Big-Game Hunting History:
– Hunting of big game for food is an ancient practice
– Schöningen spears provide evidence of complex technological skills 300,000 years ago
– Early man hunted mammoth in groups using spears, rocks, or driving animals off cliffs
– Clovis points and Fishtail projectile points contributed to the extinction of large mammals in the Americas
– H. heidelbergensis had intellectual and cognitive skills similar to modern man
Big-Game Hunting in the Victorian Era:
– Big-game hunting popularized during the Victorian Era
– Famous big game hunters include Philip Percival, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ernest Hemingway
– Many big-game hunters are also conservationists
– Big-game hunting in Africa helps fund conservation efforts
– Large fees from hunters directly support wildlife management
Big-Game Hunting Methods:
– Main big-game hunting methods are stalking, ambush, driving, trapping, or a combination
– Stalking involves stealthily following the animal until a kill can be made
– Ambush includes hunting from blinds for concealment
– Driving game directs animal movement to make a kill
– Vehicles can be used in stalking and driving game to increase effectiveness
Big-Game Hunting Weapons:
– Portable hand-held weapons for big-game hunting include firearms, bows, spears, and close-range weapons
– Firearms are the most common weapon used, with long-barreled rifles being popular
– Large-caliber ammunition is considered most effective for big game hunting
– Bow and arrow hunting is popular among skilled hunters
– Primitive hunting using spears and similar weapons is sought by hunters for greater challenge
Ethics and Economic Impact of Big-Game Hunting:
– Boone and Crockett Club and Pope and Young Club promote fair chase hunting
– Ethical behavior is increasingly important due to competition and scarce resources
– Hunting is seen as returning to our natural context by some authors
– Trophy hunting may require consuming what is killed to align with our evolutionary role
– Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe manages lion and rhinoceros populations through hunting fees
– Hunting fees contribute to wildlife management and conservation efforts
– Economic benefits of big-game hunting can support local communities
– Conservation through hunting can help maintain wildlife populations
Impact on Wildlife Conservation:
– Well-regulated hunting protects wildlife globally
– White-tailed deer population in the US grew from 500,000 in the early 1900s to 30 million today
– Rhino numbers dropped from 500,000 in the early 20th century to as few as 29,000 today
– White rhinoceros numbers in Africa increased from 100 in 1916 to over 18,000 in 2016
– Hunting fees can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for conservation efforts
Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for trophies, taxidermy, meat, and commercially valuable animal by-products (such as horns, antlers, tusks, bones, fur, body fat, or special organs). The term is often associated with the hunting of Africa's "Big Five" games (lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and African rhinoceros), and Indian rhinoceros and Bengal tigers on the Indian subcontinent.
