems on different places, boosting the tourism. Moreover, selling hunting trophies may provide a healthy cash flow to nature-rich location such as Africa.

Despite the system offering a great solution, it offers challenges it requires full cooperation among parties. The Government, hunting operators and conservationists must agree on the checking guidelines. In this, way you can legally bring your hunting trophy back at home

Proposed Solution on Hunting Opposition

There were also several solutions offered for the negative arguments raised. For example, a certificate system development was suggested. In this process, hunting operators shall be rated by criteria. These three items shall compose the criteria:

1. Conservation commitment or adherence quota and anti-poaching contribution
2. Hunting benefits with local people involvement
3. Compliance with ethical standards

By following the provided criteria, hunting operators may ensure that they follow ethical hunting procedures. Moreover, we can determine the line which separates hunting and poaching. This shall present a positive effect not only with nature but also for the local people in the area.

Whatever the reason is, collecting hunting trophies may be more beneficial than opposing it. We recommend you read on articles and press releases with regard to advantages in hunting. With this, you can be informed on both sides of the argument.