Nikon Predator Derby A Hoax

This is in response to a previous post that Guy Tal posted regarding Nikon possibly sponsoring a predator derby. Thanks again Guy this caused me to contact Nikon straight away. Being a Nikon Pro member, this was not sitting well with me, I needed to know if it was a Hoax?

Sure enough it is! The NPS General Manager contacted me this morning with this explanation.

Alright, another edit. Here is the communication I have had today with Bill from Nikon.

Starting here:

Shane,

This was a bad hoax that came up last year (you can see it's dated 2009) - No Nikon did not sponsor this nor would we. Seems that the people are Nikon Binocular dealers and put our name on it. When it was called to our attention we had our lawyers contact them and they posted a notice that Nikon does not endorse this type of thing. Once something like this lives on the internet - it stays forever and you will notice that no one posted anything about our legal action.

Bil

Shane,

I checked with our legal dept and was informed that they did not have to take any legal action since the parties involved immediately pulled the logo off the site.
It would incorrect to post that we "took" legal action but you can post that we did take action to get our logo taken off.

You can post this if you like.

Bill

Shane,

I just cheeked the site again to make sure and you can see that there is no mention of Nikon

Bill

http://www.sfwidaho.org/SFW/Idaho_Predator_Derby.html


Ends Here:

This was a relief to hear. I have always loved the Nikon gear, and now feel much more confident about Nikon's ethical integrity as well. Thanks Bill for clarifying this matter, and now Nikon has at least some web presence as to their legal action to rebuff this situation. Guy, I guess the Nikon vs. Canon debate is back on.

Shane McDermott

Could not find the post in your site???
the fisch

Damn, does this mean nobody will be selling Nikon gear cheap?

Sorry Ross, you'll have to continue to suffer with Canon gear!

Thanks for following through and posting the results, Shane.

I couldn't fathom why Nikon would be so STUPID, and it turns out they weren't involved at all. Good news.

OK, I found the site on your post.

What does it mean? Nikon is not featured on the adverts. Is that your point.

And I do have a question: Are ALL photographers non-hunters???

the fisch

Larry - I'm sure there are photographers who are also hunters, but I would guess that the majority of nature photographers is not. Further, I would speculate that not even all hunters would support something like a "predator derby" (I personally know a hunter and I'm quite sure that he'd be disgusted with this). And finally, I figure that pleasing 5% of your customers is not worth pissing off 50% of them...

I'm glad Nikon wasn't a sponsor of this type of activity. I'm a lifelong hunter, and would certainly never support a "predator derby". I am not a "trophy" hunter. I put meat in the freezer. Personally, I see no difference between me killing a animal humanely and quickly versus buying meat that someone else killed. Venison is plentiful, is very lean, and I enjoy it immensely. Same goes for dove, duck, and geese. Most of what I've learned about the outdoors came from hunting with my father since I was a small child (I'm now 58). I only wish I could still hunt with my dad, but unfortunately he died 10 years ago. I have no quarrel with people who don't hunt or even dislike hunting - everyone has a right to their opinion. Unfortunately, hunting has just come to mean killing indiscriminately to too many people. I love both nature photography and hunting and, for me at least, I see no glaring conflict there. Now, off my soapbox and back to regularly scheduled programming.

if you got any leftover venison, feel free to send it my way anytime, Bill