RE: Professional Hunting "Tour" !?!?!?!
Wow...
I once saw the tagline which read that hunting was not a "catch-and-release" sport; yet this gentleman is attempting to make it one.
I don't hunt for fame, glory or a paycheck. If I was ever fortunate enough to be recognized for my efforts and sponsored at a level akin to Bill Winke, Greg Miller or Milo Hansen (and I'm not even placing myself in the category of any of those persons...) I would love to be able to sustain my family monetarily from the industry thereby allowing me to pursue my passion.
And therein lies the problem: Mossy Oak's PR guys nailed it when they referred to the passion and obsession most of us feel about our sport. A pseudo "tour" as proposed and described here removes that passion, and turns the game into one which a person just tries to "win" at.
Obviously, most of us have watched most of the professional anglers pursue a living, even if only in passing through the lens of a televised tournament, and I wonder how many have thought the same thing that I have: This really doesn't even look "fun" for these guys anymore; instead, it just looks like work. The only joyful emotions I see on these guys' faces is when they win. I for one hope I neve lose the joy in reeling in a two-pound bass, simply trying to boat it as quickly as possible so I can get my lure back in the water and hopefully place "in the money." I never want the excitement to diminish as I watch a bobber dance across the water as a bream attempts to swim off with my cricket.
That's what I would fear with such an event. Rather than feeling theirleft leg start to shake uncontrollably as a yearling doe approaches, I think one involved in such an even would be thinking the same thing: How quickly can I put this thing down and move on to the next "round"? When you begin commercializing and densensitiving a sport by throwing money at the participants, you lose the essence of the sport itself. We've seen it done to baseball and football players and just about in every other industry.
I heard a great talk once about how our fathers' generation revered, honored and often held as heroes baseball players that they grew up. While I would be remiss in stating that I am aware that there is now thousands of other things out there to compete with their attention, the speaker asked the audience as to why we thought that baseball players were no longer revered and held in high esteem and held as "heroes" like they were to our fathers? The answer, of course, had to do largely with the commercialism of the game and the fact that we as fans feel that the players are too concerned with chasing the almighty dollar bill as opposed to playng the game anymore because they're passionate about the sport. I think that's one reason why so many appreciate what Cal Ripken, Jr. did: It was obvious he wasn't JUST playing the game to fatten his bank account.