When to stop supporting a hunting brand

[Desk Jockey]

Meh.

I don’t personally go looking for my coffee / beer / clothing companies to fight my political battles. I do like to support brands that I find have a good message behind them but I still by from brands that are all over the political and social map. At some point, if they make enough stupid public statements, it starts to make me think about other options. I still have some Patagonia duds and shop at REI on the regular. I didn’t jump ship on BRCC until they sold me a bum batch of their instant packs and I never gave up on bud light or Jack Daniel’s when they got a little too woke for a while.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Swarovski is junk?

Their binoculars are the absolute best in my opinion. I don't have experience with their spotting scopes but those seem elite too. Their riflescopes have a long and storied reputation of not tracking or holding zero. Given I dial my turrets while hunting, they're effectively pieces of garbage.

 

[Fatcamp]

I don't "support" any business. In fact, there is a high likelihood that if they have a bunch of random people using their stuff and talking about how awesome it is I will never even look twice. On the other hand if it's something I need I will buy it, but I have boxes of random junk that at some point I thought I needed.

The influencer generation is honestly nauseating. Really. It spawned from little kids who can't think for themselves about literally anything and now permeates everything.

90% of everything sold for hunting is boutique unneeded BS promoted by bearded Kim Kardashian wannabes. Except KK actually does some good in the world.

Holy cats I sound like a mean old man.

My hope is that AI ruins it all and people turn their backs on electronic stupidity because it's all fake. Not holding my breath.

 

[5MilesBack]

I'm a perfectionist, so I always seek out the absolute best gear that "works best for me". When I find it, I stick with it. I have never left or stopped using "the best for me" because of peripheral noise involving a company. However, what usually happens (I mean ALWAYS happens), is that the company leaves me when they decide to "make improvements" to a product I use which then actually makes it less useful and renders it subpar for my use......or they discontinue it altogether. That's when I leave a company.

 

[Yoder]

I think people should try to give their money to companies and people who don't hate them, their country or their values. So for example, I'm not going to a Robert De Niro movie ever.

 

[BBob]

I really dislike Swarovski for their FOV patent abuse

Patent abuse? Every big player everywhere plays the patent game. Some companies royalty income rivals product sales. The archery world is a big patent circle jerk.

 

[Beendare]

I think its important to vote with my pocketbook….if all hunters and sportsmen did that…we can change things——

Pay attention…and get involved.

 

[Mojave]

Their binoculars are the absolute best in my opinion. I don't have experience with their spotting scopes but those seem elite too. Their riflescopes have a long and storied reputation of not tracking or holding zero. Given I dial my turrets while hunting, they're effectively pieces of garbage.

I have the 8x42 EL Range TA. The 8x42 part is awesome. The Range TA is mmmmeh!

I dial turrets too, I have never owned a Swarovski that had dial turrets, but I see what you are saying.

The eye relief in their spotting scopes and binoculars leaves a lot to be desired for the near sighted folks.

 

[Mojave]

There is not a single product I use because someone famous does and told me it was great.

You have to read between the lines on sponsored items on a website. Real complaints tend to not go away.

Keep that in mind on what you want.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Patent abuse? Every big player everywhere plays the patent game. Some companies royalty income rivals product sales. The archery world is a big patent circle jerk.

Long story but what they do is beyond the usual. It's the equivalent of patenting the idea of an elevation turret dialing more than 20 MRAD. And they selectively enforce it mostly on smaller EU companies because they know if they took Vortex or Nightforce to a US court, they'd get demolished.

People should care about it because until that patent expires (2026 I think?), a lot of smaller scope companies limit their FOV because they can't afford to duke it out with a gigantic company like Swarovski in court. ZCO, Tangent Theta, Leica, Schmidt & Bender, and Minox come to mind as examples but it affects most pricepoints. Scopes that use European glass tend to follow it while Japanese made scopes like Vortex/Nightforce just ignore it.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

I had them on the podcast last month it should come out sometime in June. wonder if I will get canceled lol.

