Mexico Style Conservation [Spiders Warning]
This has recently taken on a new meaning to me. I had the opportunity arise to get an all expenses paid trip to Mexico for a week to shoot a video. Of course I suppose its not all expenses paid when you are actually working but when its something you love then you get to tweak what you call it. I am not a hunter, when I was young living in Houston, Alaska I shot a rabbit that my friends parents had asked us to kill. It had escaped and bred and apparently was just its time. I shot that rabbit and marveled at my aim just as any other male with some sort of aim-able device. Still, when I walked to that rabbit my heart slowly turned and soon I didn't like what I was looking at. That night we ate that rabbit and I realized I don't like killing things. I have not hunted since (although I do fish, somehow that feels different doesn't it?). So when I got the opportunity to film a hunt in Mexico it brought about all types of the moral arguments. Least of all is do I even approve of the travelling just to kill mentality? The answer is still no, I don't really believe in that but this trip showed me a different side to things that I didn't expect. In America we expect there to be parks, places where the mountains rule and animals are somewhat protected (although the state of Alaska does a pretty terrible job at it at times). Still I think we take them for granted and to easily dismiss the costs and upkeep of such an area.
In Mexico the parks are not as widely spread. They have huge areas which house an amazing amount of wildlife only to have it completely wiped out by over zealous hunters or even hungry locals. So how do you protect the land? At Rancho San Jose they own 30,000 acres. Yes, I said that correctly. 3 entire mountains are within the lines. He completely fenced in an area and reintroduced the Desert Big Horn Sheep back into the area 14 years ago and has since opened it for hunting. After learning some of the prices paid for a single hunt I understand why it is done that way. You couldn't make that much money off 5000 tourists that they make in a single hunt. It is well conserved and they brought the original number from 13 sheep up to between 40-100 with only 5 permits per year allowed. They even plan on turning the other 3 mountains into sheep sanctuary. Within the ranch theres no garbage, only a few roads, and none of the usual destruction you see in so many areas around Mexico. This is all done privately, it would seem nearly impossible to try to buy your way into this situation in the United States. I almost wrote, America but have been trying to remind myself that Mexico is part of America, as is Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica, and frankly anything that resides in the Americas. We just like to monopolize the term.
The hunt took 4 days where we drove around the mountain and then hiked all the areas of the mountain. In the end we killed a beautiful animal, when I say beautiful I meant when it was alive and I appreciated the gentleness of the creature that we had come to kill. I didn't like knowing that we had succeeded but we did which meant that the ranch was successful and they can continue to grow and bring back wildlife into areas where it has long died out. This isn't something that works everywhere and could easily be abused but I see where hunting is something that can be useful. If it can't be stopped then at least it should be done in a way where we are not wiping out something such as Caribou, Moose, or Wolfs but actually growing the population of the animal. It is possible, its being done in countries which we consider far less superior to the United States. So in saying all this it sounds like I am endorsing hunting, I'm not. I still don't like it, I still wont do it myself unless I feel its something I need to do to live but if we are going to allow this in the places which we live I think its important to realize that we can create while we destroy.
Now to some pictures after all that writing!
This is Las Cuevas or The Caves for reasons I'll show later. Usually the Sheep they were looking for which was nicknamed Pelican stayed at the summit of the right peak most mornings which means we tried to get him from staying on the left side. Oh and in case I didn't mention it my job was just to video the whole thing. So I was everywhere they were. At the notch we spent 7 hours in the 100 degree sun waiting for him to come down. It was some of the most uncomfortable moments of my life.
I spent my time looking for creepy crawlies. I know some people are squeemish about spiders so thats what the warning is for.
We were up and moving by 4am most mornings.
The guy who owns the ranch finds turtles in the road and brings them to his area to release. He says usually they are run over or eaten!
How could you each something with such cute toes!
Unless you had a huge mouth.
This guy was pretty cool. He ran down the pole after I got to close but kept his tail out! So I touched his tail and he still didn't move.
So I moved over and took pictures of this guy.
and when I came back I was getting the Velociraptor look!
So I continued on my way and eventually stumbled upon a real big scorpion!
Who wasn't happy that I disturbed him!
We then went off again to look at the sheep. This is taken through a Swarovski long scope.
