Thoughts on the anti-hunting movement

[Akcabin]

I feel that the original post concerning active game management is spot on.
Unfortunately on our federal lands passive management can rule the day. Where there game management plans go all the way to 0. There is a good article on this and how it can effect a states authority to management wildlife in their state concerning the caribou on Unimak island. On ak FnG website. Basically wolves are eating all the caribou. The feds feel they are an invasive species because they swam over their a thousand years ago. So their management plan starts at 0.
Other federal management plans such as the marine wildlife protection act or migration bird protection act. They should be changed to the federal marine n migratory bird wildlife management act .
The anti groups n their money n organizations will continue to win and get 0 management plans like this. If we can't sticktogether. If you're a hunter fisher trapper . You're effected.
Issues such as trapping with a steel trap. Trappers have used this technique because it may be the most effective. And at times the only option. Now we call it primative trapping n not primitive trapping. Many times decided at the ballot box. Instead of allowing our biologists to develop a plan with all tools available. We're all loosing like this.
Getting informed n involved is important.
There are a lot of opportunities to harvest these wildlife available if it were legal. And continue to fund our wildlife managers through the North American model of wildlife management.
So that everybody will continue to enjoy the outdoors. Even the folks who believe hunting fishing trapping is bad.
Our public lands n access to the wildlife to harvest. Our future depends on it. I do realize that as outdoorfolks we have a nature be on our own. But coming together so we can continue to take one make one n support all outdoorfolks.

 

[Stephen A]

A post in another thread by @wllm1313 lamenting hunting opportunities that he's lost, while expressing confidence in keeping others got me thinking about where we are in protecting our hunting heritage, and while my logical side is prone to agree with his premise that the slippery slope isn't as big a concern as many make it out to be, another side of me has real concern.

I look at all CA has given up. I see the continued attacks on bear hunting, predator hunting, hound hunting, trapping, and high fence hunting. I see the train wreck that litigation can cause on the ESA. I see the hundreds and hundreds of social media responses wishing for death to a hunter and everyone who has ever met him because of a post with a picture of a legally harvested game animal that exists in plenty. I see more of the same cheering on posts calling 3 hunters injured by a bear in The Gravelly "karma". I see how much money organizations like HSUS and PETA are raising, and how mainstream they seem to be becoming. Despite western "crowding" I see hunter numbers in this country diminishing.

I see our opposition being very organized, cohesive, and passionate. These people do not believe that what we do is in fact conservation. They do not think that we have the best interest of animals in mind. They are convinced that the animals do not need our management, and it doesn't matter how many facts, figures, or how much science you show them, you can not change their minds. They are zealots.

What does the Hunt Talk community think? Are we doing enough to hold the ground we have? Will future generations enjoy the opportunities that we have, or is it just a matter of time before a modern society shifts so far from what we believe in that the things we treasure so much will be whittled away?

No are

A post in another thread by @wllm1313 lamenting hunting opportunities that he's lost, while expressing confidence in keeping others got me thinking about where we are in protecting our hunting heritage, and while my logical side is prone to agree with his premise that the slippery slope isn't as big a concern as many make it out to be, another side of me has real concern.

I look at all CA has given up. I see the continued attacks on bear hunting, predator hunting, hound hunting, trapping, and high fence hunting. I see the train wreck that litigation can cause on the ESA. I see the hundreds and hundreds of social media responses wishing for death to a hunter and everyone who has ever met him because of a post with a picture of a legally harvested game animal that exists in plenty. I see more of the same cheering on posts calling 3 hunters injured by a bear in The Gravelly "karma". I see how much money organizations like HSUS and PETA are raising, and how mainstream they seem to be becoming. Despite western "crowding" I see hunter numbers in this country diminishing.

I see our opposition being very organized, cohesive, and passionate. These people do not believe that what we do is in fact conservation. They do not think that we have the best interest of animals in mind. They are convinced that the animals do not need our management, and it doesn't matter how many facts, figures, or how much science you show them, you can not change their minds. They are zealots.

What does the Hunt Talk community think? Are we doing enough to hold the ground we have? Will future generations enjoy the opportunities that we have, or is it just a matter of time before a modern society shifts so far from what we believe in that the things we treasure so much will be whittled away?

Heck no we are not doing enough to hold the ground we have.. I think a lot of times the hunting industry is it’s own worst enemy.. I have heard guys talk and talk about how they care about the future of hunting and then call a fellow hunter every bad word in the book simply because of greed. In order for these lands to stay public more people have to hunt and fight for what we believe in. Let’s start by looking in the mirror and realizing if we want our kids and grandkids to be able to hunt public land in the future let’s stick together. The rest of the world already has this skewed misconception about hunters let’s not prove them right.

