Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Re: racism in outdoor space. My observation is that it can make a significant difference what part of the country you are in.
When I moved to SC I was surprised to see so many black farmers, owners of large acerages, and commonly encountered in the outdoor space, especially fishing. I’d often see a jacked up bronco with mudding tires blasting country music and up in the cab were young black guys. Despite the fairly high level of ethnic diversity in rural outdoor recreation, a lot of white people secluded themselves to all-white hunting clubs and didn’t have to (or want to) ever rub shoulders with black people when hunting.
As most of us know, six deer hunters were slain by a Hmong hunter in 2004 over a WI trespassing confrontation. This resulted in substantial ethnic tensions between Asian hunters and white locals in IA, WI, and MN, which is still very much alive today. MN has a large Hmong population, and hunter participation is pretty high, with a significant amount of hunters hunting out of state in IA and WI. IA DNR gets a lot of calls about supposed law violations from locals, which turn to be nothing except harassment, paranoia, or prejudice.
Personally, I grew up around Hmong in MN. Broke bread with them, spent time in their homes, and have gone on wilderness trips with Hmong guys. So it’s easy for me not to have a prejudice in this regard and when I encounter Asian hunters afield, some of whom don’t speak much English, I see them as individuals. However, I can how this is more challenging for other hunters who don’t have the personal experiences I did, and just have the WI massacre come to mind.
When I moved to SC I was surprised to see so many black farmers, owners of large acerages, and commonly encountered in the outdoor space, especially fishing. I’d often see a jacked up bronco with mudding tires blasting country music and up in the cab were young black guys. Despite the fairly high level of ethnic diversity in rural outdoor recreation, a lot of white people secluded themselves to all-white hunting clubs and didn’t have to (or want to) ever rub shoulders with black people when hunting.
As most of us know, six deer hunters were slain by a Hmong hunter in 2004 over a WI trespassing confrontation. This resulted in substantial ethnic tensions between Asian hunters and white locals in IA, WI, and MN, which is still very much alive today. MN has a large Hmong population, and hunter participation is pretty high, with a significant amount of hunters hunting out of state in IA and WI. IA DNR gets a lot of calls about supposed law violations from locals, which turn to be nothing except harassment, paranoia, or prejudice.
Personally, I grew up around Hmong in MN. Broke bread with them, spent time in their homes, and have gone on wilderness trips with Hmong guys. So it’s easy for me not to have a prejudice in this regard and when I encounter Asian hunters afield, some of whom don’t speak much English, I see them as individuals. However, I can how this is more challenging for other hunters who don’t have the personal experiences I did, and just have the WI massacre come to mind.
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