Matt Rinella for president

[cbeard64]

It’s a hard nut to crack. I hear Matt Rinella and he makes some valid points.

But, like many, he wants a black-and-white something to blame, so he blames influencers like his brother.

Sure, they play a role. But I would say that lots of factors play a role. Poachers who pose as influencers are a big problem. Elevating the kill over the experience is a big problem. No doubt the commercialization of hunting in media that kicked into high gear 30-40 years ago with “Monster Bucks”, etc. is a big problem. Hunting is not an endeavor that fits well with media of any kind because it is, at heart, a very personal endeavor.

Like it or not, the media and hunting are now joined together and that is not going to change. Matt’s brother Steve is actually one of the better guys involved in that marriage today IMO. He is a big reason for the shift away from focusing on just killing animals and instead looking at the overall experience of being in the outdoors. All while most of the whitetail TV folks who started it all are still giggling and high-fiving over kicking bucks they just shot out of a treestand or blind.

 

[Hnthrdr]

@Hnthrdr

If the “West” has been ruined it’s because like in the days of old it was the “wildest” places left and we just took longer to get there. If anything I agree that the internet is a contributor but more so in the technological advances way rather than just a platform for SM. The “wild” places are easier to reach/live in than previously so more people are living/visiting/hunting there. GPS, inreach, starlink, solar, ultralight gear, atvs, OnX, palatable dehydrated meals, the list goes on. Better gear/equipment for cheaper than historical prices allows people to travel and hunt further and longer in the wild remote places. The risk burden for remote hunting was previously much higher. Now you just need enough money to buy the stuff listed above to the point where you feel comfortable driving/hiking/flying into the backcountry for a week.

Updated to add user tag since it didn’t add the quote I wanted.

For sure the barrier to entry has become pretty dang low. Which has pros and cons good if you are new, a little frustrating if you are not and it was your spots that are getting over pressured. I guess I am jaded being born in Co and in my short 33 years seeing things spiral out of control pretty quick with development and people packing the front and back ranges now. Not that the financial cost should be high but it used to take more effort on the individual, now it’s just YouTube and onX and you are good to go. I have a huge stack of nat geo maps that I still love where I had to use those and a garmin to figure out was what private and public.

I digress though, yes a lot of our wild places our gone. I can see it advances in tech, but I still think that it has accelerated exponentially by people posting spots and places for likes. This doesn’t just apply to hunting/fishing but the Instagrammers who want likes. There are too many places to list now where you can’t park at a trailhead on a weekday since loads of people are back there doing all sorts of things hiking/biking/fishing/hunting. Part of me is like that is great that people figured out the outdoors, but we have to realize the impact of us on the landscape & 90+ percent of those people are taking pictures and live streaming everything and it just continues the cycle and more people come and more disruption and trash and human waste come as a result.

 

[Newtosavage]

The advent of the internet has certainly changed how people use public lands. It used to take 20 years to learn what a person can learn from their living room now. There are no secrets anymore.

 

[dieselchessy]

Right or wrong influencers negatively influence me.
Friday I pulled up to the gate and there was a rig with the back window plastered with product stickers. I immediately started forming a negative opinion of the hunter who drove the rig. Later, down the trail I came upon the individual wearing a Hush blaze orange ball cap. Again more negative thoughts crept in. From the looks of it the guy had put every sticker they send with the crap you buy these days on his truck window.
We talked for a few discussing plans. He seemed like a decent guy, was working hard, being polite, ect. I had to push out all the bad influencer caused thoughts.
As I walked away I pulled off my blaze hat to see what brand name it had on the front. It said Remington. I laughed at myself. That guy can’t buy hunting clothes not plastered with advertiser banners any more than I can, and maybe he likes stickers. My kids like stickers, they aren’t bad people, just naive.

I see where Matt is coming from. I agree with a little of what a lot of people say.

