Beautiful dog and images. I think it is nice that you shared them.
It be best to just ignore those who form their opinions about hunting without knowledge. ;-)
I find it interesting that back when some of the first wildlife refuges were formed in the US no hunting was allowed and the game bird population plummeted to all time lows. Research showed that was because no hunting was allowed in those areas. Mr. Predator (fox, coyote or bobcat) would wander into such an area to find easy pickings. He would get his belly full and again the next day and the next, etc. until he was trained to hunt an area and he would stay and do so until he took all the birds from the area. However research has showed that when hunting was brought in and used as a tool, some birds were harvested to take numbers down and then Mr. Predator came to get something to eat and may do so but on the next days pickings were not as good as before and for several days he did not get a belly full. He then wandered out of the area to hunt elsewhere and did not become trained to hunt the one area. With adult bird numbers down their clutches are bigger and they are more apt to go back to nest a second time if one nest is not successful or is completed successfully but early and so the flock becomes healthy and abundant.
We harvested an elk yesterday and look forward to having it in the freezer and in the pot. Many people do not realize that our big game herds are here and healthy because of hunting as a management tool. I have witnessed a time when there was not enough hunting in an area and nearly all deer winter killed slow and agonizing starvation and or disease deaths with hundreds dieing off. It is a sad situation to walk into the bruch and see hundreds of carcasses and deer still alive but to weak to ever get up from their death bed. However I have also witnessed where hunting as a management tool is used and the herds are health and abundant too. Humans have encroached on so much of the natural range of these animal that it has never been more important for the animals survival that we also enter in with management that includes controlled hunting for the good of the animals themselves. Without the hunting our present strong herds would not now exist.
Davey G. after harvesting this branched bull elk deep in the canyon. Good clean shot at 560 yards/338 Win. Mag and the help of range finder, and lots of long range practice before the hunt. Animal was soon boned out and packed from canyon by friends who showed up to help. I believe there was around 14 people who participated in the packing of the meat from the canyon.
This lady is over 60 years of age and harvested this bull after the her second trip to the canyon bottom in two days where many young men could not walk.
The bull was harvested on the last trip she will make into that canyon that she loves so much. She is seen standing with the harvest but I assure you she is "just barely standing" and I had just towed her from the canyon with the belt from around my waist.
This is a different view a few days later of where she had trekked. No roads in there.
KimR