The internet has broken the boundaries between upper/mid/lower class.

[Coldtrail]

This is a pretty insightful thread, I've wrestled with this about everytime I click on the Rokslide forums. I'm a really low budget hunter, grew up that way & never found a need to change. Reading some of the threads is more for entertainment than knowledge, if you didn't have experience to know better I can see where a new hunter can be led to believe they need to spend a fortune to get set up for hunting but it's certainly not necessary...it's just hunters keeping up with the Jones's.

An observation I've made over the years is that the ones who hunt a week or two a year go all out with spending, top of the line everything and the ones that do it daily tend to be the more sensible spenders, lower budget types. It begs one to ask the question, if you have the latest and greatest gear every year and driving a custom lifted "hunting truck" but get out only a few weeks a year, is your hobby hunting?....or shopping?

It's not the primary goal of these websites, but I enjoy reading threads about those who achieve their hunting goals regardless of what they spent to do it, that's what keeps me coming back to Rokslide, but for me the threads about what lift kits your truck needs or bickering about the best upland bird guns, custom big game rifles etc? Don't overthink it, put your boots on and hunt instead, your time will be better spent.

 

[SloppyJ]

OP, I see your point and I think it's a great observation. It's not just limited to here, it's any sort of "social" media. Everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses per-se. I don't know if I've fallen victim to it but it's allowed me to save some time going through gear to weed out the BS at the expense of well, expense.

The quest for an accurate rifle and certain gear lead me to this forum. When I got here I researched my ass off. So when it came time to start implementing some of the stuff I learned, I started by trying to eliminate every variable and picked a NX8.

Let me tell you how many of my family members or literally anyone else I think you'll find using a Night Force in the AR woods.... zero. That's because most of the hunting knowledge we have is what we were taught by our fathers and grand fathers until we are old enough or care enough about it to start seeing what other information is out there. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I actually think it's pretty cool. We were taught to buy a scope, check it with a few rounds before season if we had time and then go hunt. This bit me very early on and that's why I'm so aware of it now.

Regardless, it's up to the person to set their budget and their limit on what they want to spend and can afford. In this day and age I do see where kids get sucked in by advertising and just want everything. It's something that I try to combat with my son and I just hope that the will realize it one day. The conditioning of the youth right now is a little scary.

 

[cnelk]

People need to quit looking around the locker room and be satisfied with what they have

 

[GSPHUNTER]

While in the Navy I learned a very important thing, it's called, stay in your own pay grade and don't be a ten cent millionaire. You will be much happier and won't end up broke because you have to have what other people have. I have never owned a $5000 rifle with a top of the line scope, and yet I am a very successful hunter. I feel the internet, while it is a useful tool, causes many issues just like social media does. They are both filled with miss information and many people buy into it.

 

[hunt1up]

A few observations:

I buy the best gear because my budget allows for it, but also because hunting and fishing are my thing. Some guys sports gamble, some work on old cars, some buy fancy boats and motorcycles. I spend all my free time hunting and fishing or scheming about hunting and fishing. So when that much of my time is devoted to something I love, over time I gravitate to having the best tools for the job. When you get on Rokslide and other forums you're conversing with guys who consume a large portion of their time with the outdoors. Therefore you're going to run into a higher percentage of gear junkies.

On the flip side...I know a few dozen hunters outside of Rokslide. Most of them are whitetail deer hunters. 90% of them don't own a binocular over $200(if they own a pair at all) and they wear old camo and use old gear. They're from all socioeconomic levels. Most of them take their turd shotgun out once a year, lob some slugs at a button buck fawn or a 2 year old 8 pointer and then go get drunk. That's the extent of hunting to them. A 3 day long weekend and it's over. They don't know what Archerytalk is, Rokslide, or any other forum. And they pay zero attention to hunting social media. That is the majority of the hunting population.

Also, there's plenty of GREAT information on the forums on what gear to buy at every income level. Just google "Best binoculars under $300 forum" and look at all the great info that pops up.

 

[Loo.wii]

Insightful. Appreciate the post. Instagram has done almost as much harm to western hunting as Meateater.

How harm ? I don’t understand this opinion
Please explain.

 

[Sherman]

How harm ? I don’t understand this opinion
Please explain.

To put it very shortly, hunting for the wrong reasons. Clout chasing. Exposure to the wrong individuals. Unethical tactics to generate content.

Touchy subject that offends some people.

 

[HuntHarder]

I'm more offended by people assuming guys are in debt or can't afford their lifestyle. Most judge others to make their situation seem better than it is...

 

[HornPorn]

An observation I've made over the years is that the ones who hunt a week or two a year go all out with spending, top of the line everything and the ones that do it daily tend to be the more sensible spenders, lower budget types. It begs one to ask the question, if you have the latest and greatest gear every year and driving a custom lifted "hunting truck" but get out only a few weeks a year, is your hobby hunting?....or shopping?

Lots of ignorance there. Plenty of folks work their tails off all year long and due to work and family commitments, as well as where they live, only get to hunt a couple weeks a year. Being on a forum or buying a new piece of gear, or souping their truck up, keeps them connected to that thing they day dream about doing all year. Maybe they grew up poor and hunted plenty. Maybe they'll be one of those retired guys living on huntable acreage and going on 6 guided trips every fall, because they did work their tail off from 20s to 50s, and only took a couple weeks per year to goof off. If you don't know someone, or their situation, observations like the one you made just make you look insecure and petty.

 

[Jimmy]

When I started hunting we was so poor we had to use both sides of the toilet paper.

