Cache County girl receives international criticism for photos of big game hunt


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SALT LAKE CITY — Aryanna Gourdin and her father Eli made a trip to South Africa a couple of weeks ago.

They planned for a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the sights but they also planned to do some hunting. Aryanna posted photos to her Facebook account, calling it a "dream hunt," but the backlash has been more of a nightmare.

One of her photos received 156,000 comments, the majority very negative. It's not really the response the family was anticipating, but the local man behind the whole expedition says he's not surprised.

Mark Martineau makes a living as a contractor, but it's what he does on the side that brings him the most joy.

"I put groups together to go hunt around the world," Martineau said, who is the owner of Rack Em Up Hunts.

He recently accompanied Cache County residents Aryanna and Eli Gourdin to South Africa.

"They get to experience it firsthand and see what it's all about," Martineau said.

Martineau is used to receiving backlash for what he does.

"It's usually all based on ignorance," he said.

When he hears about a child being on the receiving end, it doesn't sit well with him.

"It's sad that a 12-year-old has to put up with that kind of talk just because she chooses to do something that's fun and exciting," he said.

Martineau wants to educate and dispel what he calls misinformation.

"They based their opinions off of emotions and nothing more," Martineau said.

He says trips like his actually help the conservation process in the country by controlling the population. He says money spent on tags and permits go back to helping the land.

"This industry alone employs over 70,000 people in the country," he said. "I'm happy to be a part of that."

He's also proud of where he says the meat ends up.

"With the animals we took this year we fed over a thousand local orphans," he said.

He hopes negative comments online don't discourage families like the Gourdins from another trip. Either way, Martineau has no plans of stopping.

"We get a lot of negativity because of it but we open up a lot of eyes as well," he said.

KSL reached out to the Gourdin family for comment. Eli Gourdin says despite the response they've received, they would do the trip all over again if given the chance. However, next time they will be more selective of the pictures they share online

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