Does NO ONE teach the lesson of the Kaibab Deer anymore???
Simply put, if you don't allow, or replace the natural predation cycle, doesn't matter if its deer, elephants or rabbits, or sheep or cows, they will be fruitful and multiply, and keep on doing so until they have the numbers to eat all the food faster than it is produced. At that point, mass starvation sets in, most will die from starvation, and the few survivors will be weak and sickly, possibly for generations before the land can restore itself (assuming it can).
the only "selection" nature makes is a pass/fail criteria. The animal survives long enough to reproduce. That's it. Nature doesn't "select" the small and the weak, the small and the weak simply fail the survival test more often.
And, there is also the starvation situation, where the bigger "trophy" animal might survive being bigger, taking more of the available food. On the other hand, it might not, being bigger, needing more food to survive, the trophy animal might starve to death on an amount of food a smaller, weaker specimen might find enough to sustain life.
I have almost the same investment in cameras as I do firearms.
That's wonderful. Now, are you willing to pay $5000 to an African government for a license to shoot a picture of an Elephant??
Most people aren't. Photo safari's are popular, and a good thing, but they do not, and cannot bring in the kind of money brought into the country by hunting (with guns, and killing trophy animals).
And that money pays for the protection efforts. The fact that they fail in the face of poachers who will use snares and a clip of AK rounds, wait a couple days for the animal to die, then hack off the parts they want.
I understand that its pretty much "open season" on poachers in parts of Africa, as in shoot on sight open season and that there is essentially a small scale war going on between poachers and game protection forces. And has been for quite some time...
people, even the most caring and wealthy simply won't pay enough for pictures of animals to support their protection to the level needed. Neither does trophy hunting, alone, but it goes much further than photos, and properly managed game is a renewable resource.