A sweltering summer day forces a large lion under the shade of a drooping tree amidst a bucolic landscape. She pants from the heat, unconcerned at the sight of an approaching man wearing a pristine white shirt and clean, khaki pants. He stops about 100 feet from the tree and animal. As the feline lies in the relaxing shade, the man raises a rifle pointed toward the drowsy animal. An unseen voice directs the lone gunman. He shoots once and the lion, wounded and disoriented, races from the shade of the tree. Only her cries of pain can be heard and her flailing limbs seen over the grass. The voice again directs the man to shoot again after seconds have elapsed as the creature struggles for life. The second shot finishes the job. The man nervously approaches the feline and butts her with his gun. He then gives thumbs-up to the camera, bends down and feels her coat…The camera pans out to show a tall, chain-link fence.

Although canned hunts are advertised as rugged, outdoor adventures, in reality they are conducted in an atmosphere of comfort and convenience. You can fly into a hunting preserve here in the United States, and after a gourmet dinner, you can spend the night in a luxurious hunting lodge. The next day, you'll be given a high-powered rifle with a brief orientation to its use and driven to the "shooting area." The area is usually a fenced enclosure from which there is no escape, ranging from a few square yards to several hundred acres, depending on how strenuous you want your hunt to be.

The outcome is never really in doubt. In many cases, the hunting preserve will give a guarantee: "No kill, no pay." Whether the area is large or small, the animals are either fenced in-so that they cannot escape and have no hiding place that is secret from the guide-or they have been habituated to eating at a feeding station at the same time every day for food. At many ranches, the same truck that brings dinner to the feeding stations also brings the hunters. Exotic animals bought from breeders are often accustomed to people feeding them and cleaning their cages, so they have no fear of humans. They are often surplus zoo animals or retired circus performers who are too habituated to humans or too old and arthritic to run away.

The essentials are always the same regardless of the cost of the trip: an animal who is either fenced in, lured to feeding stations, or habituated to humans, and odds so heavily in the hunter's favor that there is little risk of leaving without a trophy. Most canned hunts have taxidermists on site or on call to mount your trophy, whose fate was sealed the moment you made your reservation.

Video Cameras Prohibited

Prohibiting these questionable hunting practices from being captured on videotape is a standard practice of game ranches. "Video cameras [are] permitted in lodge area only-not on hunts," according to Cumberland Mountain Hunting Lodge. Ohio's Whitetail Trophy & Exotics, Inc. warns, "Unauthorized video is considered criminal. You must have permission before using video equipment and must follow a strict set of guidelines."

Obviously, they don't want the public to get a true picture of canned hunts.