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

[Ryan Avery]

@robby denning appreciate your replies.

I think the concern many of us have is that hunting media is pushing demand higher and higher, taking more from the resource at an accelerated pace, but the resource continues to diminish.

@Ryan Avery @Justin Crossley @Jared Bloomgren what do you think about the article?

How do you feel about a media based relationship to hunting in light of the consistently diminishing resource?

Why do you make hunting media part of your life and career?

I didn't read it. I guess that's why I'm not a very good influencer. We didn't build RS for influencers we built it to talk about hunting gear. It had morphed into something a little bigger than that but at its heart, I still believe it's about the gear.

There seems to always be something that will ruin hunting, the rifle scope, compound bows, GPS, laser rangefinder, and now Social Media.

But to your point. I still think hunting the west will have an ebb and flow. For all the new hunters I know lots of hunters not going anymore. Plus, the Plandemic put more people in the woods than ever before that will also slow down IMO. SM isn't going away, but you get to choose what you watch, follow, click, like, and share!

 

[Will_m]

I didn't read it. I guess that's why I'm not a very good influencer. We didn't build RS for influencers we built it to talk about hunting gear. It had morphed into something a little bigger than that but at its heart, I still believe it's about the gear.

There seems to always be something that will ruin hunting, the rifle scope, compound bows, GPS, laser rangefinder, and now Social Media.

But to your point. I still think hunting the west will have an ebb and flow. For all the new hunters I know lots of hunters not going anymore. Plus, the Plandemic put more people in the woods than ever before that will also slow down IMO. SM isn't going away, but you get to choose what you watch, click, like, and share!

I don't think you can equate social media to advances in technology as far things that "ruin" hunting. I obviously have no data to back this up, but it seems anecdotally that social media is exponentially more impactful than any technological advancement. I understand your point, though.

I'd like to think hunting, overall, is an ebb and flow, but I think you can pull up draw stats for any state and see that where preference points are required, the threshold to have a realistic chance of drawing is getting higher. There's always outliers, of course, but this seems to me to be the general rule.

That being said, we may just be coming to grips with the inevitable. I think I've seen it at least once in this thread; things will never be the way they once were.

 

[Mtnboy]

That being said, we may just be coming to grips with the inevitable. I think I've seen it at least once in this thread; things will never be the way they once were.

The "good ol' days" are now.

 

[SteveHazard]

Don't agree. With more hunting maybe more people will come to terms that their oversized family and their home in suburban sprawl with pointless side yards, unneeded square footage is not the American dream they were lead to believe it was and that in actuality these things make society less happy as a whole by crowding out and increasing the distance to outdoor spaces. That is the enemy of outdoors, not people out there recreating on it and sharing their appreciation and experiences on it.

 

[roosiebull]

i can connect to some of his concerns, but in reality, in the real world, he is being a radical, and radical views are never the answer.... things aren't going back to how they were 20yrs for a plethora of reasons... i selfishly wish they were, but it's not happening.

i think Matt is very narrow minded, and can't see out of his own hole of hypocrisy, and isn't the personality to ever budge.

at the end of the day, who really cares what Steve's brother thinks? he's seeking attention just like those he despises, and the only reason he even raises an eyebrow or allowed to have an opinion that's seen is his brother.

we have some common thoughts, i agree with some of his ramblings, but it doesn't matter, the "traditional hunters" are way outnumbered even if his points were realistic, which they aren't... any movement he starts will never get off the ground, especially with his lack of finesse.

 

[Odell]

Sure, but I wouldn’t say it’s completely different. Rokslide has been very good to me in helping me sell my book and getting people to read my articles. So while it’s a different monster, it’s still “social media“


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know I'm late to this, but it is significantly different. The entire internet uses social media technology but there is a wide gap between blogs/forums and instagram/twitter

 

[woods89]

I've been thinking about this a lot in the last few days. One of the things I've decided is that some of my '' too many hunters'' thoughts are probably me being a little bit selfish.....

I do think it's funny how some of these social media types have to quick run to the podcast mike or the laptop to assure us that he doesn't know what he's talking about!

 

[cnelk]

Easy Test

Go look at who you follow (if you do)

Are they promoting themselves or is it for the greater good of conservation?

You already know the answer….without looking I bet.

 

[Mtnboy]

I can understand how someone who doesn't live out West might think we are being "selfish" for wanting less hunters but when you're out here in the thick of the "Boom" and generational hunting spots are all of a sudden overrun like a WalMart on Black Friday.....it's hard not to get a little jaded.

 

[woods89]

I can understand how someone who doesn't live out West might think we are being "selfish" for wanting less hunters but when you're out here in the thick of the "Boom" and generational hunting spots are all of a sudden overrun like a WalMart on Black Friday.....it's hard not to get a little jaded.

My hunting partner lives on the Front Range. I was just out there for 3rd season in November, and leaving hunting crowding aside, it's painful to watch habitat being turned into housing at the rate it is there. I've decided that I like going out there to hunt, but I think I'll just live in the Midwest, until it gets ''discovered'', anyway.
I can easily understand your feelings. Some less than pleasant changes happening in a lot of places.

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

My hunting partner lives on the Front Range. I was just out there for 3rd season in November, and leaving hunting crowding aside, it's painful to watch habitat being turned into housing at the rate it is there. I've decided that I like going out there to hunt, but I think I'll just live in the Midwest, until it gets ''discovered'', anyway.
I can easily understand your feelings. Some less that pleasant changes happening in a lot of places.

Man, there’s a lot of truth in that. I fell in love with where I live a long time ago, but in the past few years alone watching the mass migration here, I’ve come to realize that I can’t be here long term. I’ve kicked around the Midwest myself somewhere in the future. I don’t want to, but I don’t see it easing up here. It makes me sad actually.