Doubtful, I think many would like to hear a truthful explanation for the behavior on Twitter and then the weak response.

 

[canyonhunter47]

Orvis donating to causes I find unethical

What was that one?

 

[cuerro viejo]

There is a major difference in giving some one a second chance after they paid their debt to society VS getting voices to the very people that want to end our existence.

I don’t care who a companies uses in their marketing, unless it’s about burning the constitution and eliminating the freedoms that have made this country great, that’s my line.

As far as NF, Proof, MTNtough Kryptek etc they are great companies and I will continue to support them as long as they don’t go Anti Hunting and Anti Constitution

 

[UpTop]

For me there’s so much quality gear out there that you’re usually splitting hairs as to which product to use. Like others have said, I won’t go out and get rid of stuff I currently own. BUT I 100% will move on and no longer support companies who do things that are against what I agree with. There’s just no reason to. The SO thing pretty much guaranteed I’ll never even bother looking at their products no matter how big a cult following they have. Same with Carhartt. There’s other companies directly competing with them offering same quality or better gear.

 

[spectrum]

I would never buy a Night Force even though I hear they are good, and I could care less if they sponsor this MF individual hes just one guy and it doesn't affect me personally. Lets talk about the companies that have made decisions that affect thousands. I have bought a lot of gear from Argali who makes some good stuff in my opinion as well as Black Diamond, but recently these two companies have stopped giving the discount to retired military that the active duty, law enforcement and outfitters get. Last time I checked it wasn't Law enforcement or outfitters that have kept this country free allowing the citizens to enjoy their favorite pastimes. So what this speaks to me is that these companies don't really appreciate what veterans have done for this country or the sacrifices they have made. Needless to say I don't buy Argali or Black Diamond anymore as there are still many companies that give veterans a discount.

 

[Timberline001]

I will always use the equipment I deem to be the best in the price point I want to pay or can pay. I’m not going to quit using what I believe to be the best because of their decisions as a business. especially considering at most I’m only going to own 1 to maybe 3 pieces of a product. In the case with nightforce I’ll continue to use my NXS and I’m the future when another nightforce fits the bill I’ll buy another. These things have a way to evolve anayways. I’d hate to dump my NXS then nightforce redeems themselves like Sitka did a couple years ago with the political post on social media. They outed the guy who made the post and publicly fired him. At that point a bunch of my friends had already posted their Sitka for sale.

 

[canyonhunter47]

I don’t care who a companies uses in their marketing

I would just point out that hunting and fishing is not a right. You may not care what non-hunters think but they are the ones can choose (or not) to sign the ballot initiatives at the grocery store parking lot for “reasonable restrictions” like trapping, predators, etc as well as wolves and “modernizing” wildlife management.

MF and other social media influencers like him provide plenty poison for the hunting well, and NF, MtnTough, Black Ovis, etc are giving him more of a platform and more money to subsidize that lifestyle.

 

[TheTone]

I have a true dislike for influencer advertising. I think most of it comes across as phony, dishonest and often disguised as a real honest review when it’s just a paid ad. Mix that with the fact I find so many influencers unsavory and probably in the long run bad for the activities I love I actively avoid buying stuff from companies that use lots of influencer marketing

 

[Jason Snyder]

I guess I don’t understand why the need for folks to sell items because of “x” reason. You already paid the company your money. You aren’t hurting them after the purchase. Does brand identity mean that much to some folks? (Rhetorical question alert)

I can see not buying from a company in the future, but I can’t see myself selling gear just because I’m spun up over something.

 

[OKHunter84]

Look for things to get mad about and you'll find it. Muley freak guy is a douche but who cares.

I went into a country bar with a friend not far from our neighborhood right in the middle of the bud light / Anheuser Busch controversy and there was a bunch of old dudes drinking Budweiser. I was kinda taken back because everyone I knew was not drinking anything related to bud light. Once I talked to an old guy a little I suddenly became jealous of these guys. They were so disconnected that they were unaware and didn't really care about all that anyways.