What has being nice really done for us?

[average]

And being loud and shoving it in our faces. It’s out there for you to see, read, and hear whether we like it or not. Heck these days you can’t even just work without an employer sending you a banner to put on the bottom of your email for a month. Oh, and don’t forget your pronoun.

You're definitely letting hate cloud reality. That was clear from the first post tho. You can't tolerate people different than you existing but expect them to tolerate you. Many have mentioned here building bridges while you're focused on burning them

 

[Coveyleader]

You're definitely letting hate cloud reality. That was clear from the first post tho. You can't tolerate people different than you existing but expect them to tolerate you. Many have mentioned here building bridges while you're focused on burning the

Why should we tolerate people taking away one of the things we love? I do have a level of hate towards them. They’re taking away the very things many of us think about all day long. There isn’t an hour that goes by that Indont think about hunting, and the outdoors, and what it means to me. And then you have this group that wants to take it all away. You bet your ass there is hate involved here.

I digress

 

[bayoublaster7527]

I don’t think the opposition to hunting is as overwhelming or dire as everyone thinks. They just demand sensational stuff so it garners a disproportionate amount of attention.

The louder and more belligerent someone is in an argument should not be conflated with “winning” the argument. It just means they are usually a dumbass. I’m a lawyer. Deal with it weekly.

Everyone knows not to sink to the same level of dumbassery because they will beat you with experience and everybody witnessing won’t be able to tell who the real idiot is.

Completely disagree. In Colorado hunting, angling, and trapping is under attack at every wildlife commission meeting, every election, and every session of the state legislature. Many times it’s cleverly disguised. It never shows up as “100% ban on all hunting”. But it is absolutely there and it is a complete cancer in this state.

I do however agree with your comment about being the loudest. We need to be calm, collected, and professional.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

I'm in the camp that isn't worried as much about "the anti's" taking away my hunting as I am many other factors out there, most of which involve the exchange of large amounts of money.

Even hunters themselves will freely vote to take away another hunter's right/privilege if it means that they themselves may have a more enjoyable experience. For years I was a believer in Pay to Play and would join and contribute to local conservation organizations in areas I hunted, some being 1000mi from home, was my way of helping them "preserve our heritage" as they often put it, in recent years that money has paid for exactly that....preserve OUR heritage, not YOUR heritage and many of those groups have been using those dollars to create laws that build their own little resident kingdoms and boot out the nonresident diy hunter. I don't stumble around kicking rocks and stewing on it because I've got lots of public land and great hunting right out my door, but it does change a person's attitude regarding future decisions on permits and management on the land outside my own door...maybe I want a kingdom too?

The concept of anti hunting has been around a long time, but many other factors like land fragmentation, public land sales and/or mismanagement, predator mismanagement, squeezing more and more motorized sports & random months long camping into wildlife areas, resident only kingdom building etc are fairly new on the scene and bigger risk so if you're going to yell make sure you yell at the right people.

The idea of hunting as a right is a good political platform come election time, but hunting is no more a right than the right to drive a car on the highway. The wildlife violator compact says that in most states you have the right to hunt as long as you do it the way the govt tells you, if not you lose the right...just like your drivers license.

I can understand the frustration with diminishing opportunities for DIY folks. But that doesn’t discount the reality that anti-hunting groups are growing in power and influence in places like Colorado. And the idea that if we just go in the corner and play nice then they will go away is very misplaced. Make no bones about it, they are coming for everything. We must organize and make a logical, science-based argument to maintain our sporting traditions. Are there bad apples in the hunting community? Sure. But no amount of cleaning house is going to make these anti groups go away. I know lots of people don’t like politics, but to survive we have to participate and make our voices heard.

 

[RockAndSage]

But that doesn’t discount the reality that anti-hunting groups are growing in power and influence in places like Colorado.

Yes - and it's absolutely critical that people understand these are not spontaneous, grassroots groups.

They are deeply interconnected at the leadership, strategy, and funding levels back to organizations that are orchestrating salami-slices of political wins against our interests. They recruit local karens around everything from local environmental issues and save the wolves/cougars/mustangs, etc, but they are also integrated with urban "planning" non-profits, and virtually anything related to getting people disarmed, disinterested, and out of rural areas.

If you want a start in grasping how big and integrated they are, just google "agenda 2030", and almost any karen issue you can think of, from "rewilding" to reintroduction of wolves.

And the idea that if we just go in the corner and play nice then they will go away is very misplaced. Make no bones about it, they are coming for everything.

100%.

We must organize and make a logical, science-based argument to maintain our sporting traditions.

This is where you're mistaken - our opponents are not operating on science, they just use biased perversions of it to justify their emotional and ideological worldviews.

These are values-based positions their activists have taken, and they will NEVER be argued out of them. It's quasi-religious. In public, those people must be shown to be against the values of the persuadable middle, and the worst thing that can be permitted is to allow them to be seen as rational and science-based.

They must be shown to be fundamentally emotional, biased, and emotionally unhinged.

That's what we need to do in a calm, rational manner. Get them to take their masks off, as emotionally unhinged, biased, and fundamentally against the interests of the average person. They must be seen and perceived as socially radioactive, to the point where people don't want to associate with them.

Among other things, that's exactly what they do to us - it's the Saul Alinksy playbook.

I know lots of people don’t like politics, but to survive we have to participate and make our voices heard.

Politics is war by other means - those who disengage get steamrolled. It's a disgusting reality, but reality isn't fair.