Thanks for posting this Chris.
I found the following in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List entry for Sable:
Listed as Least Concern as Sable are currently estimated to number ca. 75,000, and population trends are more or less stable in protected areas, increasing on private land and decreasing elsewhere (25%). The overall conservation status is unlikely to change, since any further decrease in the free-living population may be compensated by the continued growth of its numbers on private farms and conservancies. The latter should continue in view of this spectacular antelope’s aesthetic appeal and its high value as a trophy animal.
The IUCN Red List is the "bible" of scientific research on the conservation status of mammals.
The point is simple - if an animal is sought after by trophy hunters - whether that is "natural" (I would call the big 5, the nine spiral horned, the tiny ten more or less "natural") or "created" (say, by creating an entry in record books), then its future survival could be assured. I note that the black wildebeest and the bontebok, to name just two past hunter - only survive because of hunters. The same could be said today for scimitar-horned oryx.
We, as hunters, have to find a better way to get our message out to the large majority of non-hunters who are not anti-hunters, but who may be swayed by emotional arguments of anti-hunters.
