Big game dentist

[J. Wilhelm]

Crossbow effective distance is 50yrds.   He HAD to see the collar (imo)

Then there is enough evidence for zimbabwean authorities to persecute.  Apparently, according to Time, somebody in the West has garnered 100,000 signatures on a petition to extradite this dentist. I think his own countrymen are more likely to throw him to the lions - pun intended 

[Rockula]

I reckon he's going to NEED a dentist soon.

[J. Wilhelm]

What will the punishment be? Maybe we could find a coliseum in good shape? Don't worry, he won't be unarmed.  He'll have his crossbow and a gladio, like in Roman times.

[GCCC]

I believe this sums up what many would like to see happen to this poacher:

Tom Lehrer - The Hunting Song - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967

[river rat]

Well bummer. Here I thought this was going to be a new steampunk persona.

“Hi, big game dentist here. Tired of dulling your teeth on the locals? Need a good cleaning? Can do claws and hooves too! And as a special bonus for first time callers. Free Sparkle coat! Give your snarl that youthful shine all the ladies love! Have tools! Will travel!”

My views as someone who has spent most of my life in the boonies.

Killing for food. Yes.
Killing or relocating vermin to protect food stock. Yes.
Killing just for trophies. No.

I have friends who do the big game thing. But just here in the states. Elk, Caribou, Bear and the like. And plenty more that go deer hunting. They all brag about size. Then brag about how much meat and sausage they end up with. But they also talk about making sure it’s a one shot one hit kill. All done legally. I do have a problem with someone who has a history of breaking hunting laws.

[GCCC]

"...The petition has exceeded the required 100,000 signatures, and the White House has said it will respond to all petitions that meet that level..."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-says-will-review-cecil-the-lion-petition/ar-AAdJtmH?ocid=mailsignout

[GCCC]

Holy crap, the incident has it's own Wikipedia page...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_%28lion%29

[Ranger Reid]

They all brag about size. Then brag about how much meat and sausage they end up with. But they also talk about making sure it’s a one shot one hit kill. All done legally. I do have a problem with someone who has a history of breaking hunting laws.

Good point Rat.

In fact, some of the nastiest online discussions I have seen were over rifle caliber as relates to ethical hunting.   Hunters are among some of the most passionate defenders of clean kills and such.

[GCCC]

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to talk to Walter Palmer. But it can't find him...

...'I’m sure he knows' the government is looking for him, said Ed Grace, chief of law enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 'We’ve made repeated attempts to try and get in contact with him.'...

...'I have not been contacted by authorities in Zimbabwe or in the U.S. about this situation, but will assist them in any inquiries they may have,' Palmer said...Palmer has had plenty of time since to contact U.S. authorities, Grace said. He should know how to reach the agency 'because we convicted him for lying about a bear kill' in Wisconsin in 2009...

...'They went hunting at night with a spotlight and they spotted Cecil,' ... 'They tied a dead animal to their vehicle to lure Cecil out of the park and they scented an area about half a kilometer from the park...'

...'They tracked him down and found him 40 hours later when they shot him with a gun. They found that he was fitted with a GPS collar because he was being studied by the Hwange Lion Research, funded by Oxford University so they tried to destroy the collar but failed because it was found.'..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/07/30/u-s-officials-cant-find-the-dentist-who-killed-cecil-the-lion/

[GCCC]

Well bummer. Here I thought this was going to be a new steampunk persona.

“Hi, big game dentist here. Tired of dulling your teeth on the locals? Need a good cleaning? Can do claws and hooves too! And as a special bonus for first time callers. Free Sparkle coat! Give your snarl that youthful shine all the ladies love! Have tools! Will travel!”

My views as someone who has spent most of my life in the boonies.

Killing for food. Yes.
Killing or relocating vermin to protect food stock. Yes.
Killing just for trophies. No.

I have friends who do the big game thing. But just here in the states. Elk, Caribou, Bear and the like. And plenty more that go deer hunting. They all brag about size. Then brag about how much meat and sausage they end up with. But they also talk about making sure it’s a one shot one hit kill. All done legally. I do have a problem with someone who has a history of breaking hunting laws.

Why can't you still do it?* The character sounds like a hoot. I say if you can pull it off, and have fun with it, go for it.

*(No one here's condemning hunting; we're condemning poaching, and trophy-taking from endangered species. Besides, the big-game hunter is one of our tropes, after all. See Weta's own "Lord Cockswain" at:  http://drgrordborts.com/dr-grordbort-s-infallible-aether-oscillators-where-science-meets-violence/

Dr. Grordbort Presents: Triumph

p.s. Lord Cockswain is not a conservationist...)

[river rat]

Thanks GCCC. I'm still working on my first persona. And really liking it. So the Big Game Dentist is totally up for grabs to anyone who wants it.

[Arabella Periscope]

Hunting and killing can of course be rationalized, food, defense from wild animals, etc., and the sport can be viewed as an exciting way to get back to nature.  But killing itself, different kinds of creatures in exotic places? The killing giving one such unholy glee that it is worth $50,000 to see that beast go down and its life go out? That pleasure is disturbing.