Back at the ranch the Horses kept a watchful eye
After the hunt was over as a special treat I was allowed to roam the park and look at the Petroglyphs that are in the caves and slowly disappearing. It was a special treat!
Even the guides got into taking pictures of the drawings
As always the limestone created some great textures!
Oh and the caves! I said I would get back to how it was named!
And then it was time to leave, but not before a final shot of the sunset.
I have done zero processing to this picture.
Goodbye Las Cuevas!
In Mexico the parks are not as widely spread. They have huge areas which house an amazing amount of wildlife only to have it completely wiped out by over zealous hunters or even hungry locals. So how do you protect the land? At Rancho San Jose they own 30,000 acres. Yes, I said that correctly. 3 entire mountains are within the lines. He completely fenced in an area and reintroduced the Desert Big Horn Sheep back into the area 14 years ago and has since opened it for hunting. After learning some of the prices paid for a single hunt I understand why it is done that way. You couldn't make that much money off 5000 tourists that they make in a single hunt. It is well conserved and they brought the original number from 13 sheep up to between 40-100 with only 5 permits per year allowed. They even plan on turning the other 3 mountains into sheep sanctuary. Within the ranch theres no garbage, only a few roads, and none of the usual destruction you see in so many areas around Mexico. This is all done privately, it would seem nearly impossible to try to buy your way into this situation in the United States. I almost wrote, America but have been trying to remind myself that Mexico is part of America, as is Ecuador, Chile, Costa Rica, and frankly anything that resides in the Americas. We just like to monopolize the term.
The hunt took 4 days where we drove around the mountain and then hiked all the areas of the mountain. In the end we killed a beautiful animal, when I say beautiful I meant when it was alive and I appreciated the gentleness of the creature that we had come to kill. I didn't like knowing that we had succeeded but we did which meant that the ranch was successful and they can continue to grow and bring back wildlife into areas where it has long died out. This isn't something that works everywhere and could easily be abused but I see where hunting is something that can be useful. If it can't be stopped then at least it should be done in a way where we are not wiping out something such as Caribou, Moose, or Wolfs but actually growing the population of the animal. It is possible, its being done in countries which we consider far less superior to the United States. So in saying all this it sounds like I am endorsing hunting, I'm not. I still don't like it, I still wont do it myself unless I feel its something I need to do to live but if we are going to allow this in the places which we live I think its important to realize that we can create while we destroy.
Now to some pictures after all that writing!
This is Las Cuevas or The Caves for reasons I'll show later. Usually the Sheep they were looking for which was nicknamed Pelican stayed at the summit of the right peak most mornings which means we tried to get him from staying on the left side. Oh and in case I didn't mention it my job was just to video the whole thing. So I was everywhere they were. At the notch we spent 7 hours in the 100 degree sun waiting for him to come down. It was some of the most uncomfortable moments of my life.
I spent my time looking for creepy crawlies. I know some people are squeemish about spiders so thats what the warning is for.
We were up and moving by 4am most mornings.
The guy who owns the ranch finds turtles in the road and brings them to his area to release. He says usually they are run over or eaten!
How could you each something with such cute toes!
Unless you had a huge mouth.
This guy was pretty cool. He ran down the pole after I got to close but kept his tail out! So I touched his tail and he still didn't move.
So I moved over and took pictures of this guy.
and when I came back I was getting the Velociraptor look!
So I continued on my way and eventually stumbled upon a real big scorpion!
Who wasn't happy that I disturbed him!
We then went off again to look at the sheep. This is taken through a Swarovski long scope.
Back at the ranch the Horses kept a watchful eye
After the hunt was over as a special treat I was allowed to roam the park and look at the Petroglyphs that are in the caves and slowly disappearing. It was a special treat!
Even the guides got into taking pictures of the drawings
As always the limestone created some great textures!
Oh and the caves! I said I would get back to how it was named!
And then it was time to leave, but not before a final shot of the sunset.
I have done zero processing to this picture.
Goodbye Las Cuevas!
My Pictures can be seen at http://prezwoodz.smugmug.com
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
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Great job on the pano too.
By the way, you do realize that what you call a spider is in fact a scorpion, don't you ? (they are both arachnids, granted)
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Makes you appreciate a childhood in Alaska, for sure. We get spoiled with our wilderness. You won't find it like that anywhere else.
Thanks for sharing Kelsey, we've been looking forward to seeing the results.
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