So here's the rest of the story,
@hossblur, not that you care about anything factual.
I told Ryan I would also do a podcast with my friend at NSSF to present another side of the these issues, and I would release both podcasts the same week. He was fine with that. I did a podcast with NSSF.
The week the podcasts were to roll out there was an event in Uvalde, Texas - some 18 year-old puke went into an elementary school and killed a bunch of people.
I told both parties I was not going to release a podcast about guns/gun control in the aftermath of such a tragedy. It might have gotten a lot of downloads, but I'm not the kind to use a tragedy for the sake of increased downloads. Some might view these tragedies as opportunities, and many did make them the focus of their platforms. Not my style.
I rescheduled it for a release later in the year, late November, hoping the tenor of the issue would simmer down some and releasing the podcast wouldn't seem like I was leveraging a tragedy. Then four or five people got killed in a nightclub in Colorado, followed a few days later by some deranged bastard killing some people at a Wal-Mart in Virginia.
I pulled the episodes again, after those events. I take the issue too seriously to give even a slight appearance that I am deaf to the importance of the issues, uncaring for those innocent folks and their families who suffered the tragedies, or to give any appearance that I am using tragedies for the benefit of our platforms.
Both sides, including the guy you call a "coward," supported my decisions to pull these podcasts for the reasons I did.
At this time, I'm not sure they will ever get released. The topic has evolved so much over the last year with so many shootings, an election with gun ballot issues in November 2022, and so many gun control bills introduced to state legislatures this winter, that the podcasts and the talking points would almost seem obsolete.
Sorry there you have it Hoss. Throw your tantrum all you want. The guy you called a "coward" did what he said he would do, he came to Bozeman and sat there while I asked him some questions that strain relationships, and after all of that, he agreed with my decision to not release podcasts on guns and gun control during a time when it looked to be riding the coat tails of tragedy. He didn't come to Hunt Talk, as you often do, and pitch a fit one way or the other.
As for you coming here and asking to be martyred, I see it for what it is. I'm not inclined to play your grade school games.
I don't produce content or change my ways because of people bitching and moaning like you do. We've been at this for 15 years. We have a good feel for what is important to accomplish our goals of advocating for hunting, access, public lands, and conservation. Those plans are not altered in the least by critics such as you, others on this forum, or others who want to use me and our platforms as their punching bags.
People have asked me what I think of this person or that person who might be a critic of what we do or of me personally. I give them a "meh." If you measured my/our harshest critic on a scale of 1 (least critical) to 10 (most critical), even on their best days of hacking on us, the best of them might get to a 3. I'm our most difficult critic. I am the 10 on that scale of critics.
I'm not easy to work for. I have high expectations. I have a great crew that shares those same commitments and values. They work their asses off, contrary to the view some have that we are on holiday vacation 24/7/365. We're not inclined to let folks like you or others dictate what we produce and how we operate.
Carry on, Hoss. That seems to be your strongest trait.
