What do you say to anti-hunters?

[cmahoney]

I would ask them:

"Why do you think you have those 2 forward-facing eyes, and those pointy canine teeth?....If you want to hate yourself and your previous one million ancestors, fine...don't hate me for being what evolution made me...."

I’ve used the same argument along with following my instincts and asking them if it’s OK for other predators to hunt.


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[Savage99]

I ran into one in Idaho. Coming off the mountain and a man and a cute women where day hiking in. He said. “ where’s your monster bloody elk, not tough enough”, I responded “no I decided it would be easier to take your Girl to a restaurant and kill her a steak with my credit card”, she laughed, he shut up.

That’s about it. Ran into a few in CO but they generally just share the trail and move on. Not really vocal just give you the look and then realize you might talk to them so they stare at the ground. I generally say hi to everyone on the trail. Why not.

So far I’ve had good experiences with hikers in CO. Some even want to share where they’ve seen game. Your quip to that guy was priceless though and quit witted.


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[Beendare]

Can’t argue, you won’t change a hardcore anti hunters mind.

I tell the rest, they are missing out on the healthiest meat on the planet

..

 

[wweaver]

The healthy meat is so true. Most of the anti hunters are also in the all natural non GMO crowd also, I have been able to explain population control with some success- which is really easy to do when talking about whitetails anyway. The ones that are not vegetarians will at least engage in conversation about it anyway.

 

[def90]

Hmmm, I hunt outside of Boulder Co, if you were going to run in to anti's it would be here. So far everyone I've run in to on the trail or back at the parking area on my way back or in has been pretty inquisitive or positive. The only oddball responses I have received were from other hunters I encounter either in the lot at 4am or out in the field when they ask where I was from and say "Boulder". More than once I've heard a response along the lines of no one from Boulder is a hunter, or they have never met anyone from Boulder that is a hunter.

 

[zman]

Where I live (NJ) only 2% of the population hunts. So you pretty much talk to non-hunters everyday. It is amazing how many people don't know a hunter and it is mind-boggling how little they know about animal populations, conservation and hunting. I talk about hunting every chance I get. I also try to get friends and neighbors to pick up my extra bow and take a few shots. If we don't work to educate people hunting will be in trouble in a few years.
One point I always make is that my daughter (only 14) loves to hunt. That stops a lot of people in their tracks. Then they want to listen more.

 

[Traveler]

Nothing really. I hunt with who I hunt and don’t try to convert. Too many hunters have a chip on their shoulder about how they think they are viewed.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Nothing. Hunting is t really my identity so it rarely comes up unless somebody else starts talking about it.

 

[HighUintas]

Well, my brother in law's dad used to be a dairy farmer. A schoolmate of my brother in law's grew up thinking chocolate milk came from brown or black cows.

Some people grow up in certain parts of the US not knowing what a BJ is until they're in college and some of that population isn't aware of BJs at all until they're 45 and happen to have an outsider friend!

And then there's some people who just buy into whatever documentary crap they've been watching.

I've never had to explain to an anti hunting person why I hunt. I think I'd probably explain quite a few of the points made above, but I also wouldn't tell them I don't enjoy shooting the animal or am remorseful after. I'm just not and never have been. I've always enjoyed the shot, take a minute to marvel at the beautiful creature laying before me, then start thinking about how I want to eat that sucker right then and there. I think it's just an instinctual thing that most people probably would enjoy, if they weren't raised to think hunting is bad or be in an environment where the is a stigma about hunting. I have at times in my childhood felt a little ashamed getting excited about seeing a big buck out the window while riding in my friend's mom's car, who was anti hunting. As an adult, I'm glad to be free of those childhood chains where I didn't have my independence and identity set. I know I like to be as close to those animals as possible and feel like I know them as intimately as my friends, I like to shoot the animal, I enjoy cutting it up, and I enjoy eating it.

This year, I think I'm finally gonna have to go dances with wolves and eat a bit of that hot raw heart.. or liver. I think it was a liver. But the heart would have the right energy

 

[Marble]

When I run into an anti I just try to answer questions. I find most of them just really know what they've been told. No exposure.

If they are really nasty then I just don't engage.

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[JGuest]

I work with some Anti-hunters and they aren't normally too terrible.

