Are we hurting ourselves?

[geetar]

why not parade it????????????? I can't think of many things I disagree with that are not paraded in our face on a daily basis. we are expected to not only tolerate every evil thing but it is mandatory that we accept all as being good and right .

why should we hunters not expect the same from those who despise our way of life?????????????????

I guess I just don’t like to throw stuff in their face any more than I like them throwing their junk up in my face. I guess I don’t wanna go down to their level. Just wanna do my thing freely and them do theirs.

 

[3855WIN]

America has turned into city folks. Hunting is not a part of big city culture. I do think that a new emphasis on eating wild game meat is showing hunting in a positive light.

 

[Ben Sellers]

I fall somewhere in the middle on this. We shouldn’t hide and become something unusual when we’re seen. On the other end, the guys walking around open carrying an AR15 in public do more harm than good. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. No one benefits from scaring the crap out of the soccer moms at Walmart. I guess I wouldn’t want to be a spectacle and draw a lot of attention. As far a camo, it’s just clothes where it when you want to. I just don’t want to wear out my hunting clothes or make them smell like French fry grease when I’m running errands.

 

[ARKANSASHUNTER]

But if we allow the "bro-hunting" crowd to define us, the future of hunting is doomed.

I'm not a big fan of the "bro-hunting" crowd either but I don't think they'll do us the harm that the "redneck, kill every predator you see, wack em and stack em, road hunting crowd" has done to us. At least the "Bro-Hunters" are environmentally aware and science-based conservation savvy.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I'm not a big fan of the "bro-hunting" crowd either but I don't think they'll do us the harm that the "redneck, kill every predator you see, wack em and stack em, road hunting crowd" has done to us. At least the "Bro-Hunters" are environmentally aware and science-based conservation savvy.

Pffffttt....do you even "smoke a pack a day" broah......?

 

[BuzzH]

I don't know that the whole lack of gunracks in windows is because anyone is trying to "hide" anything. Its just an archaic way to haul firearms around and probably devalued more fine firearms than any practice I can think of. Rubs the bluing right the hell off of them, rattles on the windows, just an over-all pain in the ass really.

I go to the range and hunt a lot and my non-hunting neighbors don't even give me a second glance when I'm loading my rifles in my vehicles.

I agree with JM77, the "bro hunters" are what I cant stand.

 

[88man]

Carry a glock and a rifle in the truck every day.
I know the world is changing but I believe even in urban areas people should see people wearing hunting clothing orange/camo etc. Game in hitch haulers etc. Dog Boxes.

 

[RockinU]

I understand the sentiment to "give not one inch", but the simple fact is that we aren't in the majority, and regardless of what many seem to think, our ability to continue to hunt as we like depends, to a large extent, on the support (or at least the impartiality) of people who do not hunt. I've found that many people who may not have an interest in hunting themselves, do actually have some interest in the activity and what it entails, and how we engage them in conversations about hunting can go a long way towards keeping them on the side we need them to be on.

I spent the last several days doing my last scout of the year, and as usual we saw plenty of people at the trailhead, and on the trail. There were 2 instances where we stopped and visited with hikers that I feel pretty comfortable in saying were likely not there to scout, and in those instances it came up that we were in fact scouting for an upcoming hunt, and in both instances something like "that's so cool" was said.

We don't like it when people shove stuff we aren't sure about in our face, and if we want to continue to cultivate allies, then we need to present what we do in a respectful (to both the animal, and other people), and classy way. I see no reason to hide what we do, or who we are, but I also don't see any reason we shouldn't present it in a way that shines the best light on us possible.

 

[noharleyyet]

Do we not get social "carbon credits" for attempting to bridge the cultural morass with the 6.5 bun?

 

[COEngineer]

I live in CO, which in general is being filled (over-filled?) with people from big cities. For example, when Bush was elected, El Paso County (just south of Denver) was the red-ist county in the whole country. Now it doesn't even matter. Denver has become so massive that the votes in the other areas of the State are insignificant.

