Our Voice. Our Heart. The Disguised Hunting Ban

June 2020

Author: Robbie Kroger, Founder of Blood Origins

Unbeknownst to anyone, COVID-19 has essentially implemented a hunting ban across the world. International travel is cancelled and thus hunts are cancelled. As you read this, you may be one of those impacted. Even before this global pandemic, the hunting community has been and will continue to come under attack from individuals and organizations in this world that believe that hunting is detrimental to wildlife populations, results in species extinctions, and is overall an unhealthy strategy for ecosystem health.

Unfortunately, everything the anti-hunting establishment has ever wanted to happen is happening right now as a result of COVID-19. Just one look at certain anti-hunting Facebook groups will highlight the veritable glee that the anti-hunting community is currently floating in as the hunting ban that they have been calling for is occurring right now without them having to do anything. COVID-19 has essentially shut down state, national, and global travel, specifically global travel in a time of the year where thousands of Northern Hemisphere hunters are trekking south to Argentina, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as people starting to travel for spring bear seasons to Canada, Yukon, and Alaska to start their hunting seasons for the year.

All of it has come to a grinding halt. No travel means no hunters. No hunters means hunt postponement maybe later in the year or maybe to next year. However, just like any seasonal endeavor, hunting operations can’t just shut the doors and open when things settle down. The single reason for that is that every hunting operation is a steward of the environment. By definition, a steward is a guardian of something, a protector, a caretaker. For hunting outfits, the animals are economic assets, and as such, they want them to prosper and grow. For others, they have had to shell out thousands of dollars already for concessions, quotas, and camp. Without hunter dollars coming into these operations, who will fund anti-poaching patrols? Who will continue to pay the salaries of game scouts, chefs, cooks, skinners, trackers, maids? You will not see one of those individuals on the anti-hunting page send a single penny to any hunting outfit to help save wildlife because when you get to the root cause of the matter they aren’t interested in saving wildlife, they just don’t want people hunting. They have no other solution.

The effects of the shutdown of hunting as a result of COVID-19 aren’t just localized to the hunting operation and outfit. The ripple effects are felt throughout the community where funds that were being provided for education, access to medical, and other social needs will dry up. The meat that was provisioned as a result of hunting is no longer. The mere lack of protein will force difficult decisions of where their next meal comes from. More than likely, the answer is simple – most will go and poach the animal to get their next meal, and one cannot blame someone for having to find food for his/her family when starvation is in question. The interactions of human wildlife-conflict will escalate resulting in death on both sides of that equation. Unfortunately, these effects will hardly be brought forward to the attention of the public as there is no need.

So what’s the solution in this time of crisis? I wish I had the answer. I wish I could keep everyone employed, keep everyone taking care of the animals, and continue wildlife conservation as it is presently being carried out. Unfortunately, that’s a utopian viewpoint, but I will offer this. We as a community need to use this opportunity as a time to shine and a time to show our love for wildlife and the wild places we hold dear. We need to be vulnerable and show the implications of COVID-19 on hunting, no matter how heart-wrenching it may be. We cannot be ashamed of showing the impact because by showing the impact we show what could be.

We are at juncture in our community – we can rise and fight or rollover. To us at Blood Origins, there is only one way forward – rise and fight. We are no longer living in the “what if” of a hunting ban, we are indirectly living in it right now. Let’s use this time to show who we truly are as hunters. Get on social media and show your true heart. Show what hunting means to your family. Don’t be afraid to be transparent and vulnerable. No matter how big or small your visual platform is, showcase outfitters and professional hunters you respect around the world, showcase our community, and showcase our hearts.

I’ll leave you with an ancient African concept: Ubuntu. Our community needs to show Ubuntu. Ubuntu is “I am because we are.” Ubuntu is “I am because you are.” Ubuntu is togetherness. Let’s embrace Ubuntu.