A guy told me that the best way to learn about hunting was to go hunting. My biggest cost each year is fuel. Sure I'm slowing upgrading every year with one or two more things. And it's nice to have guys spending lots of money giving accurate reviews on things here on the 'slide. Their spending helps me spend more wisely, so that's ok.

 

[MattB]

I certainly see your point and confess times I understand your sentiment. But, serious question, when those same entities are part of society and the issues at hand, how does refusal to communicate and unwillingness to find common ground allow for solutions? Maybe, solutions can't be had, I realize, and perhaps I'm too hopeful, but failure to try would, to me, feel irresponsible.

I genuinely mean no disrespect. I see other statements of the same and it feels like throwing in the towel instead of pressing forward in storms. I have a difficult time wrapping my head around it.

Communicating with people who have different perspectives can be difficult, so some people don’t try.

Some people have such fragile beliefs held together only by the echo chamber phenomenon described above that they fear hearing the opposite view because their beliefs may not survive it.

Both are seriously bad for the future of this country.

 

[Coldtrail]

Lots of ignorance there. Plenty of folks work their tails off all year long and due to work and family commitments, as well as where they live, only get to hunt a couple weeks a year. Being on a forum or buying a new piece of gear, or souping their truck up, keeps them connected to that thing they day dream about doing all year. Maybe they grew up poor and hunted plenty. Maybe they'll be one of those retired guys living on huntable acreage and going on 6 guided trips every fall, because they did work their tail off from 20s to 50s, and only took a couple weeks per year to goof off. If you don't know someone, or their situation, observations like the one you made just make you look insecure and petty.

For one reason or another I think you are stretching what I implied. I'm not saying anything about anyone not working for what they have regardless how much they want to spend on gear low or high, spend what you want and work as little or as hard as you want to get there...I dont care. I'm saying anyone with any life experience at all won't judge a book by it's cover, I've learned 100x more about hunting, tracking, and survival from being in the woods with guys driving worn out rusty pickups and wearing denim jackets, hooded sweatshirts, and cowboy hats shooting open sights than I have from the guys strolling around like Sitka Models, internet forums or internet sensations.....my plain old life experience, if yours is different so be it.

As a guy who has guided hunters I have known far, FAR more that spent needless amounts of money on gear they didn't need but the internet sold them to achieve their hunting goals when it would have more beneficial to use that time and $$ on cardio, the range, or taxidermy and i would have no problem telling them that if asked, but most do not want to hear that because the "hunt" for gear is part of the sport to them...again just MY experience & perspective.

If people spend their lives looking for answers on the internet, It's easy to forget there is a population out there of very proficient hunters that are out nearly daily and never had a need to search the Internet for advice & are still successful despite the "inferior" gear they choose to use & have used for years.

 

[William Sublette]

Insightful. Appreciate the post. Instagram has done almost as much harm to western hunting as Meateater.

And rokslide, and hunt talk, et al

 

[grfox92]

I'm more offended by people assuming guys are in debt or can't afford their lifestyle. Most judge others to make their situation seem better than it is...

I don't think it's an assumption as much as it is a statistical probability based on the vehicles people drive, the side by side in the garage, the house they are paying mortgages on, the horses they own that need $125 trim an shoe every month, the brand new camper every 3 years. ect. ect. ect.

Sent from my SM-G990U2 using Tapatalk

 

[william schmaltz]

I feel like just as many guys come here to look for justification buying stuff as that leave here with a new perspective to go spend a bunch of unnecessary money.

Go to any AK gear thread and it’s pretty typical, as an example, a guy asks which $800 rain gear set he should buy. Twenty guys each with hundreds of days of AK experience will chime in saying to buy something else (1/8th the price) and then one guy will chime in that did a 4 day wall tent hunt with a guide and stove where it sprinkled for 2 hours total saying “I used xyz expensive brand last year and it worked great.” A month later the OP chimes in and says “thanks for the recommendations, picked up xyz on sale this weekend for $700.”

I’ve had a couple hunting partners come up that I’ve given detailed lists to that show up with an extra $3k in brand new gear because a forum or their hunting buddy read on a forum that they needed certain expensive items.

I’ve said a few times that I’m very grateful that I jumped into backpacking/fly out/extended day hunting trips several years before I found RS. I wonder if I found RS or hunting social media first if I would’ve been wrapped around the gears so much that I would’ve been convinced I couldn’t afford it or lacked the skills.

 

[jpmulk]

Rokslide is the only form of media I participate in. I am convinced social media in general is a major contributor to the down slide of society.

 

[Dos Perros]

Communicating with people who have different perspectives can be difficult, so some people don’t try.

Some people have such fragile beliefs held together only by the echo chamber phenomenon described above that they fear hearing the opposite view because their beliefs may not survive it.

Both are seriously bad for the future of this country.

Bees don't waste their time trying to convince flies that honey is better than shit.

More seriously, I only have one life to live. It doesn't seem logical to trade time in my limited life arguing with strangers on the internet at the opportunity cost of spending time with my children or otherwise pursuing happiness. That's not to say I've never done it, I just hope to do less of it, and maybe even none some day.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I have friends from every socioeconomic group there is. I like people who I can trust.

So true for me. As I get older, the people who I truly can trust has shrunk. And I don't give a crap how much money you make or what kind of rifle you shoot or what optics you have. Just don't lie to me.

 

[PlumberED]

I’m not so sure the internet has broken down the barriers between the classes. I’ll have to chew on that a while. What the internet has done is made information more readily available. Granted we do have use some discernment to weed through this information. I have learned a lot from other peoples experiences. As far as the negatives, I try not to pay too much attention to the knuckle heads.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Rokslide is the only form of media I participate in. I am convinced social media in general is a major contributor to the down slide of society.

110% correct.