RedRiverHntr

Mmmm.....bambi!!! Tasty!
One of my favorite hunting articles "Bambi must die". On deer management theory. Doh...that will give me away as one of "them"!!! A deer hunter! There, I said it. My name is Jeff, and I am deer hunter. I will go one step further. I am a damn proud deer hunter. Not a young one anymore. Not an uneducated one. At least not in some areas.

Not all are blessed to live in the shade of the Rockies and have "big game" readily at hand. For most, deer are closer to hand and therefore a lot more time is spent in the pursuit of such. As are turkey's for that matter! Or large mouth bass!!!
Should I be judged somehow less of hunter or a "man" by some based on the fact that I choose to hunt these animals? Should I even give a good rat's arse what anyone thinks of my hunting preferences? In my mind, the answer is a resounding "no". I, for one, feel a bitsorry for any individual that feels the need to prop themselves or their way of doingthingsup by ridiculing others.

Ifsuch talkoffends someone's sense of propriety, would it not behoove said individual to spend their time elsewhere? Rather than spend it being condescending and ridiculing that type of hunting that they choose to participate in?
(Oops, I must be a chatty, young, bowhunting, not-able-to-shoot-a-big-gun, non-big game hunting pansy as I just finished that last sentence with a prepositional phrase!!!)

Big guns....big bores....I am okay with that. But let's not get carried away. A man's bore is neither ameasuring stick of his manhood nor his measure as a hunter. If it were, then that Archery hunter might rank at the top due to the necissity of his proximity to his prey? Or perhaps my grandpa would be king of the hunting world? He killed everything that walked in Texas during his time with nothing larger than a 22 caliber. He could never understand why anyone would have something bigger. I was told that I should spend my time learning to be a better hunter rather than on shooting. He said a head shot from up close was never reliant on caliber, but did require one to be a good hunter!

I would not be able to contribute anything to an African game thread, as like most here, I have never hunted there. Nor would I ever have any interest in such. I would love to take my camera and my wife on a safari there someday though. Perhaps even have a spot of tea! Guess that makes me less of "something" to some here. That's okay. I don't come seeking validation. I come to read some interesting stories. Perhaps learn some things that others have experienced. And tooffer upany meager ideas I might have to share.

Now let's talk about some real men and some real hunting.....have you ever hunted wild pigs? With no weapon? Come on now. Not like approaching a big griz I am sure, but when you only have your manhood in your hand....will make the hair on the back of your neck dance boys!

PS - Feel free to count the number of grammatical errors and misspellings in my narrative. Judging me based on that is fine too! I happy with the man I am. Mostly. (Don't ask my wife that question please!)
Good lord...combine all this with the fact that perhaps my favorite hunts of all time involved sitting on the banks of the Red River with a brick of .22 cartridges with my dad and shooting turtles until our barrels were too hot to touch! How un-manly of me!!!

EKM

EKM

RRH,

First, I don't agree with you about Bambi , they ain't that tasty, you gotta train yourself to like it. Of all the critters I've shot and ate, deer venison consistently tends to need more culinary "help" just to break even than just about any thing else I've tried. Usually no better than "okay" and one small miscue and it quickly drops to rating "ugh!", a very unforgiving meat.

Back on the subject of the thread.... I sense that my recap of the simple facts and statsas to why an African forum is not viable on this site may have trod upon your populist sentiment and caused you to "race down" several emotional side streets. Particularly:

(1)What gameyou hunt is not a matter of manhood; however,it is a matter of qualification. You said as much....
(2) Similarly, with the whole "hunting preferences" diatribe....good greifman, gohunt whatever you want, but be aware whatwe huntIS relevant as to ourbeing able to speakfirst handabout African topics on the proposed "African Forum." It is not a matter of what you choose to hunt, it is a matter of qualifcation.

