Matt Rinella knocking it outta the park

[Bux_N_Beards]

Take a drive through areas that have been pimped out in the spring time and ask questions. 100% YouTube caused.

You don't even have to ask the questions, you can look at what they're wearing and immediately tell which YouTuber they follow/worship.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

I get my butt kicked by them every spring here. I've never hunted them out west but they must be as dumb as a blue grouse by the way people talk about them.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I get my butt kicked by them every spring here. I've never hunted them out west but they must be as dumb as a blue grouse by the way people talk about them.

Montana turkeys and public land Easterns in Virginia are on opposite ends of the spectrum in my experience. Killing a public land eastern longboard always felt like a major accomplishment to me. Killing a Montana Merriams is fun but not that difficult.

Kind of like the difference between a mature whitetail buck and a rutted up forked horn muley.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

You all are not dealing with your average turkey hunter here.

 

[Hem]

Montana turkeys and public land Easterns in Virginia are on opposite ends of the spectrum in my experience. Killing a public land eastern longboard always felt like a major accomplishment to me. Killing a Montana Merriams is fun but not that difficult.

Kind of like the difference between a mature whitetail buck and a rutted up forked horn muley.

I went back East three years in a row to hunt public land Easterns. Three day hunts. Killed two birds, passed on a third.
But I'm pretty sexy,...or used to be.

 

[geetar]

View attachment 392316

Those western birds are really nice with that white on the tail.

 

[Nick87]

I get my butt kicked by them every spring here. I've never hunted them out west but they must be as dumb as a blue grouse by the way people talk about them.

Montana turkeys and public land Easterns in Virginia are on opposite ends of the spectrum in my experience. Killing a public land eastern longboard always felt like a major accomplishment to me. Killing a Montana Merriams is fun but not that difficult.

Kind of like the difference between a mature whitetail buck and a rutted up forked horn muley.

Pick me up on the way @geetar

 

[huntin24/7]

Those western birds are really nice with that white on the tail.

That avatar kills me. Every time I see it, I hear, “Is he down?”

 

[brockel]

Those western birds are really nice with that white on the tail.

I think the merriam is the prettiest one in NA

 

[Gerald Martin]

I think the merriam is the prettiest one in NA

Merriams are the Paris Hiltons of turkeys…

Prove me wrong..

 

[noharleyyet]

Merriams are the Paris Hiltons of turkeys…

Prove me wrong..

That gasconade triggers my amygdala.

 

[Gerald Martin]

That gasconade triggers my amygdala.

 

[Hem]

View attachment 392377

Are you implying you wouldn't pass up a Merriams if you had the opportunity?

 

[hunter49]

All the turkey hunting nuts I know are also field hunting for geese nuts. Literally the two easiest hunts there are. (Unless it’s a snow goose hunt)

Blocked/ignored.

Jk

 

[SaskHunter]

Do you see the irony in a hunting brand promoting Matt's take??? I can guarantee meateater isn't having a negative impact on most hunters. Quite the opposite.

And now I'm curious, how has Steve & meateater negatively affected you as a hunter?

If you're one of the new MeatEater era hunter I would say you're hunting has gotten better for YOU, but not those who hunted before you. You're now one more hunter in the pot competing for tags and access.

To answer your last question; I would say 3/4 of new hunters I interact with will bring up ME within our first conversation. There are a ton of guys at work who started a "hunting group" of buddies because they got bored during COVID and binge watched ME. All these new hunters were influenced by ME and other hunting media and are now reducing overall draw odds and access. Anyone who's been hunting out West long enough can see the downward trend when it comes to hunting opportunities. While I've become a better hunter over time, my opportunities have significantly been reduced.

I 100% blame hunting media for this.

 

[SaskHunter]

Ok. I'm biased. I've been in the media biz for 35 years and have taken checks from MeatEater and others. I've unintentionally burned my own spots! But overall, I think the reason we are seeing more crowding and more difficulty drawing tags is because of habitat loss. There's just less space to fit us all. I know where I live, I can easily name a dozen places where I can no longer hunt, and a dozen places that are more crowded than they were when I moved here. Just bumped into new "no trespassing" signs on Saturday as yet another place that had been open to hunting for the last 12,000 years is now posted. The problem ain't Rinella or Randy. The problem is habitat loss in all its forms.

Okay but hear me out, is it possible that hunting media has directly affected the amount of hunters on the landscape by encouraging existing hunters to travel more and recruited more new hunters?

I've been hunting 20 years and for me, things were slowly worsening over time, but not by any significant margin. Things really took a turn after COVID, ie the time when everyone was stuck at home binge watching hunting media.

 

[TOGIE]

Things really took a turn after COVID, ie the time when everyone was stuck at home binge watching hunting media.

EVERY outdoor activity took a turn for the worst during covid.

 

[Gerald Martin]

If you're one of the new MeatEater era hunter I would say you're hunting has gotten better for YOU, but not those who hunted before you. You're now one more hunter in the pot competing for tags and access.

To answer your last question; I would say 3/4 of new hunters I interact with will bring up ME within our first conversation. There are a ton of guys at work who started a "hunting group" of buddies because they got bored during COVID and binge watched ME. All these new hunters were influenced by ME and other hunting media and are now reducing overall draw odds and access. Anyone who's been hunting out West long enough can see the downward trend when it comes to hunting opportunities. While I've become a better hunter over time, my opportunities have significantly been reduced.

I 100% blame hunting media for this.

I was hunting and killing animals well before influencers were a thing. I didn’t get involved in conservation advocacy at any level until Randy and later Steve started highlighting concerns that would affect wildlife and hunting and educating me and others on how to effectively engage with decision makers.

It’s only been a few months since Mike Lees amendment to the BBB was front and center on the news and outdoorsmen opposition was galvanized across the nation. Does anyone here actually believe that kind of opposition would have happened without Randy, Steve, Rogan, Hanes and Braxton Mcall?

All of those guys used their personal relationship and platforms to leverage their influence for a greater good.

Do you guys complaining about the effects of those people and platforms on your own personal hunting experience have something better to replace that?

 

[huntin24/7]

Two things can be true. Gerald’s spot on with how much these guys helped in stopping the public land sales. At the same time, many of these guys(not all) have contributed to worsening the public land experience as well. Influencers aren’t going away nor should many of them, but if things continue in the west the way they are trending, you can eventually expect significant reductions in opportunities and/or a less enjoyable hunting experience imo.

 

[Irrelevant]

I think the challenge is to steer the power that media outlets have toward more habitat conservation and restoration. It will never get the clicks of some snuff film featuring another bull soaking up bullets, but it is what matters. (BTW, habitat loss includes habitat security lost to too much motorized access. When hunters expect to be able to drive to an elk and haul it out whole in a pickup or side-by-side, elk hunting loses.)

Ben, I appreciate your writings but that is a feel-good-pipe-dream that isn't based on reality and the promotion of it is only useful in the justification of more media.

Habitat isn't coming back. The entire US economy is based on growth. That growth requires more space. That's just the facts. We're never going to have more open space, nor appreciably better habitat. At best we can try to slow the bleeding, but as others have pointed out, at what cost?