Unfollowing Hunting Social Media Will Make Hunting Better: Matt Rinella Essay

[robby denning]

I didn’t agree with a lot of what Matt said. There was truth in some, but there was also a lot of stupid elitism. The idea that if you post on social media at all it changes the reason you hunt is painting with an absurdly large brush. I also think Matt misses the mark as far as hunter numbers. They aren’t growing, and that is a problem.

Matt can say what he wants, and has my respect for writing the article, but those were the main critiques of the article I had too.

I can’t prop up social media as some great thing for hunting, especially if nonhunters are turned off by it.

But there’s a lot of us who hunted well before SM and will continue pretty much the same with it or without it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sled]

I also think Matt misses the mark as far as hunter numbers. They aren’t growing, and that is a problem.

I believe people tend to speak from their own microcosm. If you're from the east then numbers are certainly in decline. If you're from the west, it certainly seems like hunter numbers are up. That's likely due to population increase in the west and hunter concentration increase from non resident hunters. I'm from Utah and Wyoming isn't a big fan of how we descend on their state for antelope hunts. Colorado gets all the eastern elk hunters for a reason. They have the largest elk population in the country.

Back on topic, social media is advertising any way you slice it. I'm not saying there's no place for it but we're the ones guilty of allowing monetization of hunting to continue. It's not the anti hunters watching their videos and buying their products. I say this as someone who has never had myspace, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, TikTok or any of the others out there. It never appealed to me. I do like forums like this one though.

 

[JRam07]

Kifaru Cast just added their “rebuttal” to Rinella, episode 388. Pretty embarrassing 1:44 for those guys if you ask me. Would be interested to see @Aron Snyder respond here like Randy has. I’m sure he has better things to do than browse Rokslide, but he’s either seen this thread and actively decided to shit on a big portion of the Kifaru customer base, or hasn’t seen this thread and is waaay out of touch with a big portion of the Kifaru customer base.

Aaron Snyder is not an intellectually honestly person, and that is pretty clear only 13 minutes into the podcast. Along with a few others on the podcast.

 

[OregonSteeler]

I'd love to see BRO respond as they are one of the worst offenders. Doubt that will happen though.

 

[Idaho_Potato]

Kifaru Cast just added their “rebuttal” to Rinella, episode 388. Pretty embarrassing 1:44 for those guys if you ask me. Would be interested to see @Aron Snyder respond here like Randy has. I’m sure he has better things to do than browse Rokslide, but he’s either seen this thread and actively decided to shit on a big portion of the Kifaru customer base, or hasn’t seen this thread and is waaay out of touch with a big portion of the Kifaru customer base.

Agreed. It was just a poor attemp at justifying their contribution to the problem. Aron said his wife gives away game meat to her real estate clients as if that's some sort of excuse for "good will" to spread the word of hunting. I'm sorry, you are killing too many animals if you have to find strangers to take it. Just my opinion.

He also brought up the comparison to beef at the grocery store. Agriculture is essentially an unlimited resource in the US. We can make as much as we want. Wild game is far from it.

 

[prm]

I didn’t think the Kifaru pod was bad. They did point out some of the positive contributions of social media and agreed there are idiots posting on social media that can hurt hunting. This is not a black or white subject. Not everyone is going to be in lockstep agreement with the issues. Post with some consideration, and do not like, or follow, those with whom you disagree.
edit: I’d rather see a focus on game management such that we don’t manage via ballot box than focus on increasing numbers to win at the ballot.

 

[JRam07]

I didn’t think the Kifaru pod was bad. They did point out some of the positive contributions of social media and agreed there are idiots posting on social media that can hurt hunting. This is not a black or white subject. Not everyone is going to be in lockstep agreement with the issues. Post with some consideration, and do not like, or follow, those with whom you disagree.
edit: I’d rather see a focus on game management such that we don’t manage via ballot box than focus on increasing numbers to win at the ballot.

There are not enough game animals to win this battle.

Hunters will never be the majority.

Aaron in the podcast mentions an account that posts stupid stuff, be he also said they're personal friends so he likes their stuff.


When people call out the bad actors, they just get blasted anyways. Have you ever seen someone call out the Bowmars? Greg Poole and Levi Morgan take it personally, and the Bowmars are accused of poaching, and have been the cause of getting a bear season removed.

 

[cnelk]

Influencers love the Ego Trips.

No travel agent required

 

[Dirtbag]

Kifaru Cast just added their “rebuttal” to Rinella, episode 388. Pretty embarrassing 1:44 for those guys if you ask me. Would be interested to see @Aron Snyder respond here like Randy has. I’m sure he has better things to do than browse Rokslide, but he’s either seen this thread and actively decided to shit on a big portion of the Kifaru customer base, or hasn’t seen this thread and is waaay out of touch with a big portion of the Kifaru customer base.

I'm sure all of those guys at that "round table" are good people, but they all have hundreds(if not thousands) of instagram posts and to a certain degree, are influencers who depend on social media for marketing so their take wasn't surprising . I wish if a group of guys was to trash someone's opinion for almost two hours they would at least had that person on the podcast with them.

Matt Rinella may not have been as articulate as some would have liked but he isnt wrong in a lot of it. All I know was hunting(and the world) was better before social media. Without a doubt, if social media and likes went a way a very large portion of people hunting wouldnt be waking up at 4:00am and hunting nearly as much, and that would make me plenty happy.

 

[Poser]

Agreed. It was just a poor attemp at justifying their contribution to the problem. Aron said his wife gives away game meat to her real estate clients as if that's some sort of excuse for "good will" to spread the word of hunting. I'm sorry, you are killing too many animals if you have to find strangers to take it. Just my opinion.

