Now, a short thread about paper and to a lesser extent the article. It goes like this: carnivore hunters=minority of hunting population='trophy hunters'=public opinion of carnivore hunting low=carnivore hunting negatively affects all hunting. 1/n https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/trophy-hunters-could-threaten-the-social-acceptability-of-hunting/

In the paper large carnivores are defined as bears (black bears/grizzly bears), cougars, and wolves. Bears are used interchangeably (black bear referenced 7X, grizz 8X, bear 20X).

"Trophy hunting" refers to targeting large males + acquiring carcass parts to "show off". 2/n

Now, hunters are a minority, and trophy hunting carnivore hunters are a minority of hunters. One citation was work in the US in 2016 where 2% of hunters are associated with bear hunting in the US (there's no grizzly bear hunting in the lower 48, so we know what that means). 3/n

The paper dives into social support for vairous types of hunting. Naturally, there is less support for carnivore hunting than other spp, and little support for 'trophy hunting' - the public's definition, which may be different from the authors. 4/n

The authors do acknowledge that black bears are commonly killed for meat and trophies (similar to herbivores), but then go on to cite multiple referendum's and issues related to black bear hunting in the US. Polls are cited where support for trophy hunting has little support. 5/n

As a result of all this, "large carnivore hunters" are jeopardizing other hunting opportunities.

I'd like to share a little bit about what we know in BC around hunters now. 6/n

When we ask hunters the most important factors affecting lottery hunts we find:
1) getting out in the wilderness
2) opportunity to harvest a legal animal
3) spending time with friends and family

Least important: opportunity to harvest a trophy (p.23)

https://bccf.com/sites/default/files/LEHReviewOct2009.pdf

When I did some research around 2005 we found that hunters classified themselves by the type of animal they were looking for: meat hunter; meat, then selective; selective; trophy

1.9% of the population self-identified as a "trophy hunter".
8/n

Now, hunters version of trophy hunting is, I believe different from the non-hunting public. Respondents often indicated they were looking for a large male, but that the other factors associated with hunting, including obtaining meat for the freezer was part of it. 9/n