(3) Also in the area of mispelling & grammar, kids/youngish adultshave a pretty commonerror/text message pattern to their misspellings (plus the birthdate fieldor a quick look at where else they post usually tells the tale).So lets talk about our viewership getting youngerversus to the thread topic at hand, thatof the proposed"African Forum."

Even for an adult, the flight to J-borg alone would wipe out the budget for a DIY elk hunt, and you haven't even gotten out of town or loaded your rifle yet, so it is expensive. "Kids" ain't known for having lots of money, so if the audience here is getting younger not older (as many besides myself have commented) then that is an unfavorable trend relative to having an African Forum here, asthe cost of acquiring that first hand knowledge is getting higher not lower, then therein liesone of your disconnects.

So, across the board,if there is not enough money to go do the hunting required for first hand input intoan African forum, then that leaves book/magazine reading. For example if someone who had never hunted elkbut had reada elk hunting book was in your elk camptelling you what was what and over-riding yourdecisionsas how to hunt your favorite elk spot here in Colorado, then you would know it was all BS inpretty short order. An African forum on HN would follow the same pattern. It is not a matter of condescension as you suggest, justpointing out the facts of the situation, it is a matter of qualification.

(4) Your rifle choice discussion drifts off course the same way. By all means, go hunt whatever it is that floats your boat, and userifles that meet the legalminimumfor what you hunt, where you hunt, maybe use a little more if you want some leeway.

Impalais consideredthe "whitetail deer" of Africa and most the relevant game there goes up in size,with manydestinations legislating the 375 H&H as the minimum for African big game (.40+ required in some areas for some game). So if you got folks on a forum thatin general don't take kindly tolarge rifles, then almost by definition, it don't bode well for an informed African forum as larger rifles are just part and parcel of the territory, it is a matter of qualification.

So, once again, if the lad that started the thread wants the straight stuff that comes from first hand experience relative to the topic in question (Elephant Management and a suitable African Forum), then itbecomes a matter of qualification....
Thus he would be well servedto go to "accuratereloading.dot.com." IMHO, the participantsthere are qualified.

EKM

RRH

One thing you suggest does give me pause though....

Now, I haven't hunted pig, but I'm not falling for a"snipe hunt" either. That is NOT the approach I would takehunting a wild pig, I'd use a rock,tree branch, something.... I'd want to kill thepig not get amorous withit. Preferrably with both my hands firmlygripped on a nice rifle instead.

txhunter58

1) Wouldn't it be a more mature approach to actually contribute with your knowledge about the subject posted, inADDITION to pointing someone in another good direction?

2) Isn't it against any websites rules to direct people toanother website while telling them how crappy the one you are posting onis.

3) If you can't approach it in a more mature manner (what you are asking ofothers)and play by the rules........ why are you here?

EKM

(1) Maturity doesn't necessarily mean re-inventing the wheel everytimeyour areoffereda chance to do so, especially if it is out of one's realm of experience.
In many cases, including this one IMO, one may as well getthe poster asking the questiondirectly to a reliable source, for example,they are discussing elephant culling "over there," in spades, right now -- point on point -- culling individuals versus whole family groups -- culling tuskless elephants to eliminate the gene -- using professional cullers versus using sport hunters --and the discussion is by people that live and/or hunt over there, and others that work for the government.... hello? hello?

(2a) Read the rules. What it says is that you can't link toa competitor.

Common sense says a not-for-profit, non-advertising, bulletin-board-onlyservice like AR would hardly be a competitor toHuntingNet.com asAR accepts no advertising accounts and has no advertising pop-upsand has nooutfitter/guide rosters; those revenue sources are left free for HN to grab without contest, AR's focus is really in a different arena.

(2b) HN is not a crappy website at all, as far as I can tell they pretty well dominate their targeted niche and were a good enough company to be sold and bought and sold in an arms length transaction.