Despite the above, my personal experience has been that I am more self-conscious about the negative attitudes that people might have than the ones they actually have. I have certainly gotten a few, "Well, at least you're bow hunting" or "Oh, you're one of the 'fit' hunters, not a road hunting slob" which I don't really agree with (I'm also a rifle hunter and drive around on roads), but I'm not going to engage in that discussion on the trail . But most of the time, I get reactions like, "Oh cool, I'd like to try that someday" or "We saw some elk yesterday way back in there" and even when I have a carcass on the trailer I have gotten "Nice buck." I'm not saying there weren't others driving by that didn't say anything, but I think for the most part, if you're not driving through downtown Denver, most people recognize hunting as a valid use of the resource.

 

[Chris76]

It’s diff a diff world we live in. My son had a school project last year and he did it on diff brand of shells out of his 7mm08 and when he took it to school I had taken pics of him shooting it and pics of the diff types of impacted on the target. Had a lot of time and money bc shells are not cheap and when he took it in he got a zero and had to do a completely diff project. So we did one on fishing and diff spinner in ponds then river. He got a 100% on the project but I don’t see why he had to switch them. Took no gun in or bullets just a cut out of the box on the poster board. Sorry for the long rant but when I was a kid the first project would have been fine

 

[Deleted member 28227]

It’s diff a diff world we live in. My son had a school project last year and he did it on diff brand of shells out of his 7mm08 and when he took it to school I had taken pics of him shooting it and pics of the diff types of impacted on the target. Had a lot of time and money bc shells are not cheap and when he took it in he got a zero and had to do a completely diff project. So we did one on fishing and diff spinner in ponds then river. He got a 100% on the project but I don’t see why he had to switch them. Took no gun in or bullets just a cut out of the box on the poster board. Sorry for the long rant but when I was a kid the first project would have been fine

That's ridiculous... I probably would have gone on a long winded rant about how the reason that teacher has a smart phone in his/her pocket is because the military needed a device to calculate sophisticated ballistics --> ENIAC.

I would have given your kid an A and you a thumbs up for showing your son how to apply math and science to a real world application and hobby. My dad was a science teacher and would have loved that project.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

With all the talk of gun control I can't help but wonder if WE are doing it wrong?

We have gone underground. No one carries a rifle in a gun rack. We almost sneak around like it's shameful.

You almost never see hoofs or horns in the back of a pickup.

I know the idea is that seeing such things could spur neutral folks to not be neutral. But I can't help but wonder if WE are making it seem out of norm, even bad by going to such great lengths?

I read about, and had myself, a shotgun in my car at high school. The ride home from deer hunt was a parade. Now, we sneak around like high school lovers on Saturday night.

Unfortunately I've spend some time in California lately. It struck me how many gay/lesbian folks I see strolling around, hand in hand. Honestly what struck me was how I rarely notice it, despite the era I grew up in, and being from Utah. Seems those folks just decided the more they engaged in normal activities, the less abnormal or different it would be to the public. In short, no one cares.

Are we wrong to not do the same with guns and carcasses? We talk about the snowflake culture, but are we contributing to it be hiding what we do to not offend sensibilities?(not calling for AR dude in Wal-Mart, or blood and guts strapped to a hood).

What do u think?

I think what your getting at is that if you were more upfront about firearms and hunting that it would make it seem more pedestrian and therefore help it be more accepted by non-hunters. If I've learned anything in my 30 years of interacting with other humans it's that they feel uncomfortable their immediate reaction is to be defensive.

I think your end goal would be much better served, by just being accepting of non-gun owners, being up front about your interests and hobbies, and showing that you are ethical and responsible when you shoot and hunt. There are only 3-4 people out of 65 at my company that hunt, I'm always very upfront about the fact that that's what I'm doing on my vacation and weekends, I bring in various things I've cooked into the office to share and give lots of people meat. I'm never apologetic about the fact that I use guns or kill things, but I also don't give the vegetarians in the office crap about their lifestyle. I never show people grip and grins, but make it very clear that we killed animals on the trip.

Not really in response to your comment but just general thoughts, I don't like to wear my ski/bike cloths around town when I'm not doing those activities either, and I don't keep the expensive sporting goods for those activities hanging in my car either.

I didn't hunt growing up, I went to a rural high school and everyone had gun racks in their trucks... I found it stupid and obnoxious. There were probably 2 kids that actually went hunting before or after school, the rest were just doing it as a statement, ie they new that it made other people uncomfortable and did it specifically for that reason.

You see tons of hoofs and horns, coming down I-70 in the fall, and I see nothing wrong with that... certainly be who you are but just don't go out of your way to offend people.

