Let Us Prey – The Underground Bunker

Arkansas hunter evens the odds with antique-style gun, so deer killed him

Tony Ortega — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 21:22:49 +0000

[Armed and dangerous]

You’ve no doubt seen the headline going around today, that a hunter was killed by the deer that he shot in Arkansas.

But see, the liberal media is suppressing the real lesson of this incident, which is coming from the state’s biased Game and Fish Commission.

Instead of the liberal wet dream that an animal killed a hunter that had shot it, what people should really be taking from this story is that you really shouldn’t go into the woods to ventilate wild animals packing anything less than an AR-15 assault rifle.

In this case, the 66-year-old hunter had unwisely decided to even the odds by using a muzzle-loaded rifle, like he was some Minuteman at Lexington or something. After shooting a buck, he went to see if it was dead, and the animal then attacked him.

Several puncture wounds were found on the hunter, but it’s not known for certain whether it was the punctures that caused his demise or a heart attack — the family is apparently not allowing an autopsy.

But anyway, the lesson here is clear. Deer are mankillers. Next time you go into the woods, prepare for war.

Viral video: Heartless killing of a defenseless wombat, or cherished native ritual?

Tony Ortega — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 13:44:35 +0000

You may have seen the viral video to come out of South Australia this week, which shows an off-duty cop named Waylon Johncock stoning a terrorized, defenseless wombat to death while he’s urged on by his pal filming, ‘Hit it! Hit it!”

Outrage over the footage resulted in 300,000 Australians signing an online petition demanding that Johncock be fired and charged, but he’s still on normal duty while South Australian police conduct their investigation.

And what are Johncock’s normal duties? He’s a community liaison officer, helping to promote understanding about the local aboriginal population, which he himself is a product of.

Aboriginal leaders seem split, however, on whether Johncock’s horrendous killing of the wombat was traditional behavior that’s protected by the Native Title Act of 1993, which allows tribal communities to retain their customs, including hunting for food.

“It’s easy for people to sit back and judge people. This has been part of our culture and the way we’ve gone about it for thousands of years. For the people of the west coast of South Australia, the wombat is a big part of their diet and they’ll get wombat any way they can,” said one elder, named Jack Johncock. But another, Major Summer, said it was wrong for the off-duty cop to show no respect for the animal. “We didn’t hunt like that. We still don’t hunt like that,” he said.

We’re very supportive of the rights of native peoples, and of course we’re very cognizant of the way they’ve been mistreated in the past. But even native peoples must see how horrendous this act was, how this animal was so terrorized and for no reason — afterwards, Johncock and his buddy left the animal by the side of the road. They weren’t hunting for food.

What do you think? Does Waylon Johncock, who was a local Australian Rules football star before he became a gladhanding cop, deserve to be fired and perhaps even charged criminally? Or does he get a pass because of his aboriginal upbringing? Let us know your thoughts.

Six elephants die in Thai waterfall trying to save a calf, and we’re sick about it

Tony Ortega — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 16:05:39 +0000

According to CNN, five adult elephants in Thailand died while trying to save a calf from a waterfall, which also died.

Two adults were rescued, seen in the photo above.

We’re not certain that we really deserve to share the planet with these intelligent, altruistic, and compassionate animals.

That some people make it their life ambition to shoot them dead with high-powered weapons never ceases to amaze us.

Another sign that trophy-hunting-as-conservation is facing real opposition

Tony Ortega — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 17:25:28 +0000

[Cecil the (late) lion.]

The Telegraph says that anti-hunting organizations are taking advantage of a new report criticizing the dubious conservation claims of trophy hunting to try and kick out pro-hunting groups from the most prestigious conservation body on earth.

A report published on the website of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Swiss-based association that produces the globally recognised list of endangered species, said that “trophy hunting is not consistent with ‘sustainable use'” of wildlife resources and countries and organisations that advocate it should be denied membership of the 71-year-old body.

This is the opening they need, they say, to get pro-hunting groups out of IUCN…

“We’re going to call for pro-hunting groups to have their IUCN membership removed, as one of the report’s conclusions is that supporting trophy hunting is not compatible with IUCN membership. This includes avowed trophy hunting industry lobby groups such as Dallas Safari Club and ‘Conservation Force’,” said Eduardo Gonclaves of the Campaign Against Trophy Hunting.

This is only the latest sign we’ve seen of important resistance to the argument always made (even by some environmentally savvy publications) that trophy hunting is a necessary evil to preserve endangered species in poor countries.