 

[Stephen A]

I will be watching this thread closely. I am not nearly as educated on the matter as I need to be, but I know others on here that are. As I've heard several times, we hunt at the mercy of those that don't. My gut tells me we will eventually lose hunting all together. Maybe not in my lifetime but one day. We are few in numbers and money and we are very prone to turn on one another. I am a pessimist generally so take it with a grain of salt, but that's what I think will happen and nothing will change the inevitability of it.

I agree that we will eventually lose hunting all together.. It is so sad to think about, but our society today is so brainwashed so it’s only a matter of time.. More than 90% of Americans eat meat, most of them don’t have the slightest clue on how it arrived on their table. We are horrible for harvesting animals ourselves, they have no idea where their meat comes from but it’s ok? Riddle me that

 

[Stephen A]

When i first met my college girlfriend and she found I was a hunter, she almost ended things right there because she associated hunting with Ted Nugent. Fortunately, a conversation over a plate of elk stir fry smoothed things out. In fact the elk stir fry got me invited to a bunch of potlucks with her friends and converted them from anit-hunters to enthusiastic game eaters. My Current wife was a vegetarian based on anit-cruelty grounds when I met her and now not only eats meat but accompanied her son and I on a goat hunt last weekend. As has been mentioned above, hunters are a small minority who hunts at the discretion of the large majority who is indifferent towards hunting . Policing our own behavior and politely making the case for ethical hunting (preferably over a meal of well prepared game) are our best bet for holding on to our continued ability to hunt. Blindly defending every aspect of hunting or shooting because that's the way we did it when we were kids or because of a ridiculous slippery slope argument is more likely to push the indifferent majority towards the anti-hunting minority.

People who don’t hunt are absolutely clueless and it’s perfectly fine that they judge the whole industry and put everyone in the same category that hunts?!?! That is hypocrisy at its finest but it goes on without any repercussions.

 

[406dn]

People who don’t hunt are absolutely clueless and it’s perfectly fine that they judge the whole industry and put everyone in the same category that hunts?!?! That is hypocrisy at its finest but it goes on without any repercussions.

A careful reading of your post yields the same judgement.

There are millions of non hunters who have no problem with hunting, generally.

 

[Gr8bawana]

I agree that we will eventually lose hunting all together.. It is so sad to think about, but our society today is so brainwashed so it’s only a matter of time.. More than 90% of Americans eat meat, most of them don’t have the slightest clue on how it arrived on their table. We are horrible for harvesting animals ourselves, they have no idea where their meat comes from but it’s ok? Riddle me that

The vast majority of Americans live in cities. So it does stand to reason that most do not know or care where meat comes from. Things will never go back to the way they were.
In 2020 more than 82% of Americans lived in cities. In the 1930's about 56% did so.
I also believe we will keep our hunting privileges because much of the population does not have a negative opinion on hunting. Many have no opinion either way.
Whether you like it or not we as hunters are a small minority of the population and we are at their mercy.

A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that today, only about 5 percent of Americans, 16 years old and older, actually hunt. That's half of what it was 50 years ago and the decline is expected to accelerate over the next decade.

 

[lynlan1819]

Hunting will be only for the very rich on game farms/Ranches within the next 20 years or so.

 

[Trap]

Hunting will be only for the very rich on game farms/Ranches within the next 20 years or so.

That’s an uplifting thought lol. No possible way that happens in 20 years. My state is over 60 percent federally owned public land if you add in the state owned public ground it’s probably close to 2/3 public land. A bunch of it is wilderness-how are they going to make the frank church a game farm? With everyone moving here we will probably go to strictly draw tags in 20 years but there will always be public land hunting for everyone in Idaho and other western states. Look at a map of Idaho and look at that huge block of wilderness in the middle. How does that become a game farm for the rich? Same for the bob and other wilderness of Montana. Calm down us regular and poor folk will still have plenty of places to hunt in 20 years. Access is free

 

[Panda Bear]

The anti hunting group is very organized and well funded up here and they have had their success' . They were recently able to convince the voters of British Columbia to ban Grizzly hunting ( recently --a couple years ago )

I do not believe that they will have the same success in The Territories, as the majority in the three Territories still support hunting. but they are trying.

 

[bmt99]

A new survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that today, only about 5 percent of Americans, 16 years old and older, actually hunt. That's half of what it was 50 years ago and the decline is expected to accelerate over the next decade.

What is really interesting about this survey from 2016 is that over a 5 year period, sportspersons (hunters and anglers) actually increased by 2,156,000 or 5.8%. In raw data - not percentage of USA population. Over the same time frame, the USA population grew 11,940,000 or 3.8%. According to this 12.2% of the population hunts and fishes. What is difficult with this is that the overlap of people who do both. These are lumped together. There are far more anglers than hunters. How active is the group who only fish? How does this compare to hunting only community? I am guessing that the people most active are the ones who do both, but that is just a guess. Is there another angle to get anglers more active if they aren't already? pun intended

I know I am mixing some of the data as it excludes people below 16 yrs old. Just tried to wrap my head around it. For information, I used the summary data on page 14 and google for USA populations. The report is 144 pages long so I did not dive further to separate the data.

