|
Big Game
|
||||||||
|
|
Could This Be Hunting's End?By Lynn Henning A new hunting competition proposed by the World Hunting Association would have teams of hunters competing for cash by tranquilizing deer on a high-fence farm. Is this the savior of hunting or the demise? Aug 22, 2006 The hunt is on, boasts the pithy marketing mantra of the World Hunting Association (WHA). In June the fledgling venture unveiled a competitive circuit so ambitious that its founder, David Farbman, describes it as "God's vision." That statement is one reason why Farbman, a 34-year-old real-estate executive from Southfield, Mich., will never be accused of lacking conviction in what has immediately become a contentious issue: Does hunting and tranquilizing large deer in an enclosed environment qualify as a sport? More to the point: Will a competition like this be a good thing for hunting? Listen to the outrage the plans have sparked and you'll wonder if people, rather than whitetails, should be injected with the tranquilizing agent the WHA intends to use to sedate deer. The tranquilizer, incidentally, will be administered by a dart fired from a rifle using a .22 rimfire blank in the hands of a debatably named "professional hunter." The woozy whitetail's antler mass will subsequently be measured and scored. Of the four deer a hunter can take during the first round of the tournament, only two can be taken with the rifle. The other two must be taken by bow, using compound bows with arrow speeds of up to 200 feet per second. The inaugural event is scheduled to take place in October at Lost Arrow Ranch, a 1,000-acre, high-fenced tract of northern Michigan forest, scrub and swamp. There, eight two-person teams (consisting of a hunter and a cameraman) will vie for up to $300,000 in prize money. A second event is slated for Lost Arrow in November, if all goes according to plan. Between the two events a total of $500,000 in prizes is on the line.
|
|
||||||
|
||||||||
ADDITIONAL INFO