Is it a trend? It’s hard to tell at this point.

Trophy hunting beneficial to African communities? Boston Globe begs to differ.

Tony Ortega — Thu, 03 Oct 2019 16:42:17 +0000

[Cecil the lion]

As repugnant as trophy hunting is, it has its defenders. And invariably, they argue that killing lions and elephants in Africa is actually beneficial to the local communities where it occurs.

We’ve seen a couple of good rejoinders to that, and today the Boston Globe weighs in with piece by Nigerian scholar who says that corruption and lawlessness prevent that simple calculus.

Claims that hunting adds significantly to country revenues are overstated. A report from eight countries in eastern and southern Africa found that trophy hunting adds little to GDP, only about 0.03 percent, compared to tourism, which adds up to 5 percent. The thousands of dollars American hunters pay to shop for game rarely trickles down to the rural communities where those animals are found.

We’ve seen more assertive broadsides arguing this point, but it seems significant that the Globe is wading into this important issue. What do you think?

Hunter comes up with genius way to increase his kill, gets slapped by the feds

Tony Ortega — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 00:00:01 +0000

You know, it’s really considerate of ranchers in places like Texas to raise exotic species from overseas so hunters can kill them. It’s just a lot more convenient to shoot a blackbuck, also known as an Indian antelope, without flying all the way over to the subcontinent.

Same for the Barbary sheep of North Africa. Who wants to travel to some shithole in Algeria or something when you can fire high-velocity projectiles through the vital organs of animals raised right here in the good old US of A?

But there’s still a problem. Have you seen these Texas ranches? They go on forever. And when you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan from Oklahoma and maybe carrying a little extra water weight, the last thing you want to do is walk all over the place to catch up to these captive animals that are bred to be shot at.

So Cody Morganthaler, 36, came up with a brainstorm and paid $12,000 to three guys with a helicopter to carry him over the ranch so he could shoot while seated in comfort.

He managed to ventilate both Barbary sheep and blackbucks, four animals in total, which he posed with proudly in front of the helicopter, as you see above.

Well, the oppressive US government didn’t see the genius of Cody’s solution, and he and his three accomplices were sentenced this week to a year probation and $5,000 fines. The helicopter pilot got off easy with a $2,500 fine.

Does this government not realize that we Americans get fatter every year? At some point we’re going to be too hefty to track wild animals, and what fun will that be?

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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 20, 2019 at 21:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He’s written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology’s harassment of Paulette Cooper titled ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely,’ and more recently a compilation of his stories, ‘Battlefield Scientology.’ He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world, as well as other subjects at The Underground Bunker. You can reach him by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you’d like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.)

She was stunned by the lion’s beauty — so she shot it dead

Tony Ortega — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 01:00:21 +0000

Have you seen these trophy hunting websites? Seriously, they are something else. This is an actual caption to a photo that we’ve replaced above with an illustration by talented cartoonist Chad Essley. We’re not making this up…

From afar, Dian observed her lion gazing out over the plains. “I had seen photos, TV shows and paintings, but never experienced this beautiful beast so close in the flesh.”

Oh, but wait. At another part of the website, Dian Cooper explains more fully how she was feeling on this hunt, which took place about ten years ago in South Africa. She explains that they had put out bait for the lions, and then had followed the male over a couple of “mountains.” Then, she spotted him about 350 yards away and knew that if she didn’t take her shot, they’d lose him over the next peak.

There was a slight hesitance in my soul that almost stopped me from the hunt at that point. It’s the part of me that is in awe of beautiful creatures, and the honour and respect that I have for them. But then the hunter inside me takes over and the thrill of the hunt is flamed. Then there is no stopping my desire to achieve the goal that I came all the way across the ocean to achieve: complete my Big Five.

Ah well, she had to complete her Big Five. That lion never had a chance. Her husband, meanwhile, bagged a female so they could use the matched set in their taxidermy studio.

Dian and Rocky appear to have had studios in both Texas and South Africa, so we’re not sure which of their dioramas this particular male became a part of. But we’re sure it must have been impressive.

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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 15, 2019 at 21:00

‘I buried your dog today’: A searing message for a nameless dog owner

Tony Ortega — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 00:00:29 +0000

We ran across this moving tribute written by Diz Schroeder of Montana. She posted it to Facebook on April 5 and made it shareable for the public, and it now has more than 64,000 shares. We thought you’d want to see it.