I agree there will always be public opportunity, however the opportunity may be less as it goes to draw only and possibly more expensive for non-residents.

 

[Trap]

The anti hunting group is very organized and well funded up here and they have had their success' . They were recently able to convince the voters of British Columbia to ban Grizzly hunting ( recently --a couple years ago )

I do not believe that they will have the same success in The Territories, as the majority in the three Territories still support hunting. but they are trying.

I think this is how the anti hunters will really limit our hunting opportunities. Protect (and reintroduce) large predators.

 

[thebestusernamesaretaken]

I think this is how the anti hunters will really limit our hunting opportunities. Protect (and reintroduce) lar

A post in another thread by @wllm1313 lamenting hunting opportunities that he's lost, while expressing confidence in keeping others got me thinking about where we are in protecting our hunting heritage, and while my logical side is prone to agree with his premise that the slippery slope isn't as big a concern as many make it out to be, another side of me has real concern.

I look at all CA has given up. I see the continued attacks on bear hunting, predator hunting, hound hunting, trapping, and high fence hunting. I see the train wreck that litigation can cause on the ESA. I see the hundreds and hundreds of social media responses wishing for death to a hunter and everyone who has ever met him because of a post with a picture of a legally harvested game animal that exists in plenty. I see more of the same cheering on posts calling 3 hunters injured by a bear in The Gravelly "karma". I see how much money organizations like HSUS and PETA are raising, and how mainstream they seem to be becoming. Despite western "crowding" I see hunter numbers in this country diminishing.

I see our opposition being very organized, cohesive, and passionate. These people do not believe that what we do is in fact conservation. They do not think that we have the best interest of animals in mind. They are convinced that the animals do not need our management, and it doesn't matter how many facts, figures, or how much science you show them, you can not change their minds. They are zealots.

What does the Hunt Talk community think? Are we doing enough to hold the ground we have? Will future generations enjoy the opportunities that we have, or is it just a matter of time before a modern society shifts so far from what we believe in that the things we treasure so much will be whittled away

I see the continued attacks on bear hunting, predator hunting, hound hunting, trapping, and high fence hunting. I see the train wreck that litigation can cause on the ESA. I see the hundreds and hundreds of social media responses wishing for death to a hunter and everyone who has ever met him because of a post with a picture of a legally harvested game animal that exists in plenty. I see more of the same cheering on posts calling 3 hunters injured by a bear in The Gravelly "karma". I see how much money organizations like HSUS and PETA are raising, and how mainstream they seem to be becoming. Despite western "crowding" I see hunter numbers in this country diminishing.

I see our opposition being very organized, cohesive, and passionate. These people do not believe that what we do is in fact conservation. They do not think that we have the best interest of animals in mind. Will future generations enjoy the opportunities that we have, or is it just a matter of time before a modern society shifts so far from what we believe in that the things we treasure so much will be whittled away?

I think that people are in general removed psychologically from what it takes to support life on Earth. We evolved to eat other living things and that is a harsh reality that concerns many who are trying to evolve past that or at least feel like they evolved past that.

I think that people want to become or seen to become a better more compassionate person; and often don’t know how to. They cringe at the sight of animal perceived animal abuse including a slaughterhouse. They want to join in solidarity with others in a large group to demand better animal conditions because they think that it’s the right thing to do; but many still eat packaged animal protein.

Many view hunters in a worse light than those in the slaughtering business. We are sometimes seen as arbitrary ruthless unevolved, uneducated killers because we kill for the pleasure of it. We all know that there is a lot more to it than that although, we do tend not to be completely honest about that either. Many believe that we don’t need to kill to eat because we (society), had already killed something that was raised specifically for that purpose and that makes it almost okay. Except for seafood, it’s all in a nice polite package in the grocery store minus any cute furry faces rite next to people wearing lab coats. The whole thing has been sanitized and civilized and I don’t really suppose that there is anything wrong with that, but hunters should not be villainized either.

Additionally, non-hunters are using the same public land spaces as hunters at the same time and are concerned about their safety or their dog’s safety. They don’t want some wild person taking pock shots in the woods - shooting someone’s head off. Many States with hunting cultures have a different viewpoint but it’s easy for a person to create a negative impression the non-hunting community if they don’t know a reasonable person who hunts. It’s just too unusual to some.

Here are some memory lane images of hunters: Disney is scheduled to remake Bambi

 

[Rack Daniels]