Where Do America’s Lion Hunters Live?
The recent killing of a well-known lion by a Minnesota dentist and big-game trophy hunter has unleashed a firestorm on social media. Surprised to learn the hunting of lions by American hunters is such a common practice we tried to find out which state is home to the most lion hunters. To do this, we became members of Safari Club International to access their database of hunting records, but apparently, they’ve now hidden that part of their website, probably to hide the identities of individual hunters from the thousands of people who think they’re disgusting.
So lacking hard statistics Estately turned to the nether regions of the internet for some less scientific statistics. Here’s what we found…
Facebook interest in “trophy hunting”
Wyoming has the most interest in trophy hunting, with 5.63% of Facebook users expressing interest in the topic. Hawaii had the least, with just 0.65% expressing interest in it on their Facebook pages. Could this mean the walls of Wyoming homes are littered with the taxidermied heads of lions?
Google searches for “trophy hunting”
Maybe not. The numbers are slightly different when it comes to Google searches related to trophy hunting. Texas is by far the leader for this, especially the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. Many states didn’t even have enough interest in the topic to show data for the map. But is this specifically related to lion trophy hunting or just trophy hunting in general?
Google searches for “lion hunting”
When you change the search query to “lion hunting” it shows Utah residents have by far the most interest, which is going to be problematic when reconciled with the next map…
According to Facebook user data, Utah residents love the movie The Lion King in greater numbers more than all but two other states. There are probably a lot of Utah kids who asked for a stuffed lion for their birthday after watching the movie who is now in tears after unwrapping the stuffed lion their parents brought back from their hunting trip to Africa.
People who love The Lion King surely wouldn’t shoot lions to put on their wall, would they? They might if they’re dentists. Where are those folks at? Oh, looks like Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. And we’re not saying all dentists find joy in inflicting pain on endangered species, but there is something suspicious about the priorities of a person who only works a few days a week and names their yacht something like “Flossing IV.”
So which state is home to the highest number of lion hunters in the United States? That answer hides somewhere in the Safari Club International website, which remains “under construction.” If their record book ever comes back online we’ll update this with more accurate data.
