After the puzzled look goes off of their face I hand them a deer stick or jerky. I have only been turned down a few times.
A lot of people are OK (in principle) with people who identify as LGBTQXYZ, but don’t care to see a coupla guys making out on a park bench, or pictures of similar activities posted to Facebook.
That’s how non-hunters feel about blood&guts hero shots, gutpile humor, prominent displays of game being transported, etc.
By and large, most folks tend not to oppose other people’s choices until they’ve been shocked or offended by them. You don’t want Anti-Hunting legislation? Don’t offend non-hunters. Just because it seems “normal” to you as a Hunter doesn’t mean that it’s not going to gain the antis an ally.
Last I heard 10% of us hunt and 10% are antihunters. That leaves a LOT of neutral folks, offend 1% of them and you double the number of antihunters, and kill our sport.
A *good* offense doesn't include offending potential allies. Or turning them against yourself.
"Hunting on public or private property requires written permission from the landowner." Really?? Hunting on public property requires permission?
This is an amateurish, poorly written article which is based on hearsay and lacks any verification.
Non-hunters might be impressed by 'hunters feeding the hungry' programs, just for one instance. Promoting safe gun handling for young people. Concerned with keeping nature 'in balance' with the habitat.
I meet guys who think they're 'helping' by posting in-your-face pix of dead bloody animals on social media. Yeah, it may feel good in a 'F* you antis' way but remember that 10-10-80? You offend 8 times as many non-hunters as anti-hunters.
You want to offend antis? Show up at one of their rallies in a fur hat, leather jacket, eating a cheeseburger.
How many guys drive down main street with a gutted deer in the bed of their truck because they can. How many people don't want to see that and remember it next time.
like any other population a very memorable, but very small minority can mess things up for the huge majority.
too many hunters are leaving impressions on people that are bad for hunting.
The best we can hope for is that it continues to be accepted by the majority of voting adults. In another generation, that may not be the case anymore.
What did it get us? Wolves...
Hunting in general is going the same way as every other tradition we used to enjoy. Thanks to the internet, everyone’s business is in everyone else’s face all the time. Instead of live and let live, we now instantly need to cancel that which we disagree with.
Not to mention the term “Hunter”, gives the non hunting crowd an image of someone with a “gun”. That in itself is a slam dunk for gun haters!
Look around, it’s not just hunting. Anything that is recreational in someone’s mind is reason enough for someone else to ruin it for them. Nothing we can do is going to change that…especially these days!
I send it to them via personal text messages, or emails, not on social media. And I always mention that I was hunting when it happened. They always seem to enjoy and appreciate it.
One thing I never do is send them pics that involve bloody dead animals or carcasses.
I’ll be seeing some of them this weekend. I can almost guarantee I’ll be asked about my hunting season within the first few hours of our visit. They don’t hunt, but they are always curious about my hunting. I don’t recall any negativity expressed from any of them.
Matt
A lot of people appreciate Nature; they just don’t see themselves as Active Participants
Rocky- I’ve yet to see you call out those who say unethical things about things here in regards to hunting.
“This is a like listening to the GOP and then they vote for the $1.7 trillion and bitch about earmarks.”
Stupid and irrelevant strawman.
The actual kill is such a small part of the experience but yet the only " publicized" part of the experience.
Gonna be a lot of turkey, ham, prime rib eaten on Xmas day and folks aren't thinking about the killing of the critter their eating.
How often do you see the slaughter of domestic food animals " publicized". Basically ,,,,,never,,,,, the food industry is a lot smarter than us hunters in that aspect.
Probably the absolute worst is when a hunter makes the shot and the immediate celebration of joy and emotion is had on video. I get it I'm a hunter but to a neutral non hunter this celebratory joy is probably more damaging then the bloody dead animal pick.
Ever seen a video of someone in a slaughter house celebrating in joy just after bolting a cow in the head and saying ,,,,,,,,,wooooooh smoked em,,,,,,,,,and high 5ing the video guy.