 

[Gila]

IMHO it is just a matter of what is appropiate and where it is appropiate. Would you wear a camo shirt and jeans to a performance of the Bolshoi? City folks tend to get nervous around guns and I don't see that as unusual. I grew up in the country, worked and lived in the city, retired back to the country. Nothing has changed much in the country or the city from what I can see. More gangs and drugs in the city for sure. What has changed is more restrictive gun laws. What is hurting "us" is the media blitz to foment fear about guns.

Most of the big sports chains these days won't transfer a firearm until a proceed is given on a BC. Some statistics I have seen hover around 25% of firearm purchases are delayed. The big sports chains do this to be more inclusive in the hopes of making more sales other than guns. The top outdoor magazines have gone much more "liberal" in their writings and support to drive up subscriptions. These corporate policies are pushing the sportsmen and sportswomen further out on the limb. In many parts of Texas and NM if you don't wear boots and a stetson you will get stares. I have seen more open carry in Las Vegas than I have in ALB or Sante Fe. When in Rome do what the Romans do as they say.

 

[RockinU]

It’s diff a diff world we live in. My son had a school project last year and he did it on diff brand of shells out of his 7mm08 and when he took it to school I had taken pics of him shooting it and pics of the diff types of impacted on the target. Had a lot of time and money bc shells are not cheap and when he took it in he got a zero and had to do a completely diff project. So we did one on fishing and diff spinner in ponds then river. He got a 100% on the project but I don’t see why he had to switch them. Took no gun in or bullets just a cut out of the box on the poster board. Sorry for the long rant but when I was a kid the first project would have been fine

I would have lost my mind on that one...would not have accepted that 0 without taking it as far as I could go.

 

[kylemcintyre67]

I would have lost my mind on that one...would not have accepted that 0 without taking it as far as I could go.

+1
I would have made it very clear to the teacher that no alternative project would be turned in.

 

[JLS]

Like NHY said, guns visible in a gun rack are an invitation to a break in. They IMO do absolutely nothing to further "acceptance" of guns and hunters.

You don't serve as an ambassador of hunting with an in your face persona. You just come across like a jackass and turn off the folks in the middle. I'm not saying hide it. I don't. My neighbors, who don't hunt, see me unloading guns, dogs, dead animals and such all the time.

I talk hunting down at the local REI store. I talk hunting at the mountain bike shop. I talk hunting at the gym. I talk hunting at church. All to many folks who don't and never will hunt. That is where your value is. Be real, be authentic, and be respectful.

 

[kmott]

I don't know that the whole lack of gunracks in windows is because anyone is trying to "hide" anything. Its just an archaic way to haul firearms around and probably devalued more fine firearms than any practice I can think of. Rubs the bluing right the hell off of them, rattles on the windows, just an over-all pain in the ass really.

I go to the range and hunt a lot and my non-hunting neighbors don't even give me a second glance when I'm loading my rifles in my vehicles.

I agree with JM77, the "bro hunters" are what I cant stand.

what's a bro hunter?????????

 

[kmott]

It’s diff a diff world we live in. My son had a school project last year and he did it on diff brand of shells out of his 7mm08 and when he took it to school I had taken pics of him shooting it and pics of the diff types of impacted on the target. Had a lot of time and money bc shells are not cheap and when he took it in he got a zero and had to do a completely diff project. So we did one on fishing and diff spinner in ponds then river. He got a 100% on the project but I don’t see why he had to switch them. Took no gun in or bullets just a cut out of the box on the poster board. Sorry for the long rant but when I was a kid the first project would have been fine

surprised they didn't expel him.

part of the job of public schools is to push anti gun agenda .

I don't say this to inflame or offend . it is simply so!

if we can't even accept this one truth , there is no point even trying to discuss this topic

 

[Chris76]

I can understand if my son was like shooting animals and taking pics but this was all target shooting and was truly innocent but I do get the schools being anti gun but he got it approved before we did the project then the day he was to present it to the class they say no and give him a zero but said he had a week to do another project. If I can figure out how to put pics on here I will take a pic of the poster board and show you guys that it was not promoting guns at all it was diff ammo and what his hypothesis was on the best ammo. I can see both sides but we spent weeks on it and it was pretty awesome.