The World Hunting Association was founded in 2006 with the aim of organizing professional deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

 hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

 competitions . The hunt

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

s were to be conducted in a fenced 1000 acre (4 km²) ranch and would involve the use of Rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

s, muzzleloader

Muzzleloader

A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun . This is distinct from the more popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms...

s and archery

Archery

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...

 equipment. As of January 2007, all mention of the hunting tournament has been removed from the WHA website, focussing instead upon the production of a reality TV program and an online community and news information center.

The proposed hunting competitions, now apparently abandoned, attracted considerable controversy. Promotion

Promotion (marketing)

Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....

 of events followed a commercial

Commerce

While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...

 format similar to professional bass fishing

Bass fishing

Bass fishing is the activity of angling for the North American gamefish known colloquially as the black bass. There are numerous black bass species considered as gamefish in North America, including largemouth bass , smallmouth bass , Spotted bass or Kentucky bass , Guadalupe bass Bass fishing is...

, consisting of an organized "tour" contested by a small group of "professional hunters" who were publicised along with the events themselves by the WHA. Competitions were to be televised

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 on the internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

, pay-per-view

Pay-per-view

Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...

 and cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

. The WHA stated that the objective of the competition was to promote hunting by showcasing the activity.

Criticism came from other hunting organisations and businesses. For example, Safari Club International

Safari Club International

Safari Club International is an international organization composed of hunters. SCI has more than 50,000 members and 180 local chapters. SCI's website displays the bannertext "Safari Club International is the Leader in Protecting the Freedom to Hunt and Promoting Wildlife Conservation...

 expressed "serious concerns with attempts to 'professionalize' the tradition of the hunt, particularly with cash rewards". The Quality Deer Management Association position is that the "WHA’s program violates many elements of QDMA’s mission of ethical hunting, sound deer management and preservation of the deer-hunting heritage – values shared by the vast majority of deer hunters in North America." The original proposal for the WHA competition involved the shooting of deer with tranquilizer guns and darts, drawing considerable criticism from hunting and animal welfare

Animal welfare

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...

 groups. In response to such criticism, in late August 2006 the WHA announced that this approach has been dropped in favor of more traditional methods. As of January 2007, it appears that the fenced hunt format has been abandoned completely.

External links

• World Hunting Association
• Flint Journal
• WHA Posting Inspires Much Reaction
• Critics Take Aim at Plan for "Nonfatal" Deer Hunt National Geographic
• Making a game of it Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
  The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
  
  
• QDMA statement of opposition to WHA
• Statement Safari Club International
  Safari Club International
  Safari Club International is an international organization composed of hunters. SCI has more than 50,000 members and 180 local chapters. SCI's website displays the bannertext "Safari Club International is the Leader in Protecting the Freedom to Hunt and Promoting Wildlife Conservation...
  
  
• WHA Presents to Archery Trade Association at ATA Summit