I'll probably get flamed for this, or at least labeled as a liberal but..
do you really want to continue to promote the destruction of elephants for cosmetic reasons? yes, I know ivory looks great, but we all have a personal line we draw...
Seeing a picture of a herd of elephants butchered for their horns and left to rot made an impression on me I guess..
I guess we all have our own personal "line". I won't buy ivory or furs, but will buy leather and shark goods (where is that belt Dane? So I certainly realize I live in a glass house...
Just wanted to raise the issue. I won't give anyone grief whatever their position. Just something to think about, or not I suppose.
Regards,
Francis
Francis, you deleted this? :grin:
There are few good makers of ivory grips. Poulin would seem to be one of the better. I sent him an email myself to see what he has available and to see how his work compares with those mentioned and my own maker.
Having been burnt and forced to "eat" a makers product because I won't pass it along to a customer, I want to see it and use it before I recommend it.
Elephant? I have the same reaction from my wife but at a little more forceful level on the ideas of consevation and preservation.
I am expert but I will tell you some of the facts I do know.
First the elephants of Africa were doing fairly well (not great mind you but OK) up till the time of "freedom" for the evolving African countries. Poaching, and wholesale slaughter (approved of by the local govenments or assisted by them in some cases)of the elephant for ivory is what has hurt the herd populations during the late 60's, all of the 70's and 80's. The other problem is habitat and human encroachment which forced culling. (Culling is the COMPLETE elimination of herds)
The elephant populations are now in better shape (because they aren't over stressing their environments with over population) than they ever have been since the 50's. Anmal management is better. The sad thing is that the bigger tusked animals in many areas may have been indeed taken from the gene pool and never to return because of the wholesale slaughter for ivory.
There isn't any ivory imported into the US (outside sport hunting which puts 10K and UP into the local community and econonmies for their animals) and there is a international ban of all ivory sales.
The ivory you buy now has been in the US for some time. The vast majority of it 99.9% came for legal sources even then.
I understand the concern over ivory and have done some little research on where it came from and how available it is now. The legal supply of ivory will likely dissappear entirely in our life times. Certainly it will for our children. I don't think that is a bad thing personally. But in the meantime I will continue to buy and sell and own ivory myself. The history of the gun is filled with inconsistancies, good and bad. Ivory is one of them.
40 years ago, at 20% of what it costs today and not knowing the origin of the ivory we were getting, I would have done things differently.
At this point IVORY is a part of history. Only my reasoning, but I want to own in my short life time a part of it.
But no question is it a serious and personal decision IMO. My wife owns no ivory and I respect her reasoning behind it. If I had an extra 25K sitting around I suspect I would spend 30 days in the bush looking for the biggest, old, heavy toothed, bull I could fine. Then I'd slowly hand off my 505 to the gunbearer and take a few digitals for the forum :grin:
Well, maybe I would?!!?
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dane Burns on 2001-08-13 22:25 ]</font>