No...I didn't think so.....were our own worst enemy. TIMEX
Your comparison of hunting acceptance to the lgbtq community movement is just __________ you pick the word. I don't want to be insulting.
We don't NEED to change their minds. The majority of nonhunters are ok with hunting so long as they can keep it at arms length and not have to watch the sausage be made. Virtually every national survey and poll shows this.
Ok, Rocky, let's hear some suggestions that have been proven to work. Every one of your posts on this thread is simply a criticism of what others have posted. The gay analogy is a red herring. Gays aren't killing millions of beautiful creatures everyone loves. If gays were having gay sex out in the streets and posting gay sex videos all over YouTube, and making videos to show on their own gay TV channels, the "acceptance" would turn into revulsion. Yet that's what you seem to advocate for hunters.
There's the slow, dull plodding work of bringing people into the fold one by one. Mentoring. Holding kids- and beginners-friendly shooting events so they get jazzed. Holding hunter education/safety classes so they can get licenses anywhere. (Tried to find a course lately? Instructors needed!)
Working to keep fisheries/wildlife boards free of antis is dull but necessary work. Ditto working to keep open land available to the public. Working to keep your local shooting ranges/sporting clubs healthy.
Keeps a lot of us busy!
Speaking of my experiences hunting some pretty suburban areas of one of the most liberal states in the union, I've been pleasantly surprised the last 3-5 years. One family I chatted with for about 45' one afternoon, definitely getting me in the woods to late, but leading to 1.) them remembering me when they saw me the next year; 2.) their kids actually thinking hunting stuff, at the least, was cool, as I showed all my gear to them and explained it; 3.) I've found since, that some of the neighbors had chatted with that family and are much more open to me and tend to chat positively.
One NWR I hunt I've had multiple people who live on the dead end road I park on, which is covered in 800K+ homes has been similar. One afternoon this past fall I had an elderly woman and then middle aged guy, both walking dogs, chat, and wish me luck - even expressed frustration with the deer eating their plants.
One other NWR abuts some of the most $$$ towns about 20' west of Boston in good traffic. I found walking in the past few years that a few sort of neutrally negative interactions (cold shoulder but not negative commments/behavior) were single women. Sadly, in todays world, if I was a single woman walking a trail in the woods and a guy with a weapon and all camo'd up walked by, I'd probably have one hand on the mace, soooo hard to read that. I've had good interactions with groups of women, with random guys etc.
I did have one guy this year, hunter, in the lot, pretty much introduce himself to me by saying he used to hunt a private farm but the owner didnt like his maga stickers/hat etc and told him no more, before bashing non maga folks for a few minutes. Most of you know that I'm, uh, lets say WELL to the left of the average bowsiter politcally. So is the guy I was hunting with. He was even wearing a shirt that was from a liberal hunting group he's in ha ha ha! Once the dude did his venting though, we all had a good chat and saw him a few more times. Nice guy.
Point being, in that case, he lost a private land spot not because they didnt like hunting, but because the owner didnt appreciate the maga stuff in his face. May be worth considering if you try to get private land in suburbia in less conservative areas.
Overall, by sharing and explaining. By "killing with kindness" so to speak when we interact with non hunters... I think most folks can find hunting decent. Certainly a lot more "newbies" are coming in from the point of view that they can spend time in nature and bring home super healthy food, also more women, those demographic shifts in the hunting population likely lead to more acceptance - SLOWLY - in future years.
Ill admit this... I used to go into interactions with non hunters defensively. And I found that lead to my responses or communication fostering defensiveness in them as well - that's a negative. I've really tried to imagine I'm talking to my non hunting parents or sister or friends now. So I approach it with curiosity, humbleness and as open a mind as I can muster at the moment. So far, that makes a difference.
I doubt any of those folks will be picking up a weapon to hunt. But I can pretty much guarantee that their perception of hunting is positive. That's what we need, especially in referendum states.