 

[Mtnboy]

Man, there’s a lot of truth in that. I fell in love with where I live a long time ago, but in the past few years alone watching the mass migration here, I’ve come to realize that I can’t be here long term. I’ve kicked around the Midwest myself somewhere in the future. I don’t want to, but I don’t see it easing up here. It makes me sad actually.

The mid west will be next and I don't think it'll be long. There are places there where Real Estate is fricken' cheap!

"Work from home" is going to change places faster than we ever imagined.

 

[TheTone]

Friend of a friend is retiring from
Bozeman to move to the upper Midwest. Stands to make an absolute killing on his Bozeman home, be able to afford enough land to hunt big whitetails every year on his own property, great lake fishing and have enough in the bank to hunt elk every fall somewhere. Honestly when I first heard the idea I thought it was nuts but now it sounds pretty great.

 

[KurtR]

Just throwing it out there if you like sub zero winters and summers over a hundred with huge swarms of mosquitoes. A calm day is 20 mph winds your either eating dust or getting frost bite . 7 hours of sunlight in the winter. A couple places to eat and only open certain nights . Sodak is the place for you. Plus ehd killed all the deer and you only elk hunt once on a lifetime.

 

[TreeStandAthlete]

The Midwest is naturally influencer repellent. We just don't trust anyone that likes to talk about themselves or has less than 20% body fat.

Sent from my SM-G996U1 using Tapatalk

 

[North Idaho Stickbow]

 

[OMB]

His argument is very short sighted. Are there issues with social media? Sure. But to pigeon hole it as the downfall of hunting isn’t correct. Quite honestly he comes across as an elitist because his argument always comes back to how he thinks it’s affecting his hunting and ruining it for him.

Before social media, and every influencer coast to coast claiming there's a 150" buck behind every tree, I could draw a non-resident bow tag every other year to hunt my own 850 acre farm in Iowa. I get that for as long as I can't move back, I'll have to deal with the system. It sucks.

But I think a lot of people aren't seeing the forest from the trees here: sharing to your instagram following of 700 or sending kill pics to your boys isn't the issue. It's influencers that really don't care about the resource profiting from it to build their follower/like count and monetize their accounts. The Kifaru crew/Aron Snyder totally missed this in their discussion. You have people like Josh Bowmar who make a ton of money off our natural resources that are clearly unethical but nobody in the industry will call out because they have business deals together. This is so wrong and needs to be dealt with.

Matt Rinella might not have it figured out, but good god, there's a ton of people with huge followings that need to be completely disavowed and made so that hunting will never be a way they can make money.

 

[Button]

I can understand how someone who doesn't live out West might think we are being "selfish" for wanting less hunters but when you're out here in the thick of the "Boom" and generational hunting spots are all of a sudden overrun like a WalMart on Black Friday.....it's hard not to get a little jaded.

I’m far from the west states, Texas gulf coast to be exact (we have quite the ‘culture’ and view point of what hunting is according your many….I get it. I really do.) I’ve fished more than anything and I’ve seen that go down the crapper. But I’ve done some mammal/bird hunting.

I’ve been out west. Never hunted. But I feel your pain, I was born several hundred years too late( bring on the hardship).

My home beach is getting trampled from metro people/things, The absolute only positive is my property will gain valve. But I really hate how properly tax has increased. I’d rather be me and have solitude than deal with a life time of property tax and people.

It’s not just the west. It’s happening everywhere.
We just lost State water winter red snapper season.

Cognitive bias or ignorance is my best guess of why people don’t realize it’s a over population issue and nothing else. We literally have to manage wildlife just to keep it from being everything of the past. Memories, bones in the dirt, and trophies on the wall.

Fwiw we love raising a deaf dog. But I loathe seeing everything else, many people are unfit to raise a dog. Let alone another person.

 

[ODB]

My home beach is getting trampled from metro people/things, The absolute only positive is my property will gain valve. But I really hate how properly tax has increased. I’d rather be me and have solitude than deal with a life time of property tax and people.

North Myrtle Beach SC was my second home for every one of my 49 years. I get truly sad to see what it has become. I can't even go back anymore. Everyone treats it like a public bathroom - they can't imagine that at one time it was actually a community of people who all knew each other, lived there year-round, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

 

[OR Archer]

Before social media, and every influencer coast to coast claiming there's a 150" buck behind every tree, I could draw a non-resident bow tag every other year to hunt my own 850 acre farm in Iowa. I get that for as long as I can't move back, I'll have to deal with the system. It sucks.

But I think a lot of people aren't seeing the forest from the trees here: sharing to your instagram following of 700 or sending kill pics to your boys isn't the issue. It's influencers that really don't care about the resource profiting from it to build their follower/like count and monetize their accounts. The Kifaru crew/Aron Snyder totally missed this in their discussion. You have people like Josh Bowmar who make a ton of money off our natural resources that are clearly unethical but nobody in the industry will call out because they have business deals together. This is so wrong and needs to be dealt with.

Matt Rinella might not have it figured out, but good god, there's a ton of people with huge followings that need to be completely disavowed and made so that hunting will never be a way they can make money.

The tag issue has zero to do with social media. It has everything to do with the Information Age. Long gone are the days of sifting through mountains of paper to find harvest statistics for a unit in a particular state or really even making calls to bios. Simple internet searches or hunting sites like Go Hunt make tag applications easier and easier. I’ve never seen a single “influencer” etc telling anyone they need to apply for XYZ units. So that argument really doesn’t hold water for tag allocation.