Protected areas have undergone a powerful and sustained critique that is often preoccupied with the appropriation of lands and the ensuing marginalization of those living in the area. In addressing protected areas these treatments are largely concerned with the demarcation of lands, the loss of access to resources, and the loss of access to lands that provided livelihoods. This paper contributes to the understanding of conflicts and negotiations connected to the loss of access to land by exploring the nuances of these negotiations in connection to the practice of sport hunting in and around the Shouf Biosphere Reserve. This paper is based on months of interviews and participant observation with biosphere personnel, police, politicians, Shouf residents and hunters. In particular this section of the data addresses how hunters feel about not having hunting access to the areas where the reserve has been established. While there is variance in the findings, there are many hunters who do not take issue with the reserve. These findings stand in contrast to much of what is demonstrated in the literature and this paper analyzes why this is so in the case of the Shouf Biosphere reserve. By tracing interviews and participant observation the paper contends that the intersection of hunters’ prey selection and weak state enforcement facilitate a particular situation that reduces the sorts of animosity and conflict often found between protected areas’ administrators and local users.