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

[ManyBullets]

Spot on article. The whoring out of wildlife for glorified equipment salesmen and women has done nothing for hunting.

Tell me what the social stars like MuleyGeek(freak), Josh Bowmar, Robby the Wolf Guy, Gritty and others have done for hunting? Other than rack up a pile of fines and pimp merchandise.

Shit's more crowded than ever, hunting is worse in a lot of areas, and the overall move to monetize hunting has been a complete failure for the avg hunter's experience.

The forums aren't the problem here.

 

[Baddog]

Influencers have been both good and bad for hunting but to be sure they have caused the rapid decline of hunting quality in most areas of the west.

I don’t believe influencers are the reason mule deer numbers are down 30-50 percent across the west. Probably has more to do with habitat, 4 legged predators and mis management.

 

[justin davis]

There are a lot of fake people out there that post and “hunt” for the wrong reasons. I get it and too get irritated by some people out there that think they are something in the “industry.”
But I also enjoy seeing the real dudes out there that are legit. Without it likely wouldn’t see a lot of things. I enjoy seeing what others harvest etc.

I don’t think social media has ruined hunting. But I think it has helped encourage hunting to a lot of people. There is a lot of good to social
Media I think.

 

[Weston]

This is absolutely the most accurate thing I’ve read pertaining to hunting in quite some time and my favorite article of the year for sure.

Unfortunately it’s a bell that I don’t think can be unrung. I used to share so much more on forums and social media but about 5 years ago I all but stopped a few pictures here and there, but no more stories an occasional picture here and there (hey, I can’t help but be excited and want to share every once in awhile).

Social media has greatly changed too, I remember when the hunting forums were mostly pretty serious and experienced hunters and a place to link up, specifically rokslide. It seems that the experience level has gone way down and the amount of very rudimentary level questions has skyrocketed. Now I seldom post on any of them yet continue to read them almost daily when I’m in service.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[Rifleman86]

This stuff didn’t start with social media, it started with cable hunting shows in the 90s. Every hunt was successful, always a trophy, etc. As a result, hunting and killing big bucks became big business, and leases and no trespassing signs became the norm and not the exception.

Certainly the advent of the internet and social media made some aspects of this worse. Overall I’d say guys like Steve Rinella and Randy Newberg have been positive influences on hunting… It broke the horrible stereotype that hunting had. Certainly making public land hunting more popular is a downside.

I agree with much of what he said, but the “problem” he describes is endemic to society as a whole, not just the world of hunting. We as a society are struggling with the massive changes social media has made to our collective culture.

I do sense there is some sibling rivalry there as well…

 

[elkyinzer]

"A grown-ass man with spicy-ass opinions." Stealing that for my tombstone or something.

 

[CDS8034]

It would be tough to argue with the majority of what he is saying. The industry as a whole has made hunting much tougher in my opinion. Back before onX, goHUNT, etc we’re created, it was much easier for me to draw tags and get away from people. The fact of the matter is, most people weren’t willing to take the time to do their own research to find hunting areas, so with a little research, it enabled the guys willing to put in the work a major advantage. Now there are multiple websites that put the draw odds, stats, game numbers, maps all at the fingertips of anyone willing to pay a fee. And full disclaimer, I use onX, just an many of you do. I’m just saying as easy and as good of a product it is, in my opinion, the invention of it and several others has been detrimental to diy public land hunting.

 

[prm]

There’s a lot to like in that article.

 

[RyanT26]

It’s a great article and he is about as right as a guy can get.

 

[Sled]

Just saw a Mtn ops ad for a new rangefinder. The chick had a Garmin sight (which does t need a rangefinder) and had no arrows on her bow?

Stuff like that pisses me off shows what clowns are out there

You're interpreting it all wrong. She might have been a hard core instafamous hunter that just shot all her arrows at a bull a football field away. I'll bet one of those arrows are still hanging out of that bulls ass.

 

[540-Virginian]

Sounds like a bunch of grumpy old men…

“back in my day!”

matt even says its its extremely difficult to determining hunter numbers. So how can he be certain its actually getting more crowded other than anecdotal information?

Is it really that bad out west or in Midwest? Maybe it is I have no clue? In Virginia virtually no one hunts public land anymore. Seriously!

Could it be that a lot of private land that had allowed hunting keeps getting sold to developers and/or really rich people who make it a hunting lease business or just say sorry no hunting. Then those people are now moving to public land with an additional influx of some new adult onset hunters. So it appears like all hell is breaking lose?

