The antis are all over this. At first, a mysterious Spanish Hunter was thought to have killed the lion, which was an attraction for tourists that visited a national park in Zimbabwe. Now, a dentist from Minneapolis is accused of illegally luring the lion off national park land, shooting it with a bow, then tracking it and finishing it off with a gun, leaving the carcass skinned and beheaded. And the dentist has a charge against him in the U.S. For illegally killing a black bear.

http://www.startribune.com/zimbabwe-2-to-appear-in-court-for-killing-cecil-the-lion/318828251/

From the article:

The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said Tuesday that a local professional hunter and a farm owner are facing poaching charges and expected in court Wednesday. The statement did not address any legal consequences for Palmer.

The joint statement said Theo Bronkhorst, a professional hunter with Bushman Safaris, is believed to have lured the lion to Honest Trymore Ndlovu’s farm, where it was killed by an American tourist in Zimbabwe’s western Hwange region. Its carcass was discovered days later by trackers, the statement said.

During a nighttime pursuit, the hunters tied a dead animal to their car to lure the lion out of a national park, said Johnny Rodrigues, chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. The American is believed to have shot it with a crossbow, injuring the animal. The wounded lion was found 40 hours later and shot dead with a gun, Rodrigues said in the statement.

If accurate, the pro-hunting folks should be all over this as well. Poachers are not the ilk with whom we want to be associated. Palmer does not seem to be honorable and has previously lied about provenance to make an animal seem legal. Given his history, I have trouble believing his story now. He obviously it not able lying to claim a quarry.

Good points. I am not happy about it either, as a hunter.

My biggest question is, did the Hunter know it was illegally lured off park land? I don't know how those hunts work, or how hunts in that part of the world work, but I can see both sides: that he should have known or patronized a reputable guide and also that the guides wanted to get him a lion because he was paying $50k and would break the law to do so.

Are bows used to hunt lions normally? I can't see that being the best way to take one down, especially if it took them 40 hours of tracking and a gun to finally kill it.

To my mind, a hunter doesn't hunt animals with collars. Let's not jump to conclusions, though. The investigation will tell all.

no lion permits for the area which was the big red flag. As far as collars, that's the risk you take with wildlife studies.

According to what I read it was illegal to kill an animal with the GPS collar, also illegal to remove that collar. They removed the collar when they Skinned and beheaded.

This article also says he stated he may be the one who shot this Lyon but clams he had the legal permits...,
Lots of questions

The hunter may very well be a shady, "gotta have it" type of hunter. But the PH is out of South Africa. I know a few Zimbabwe professional hunters personally and they are always complaining about South African companies being allowed to come into Zimbabwe and "[censored] things up". Numerous stories about nefarious characters taking unwitting clients on illegal hunts, etc.

I haven't witnessed any, but have heard of a few Zimbo vs. Afrikaner bar fights around the DSC show throughout the years.

That Johnny Rodriques they quote in the Telegraph article is a blabbering anti-hunting idiot.

Bad deal - hunter has a previous violation. Makes hunters look really bad -

This is having quite the debate over in the OT.

And on that note...I would like my fellow hunting brothers here to remind me frequently to stay the hell out of the OT. The girlish cliques, the trolls, the self-righteous sphincters, and the lonely old men. Oh, the humanity!

I've been reading the OT thread. I posted mine before the OT was posted and this is the better venue for it. I'd say this discussion is going much better than that one, mainly for the reasons you listed.

As for the story, there are a lot of details that make a difference in my mind, and I'm not ready to go either way, but it's not a good look for any hunters and if this Hunter did or knew what it looks like he did or knew, he is an idiot and a thief.

It's kind of hard to believe he wasn't at fault, especially since he already has a poaching charge against him. I didn't know about the collar issue. I thought I read somewhere that if Cecil wandered off the park land, he could be killed but luring him off was not allowed.

Just saw this on the news, according to it, the lion was poached and the hunter/dentist practice is now been closed down. The hunter/Dentist released a statement blaming the guide.................

If he shot it with a bow or cross bow as it has been claimed; then your close enough to tell that its wearing a collar. I think if you got the cash to hunt a lion then go for it; but wounding one with a bow/cross bow in the first place is shame full and you know if the story hadn't come to light he would have never bragged about.....

"Yeah I took this with a bow.....I mean I wounded it with a crossbow then we tracked it down and shot it with a rifle!"

Little off topic but I watched the TV show where Craig Boddington was in Iran hunting Urial Sheep. It was such a canned hunt it made me sick. There were about 5 Iranians in the posse, most no doubt with a hand out for a tip from the rich American. They were all smoking and talking on cell phones while "hunting" It was embarrassing to real hunters.

I can't get over how many guys on here think that if you're not alone when you pull the trigger, you're not a "real" hunter. "If you don't do it exactly like I do, you're doing it wrong." Idiots.

NBC reported the dentist paid $55,000!