Every summer hunting forums go through the pains for too much time on people's hands and not enough outdoor activity as folks get antsy for their hunts. This year is even more amplified due to COVID, racial tensions, and election year, and who knows what else might pop up.
If possible, I would close this forum from January through March, reopen for spring turkey and spring bear then close again for the summer, reopening when hunting season came along.
Forums, much like Facebook, are not for everyone. Some enjoy the differing opinions. Some get pissed at what they read. Some have the world all figured out and are here to change everyone else's mind. Some like to read the differing perspectives and try to understand the life experiences that created that perspective. Some like to stir the pot, no matter the topic. Some like to do their best to make everyone feel welcome.
My job is to try keep it on the rails during these cranky times so that when hunting season comes we can all sit around the campfire and congratulate each other on an effort well given and swap big stories. In the interim, try to make the conversation useful, albeit sometime painful or uncomfortable. All the while trying to keep it focused on hunting, conservation, public lands, access, and the policy issues that impact those topics. Not an easy task. Sometimes I mess up. Sometimes I completely screw it up. Mostly, I try to keep Hunt Talk from being as politicized and divided as is the rest of our world.
Good news is that no matter the outcome, nobody here dies as a result of what happens on Hunt Talk. We live in the greatest country in the world, in spite of our scars, warts, and defects. The community here is a great group of people, 99% of which would get along well around a campfire. Lots of help is offered on the threads, via PMs, and often in the hills.
None of us take ourselves too seriously. Those that do usually find a new place to hang out. We are in a time and place that makes it harder to have civil communication in person, so online is every more ripe for friction. Hopefully that too will pass.
Until then, there is air to keep clean, water to protect, lands to conserve, and access to be acquired. Collectively, the crew here does a hell of a job doing those things and making a lot of memorable adventures in their travels.