Generally I make it a point to be extremely respectful of their point of view. I don't escalate and I don't push or provoke. Most of them that I have met have first hand experience with bad/unethical hunters or conflicting personalities in the hunting public. I tend to push the idea that I hunt to feed my family in a way I enjoy. I also enjoy the outdoor part of the hunt with or without a harvest.

Its a tough reality that we all have to be ambassadors for our sport. As we often get to see any bad interactions with hunters immediately turns into news for the anti's.

 

[magtech]

I dont say anything. Why would I waste my air talking to those kind of people?

 

[Gentleman Harvester]

The deer in my freezer lived her best life out in the wild. I am less confident that the steer which went into the burger from White Castle could say the same.

 

[TheGDog]

First of all.. they have no idea how tricky it is to actually get you... and that animal... together at the same place and time to be able to even TRY to make it happen. Talk about how hard that aspect is. Their hearing, their sense of smell.

Highlight how it's fair chase... how it's amazingly difficult... and then what I like to do is use their own buzzwords against them by stating that it's all-natural naturally low-fat Organic free-range anti-biotic-free game that got to live and eat exactly how and what nature intended it to.

And that I take great pride in making use of as much of it as I can. I tan the hides. Process the skulls. And how it feeds my family for about 2-3 months worth of occasional dinners and that I take great pride in serving it up to my wife and child. Something that I brought out of the forest myself on my own back. Knowing that it lived EXACTLY as nature intended it to.

And... that because I took it instead... it didn't meet a grizzly end by being torn apart live by a predators claws and teeth. And then I explain how I also try to go back out there and take out a few of the predators to help ensure that more of their fawns get to grow into adults to help their numbers. And how greenies got the MtnLion ban passed and how that's hurting them. (Here in CA anyway)

 

[Mosby]

I had my son's neighbor come out and question me and make anti hunting statements while I was loading my truck at his house.. I told her that animals don't have retirement programs and free healthcare. They freeze to death, die of disease, starvation or are eaten alive. If you want to sit down some time and talk about it, I would be happy to educate you. If not, its ok. I don't care what other people think or who likes me or who doesn't. She looked at me with her mouth open, didn't know what to say and walked away.

Same neighbor once told me that it wasn't true that wolves eat elk and deer.

Normally, I avoid the neighbor and a discussion unless confronted.

 

[roadrunner]

How many that are indifferent to hunting get lumped into the anti-hunting crowd?

 

[MasterTimo]

I ran into one in Idaho. Coming off the mountain and a man and a cute women where day hiking in. He said. “ where’s your monster bloody elk, not tough enough”, I responded “no I decided it would be easier to take your Girl to a restaurant and kill her a steak with my credit card”, she laughed, he shut up.

That’s about it. Ran into a few in CO but they generally just share the trail and move on. Not really vocal just give you the look and then realize you might talk to them so they stare at the ground. I generally say hi to everyone on the trail. Why not.

That's a good line.

Great thread

 

[Mike Islander]

My most effective go-to so far is "The animal I kill will experience a far more humane death than anything that will kill it in nature, which is slow starvation in winter, debilitating disease, or being eaten alive asshole first by coyotes or bears."

 

[MiPublic]

Where I live (NJ) only 2% of the population hunts. So you pretty much talk to non-hunters everyday. It is amazing how many people don't know a hunter and it is mind-boggling how little they know about animal populations, conservation and hunting. I talk about hunting every chance I get. I also try to get friends and neighbors to pick up my extra bow and take a few shots. If we don't work to educate people hunting will be in trouble in a few years.
One point I always make is that my daughter (only 14) loves to hunt. That stops a lot of people in their tracks. Then they want to listen more.

Was it NY or NY where that guy posted the video of him getting accosted by his neighbor's kid and neighbor in the street of his neighborhood? Either way, jut makes me shake my head.

 

[dtrkyman]

As little as possible! Not worth the breath most times, I have had some intelligent conversations with some Chicago folk, wife's friends, very liberal but also intelligent and willing to see different points of view.

They were not really Anti though, just straight up city people with no clue.

Only ever really had one girl make a snarky comment, I told she should reserve her criticism for something she knew about not something she had zero idea how it worked, I explained to that whole group how science dictates harvest and asked them all to look into the Pittman Roberston act and Dingle Johnson.