Anti-hunting Hunters - Article by Fred Eichler

[MeatInTheFreezer]

Great article from Fred Eichler that is worth a read if you are passionate about hunting now and in the future.

Anti-hunting Hunters: Apathy is the Worst Policy

Anti-hunting hunters. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? Sadly, it isn’t a joke. What’s scary is that the anti-hunting hunter is often […]

westernhunter.net

Now is the time to unite as a hunting community. Just because I don't hunt mountain lions and never plan to, doesn't mean I won't fight the ballot initiative in Colorado. As hunters we must advocate for all legal methods of hunting, fishing and trapping no matter our own personal interests.

 

[wildwilderness]

It was ridiculous how the CO spring bear hunt and baiting was banned, with support of so-called hunters voting in support. That's a good name for them- anti-hunting hunters.

 

[jpr9954]

Divide and conquer has long been the method of choice of the anti-hunting groups.

I learned this a long time ago while watching how fox hunting was banned in Great Britain. It was class warfare in action. Only "toffs" (upper class Brits") fox hunted so why should I care if I'm only after rabbits or wood pigeons or even merely fish. It was banned and the anti-hunters started after other field sports. They are now trying to ban the imports of hunting trophies from Africa.

Regardless of what "blood sport" you participate in, you should back the others even if you don't engage in it. It is truly a matter of whether we stand together or hang separately.

 

[roadrunner]

All the more reason to unite as hunters. Belittling one another on hunting forums is inexcusable sophomoric behavior...

 

[t_carlson]

This will only get worse as all of the Rinella-inspired hippies continue to infiltrate hunting. They become convenient little poster children for the antis.

"SEE, LITTLE SERENITY HERE HUNTS FOR SUSTENANCE BUT SHE DOESN'T LIKE TROPHY HUNTING OR TRAPPING SO VOTE FOR THE BAN! IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE AN ANTI-HUNTER."

 

[sndmn11]

It was ridiculous how the CO spring bear hunt and baiting was banned, with support of so-called hunters voting in support. That's a good name for them- anti-hunting hunters.

The irony in that, is the person who spearheaded it was a founding member of BHA.

 

[danhuntingmi]

Some of the issue comes down to different groups of hunters influencing regulations to the benefit of their specific group to the detriment of others.

For instance, do we favor in state or out of state hunters or do we close access to vehicles to favor backpack hunters? In these cases, the fair solution can definitely be blurry.

In other cases, it's less blurry. For instance, I grew up in a county where it was illegal to hunt on Sundays except with bows. Guess who was the main supporter of this one? Yet, bow season was already 5x as long as gun season but that didn't stop them from using the law to press that advantage.

In our state it's also common for hound hunters to use their relationship with regulators to favor hound hunters over other bear hunters. Yes, those same hound hunters that are always informing us of the need to 'stick together' are happy to twist in the knife when everyone else's back is turned.

 

[JF_Idaho]

Self-importance and greed. It's unfortunate. Not likely to change. Just going to get worse with the onslaught of the me, me, me, now, now, now generations.

 

[robby denning]

OP, I just gave this article "sticky status" so it doesn't get buried. Thanks for posting

 

[Pokerface]

Though I have not watched any recent Fred Eichler ,I used to really enjoy his shows. Always liked how he got excited over shooting a doe or small buck. We as hunters and sportsmen do need to stick together and let our voices be heard more often. Changes need to be based more on sound research than money changing hands , knee jerk reactions and emotion....Joe

 

[CMP70306]

This will only get worse as all of the Rinella-inspired hippies continue to infiltrate hunting. They become convenient little poster children for the antis.

"SEE, LITTLE SERENITY HERE HUNTS FOR SUSTENANCE BUT SHE DOESN'T LIKE TROPHY HUNTING OR TRAPPING SO VOTE FOR THE BAN! IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU ARE AN ANTI-HUNTER."

I mean Rinella traps on multiple episodes of Meateater from what I remember and he trophy hunts from time to time and explains his reason for doing so. So I’m not really sure that dig is gonna hold water.

The main reason I liked his show in the early seasons is because he hunted like us. We shoot the animals we happen to find with guns to eat them and come home empty handed more often than not. We aren’t shooting multiple B&C bucks a year with bows over manicured food plots while looking at years of pictures and sheds before the hunt like most hunting shows.

First episode I ever saw was him I believe hunting coues deer, he was talking about hunting with his Dad and how much he wished he could have come out hunting with him on that trip before going home empty handed. As someone who’s Dad and Brother are a major part of why I hunt that stuck with me in a way that most hunting shows don’t.

 

[Macintosh]

...We as hunters and sportsmen do need to stick together and let our voices be heard more often. Changes need to be based more on sound research than money changing hands , knee jerk reactions and emotion....

This is something I think about--dont mean to single you out, and not necessarily looking for an answer, just quoted because I think it's a key element to this topic.

Changes should absolutely be based on sound reasoning and data wherever possible. At the same time, when changes do need to be made it can be too late to avoid a bigger problem by the time there is good data to show it conclusively. As an example, if a population is declining and there is a move to shorten a season or eliminate a season as a result, there is always a strong outcry from hunters, sometimes for good reason, sometimes not. It seems like a lot of hunters push back against all proposed regulations simply because anti-hunters exist and may try to exploit it, regardless of whether there is a legit concern or not. I think there will always be legitimate differences of opinion even among hunters who have "sticking together" in mind, on how to approach these issues, and it seems sometimes those who even consider the resource first are often simply labelled as "not sticking together". I guess where I'm going is that "sticking together" cannot mean never changing the status quo in the face of changes in populations, development, demand, etc, or else hunting really is doomed. If we're serious about hunting and conservation being +/- synonymous, dont we sometimes have to make contentious decisions without 100% conclusive data? How can a legit balance be struck when there are inevitable differences in perspectives?