[GCCC]

Hunting and killing can of course be rationalized, food, defense from wild animals, etc., and the sport can be viewed as an exciting way to get back to nature.  But killing itself, different kinds of creatures in exotic places? The killing giving one such unholy glee that it is worth $50,000 to see that beast go down and its life go out? That pleasure is disturbing.

Indeed. I have hunted, and will no doubt hunt again (and, as I watch the squirrels raid my bird feeders once more, I'm reminded of just how tasty the little rodents are), but I've never enjoyed taking a life.*




*(Except for mosquitos. Those l'il bastiches can all die.)

[Fairley B. Strange]

Regarding the risk that some SP personas have of becoming 'that kind of hunter', the amusing little snippet of Dr.Groodbort does skirt rather close to being topical, albeit with enough humour and irony to get by.

http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,46206.0/topicseen.html

[Rockula]

The cable TV 'Horror' channel just announced they are showing 'The Dentist' next week.

I don't know if this is a change to any previous schedule but timing seems suspect. 

[MWBailey]

Meat doesn't just come from the supermarket, you know.

And, vegans are still eating tiny animals (Bacteria).

Have a nice day...

[rovingjack]

I've been tempted to go on big game hunts... With a camera. I just don't get how that's not something anybody does. If you think the animal is majestic and you want the experience of trekking through distant lands and wilderness for the chance to find them and then want to take home a trophy of your encounter to show off, it just makes sense. Why not leave the opportunity for others to find that same magnificent creature?

Especially now that we have 3d depth cameras where the ultimate hunters challenge is to get enough data to create a 3d model of the head or even full animal to mount on display at home.

[Atterton]

The value of a trophy lies in the effort it took to get it. Though what the dentist did does sound a bit like a Put & Take version of hunting.

[von Corax]

<moderator>
I trust we can avoid this degenerating into an argument over the ethics of hunting in general.
</moderator>

Hunting for food, for sport, for pest control, for population management, for disease control... Ethical quandaries are never a matter of black and white.

Except in this case. With any luck, the next time this chap goes trophy hunting, he'll come home with a Darwin award.

[Atterton]

You don't want it to degenerate from insulting this guy to becoming a discussion about ethics? I think that would be a step up.

[J. Wilhelm]

I've been tempted to go on big game hunts... With a camera. I just don't get how that's not something anybody does. If you think the animal is majestic and you want the experience of trekking through distant lands and wilderness for the chance to find them and then want to take home a trophy of your encounter to show off, it just makes sense. Why not leave the opportunity for others to find that same magnificent creature?

Especially now that we have 3d depth cameras where the ultimate hunters challenge is to get enough data to create a 3d model of the head or even full animal to mount on display at home.

This----^

Definitely would love an observation Safari before all of that is gone.  There's more than enough tourism to make up for the loss in revenue for killing the animals.  What they need to do instead of arguing how much money is lost by not hunting is to simply get their scat together and organize wildlife tourism properly.

The locals themselves are complaining that they've never heard of "Cecil the Lion," because usually the sport is geared toward wealthy foreigners. they think we in the West are a bunch of hippie tree huggers with First World problems.  So I have to question how much revenue the hunts really produce.  Wouldn't it be better to have wildlife parks and resorts geared towards family tourism?

EDIT for typos.

[rovingjack]

The value of a trophy lies in the effort it took to get it. Though what the dentist did does sound a bit like a Put & Take version of hunting.

take a depth camera or even an ordinary camera into the african bush, get close enough to gather enough data to build a 3d model of it, and then send the data off to shapeways. Then come back to me and tell me about 'the effort it took to get it.

Or if you prefer the equivalent of luring a lion out with food and sniping it from far enough away it's no threat to you, use a quadcopter and capture images on multiple flybys.

this isn't removed from the process of the hunt or the appreciation of the thing in the natural wilds. It's almost the exact same thing as the traditional hunt, maybe even more daring, because when you have your trophy the thing is still capable of killing you before you get away. The biggest difference is you don't deprive anybody else from getting a trophy from it either. No exclusivity.

Some folks want to possess something and desire exclusivity. I tend to think of it more like: Captain Bristle Stache regales of the hunt he undertook to gain a troph of the rare and elusive snaggle tusk whompdingle, and all the while you can look up at it's mounted head. Tomorrow I too will head out in an attempt to capture my own trophy of the same beast, which no other mighty hunter has yet managed to do.

Edit: afterall one doesn't nuke Everest once they've climbed it and then take a large stone from it to make a sculpture for their garden.

[MWBailey]

I can get with the photo op hunt thing; I actually do that that all the time. all I ever bag are birds and flowers and small mammals (Maybe an occasional feral dog or all-too-well-fed coyote) on my stresswalks, but what do you expect from a suburban neighborhood? I have to stick close to home in case Mom takes another fall, or Dad once again refuses to pay attention to the heat (or lately, ignores his rather serious eye malady and tries to lift the garden tractor), so I can't realistically go hunting for larger game. But I can sure get into the idea of taking pictures of 'em.

[Clym Angus]

The other good thing about photographic hunting is you can hunt people without being sent to prison.

[von Corax]

The other good thing about photographic hunting is you can hunt people without being sent to prison.

That depends on what they're doing when you shoot them.