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View Full Version : "Good Clean Fun?" I don't think so!



ponytail
08-18-2006, 03:51 PM
Country singer Gentry charged in bear killing

August 17, 2006

Troy Lee Gentry, of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, is accused of killing a tame black bear that federal officials say he tagged as killed in the wild. Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tenn., and Lee Marvin Greenly, 46, of Sandstone, Minn., appeared Tuesday before US Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson in connection with a sealed indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis. Authorities allege Gentry bought the bear from Greenly, a hunting guide, then killed it with a bow and arrow on Greenly's property in October 2004. Falsely tagging an animal as being killed in the wild is a violation of the federal Lacey Act. The bear's death was videotaped, with the tape edited so Gentry appeared to kill the animal in a ``fair chase" hunting situation, the government alleges. If convicted, Gentry and Greenly face a maximum five-year prison term and a $20,000 fine.

A top country act since the late 1990s with such hits as "Good Clean Fun,"
Gentry, 39, was arraigned on a charge of conspiracy to falsely label an animal.

According to an indictment unsealed this week, in October 2004 Gentry paid
$4,650 to shoot the "trophy-caliber" bear named "Cubby" at the Minnesota
Wildlife Connection in northern Minnesota, which advertises itself as a place
where animals can be photographed in the wild.

After using a bow and arrow to kill the animal inside its pen, Gentry and the
owner of the preserve tagged the bear and registered it with the state as if it
had been killed in the wild. A videotape was edited to make it appear that
Gentry had hunted down the bear.

Attempts to reach Gentry, who was freed on bond, were unsuccessful.



I wonder if the same people who demonized the Dixie Chicks for just expressing an opinion will try to excuse this disgusting behavior.

snakegrl
08-19-2006, 09:32 AM
Of course they will, or at least quite a few will. It's just an animal after all.
This guy has just shown his true colors. And boy do they run. What a sh#thead.

DaveM
08-19-2006, 01:13 PM
Sandstone is not in Northern Minnesota. Sandstone is in East Central Minnesota, about 15 miles from my former home town. An entertaining place, full of people like this fellow. I believe all but one of the dogfighting busts in Minnesota over the past decade have been in the Sandstone area (or more likely, some miles east of town, where there is lots of space, and no local law enforcement). Half of the population seems to make its living by burglarizing the other half.

Where's the banjo guy from Deliverance when you need him?

Even when I lived in that area, it was commonly suggested that a fence be put around Sandstone and admission charged to view the "natives". Works for me....

As to this "great sportsman", what can one say but: what an idiot. Perhaps I'm being too polite.

ponytail
08-19-2006, 01:47 PM
I just got really steamed when I read this story. I've heard of places where people "hunt" captive animals before -- a sickening practice which should not be legal. The fact that this guy would take a life to FAKE a "hunting" home movie to show his friends -- well, it's the ultimate in phony machismo, isn't it? I don't know who I find more revolting -- Gentry, or the anything-for-money creep who set it up for him. I'm glad there was a legal aspect of it to cause him public embarrassment.

I live in a small town where there are woods everywhere around. I know some working class folks who hunt and fish as a way of feeding their family. I come from a big city, and I remain impressed with local wildlife though I've been here for a long time -- when I see deer, I feel like I'm seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary or something -- it's a privilege that makes my day, very special and beautiful. I'm not crazy about people killing them, but I can't object to it on ethical grounds (I'm not a vegetarian). Hunting for trophies, though, I find inexcusable, even when people are doing it in the wild. But this -- this kind of behavior is really low. I'd say, "Cubby. rest in peace," but I'm pretty sure he won't propped up stuffed in this yahoo's living room.

pulmike
08-19-2006, 02:08 PM
What I can't understand is: why do it? I barely understand hunting at all, but I guess I can. But where's the fun in this? Why not just buy a mounted trophy? I guess he can tell his friends he shot it and only be implying a lie, without literally lying. Could that be all there is to it? That doesn't seem like it would be enough to the kind of guy who would care about stuffed bears in the first place. No comprende.

pulmike

Melba
08-19-2006, 09:13 PM
Do we really need more odd celebrity happenings? I am with Ponytail....shooting captive animals (let alone wild ones for a trophy) is sick and requires a troublesome pattern of thinking. I like the music of the duo Montgomery Gentry, but I find this story just plain ignorant.

DaveM
08-20-2006, 12:52 AM
I have no objection to hunting per se, so long as game regulations are observed and all of the animal is used (though in the days of Mad Cow disease and some related disorders, I can't in good conscience recommend using the brains to tan the hide). To me, that seems an example of someone taking responsibility for the meat they eat--people who hunt and eat what they shoot know better than to think that meat comes in packages from a supermarket. I do not hunt myself, though I did until around 15 years ago--and if I needed food and could not get it any other way I would take it up again. Believe me, those years spent in the woods before I put down a gun in favor of a camera taught me a great deal of respect for wildlife and wildlife habitat.

Trophy hunting disgusts me. If you want a nice set of horns/antlers to hang on the wall, get a long telephoto lens and you can "shoot" without bag limits, seasons, or injury to anything. Or do what I do--prowl the woods in late winter and look for "shed" antlers. It's a great treasure hunt--virtually impossibly to find a matching set, but you get a nice walk in the woods and usually some stories to take home, as well as (possibly) some antlers.

Game farm "hunting", to my mind, should be outlawed. The mentality seems to be equivalent to someone believing it "sporting" to go to a barnyard and blast away at a cow. I guess it's a sort of "extreme sport" for the guys who buy oversized prickup trucks (not a typo) with "Off Road" and the like painted on the side, then use them to drive to work in large metro areas. Will say it's nice of them to mark themselves so one can stay out of their way in traffic, but they don't seem to be able to handle guns any better than vehicles.