 

[shwacker]

There are going to be disagreements and things some people are ambivalent or ignorant about within hunting. That is ok and good in some ways - it's how democracy works. We should also be building consensus and advocating together. But don't expect name calling to be very effective at building real useful consensus...

 

[t_carlson]

I mean Rinella traps on multiple episodes of Meateater from what I remember and he trophy hunts from time to time and explains his reason for doing so. So I’m not really sure that dig is gonna hold water.

The main reason I liked his show in the early seasons is because he hunted like us. We shoot the animals we happen to find with guns to eat them and come home empty handed more often than not. We aren’t shooting multiple B&C bucks a year with bows over manicured food plots while looking at years of pictures and sheds before the hunt like most hunting shows.

First episode I ever saw was him I believe hunting coues deer, he was talking about hunting with his Dad and how much he wished he could have come out hunting with him on that trip before going home empty handed. As someone who’s Dad and Brother are a major part of why I hunt that stuck with me in a way that most hunting shows don’t.

Calm down. I wasn't knocking your boy Steve. I didn't say he was anti-trapping. I said that the new, adult-onset hunters he has inspired to take up the sport are the kind of people who are in favor of such bans. At best, they are ambivalent towards them.

Have you ever heard of an adult-onset trapper who never killed anything but started doing it after seeing Meat Eater? No, I didn't think so.

 

[danhuntingmi]

Calm down. I wasn't knocking your boy Steve. I didn't say he was anti-trapping. I said that the new, adult-onset hunters he has inspired to take up the sport are the kind of people who are in favor of such bans. At best, they are ambivalent towards them.

Have you ever heard of an adult-onset trapper who never killed anything but started doing it after seeing Meat Eater? No, I didn't think so.

It might depend on what your preconceptions are. As a hunter, many of us probably view him as a largely positive influence as he brings light to the consumption use common to hunting. In other words, he brings light to the fact that his practice is the rule for hunters.

But I can see your point that to non hunters or even ignoramus or self righteous hunters who think others are 'trophy hunters' who don't consume the meat might incorrectly view him as the exception of hunters. This may lead them to the quizzical point of view that laws need to be passed to stop all those wanton wasters who aren't the good ones like Steve.

I suppose he could do more work to emphasize that his behavior is common to hunters and not just his personal brand. I'm not his fanboy, but if you're worried about poster childs claiming to be hunters supporting anti hunting laws..well they're going to get them even if it takes a paid actor and a script.

 

[CMP70306]

Calm down. I wasn't knocking your boy Steve. I didn't say he was anti-trapping. I said that the new, adult-onset hunters he has inspired to take up the sport are the kind of people who are in favor of such bans. At best, they are ambivalent towards them.

Have you ever heard of an adult-onset trapper who never killed anything but started doing it after seeing Meat Eater? No, I didn't think so.

I haven’t heard of really any trappers period, everybody I know that used to do it stopped a long time ago when it wasn’t profitable anymore. The one guy I know of that still does it also tans the hides and makes stuff with them as a hobby so the money is irrelevant to him. Then again I think he is on kid number 7 so I’m not sure how much trapping he is doing these days.

I tried it a bit for coyotes but living 3 hours from where we hunt means we would literally be setting them Saturday and pulling them Sunday as I’m not spending 6 hours a day riding up and back to spend 20 minutes checking traps.

 

[oldmanschild87]

Some of the issue comes down to different groups of hunters influencing regulations to the benefit of their specific group to the detriment of others.

For instance, do we favor in state or out of state hunters or do we close access to vehicles to favor backpack hunters? In these cases, the fair solution can definitely be blurry.

In other cases, it's less blurry. For instance, I grew up in a county where it was illegal to hunt on Sundays except with bows. Guess who was the main supporter of this one? Yet, bow season was already 5x as long as gun season but that didn't stop them from using the law to press that advantage.

In our state it's also common for hound hunters to use their relationship with regulators to favor hound hunters over other bear hunters. Yes, those same hound hunters that are always informing us of the need to 'stick together' are happy to twist in the knife when everyone else's back is turned.

Fair points and examples given!

 

[AlphaK9]

Great article and good discussion guys

 

[Bhoops]

Thanks for the great article.

 

[GoneFullTrad]

The pandemic was pretty great for conservation dollars with license tags and what not but it was pretty awful for long term optics to the pursuit of hunting.

I talked to a lot of excitable new hunters several years ago and they were all on the same train -

Fear of food scarcity + boredom+ Meateater / Steve Rinella and that one guy I cannot seem to remember his name from Meateater that was let go. He had a terrible show where he basically had an emotional crisis every time he talked about hunting. They all went out and bought a basic Savage Rifle kit or a basic Compound bow off the rack at Cabelas. They all sighted in the weekend before season started and they all hunted one season.

Now we have people who were adult onset hunters who have not killed a single thing who have strong opinions and think they have the moral authority because they are parroting what they hear on podcasts.

We have always had this problem though. Growing up Upland guys always had strong opinion on Duck hunters and Deer hunters always had strong opinions on lion/bear hunters and so forth and so forth. Its a bit more militant now that there internet is around but just go to any forum including this one and you see an insanely short sighted and stupid mindset.

There are a lot of things that hunters do that I don't do and some things I even have an ethical issue with but I am still going to die on the hill defending their right to do it. Unfortunately we are rather inundated with hunters who ignorantly believe that removing resources and opportunities for others somehow increases it for them.