'Dream hunt' with 'accomplished conservationist' Donald Trump Jr. is prized catch at this trophy hunting convention
An annual trophy hunting convention in Reno, Nevada, is auctioning a week-long "dream hunt" with "accomplished conservationist" Donald Trump Jr. alongside other expeditions to hunt elephants, buffalo, wildebeest, and more.
The four-day event, which is being organized by the Safari Club International (SCI) and has been advertised as a "hunters' heaven," will end with the auction for a yacht-based hunt with Trump Jr. in Alaska, according to the Guardian.
The hunt will take place over a week and see the winner join Trump Jr., his son, and a guide in an expedition where they will be tracking and killing Sitka black-tailed deer -- which is described by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as the most-pursued species of big game in southeast Alaska.
"This year we will be featuring Donald Trump Jr, a man who needs no introduction, and whose passion for the outdoors makes him the number one ambassador for our way of life," states a description for the auction.
"Don Jr shares this heritage with his son and believes in handing down these lessons to young hunters. Don Jr and his son will be hosting this year's hunt along with Keegan in Alaska. Join them aboard Alaska's premier luxury hunting vessel for a 7-day Sitka black-tailed deer and sea ducks hunt along with Master Guide Keegan McCarthy."
This hunt will reportedly be a part of a new "Hunter Heritage Series" launched by Trump Jr. and McCarthy and which claims to be "designed to bring youth/new hunters into the field and experience the essence of what we love."
Currently, the bid for the hunt stands at $10,000, though that is expected to increase substantially when the live auction kicks off on February 8. Thousands of hunters from around the world are expected to flock to the convention, where Trump Jr. will be delivering a keynote address, over the coming week, and there are plenty of prizes other than the Sitka black-tailed deer hunt to be won.
The convention will also see hunters offered the chance to shoot an elephant on a 14-day trip to Namibia, an all-inclusive hunt package to Zimbabwe to kill buffalo, giraffe, and wildebeest, and a 10-day crocodile hunting expedition in South Africa.
SCI insists that the proceeds from all the auctions, which are expected to cross $5 million, will be used to fund the organization's "hunter advocacy and wildlife conservation efforts," though wildlife activists don't necessarily see it that way.
"This annual event is the largest meeting in the world of people who celebrate the senseless killing, buying and selling of dead animals for bragging rights," said Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. "As our planet suffers an extinction crisis, it is business as usual for the trophy hunting industry and SCI, who continue to revel in spending millions of dollars every year to destroy imperiled wildlife."
In response, SCI accused activists of rising to the "heights of hypocrisy" and argued that hunting makes enormous contributions to conservation before describing Trump Jr. as an "accomplished conservationist."