He also brought up the comparison to beef at the grocery store. Agriculture is essentially an unlimited resource in the US. We can make as much as we want. Wild game is far from it.

Wonder what % of that real estate meat never gets eaten? I used to give a lot of game meat away to folks when I lived in TN and whitetails were super abundant. Check their freezer 6 months later and find it ll the meat uneaten, I started cutting folks off.

“Congrats, you just bought a home for $525,000, here is some game meat that my husband killed for social media content to grow his hunting specific brand .” -that’s a bullshit justification if I’ve ever heard one.

 

[Bighorner]

What the hell is instagram?

 

[wapitibob]

If you're not hunting out west because you don't have tags, and yes that's plural, it's your own fault. It's not because Snyder has shot Deer.

 

[Deadfall]

I have 2 full size freezers completely full of wild game. All my family eats. I give away meat for a few reasons.

I see pikes and piles of people hunting from the yuppy mobiles off roads and all they do is complain about no animals or opportunities. ALL my hunting is OTC public land. No issues harvesting game.

Point is, if anyone is on sidelines that is their fault. Either they are lazy, or want to be on sideline!

 

[Deadfall]

Based on their presence on social media and podcasts, what did you expect?

I didn’t agree with a lot of what Matt said. There was truth in some, but there was also a lot of stupid elitism. The idea that if you post on social media at all it changes the reason you hunt is painting with an absurdly large brush. I also think Matt misses the mark as far as hunter numbers. They aren’t growing, and that is a problem.

That being said, the bigger problem with people like Dan, Aron, and most others in the industry, and a point they both wrote off in their rebuttals, is that people killing 5+ big game animals a year is bad for other hunters. It’s directly taking opportunity from someone else. Great that they give it away or whatever, but that’s a handful of other hunters who could’ve been in the field, who may feel more engaged, who may be more passionate about hunting if they weren’t stuck on the sidelines. Lack of opportunity is a real problem, and I think a big part of it is some people are taking every tag they can get their hands on.

Lack of opportunity is not the problem. Lack of effort would closer to accurate

 

[Dirtbag]

If you're not hunting out west because you don't have tags, and yes that's plural, it's your own fault. It's not because Snyder has shot Deer.

I'd disagree with you on this. I submitted 13 applications this fall total. I drew 4 tags. Those four i really didnt expect to draw and statistically could have easily not. 8 of the 13 I submitted were in my home state and I had decent odds aside from the big three. I drew none of them. That's not Arons fault but its a testament to how many are after a finite resource.

 

[Deadfall]

I'd disagree with you on this. I submitted 13 applications this fall total. I drew 4 tags. Those four i really didnt expect to draw and statistically could have easily not. 8 of the 13 I submitted were in my home state and I had decent odds aside from the big three. I drew none of them. That's not Arons fault but its a testament to how many are after a finite resource.

I'd disagree with you on this. I submitted 13 applications this fall total. I drew 4 tags. Those four i really didnt expect to draw and statistically could have easily not. 8 of the 13 I submitted were in my home state and I had decent odds aside from the big three. I drew none of them. That's not Arons fault but its a testament to how many are after a finite resource.

Wait...what....huh....uh....

 

[Poser]

If you're not hunting out west because you don't have tags, and yes that's plural, it's your own fault. It's not because Snyder has shot Deer.

Well, that’s simplistic hot take that attempts to flip the script.

I don’t think anyone was complaining about not being able to kill deer. I believe its more in line with questioning the motivations of a individual who kills a lot of animals for the expressed purposes of social media content to build a hunting brand up and justifies these actions by passing along the surplus meat to his real estate agent wife to give to yuppies buying half million dollar + homes in the Denver market.

 

[ddd-shooter]

Based on their presence on social media and podcasts, what did you expect?

I didn’t agree with a lot of what Matt said. There was truth in some, but there was also a lot of stupid elitism. The idea that if you post on social media at all it changes the reason you hunt is painting with an absurdly large brush. I also think Matt misses the mark as far as hunter numbers. They aren’t growing, and that is a problem.

That being said, the bigger problem with people like Dan, Aron, and most others in the industry, and a point they both wrote off in their rebuttals, is that people killing 5+ big game animals a year is bad for other hunters. It’s directly taking opportunity from someone else. Great that they give it away or whatever, but that’s a handful of other hunters who could’ve been in the field, who may feel more engaged, who may be more passionate about hunting if they weren’t stuck on the sidelines. Lack of opportunity is a real problem, and I think a big part of it is some people are taking every tag they can get their hands on.

Agree with elitism, no doubt about that.
But, do we want hunter numbers to grow with “influencer“ input? Really? That’s the best we can do? Hope someone sees a guy with 30 sponsors and 50 hashtags on their posts and thinks “gee, I’d like to do that!” I think we can all agree we don’t want new hunters who only emulate crap they see online.


As far as kifarucast, I think they prove Matt’s point. Everyone on that podcast gets monetary benefit from hunting, and they have platforms to influence many many hunters. Do you think our perspective is being skewed by people who stand to gain from more customers? How deep does that influence and motivation seep in to the rest of us?

 

[ddd-shooter]

Wait...what....huh....uh....

Please, tell us how all these “new hunters” we need will improve our drawing odds and give us a better experience on limited game

 

[KurtR]

Boy I’m glad I live where I do more hunting than I can find time for. I decided not to bow hunt any more just don’t have the time. From august till April there is something to hunt and that’s not even counting predators or prairie dogs. Geese in the morning and then pheasants in the afternoon tomorrow. There’s more out there to hunt than just elk and deer.