Donald Trump Jr ditches Secret Service agents to go on Canadian moose hunting trip
'Let’s just say it was a good hunt,' says US President's son
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Your support makes all the difference.After Donald Trump Jr decided to drop his Secret Service protection with no prior warning this month, speculation abounded about why he had decided to scale back his security.
It has now emerged he was swapping his Secret Service agents for a solitary trip to the Canadian wilderness to engage in some moose hunting.
The US President’s oldest son was tracked down by New York Times reporter, Luke Dittrich, at an airport after leaving his hunting trip in Canada’s Yukon Territory.
After introducing himself to the younger Trump and asking if they could discuss the outing, he said: “The Times. I never know where you guys are coming from”.
While Mr Trump Jr, whose friends call him the “Fifth Avenue Redneck” because of his fondness for hunting, refused to talk on record about the trip or what he hunted he did say it was a “good hunt”.
Mr Trump Jr, who is an executive of the Trump Organisation, is said to have hunted a large moose on the holiday.
The businessman, who is under investigation for meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 during his father’s presidential campaign, relinquished his Secret Service protection over privacy concerns earlier this month but the protection was reactivated on Tuesday.
Mr Trump Jr has previously come under fire for his penchant for hunting. During a particularly difficult week for their father in August 2016, him and his brother Eric were reported to have left the country on a hunting holiday.
The Trump sons’ hunting enthusiasm was first revealed back in 2012 when images of the brothers with big game trophies were leaked to an animal rights group and sent social media into a frenzy.
According to Gothamist, the photos showed the men posing with “a dead elephant, kudu, civet cat and waterbuck while on a big game safari in Zimbabwe.”
In one shot, the publication said: “Donald Jr proudly holds a dead elephant tail in one hand and a knife in the other. In another, the brothers are seen standing beside a 12’8″ crocodile hanging from a noose off a tree.”
Last year, the US President’s namesake said the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) “should be encouraging American hunters legally and ethically hunting abroad, not hindering them.” He also made a call for wolves to be culled in the US west and claimed they deprive hunters of moose.
Actor Hugh Grant attacked Mr Trump Jr for his love for hunting in July, sharing an old photo of him clutching a knife and an elephant tail alongside the caption: “Americans often ask me to define the British word ‘W*****’.”
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