I know a lot of people who follow social media hunters and tell me they are trying hunting for the first year, or trying public for first time. But they barely make it out more than 2x a year or they never get anything cause they don't hunt effectively.

Again, never been out west, but I don’t think everyone hunting is just in it for the likes. Plus matt is literally publishing media about hunting and has written about hunting prior.

Maybe Matt’s jealous of his brothers success? Imagine going to be a dentist thinking you’ll be the money maker compared to your brother whose a writer for an outdoor magazine. Now that brother is making half a million to hunt…

 

[wapitibob]

Sounds like a bunch of grumpy old men…

“back in my day!”

matt even says its its extremely difficult to determining hunter numbers. So how can he be certain its actually getting more crowded other than anecdotal information?

Is it really that bad out west or in Midwest? Maybe it is I have no clue? In Virginia virtually no one hunts public land anymore. Seriously!

Could it be that a lot of private land that had allowed hunting keeps getting sold to developers and/or really rich people who make it a hunting lease business or just say sorry no hunting. Then those people are now moving to public land with an additional influx of some new adult onset hunters. So it appears like all hell is breaking lose?

I know a lot of people who follow social media hunters and tell me they are trying hunting for the first year, or trying public for first time. But they barely make it out more than 2x a year or they never get anything cause they don't hunt effectively.

Again, never been out west, but I don’t think everyone hunting is just in it for the likes. Plus matt is literally publishing media about hunting and has written about hunting prior…

The only increases will be in unlimited OTC areas. Limited tags haven't been increased anywhere I've been so he's pretty much full of crap.

 

[prm]

Try archery elk in CO, and then tell me there aren‘t more hunters.

 

[CJ19]

The only increases will be in unlimited OTC areas. Limited tags haven't been increased anywhere I've been so he's pretty much full of crap.

Yup. No point creep anywhere.

 

[cnelk]

The only increases will be in unlimited OTC areas. Limited tags haven't been increased anywhere I've been so he's pretty much full of crap.

Ya gotta admit that available leftover tag numbers aren’t what they used to be

 

[WKR]

I think services like GoHunt do way more damage than the guys on social media. They take all the work out of doing your own research to find tags. Anybody with $150 can log on and have all the draw odds/statistics instantly. Not to mention all the OTC spot burning articles they post every year.

 

[wapitibob]

Ya gotta admit that available leftover tag numbers aren’t what they used to be

True, applicants have increased in every state; WY hasn't seen less than 10% since they started the NR E/A/D draw. Those leftovers were still getting picked up but now get taken in the regular draw.
The article stated "public-land hunting is so overcrowded it’s no longer worth it" and the only way that happens in the field is with increased tag numbers, and limited quota tags limit the number of hunters in a given unit. Applicants and draw odds are a different matter.

 

[bowkill02]

Yep
Pretty much have been saying this since Randy Newberg and all the other YouTubers started the demise of western big game hunting. Agree with the article whole heartedly. All the BSthat hunting isn’t going to be around unless we have more hunters is total shit

Newberg and the Born n Raised crews are the worst! Im laughing like crazy right now. Ive been saying this for the last few years and my wife has been calling me delusional. We just read this article together and im so glad i finally dont fe alone with my thoughts on this subject!

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Gobbler36]

Man....there'd be 1770 less social media posts about hunting if you'd decided not to participate.

Haha yeah you’re right took me a bit to realize the social media for hunting is a poison I know that all you argumentative type like to throw hunting forums and Instagram as the same thing, but I feel they are completely different

 

[Idaho_Potato]

Generating enough content to gain big followings and attract sponsors necessitates gobbling up tags and killing more than one needs. Top influencers commonly kill three or more elk a year along with a variety of other game. If you’re reading this, you’re probably following several of them right now.

If I was a nonhunter doing a quick scan of hunting social media, my gut response would be one of shock. It is a cornucopia of carcasses with zero explanation of what they plan to do with all that meat.

Aron Snyder have any opinion on this? I think he mentioned on a podcast he does donate to hunters for the hungry or something like that. But really? Do we need to kill and donate already over-pressured wildlife like they are livestock? Why not just donate beef, pork, or chicken if you really care about the homeless/hungry. And thinning game on over-crowded private is a tough sell when every other picture is an animal attached to a giant rack.

Looks a lot like killing for the sake of filling up an instagram feed to sell backpacks.