World Hunting Association

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The World Hunting Association was founded in 2006 with the aim of organizing professional deer hunting competitions. The hunts were to be conducted in a fenced 1000 acre (4 km²) ranch and would involve the use of Rifles, muzzleloaders and archery 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 of events followed a commercial format similar to professional bass fishing, 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 on the internet, pay-per-view and cable television. 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 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 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.^[1] As of January 2007, it appears that the fenced hunt format has been abandoned completely.