Someone took a dog out to the river and put a bullet through his skull. I found the scene when I took my dog to the river today. The body was left in plain sight, just off the walking trail. Cops aren’t investigating, but I want the person who did this to see my post. This is an open letter to that person.

I buried your dog today. I see by his teeth that he was a pup. I see by the abrasions and sunken ribs that he was not loved. I see by the way you left him where you shot him that you did not care how he died. I see by the way you abandoned his body, next to the trail where anyone can see, that you did not care who might see him.

I buried your dog today. I disposed of the bullet shell, overturned the bloody soil, and dug a grave for your dog. It was hot, smelly, heartbreaking work that you should’ve done. I buried the ugliness you left out for the world to see. I gave your dog the courtesy of not being treated like carrion.

I buried your dog today. I mourned his wasted potential, his wasted affection, and the short, pitiable life he led with such a poor excuse for an owner. Your neglect and casual cruelty has not gone unnoticed. I may not know you when I see you, but I hope you recognize me as the person who buried your dog. I hope you have enough of a heart to feel shame. I already know you do not feel compassion.

— Diz Schroeder

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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 13, 2019 at 20:00

Record moose ‘taken’ in Washington, but don’t say it was gunned down

Tony Ortega — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0000

The Daily Mail picked up a story written by the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington about a record moose shot by a hunter named Jim Hall.

The article describes how Hall had waited nearly 30 years for his turn to come up to hunt moose, but after passing up some earlier targets, his window of opportunity was about to close up.

But then, luck smiled on Hall as he and his pal were driving around and then spotted a monster Shiras moose (one of four subspecies).

They stopped the car. Hall got out, and he shot the moose dead.

Only after he’d shot it twice did Hall realize that he might have a record-breaker, which was confirmed by Safari Club International. We’d tell you what the record was in terms of antler size, but really, with the animal dead and all, it doesn’t really matter to the moose what an impressive set of antlers he’d grown.

So, what we found kind of interesting, besides just how thrilling it sounds to hunt by automobile and shoot immobile animals who pose no risk to anyone, is the reaction from a couple of Daily Mail readers who were offended by the language the Daily Mail had brought to the piece.

The Spokesman-Review’s headline said that “hunter bags” record moose. But the Daily Mail changed it to “guns down.”

“Gunned down? Really Daily Mail? Hunting is not a crime. YET,” huffed one commenter.

“When he guns down? Bias much?? How about legally hunted or legally harvested!” said another.

Yes, hunters prefer that you say an animal is “taken” or “harvested” or “bagged.”

That sounds a lot more romantic than stepping outside of a car to shoot a high-velocity projectile into a passive animal to rip up its internal organs so that it drops dead.

And the last thing we want to do is shatter the notion that killing animals for sport is romantic and brave.

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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 12, 2019 at 20:00

Hunter’s excuse for killing young elephants doesn’t seem to be working

Tony Ortega — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 00:00:26 +0000

[Mike Jines is on the right]

We’re a little worried about Mike Jines and his company, TopGen Energy in Forsyth, Georgia.

When we tried to pull up his company website, all that came up was a card saying the site was “under construction.”

TopGen’s customers must find that inconvenient. Previously, they could pull up a nice-looking site that included this information about Mike himself…

But that’s all gone now, and a heck of a time you’ll have trying to find any current info about Mike or TopGen, because if you search on those terms, wow, you are going to get a lot of heated postings and articles about a couple of dead elephants.

Back in January, the controversy boiled over as photos of Jines and his professional guide appeared which showed them standing over a juvenile female elephant they had shot dead in Zimbabwe. The beautiful creature is in an odd position, as if she had crumpled over onto her forelegs and fell asleep — except for the tell-tale bullet hole in her forehead.

Outrage that yet another American trophy hunter was posing proudly with his kill — and an elephant that was too young to be hunted — rose to a fever pitch here. But then, in February, Jines responded, saying that on the first day of his hunting adventure in Africa, he and his guide were surprised by the two females, who charged them. They had no choice except to shoot the two cows — which he claimed were adults — or risk being trampled.

But judging by how Mike’s company has essentially been erased from the Internet from the online outrage, we’re thinking his story isn’t really flying with the public.

We’d love to hear from someone in the Georgia power industry about whether TopGen is managing to operate even with the outrage, and whether things are easing over time. How long, we wonder, can Internet outrage last?

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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 11, 2019 at 20:00