Ok -- I'll take the bait.
I find it quite amusing that everyone feels a need to disparage another person for personal taste issues. You can certainly disagree, but why burn the calories required to care that much? A better solution is to lead from the front and set a good example. If you don't like the way someone is posturing, suggest a more efficient method. If they don't take the advice, move on. You've done your part. But, it is never OK to just issue blanket statements about how this or that characteristic makes you an idiot or some lesser life form. That helps nothing, and serves only to solidify the opposing parties perspective. It also says something about how weak your character is. Provide a solution or move on.
Additionally, being a true hunter does not require a 30+ year old standard caliber wood/blued rifle with a Weaver 3X9, a 30 year old vehicle, a red-plad flannel, and overt cynicism. Times change. Having matching or unmatching camo, or none at all make you no more or less a hunter than the next guy. So long as everyone else is respectful, their personal choices in what gear they use is of no concern to you, or anyone for that matter.
If any folks on this site are like me, and have a few rifles, and enjoy discussing gear, they might do because it allows them to hold on to the only part of being an outdoorsman that they can control these days. Getting tags is hard now. Getting time off is harder. I know that every hunt I have been on in the past 5 years has, at some point, been ruined due to some work "crisis," or family issue, etc. So, anytime I get to talk with fellow hunters about hunts, or rifles, or gear, or anything related, I do it ... and I enjoy it. For some of us, thats the best we can do to stay connected.
I grew up fishing here in So-Cal. I put in more days on the water than I care to admit trying to find fish with a compass and a chart map. There were no sonar units back then, and GPS wasn't a thing yet. We learned to find our own fish the hard way. These days the technology available makes the experience very different for new fisherman. I don't flame them when they ask for advice, though. Nor do I claim to be some sort of authority on the matter, because I am not. You know what, though, I really enjoy helping people out and passing on some knowledge if it helps them have a rad experience (with obvious limitations). I particularly enjoy helping out beginners and kids, and helping them have a great experience, because we need to grow our community if we want to hang on to our heritage. My point here is that this site, and our outdoors community is far better served by people setting the standard, leading from the front, and helping to teach the next generation than it is by whiny, accusatory threads like this.