When hundreds of popular Hollywood stars and musicians "come out" and start extolling the wonders of the hunting lifestyle, proclaiming they did not "choose" to be hunters but instead were born that way, then maybe hunting will start being cool in the mainstream. Until then, we can make positive impressions one nonhunter at a time.
To change things the average person needs to understand that holding and shooting a gun isn't the scariest thing in the world. They need to understand that when an animal dies it isn't like looking Bambi in the eyes as it's life fades and it says something sappy with it's dieing breath. They simply need to have someone introduce them to it and make it safe and enjoyable.
Do I think we are on the right track, and if not will it change? No. Those of us that can afford to hunt aren't exactly eager to share our leases or named trailcam bucks with a newbie, let alone several newbies. Giving these people a chance is a sacrifice most appear to be unwilling to make. Being discreet and pleasant about hunting may keep someone from becoming an anti but we need to invite those same people over for an experience before they will become pro.
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I talk straight forward. Gut piles feed other animals. If someone wastes meat by leaving a carcass I give my view on those "winners" but it also feeds other animals.
Would "they" rather see distemper or CWD "bodies" because wildlife is not managed.
I will never hide from the public. But I won't be a "Ted" either. If they don't see things about hunting they may never ask questions and just believe what the media tells them...
There are not a lot of organic ways to open communication with the 80%, but when we can we have a rare opportunity.
Times are changing and we need to sway the 80% far more then we did just 20 years ago.
Matt
So I'll ask again - what is your solution, besides moving? If you have a brilliant strategy you should make all the state DNRs aware of it, because they are out of answers, according to the public outreach officials from numerous states I interviewed for an article. In CO they have basically given up on youth recruitment because almost all stop hunting when they turn 18, according to license sales. Instead, they are now targeting 30 somethings for recruitment.
Yes, I have been politically involved, speak at public meetings, published point-counterpoint columns in the Denver Post (500K circulation), attend and speak at Sportsmans Roundtables, contribute to organizations fighting the battles, etc.. I do everything I can to positively influence nonhunting voters. But when only about 4% of the voting public is comprised of hunters, our voices are squeaks compared to the roars of the media, the entertainment industry, Dem politicians and the huge money from out of state anti-hunting billionaires and foundations like Tides.
So when you say "politically involved", what do you mean? What will that do to recruit new hunters. And what has been your level of "political involvement" to promote hunting? As I said before we don't need to "change the minds" of nonhunters. They already support us. We need to do what we can to NOT change their minds, which was the premise of the OP. Your logic on this has been all over the map.
I simply made a statement based on supportable facts. You came after me for it. That does not constitute "bickering" from my end. But I will continue to defend my beliefs when challenged.
Have a Merry Christmas.
But, that’s not a resume of political hunting accomplishments. I don’t have a resume of those either. But, Lou does. He deserves more respect than you showed him earlier in this thread, IMO.
And more importantly, Merry Christmas, my friend
Matt
Your solution (take someone hunting, give a kid a bow, deeam of some fantasy that hunting will turn from being perceived as kind of icky by kids, into being Super Cool, etc..) is admirable and we all do it. But there is also verifiable data to show that it isn't working. Hunter numbers continue to drop. Very few kids keep hunting after age 18. That's not debatable. The license sales across the country prove it.
If you can't accept facts, then there is a bigger problem.
Have a Merry Christmas
Kids grow up never seeing an animal killed, skinned and processed. They do grow up thinking that video games and social media are important. I don't see these trends changing for the better. BUT we still have to do our best to preserve what we have. And part of that - the topic here - is 'image management'.
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Reducing populations of deer and racoons which are prone to CWD and distemper helps prevent spread of those diseases.
I would say to a non Hunter "you wouldn't want Spot to get distemper because of too many racoons. Mother Nature is not pretty when she controls populations. You should always support good biologically sound conservation programs in your state."