 

[Newtosavage]

Right or wrong influencers negatively influence me.
Friday I pulled up to the gate and there was a rig with the back window plastered with product stickers. I immediately started forming a negative opinion of the hunter who drove the rig. Later, down the trail I came upon the individual wearing a Hush blaze orange ball cap. Again more negative thoughts crept in. From the looks of it the guy had put every sticker they send with the crap you buy these days on his truck window.
We talked for a few discussing plans. He seemed like a decent guy, was working hard, being polite, ect. I had to push out all the bad influencer caused thoughts.
As I walked away I pulled off my blaze hat to see what brand name it had on the front. It said Remington. I laughed at myself. That guy can’t buy hunting clothes not plastered with advertiser banners any more than I can, and maybe he likes stickers. My kids like stickers, they aren’t bad people, just naive.

I see where Matt is coming from. I agree with a little of what a lot of people say.

Good post. Some people just have more of a need to be part of a group or clique than others. I never have been interested in free advertising for companies but others see it as supporting those companies. To each their own I guess. It only becomes a problem when pride creeps in, but isn't that the case with anything.

 

[roymunson]

Not at all I was just having a little imagination if we all still hunted in heavy cotton with open sight lever guns haha I love my technical clothing and gear. That said I am firmly in the camp that western states/ western hunting has been ruined by social media/ the internet. Ironic I know as I use a social media platform on the internet to write that down, I think a sociology professor put it best we have minds of apes and technology of gods.

i could agree with most of that. And the internet is a 2 edged sword. As a first generation hunter in Ohio, I'd have zero chance at ever making it happen out west were it not for the web. I guess I'm the kinda guy Matt Rinella hates. He'll get over it. Or he won't. My taxes go to helping that land remain available, just like his do.

 

[Hnthrdr]

i could agree with most of that. And the internet is a 2 edged sword. As a first generation hunter in Ohio, I'd have zero chance at ever making it happen out west were it not for the web. I guess I'm the kinda guy Matt Rinella hates. He'll get over it. Or he won't. My taxes go to helping that land remain available, just like his do.

Definitely a doubled edged sword man. These days I think it causes more harm then good when taken as a whole but we can’t put pandora back in the box. I will say been on here and another hunting forum ( for some years before here ) it is interesting how posts have changed it has become pretty taboo to talk about units now, rightfully so. Hell outside of the people that are with me I don’t tell anyone where I’m getting into stuff these days.

 

[roymunson]

Definitely a doubled edged sword man. These days I think it causes more harm then good when taken as a whole but we can’t put pandora back in the box. I will say been on here and another hunting forum ( for some years before here ) it is interesting how posts have changed it has become pretty taboo to talk about units now, rightfully so. Hell outside of the people that are with me I don’t tell anyone where I’m getting into stuff these days.

that's unfortunate, but I get it. Wish it wasn't that way, but people are selfish and generally are a holes. So it's hard to trust outsiders. It is what it is.

 

[Christopher.Reed]

I wonder how much of the influx of hunters is due to the state of the union vs. influencers.

Not to mire a thread down with political talk but it’s a serious question for those of you that have been hunting for a very long time; Influencers have been around for decades, has the influx been steady over that time or has it accelerated in the last few years?

As a relatively new avid hunter, I can tell you that for me the pursuit started because I was worried about food scarcity and I happened to fall in love with the process and community.


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[ddd-shooter]

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment..... for perspective I don't do social media at all other than this forum and a few other forums.

First of all, I understand people's sentiments towards hunting as wanting it to become less popular but that also comes with consequences. For example, I personally do a lot of freshwater spearfishing which is very unpopular especially here in Colorado. We have tried for years to get regulations to change to match what other states allow and we have gotten nowhere. The CPW wants nothing to do with it. I would imagine if it was a more accepted and popular hobby that the state thought would bring in more money, they would be more willing to listen.

