Hunt Quietly - Matt Rinella's new website and podcast

5MilesBack

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He says his mission is to reverse the trend of the "pay to play" model. The only way to do that is to greatly reduce the demand on this activity (we certainly can't greatly increase the supply of this activity). The higher the demand, the more crowded things become. The more crowded things become, the less desirable the activity. The more crowded and less desirable the activity, the more people will pay for a higher quality experience without crowding. I don't see this trend changing anytime soon. It's just like traffic these days.......you could cut it in half in many places, and it's still too crowded.
 
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I will give it a listen, if I can find it. I tend to use overcast for podcasts and didn’t find it there.

makes me wonder how serious the rift is between those two brothers. Seems awfully odd. As I said in another post a few months back, Matt seems like a smart and thoughtful guy, but I am not sure I would know or care who he was if I hadn’t seen him through the Meateater stuff.
 
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I find it interesting how many people are worried about the family dynamics...

Plenty of people are very different from their siblings. My brother and I have almost nothing in common besides parents. My sister and I see each other more, but she's pretty anti gun and anti hunting.

I don't do much with either of my siblings, but we all get along fine. We're adults who have made our own decisions.
 

ODB

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I will give it a listen, if I can find it. I tend to use overcast for podcasts and didn’t find it there.

makes me wonder how serious the rift is between those two brothers. Seems awfully odd. As I said in another post a few months back, Matt seems like a smart and thoughtful guy, but I am not sure I would know or care who he was if I hadn’t seen him through the Meateater stuff.

In all fairness, what difference does it make ‘how’ you came to know what Matt as to say? Is the message worth considering or not?
 
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In all fairness, what difference does it make ‘how’ you came to know what Matt as to say? Is the message worth considering or not?
I guess if his writing and presentations are sufficiently compelling, it doesn’t matter really. I just find it odd that he became known to many, myself included, through hunting media and now he is launching a hunting media presence that I gather (without listening) is about reducing the public profile of hunting in the media and other places.
 

ODB

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I guess if his writing and presentations are sufficiently compelling, it doesn’t matter really. I just find it odd that he became known to many, myself included, through hunting media and now he is launching a hunting media presence that I gather (without listening) is about reducing the public profile of hunting in the media and other places.

I think you just need to listen to see the difference. Better yet, just call him and talk to him. You’ll come away with a very different perspective. I’ve talked with him many times, sometimes for several hours, and the difference between what he’s trying to counter and what meateater is doing is profound.

It would have been VERY easy for him to parlay his connections into a money making endeavour, like many of the other meateater add-ons have done. That’s not the deal here.

He isn’t as polished as meateater, and he fully admits it. It takes balls to do what he’s doing, either he’s in it for the money (which he isn’t), or he is trying to make hunting better and push back on the over-commercialization and over-popularization of hunting. I think that’s worth considering.

As I told him on the phone, part of the pushback on the hunting community has nothing to do with hunting - it’s about our motivations, and what makes us do what we do. When it seems people take to the field to kill animals for the sake of generating content to make money, I think it’s time to sit back and ask if thats something we should support.
 
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Thanks for sharing. I like the fact that folks are at least talking about this. I think most of us are somewhat torn on this subject. I.e. bringing newcomers to hunting to ensure the future of the activity vs not ruining it by having droves if people running around on public land
 

robby denning

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Thanks for sharing. I like the fact that folks are at least talking about this. I think most of us are somewhat torn on this subject. I.e. bringing newcomers to hunting to ensure the future of the activity vs not ruining it by having droves if people running around on public land
i think you‘re very close there.

I find I agree with some of what Matt says and some not.

This is what America is about, have the civil debate and see what stands or falls. It may work for him, it may not, but the debate is good to have.

….and I commend Matt from not backing down from his opinion.
 

dtrkyman

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I think Matt is a smart dude, but how would talking about such a topic on the same media platforms cause less people to get involved? If less people follow the pay to play as is stated here then it will make public lands more crowded.

So after a few years when no one is listening to him does that mean it worked? I don't see it having any impact but I may give it a listen and see what he has to say.
 

ODB

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I think Matt is a smart dude, but how would talking about such a topic on the same media platforms cause less people to get involved? If less people follow the pay to play as is stated here then it will make public lands more crowded.

So after a few years when no one is listening to him does that mean it worked? I don't see it having any impact but I may give it a listen and see what he has to say.


Because, like I said above, it’s also about what motivates a person to hunt in the first place. If a person is hunting/killing simply as an effort to gain likes, shares, and hopefully money, should that behaviour be incentivized or criticized? Why did hunting seem to become a “thing” like an extreme sport??

If it’s a purely a post-modern perspective and anyone can do anything they want for any reason and still call it hunting, what does that do to hunting itself.

I think what Matt is getting at is that the modern iteration of hunting needs some self-correction. It’s not the first time it’s ever needed to be done.

The funny thing here is that in the early days Steve even posited ideas like this, e.g. not conflating high-fence, limited range, high success-rate hunting with free-range, low-success hunting. 20 years ago I think Steve was a hell of a lot more like Matt than he would probably like to admit.

What changed? Therein lies the rub.
 
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I think you just need to listen to see the difference. Better yet, just call him and talk to him. You’ll come away with a very different perspective. I’ve talked with him many times, sometimes for several hours, and the difference between what he’s trying to counter and what meateater is doing is profound.

It would have been VERY easy for him to parlay his connections into a money making endeavour, like many of the other meateater add-ons have done. That’s not the deal here.

He isn’t as polished as meateater, and he fully admits it. It takes balls to do what he’s doing, either he’s in it for the money (which he isn’t), or he is trying to make hunting better and push back on the over-commercialization and over-popularization of hunting. I think that’s worth considering.

As I told him on the phone, part of the pushback on the hunting community has nothing to do with hunting - it’s about our motivations, and what makes us do what we do. When it seems people take to the field to kill animals for the sake of generating content to make money, I think it’s time to sit back and ask if thats something we should support.
People do lots of shit to generate content to make money. I don’t judge. I also don’t digest their content.

i don’t know any other research ecologists or dept of ag employees that have a public voice that reaches me. Can you name one? I will wait. I could be wrong, but it seems to me like Matt has a platform because he was featured on his brothers shows and social media. Now he is using that platform In part to decry hunting focused content. I view that as ironic. You and I appear to differ on that point.

I also find it ironic that he has complained about the proliferation of western hunters, when he him self is a transplant from the Midwest. maybe he feels grandfathered in because he came up before social media. I do recall Steve remarking about how influential reading hunting books and magazines was for him - the 80s and 90s version of social media. I imagine Matt may have been the same.

for someone like me that came to hunting late in life, reading his essay from a few months back, sounded a lot like the proverbial grumpy old man saying “get off my lawn” because I moved into this neighborhood +20 years ago and I liked it the way it was before you showed up.

I will take a look at what he is putting out and I will listen to his podcast, when I can find it and find the time.

in the meantime, I remain a big tent guy. I will put up with a few more boot prints in the woods to get a few more supporters at the ballot box. More hunters is more votes and dollars into the industry, which is more jobs and more power to influence outcomes that will protect and preserve hunting.
 
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