June 13, 2012
By PH Online Editors
Let's be honest -- Hollywood isn't exactly best friends with the hunting community. We learned that lesson the hard way after the media viciously attacked Donald Trump's sons for their (completely legal and ethical) African safari . With many actors and actresses donating time and money to groups like PETA, it's pretty hard to find a outdoors-friendly face in movies and television. Luckily, there are quite a few celebrities -- actors, athletes and so forth -- who still embrace the hunting lifestyle, some you probably would never have thought of. In the grand tradition of celebrities giving PETA the middle finger , here are eight surprisingly pro-hunting celebrities.
Adam West Holy birdshot, Batman! Nowadays, Adam West is probably more known for his goofy -- and sometimes slightly creepy -- persona on Family Guy than his campy version of the Caped Crusader in the '60s, but there's another side to the Hollywood veteran many may not know. West is
an admitted upland bird hunter , and has been known to spend some of his downtime hunting grouse.
Avril Lavigne The Canadian pop princess may not fit the typical huntress image, but believe it or not, the 'Sk8er Boi ' singer
has been a hunter since she was just a wee Canuck , listing hunting as one of her favorite pastimes. Growing up in Ontario, Lavigne frequently hunted with her father and brother, and apparently had no problem pointing to a whitetail and thinking dinner.
Bo Jackson Bo Jackson is regarded by many to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. Bo knows baseball. Bo knows football. Many may not know, however, that Bo also knows hunting. The NFL/MLB great was
featured on an episode of Relentless Pursuit on
The Sportsman Channel , doing a little 'bo-hunting ' with host Tim Wells in Fulton County, Ill. Bo proved himself to be a true hunter, and even grilled some backstraps for the crew.
Eva Longoria For our money, Eva Longoria is without a doubt one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood. But the Desperate Housewives star is more than just a pretty face. Longoria has boasted that
she can skin anything from rabbits to deer, and even snakes , alluding to the hunting expeditions she took with her father while growing up in Texas, earning the ire of animal rights wackos everywhere. Here's to you, Mr. Longoria; you raised a fine daughter.
Joe Perry The Aerosmith guitarist may be known more for his sick axe licks on songs like 'Walk This Way ' and 'Sweet Emotion, ' but Joe Perry (above with Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler) is also
an admitted gun collector and outdoorsman . Perry cites hunting as a 'great way to keep in touch with reality, ' and says he never shoots anything he doesn't eat, preferring game meat over supermarket meat.
Karl Malone Photo from Findmeahunt.com
No doubt about it: With the second most career points in NBA history (36,298), The Mailman was -- and is -- one of the greatest power forwards ever. With teammate John Stockton, Malone led the Utah Jazz to two straight NBA Finals in the late '90s, though the Jazz dropped both to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. But the two-time MVP is also an extremely avid hunter ; after developing a love for the outdoors growing up in Louisiana, Malone became a hunting machine, and even owns a cabin in Alaska, making it much easier to get close to those big black bears and his personal favorite, elk.
Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille O'Neal is regarded as one of the greatest centers in NBA history; in his prime, Shaq dominated the paint with backboard-shattering dunks, and led the Los Angeles Lakers to three championships, and the Miami Heat to one. But the Shaq Attack doesn't stop on the basketball court. The biography
Shaq Talks Back paints a different, more outdoorsy picture of Shaq during a red stag hunt, in which the author labels Shaq 'the most conscientious hunter I know. '
Tom Brokaw Formerly the host of 'NBC Nightly News, ' Tom Brokaw has served as a role model for many of us in the journalism biz, but when you find out his life goes far beyond some desk in New York to outdoors, well, you come to respect the man even more. In 2004, Brokaw, an avid upland bird hunter,
bought a 640-acre Montana dude ranch along with actor Michael Keaton and Robert Rubin, Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration, effectively creating a hunting and fishing preserve.
Jennifer Lawrence True to the character she portrayed in one of this year's biggest films, Jennifer Lawrence is one kick-ass lady. After playing archer extraordinaire and hardcore survivalist Katniss Everdeen in 2012's
The Hunger Games , Lawrence went on the record in an issue of
Rolling Stone saying
she actually gutted a squirrel in her 2010 film
Winter's Bone -- a film for which she spent a month shooting rifles and chopping wood with a rural Missouri family -- then followed the statement with some good ole' fashioned PETA bashing: 'I should say it wasn't real, for PETA, ' she said. "But screw PETA. ' To top it all off, she then said she dreams of having a nice house with a big dog and a shotgun. You had us at "screw PETA," Miss Lawrence.
Morgan Freeman Who doesn't love this guy? Starring in such great movies like
Se7en ,
The Dark Knight and
The Shawshank Redemption are certainly enough reason to love Morgan Freeman, but the down-to-earth actor has also served as a
spokesman for Ducks Unlimited , advocating wetlands conservation to help provide outdoorsmen with a healthy, clean environment.