This brings me to my second point in regard to legislation and laws for hunting. Who is going to stand up and fight when numbers get down. The same people who are loud on social media about their success are also usually the same people who are willing to be loud when it matters. I feel that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. These social media influencers do have a way of gaining traction and voice to not only hunters but those outside the industry which we need at times.

If you needed to get as much support as possible for a major change in our industry, who do you think would bring a more positive impact and following for that particular situation... Steve Rinella or his brother Matt?

What if the most pressing issue of the 21st century is doing away with the monetization of hunting?
I'm not saying it is, I'm just putting that out there

 

[Hnthrdr]

I wonder how much of the influx of hunters is due to the state of the union vs. influencers.

Not to mire a thread down with political talk but it’s a serious question for those of you that have been hunting for a very long time; Influencers have been around for decades, has the influx been steady over that time or has it accelerated in the last few years?

As a relatively new avid hunter, I can tell you that for me the pursuit started because I was worried about food scarcity and I happened to fall in love with the process and community.


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I feel you man, some of the scarcity was pretty scary in 2020. There are grocery stores in an affluent part of Co that still have empty meat counters on a regular basis. It’s nice to know that you don’t need to buy any meat from the store

 

[Newtosavage]

What if the most pressing issue of the 21st century is doing away with the monetization of hunting?
I'm not saying it is, I'm just putting that out there

Right now, the most pressing issue of the 21st century is a lunatic in Russia with nukes, and a former U.S. president and his supporters who thinks he's not the threat to the world that he is.

 

[fngTony]

Yeah let’s reel this back into hunting.

 

[Trial153]

Hunting has been monetized since the advent of the agricultural revolution. As soon as people inthralled themselves a tiny piece of land for grain and live stock, so they could
work harder and live worse hunting began moving towards pursuit only by those with disposable resources.
North America was late to the game but we are catching up in exponential fashion.

 

[Newtosavage]

Yeah let’s reel this back into hunting.

sorry. Just thought we needed a perspective check if in fact anyone think's an idiot poacher was the most pressing concern we all had.

 

[fngTony]

sorry. Just thought we needed a perspective check if in fact anyone think's an idiot poacher was the most pressing concern we all had.

I think the context of the thread was to be and stay within the hunting world. I will agree that it shouldn’t take away from the bigger picture.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

What do you do about it?

Keep hammerin’.

*drops mic and hides in closet*

 

[Newtosavage]

I think the context of the thread was to be and stay within the hunting world. I will agree that it shouldn’t take away from the bigger picture.

Is this the biggest concern we have in the hunting world?

No access and no mentors seems more pressing than the clearly selfish actions of slob. I think most people can sort out that this is not typical behavior for all hunters. There is nothing we can do to prevent selfish slobs from being who they are. However, there is something we can all do about providing more access and mentoring new hunters.

 

[bsnedeker]

Is this the biggest concern we have in the hunting world?

No access and no mentors seems more pressing than the clearly selfish actions of slob. I think most people can sort out that this is not typical behavior for all hunters. There is nothing we can do to prevent selfish slobs from being who they are. However, there is something we can all do about providing more access and mentoring new hunters.

Can I ask where you are getting the idea that ANYONE in this thread thinks this is the "most important thing in the world"...hunting or otherwise???

This is a hunting forum...a "forum" is a place where like-minded individuals can get together to discuss things that interest them. If we were limited to only discussing the one, single, most-important topic in the world (as defined by you I would assume) this would be a pretty boring place to be.

But hey, thanks for looking out for everyone buddy! We sure appreciate it!

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[fngTony]

Is this the biggest concern we have in the hunting world?

No access and no mentors seems more pressing than the clearly selfish actions of slob. I think most people can sort out that this is not typical behavior for all hunters. There is nothing we can do to prevent selfish slobs from being who they are. However, there is something we can all do about providing more access and mentoring new hunters.

I’m not here to debate the issue of what’s more important, just watching the thread to keep it on track. Access and mentoring are great topics, but lumping them into this thread is going to get all three topics lost, they should probably have their own threads.