(3)First, if telling it like it is constitutes immaturity, then I don't know what to tell you. Second, I believe I am within the rules. Third.... Ah, I am here because I hunt elk, and.... ah, this "Big Game Forum" is where the elk hunting posts go.... and ah, this is where I have been for a long time....

RedRiverHntr

Never my intention to get in a pizzing contest, even if I can stand flat footed and clear an 8 wire fence!!!
The personal rancor reflected in the Bambi remark, I'll not dignify with comment. But I would like to address your general attitude of hopeless negativism!(Shameless movie reference!)
My experience in killing, dressing and eating avariety of game isthat it's mostly in the"handling" of the meat.
Given proper care, you will attain good results.I haveseen many a skeptic change their opinion ofdeer venison at my table.That being said, I did learn from the master of the iron skillet! I promise you that ifmy grandma had battered and friedthe last thing that went through a ruminates rear orifice,I would have eaten it!

I didn't say the idea was to "kill" the porcine. The goal is to pull a Frank Buck!!! Worth more per pound that way.
Did I mention how good they are to eat?

So back ontopic...to each his own when it comes to huntingAfrican or any other type of game.Riding/walking around until you come upon something toshoot, dangerous animal or no,is about as much sport to me as sitting over a corn feeder and shooting Bambi!!!No wait, that came out wrong!
Point made.If your type of huntingandthe way you go about it suits you, then itjust tickles theshiite out of me! I enjoy reading/hearing safari stories, regardless of myreasons fornot wanting to partake.

EKM

So back on topic?????.... Red, that is not the topic. You're gettin' a bit "splattered" there Red, chasing down all the "emotional side roads" while the threadtopic lies straight ahead....

The topic at handwasn't where we live, what we hunt or what riflewe shoot or weapon we prefer.... it is the question of adding an African forum on this forum and was combined with a"elephant management" question. Those other points that you have over-dwelt upon are simply direct indicatorsthat, in fact, "no, we can't support an African Forum here." Feel free to point outa few elephant hunters thatfrequent this forum if you care to....

IMHO, there isn't enough of the viewership here that is experience qualified to support a meaningful African Forum (we couldn't even get them to give us a simple "Elk Forum," remember?) unless you just enjoy the idea of a pure book/magazine read "what if and maybe" African forum thus yielding little morethan speculation really. Myrecommendation was forthe lad to go over to where he can find a qualified discussion/answer.
It is really just a matter of qualification.

Hey,thinking positively) the really good newsis that there IS a great place one CAN go for this sort of first hand infomation and insight--- excellent!

RedRiverHntr

One more and I am done.....
I said back on topic in reference to the idea of an "African Game" thread. To which I merely stated that I had nothing to offer, but to each his own. This should have been obvious to one such as EKM, who has on more than one occasion confirmed that not only is he more of man than most here, his is the superior intellect as well!
I am but an untutored tea-sipper. I apologize for the seeming inaccuracy of my comments. I intended only to return to the "subject" of the original thread. I can only beg for forgiveness from one that is clearly unable to understand my simple andevidently, ignorant comments. I humbly thank you for pointing out the error of my ways. Guidance from one so wise and altruistic is truly a blessing.

I will not engage any further with anyone that resorts to the tactics of a 7 year-old. If someone else makes a comment, then they are "chasing emotional side roads". But ifsaid individualdoes likewise, interjecting his proclivity for big bores for example,and deriding any other opinion, then he is evidently "just stating fact"?
Eerily similiar to conversing with certain females of the species...which begs a question at this point........
EKM.....female perhaps? Would explain the "compensating" nature of several comments along with the propensity for "what I say makes sense and you don't you stupidhead" type remarks? Hmm?

Original thread starter....forgive my emotional diatribes and side road excursions. I have been enlightened by the "master" (PBUH) and shall go and sin no more!!!

Good luck......and keep a tight line!

EKM

Red,
I gotta give you credit.... when all else fails,"if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then ya may as well try tobaffle them with bu!!sh!t."