OK.....He asked me what bothered me about the concept (SPECIFICALLY). I went into my list......but one thing was....the $$. I told him that, to me...hunting was more of a spiritual endeavor.....and something that made me more of a man. I KNOW I said I'd be LESS of a man if I couldn't/didn't hunt. I told him that when my dad was a boy.....people like Carl Hubbel and Mickey Mantle......and other great players of the baseball world were GODS to him and his friends. What's spoiled that image for kids JUST after "my" era......is $$. I remember a few years ago.....Manny Ramirez was making $11M a year. He had a clause in his contract that said he got $50K if he made the All-Star roster. Well.....to make the roster....you had to be in the dugout. Manny was on the Injured Reserve list.....but took the roster spot......denying some player maybe the most magical moment in his life.......a chance to make the all-star roster. When told of this.....Joe Morgan says on-air....."If I'm paying somebody $11M a year.....they ought to pay ME $50K if they DON'T make the all-star roster.

Translation.....Money has corrupted baseball (for many). If money is allowed to corrupt hunting .....even more than it plready has......then I see a way of life that I love being the big LOSER in this endeavor.

His answer......well.....the money isn't what we think it is (in terms of prize money). It's nowhere NEAR what some have stated here (or won't be in the final outcome). The guys who are the hunters.....NO ONE makes near $100K a yr.....no one is "rich"......and they're, for the most part.....just dedicated hunters.

I went into a point that I thought was valid. Would the money make the hunters compromise their ethics? Take bad shots? NOT TAKE a wounded/maimed animal???

His answer......they're penalized SEVERELY (basically out of the competition) for animals not recovered. They're penalized for bad shots. It's MANDATORY that wounded animals be killed and a contestant would be PENALIZED if he didn't take that animal. When I asked about how they would ever know.....he said that everything had to be caught on tape.....and they would be checking the cameras to make sure that no tapes were altered. Alter a tape......you're gone.

This is what I was told......and is a tidbit of ONE POINT of our conversation.

Jeff