Some thing I actually agree with DU on: Cruel woman slays elephant

[BannedFromDU]

Christa  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu May-07-09 10:51 AM
Original message
American Kills Elephant With Bow For A Bet
   
Teressa Groenewald-Hagerman was so proud, she posted pictures on the internet showing her beaming beside her kill in Zimbabwe.

The 39-year-old huntress said she crept into a herd of 37 elephants, knelt down, and shot the grand creature from just 12 yards.

It staggered 500 yards before it collapsed, then she left it to die overnight.

Ms Groenewald-Hagerman is the first woman known to have killed an elephant with a bow and arrow.

The Kansas-born woman slaughtered the animal to win a bet with a male friend who said she would be unable to pull the heavy bow required.

For eight months she worked out for four hours a day so she could pull a £450 PSE X Force bow.

The lethal weapon has a 'draw weight' of 90lb - more than twice the amount pulled by female olympic archers.

On the hunting website Hunts of a Lifetime Ms Groenewald-Hagerman wrote: "A man by the name of Larry, who is a videographer for Orion Multi Media, bet me I couldn't shoot a buffalo or elephant with a bow.

"He indicated only one or two women had completed the buffalo with a bow and no woman had ever taken an elephant with a bow. Of course, I couldn't turn down the challenge."

The blonde has received praise from other hunters in online posts.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20090507/twl-american-kills-...

http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/ne/skynews/20090507/10/127197408...

Spread the word, name her and shame her.

Go ahead, bitchslap me. This is wrong.



     How friggin' sporting is it to train for months to sneak into a herd of elephants, stick one from 12 yards, and then wait for it to die?

     That's ****ed up. I like hunting as much as anyone, but shit, kill it quickly and eat what you kill.

     Goes to show you, DU is exactly like a busted clock. Of course, they'll go overboard and call her a Republican, a racist, or whatever in 5...4...3...2...

[djones520]

You ever try sneaking into a herd of Elephants?  Their one of the deadliest animals in Africa.  Hell of a lot more sporting then shooting a deer from 200 yards away.

I give this lady mad props.  It took a serious load of cajones to do what she did.

[BannedFromDU]

You ever try sneaking into a herd of Elephants?  Their one of the deadliest animals in Africa.  Hell of a lot more sporting then shooting a deer from 200 yards away.

I give this lady mad props.  It took a serious load of cajones to do what she did.

     People generally eat deer, and they kill them quickly. This asshole let the elephant die slowly after shooting it pointblank. She didn't have another arrow?

[Karin]

I'm with you, BFDU, this was wrong and cruel.  No bitchslap from me. 

[djones520]

     People generally eat deer, and they kill them quickly. This asshole let the elephant die slowly after shooting it pointblank. She didn't have another arrow?

Unless your hunting with an automatic 50 cal. anything you hit an elephant with is going to take it a while to die.  Bow hunting NEVER provides a quick death.  You always wait for the animal to bleed out.  Deer, Elf, Buffallo, Elephant, it doesn't matter.  It probably didn't take that elephant 8 hours to die.  She waited through the night, because the last thing you want to be doing is looking for a big bloody carcass in the middle of the night in Africa.

This lady had 1 chance to get that arrow to a vital organ.  She put herself in great danger to do it.  She spent a long time training to do it.  THIS was a good hunt done by a good hunter.

[thundley4]

My main problem is that she left it to die overnight. Once it was down and she had proved her point, she should have finished it off quickly.

[Rebel]

You ever try sneaking into a herd of Elephants?  Their one of the deadliest animals in Africa.  Hell of a lot more sporting then shooting a deer from 200 yards away.

I give this lady mad props.  It took a serious load of cajones to do what she did.

For killing something you're not going to eat? and for sport?

**** that and screw this bitch. Comparing the hunting of deer to provide sustenance with killing a damn elephant is moronic.

[Servonaut]

For killing something you're not going to eat? and for sport?

**** that and screw this bitch. Comparing the hunting of deer to provide sustenance with killing a damn elephant is moronic.

 

What she did was bullshit.

[BannedFromDU]

What she did was bullshit.

     I think the story says that some villagers got the meat, but I don't really care, since it seems like villagers could take down an elephant anytime they want to.

[Servonaut]

     I think the story says that some villagers got the meat, but I don't really care, since it seems like villagers could take down an elephant anytime they want to.

From the article.

Hunting elephants for sport is not illegal in some parts of Africa and many tour companies allow tourists to join organised hunting trips.

I didn't know that.  I thought elephants were a protected species in Africa. I know poachers get some but to
have organised hunting trips for sport is really really bullshit.

[DumbAss Tanker]

kill it quickly and eat what you kill.

That's a Hell of a lot of burgers.  Honestly, in bowhunting the mechanism of death is bleeding out, it really wouldn't be quick no matter how good you were.

Elephants being as hard-pressed as they are, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with hunting one, and I sure wouldn't regard any official decision on a permit to take one on up in Zimbabwe as a product of anything but bribery or favor-trading.  But, all that aside, the problem with protected ranges for specific animals is that they tend to overpopulate them and destroy them, with the protection preventing attrition to a natural population level, and usually the predators who kept the population in check are gone too (Of course in the case of elephants, humans were always the top predator anyway).  This does leave the problem that someone does need to hunt them and thin the herd to sustainable levels for the range, I just have grave misgivings about the quality of that decision process in a hell-hole like Zimbabwe.     

[Wineslob]

This is not a new thing, maybe for a woman, but not for bow hunters in general.  The problem is over population in certain areas of Africa. Many times the elephants are eating everything in the area, and causing starvation for the other grazers in the area, which in turn impacts the meat eaters. The "kills" are used to feed villagers in the area. Any and all other "parts" that can be used, are.
Ted Nugent hunts elephants, probably in the same area, and does exactly the above. He provides food for the locals, gets rid of "rampaging" animals (they cause a huge ammount of damage to the flora/villager's gardens) and thins the herd, which they need.
Another thought, the huntress may have shot the animal near sunset. I'm sure it ran off, and they tracked it, until it got too dark. I would have done the same thing, leave it till morning and not have to contend with lions, and other nocturnal predators.

[DumbAss Tanker]

This is not a new thing, maybe for a woman, but not for bow hunters in general.  The problem is over population in certain areas of Africa. Many times the elephants are eating everything in the area, and causing starvation for the other grazers in the area, which in turn impacts the meat eaters. The "kills" are used to feed villagers in the area. Any and all other "parts" that can be used, are.
Ted Nugent hunts elephants, probably in the same area, and does exactly the above. He provides food for the locals, gets rid of "rampaging" animals (they cause a huge ammount of damage to the flora/villager's gardens) and thins the herd, which they need.
Another thought, the huntress may have shot the animal near sunset. I'm sure it ran off, and they tracked it, until it got too dark. I would have done the same thing, leave it till morning and not have to contend with lions, and other nocturnal predators.

Hey, you've got a big problem on your hands if you try to start dressing a deer too soon after it goes down with one arrow in it.  I sure as HELL wouldn't want to get all premature about trying to do that with an elephant that had one arrow in it!