Do we have enough hunting influencers yet?

[Pucky Freak]

influencers are a thing. I think it is important for us to support those who are good for the sport, such as randy and I’d consider steve rinella too. But each person has their own opinion on who might be a good influencer.

Influencers are now a permanent fixture of society. The issue is that hunting influencers overwhelmingly convert a public trust resource into dollars for themselves and their corporate partners via photos and videos of dead wildlife. Let that sink in for a minute.

Meateater unabashedly states in their company’s mission statement that their entire objective IS this extraction…it’s literally the whole point of its existence. Some non-hunter is going watch the show and vote differently at the polls…ok…I concede their might be some fringe benefits. But on the whole ME is simply the largest, most successful siphon of the value of wildlife to shareholder pockets. 20 years from now I seriously doubt there will be much positive sentiment about S. Rinella from hunters except for the wealthiest among us.

FT is a different model with a different mission. Convert the value of wildlife into dollars, then turn around and invest 100% of would-be profit into conservation, advocacy, access, and education. The formula is completely nonfunctional without images and videos of dead wildlife that gives us that dopamine hit when we view it. Does the benefit of the ends somehow outweigh the great cost of the means? Time will tell.

It’s kind of like a porn shop raising funds for the local domestic violence shelter. Does porn exploit some women…yeah…it does…but look at this great local resource we’ve established for exploited women. The shelter might legitimately have a much greater positive impact than the societal cost of the source of the funds.

Perhaps a “good” influencer is one who produces tasteful, educational content. Or perhaps a “good” influencer is one who does not extract value from a public resource to fuel their operation, period. No sponsors, no free gear, no payments from F&G depts, nothing.

So yeah, influencers are here to stay. But we each get to decide if we are part of the 21st century version of market hunting, or not.

 

[dranrab]

It is what it is, but I hate the sexualization of the sport of hunting social media has perpetuated.

If hunting is a sport, this is an athlete.

 

[RemingtonRules]

If hunting is a sport, this is an athlete.

Saved that lion from eating himself to death. Guy must have been taking Mtn Ops to get it done going full send.

 

[hank4elk]

I was watching the Sunday Morning show on CBS last week. I know , but I hear the music and remember sitting with my mom to watch. It was her favorite besides MASH.

Anyways it was a segment on Rinella last weekend. Hunting and explaining the life and the food. No shooting or blood shots ,but the process and reasons explained. Eating over the campfire and cooking an elk backstrap in his kitchen, showing the freezer of food.

I was blown away it was on CBS let alone it was done well.

Now maybe a bunch of late onsets get interested and take it up. Maybe some do not like the exposure with tags getting hard to get.

But I'm just an old guy who has no kids of my own to pass anything on. But I know I changed many minds who voted and never took it up, with a meal.
Several friends let me hunt their land if they could share the food. I regularly traded fish and meat for cheese and food they produced.
We had many meals enjoyed by foodies who never had a venison backstrap before and raved, but never took up the life.
But they got it and understood my reasons for my lifestyle.

 

[LuketheDog]

I'm 100% on board with that. The best thing you can do is just don't engage or watch any of it. There is a youtube ban at my house. 99% of the crap on there is just that.

If it's not teaching me something I usually don't watch it anymore, same goes for the kids, but we do watch funny videos on occasion because laughter cures all ills. There's just way too much time-suck "look at me" garbage on YT and Instagram though.

 

[TimberBuck]

I do my best not to pay attention or watch most of it, with some exceptions. A lot of my dislike of certain hunting influencers comes from the fact they are not just an everyday Joe and yet they try to depict otherwise. They don’t have to work a “real” job, which maybe I’m just jealous they have too much time on their hands and can seemingly hunt whenever and wherever they want.

Now of course not all of them fall into this description, but I can think of a few…

 

[thomas89]

Who’s to decide who’s an influencer who stays or goes?

I don’t know where Fresh Tracks revenue goes, nor do I particularly care.(I mean supporting a Nigerian prince would be weird, but who are we to judge?)

I don’t know where revenue from any of the other big name hunting channels goes, and again, nor do I care. (Though my guess is Golds Gym and higher end salons get most.)

For everyone who loves Randy’s content/mission, there’s probably a few who hate it. Not to name names but I know one guy who’s grouchy about Randy abandoning the “every-man” hunter and getting sponsored by Sitka and Leupold.

For everyone who loves the flat bill influencers, I’m sure there’s probably a few who hate them. I do have to chuckle every time I see a guy with a fire bull hat, head to toe in First Lite, rocking some Crispi boots.

If we have to put up with influencers we don’t like/disagree with, to see influencers we do like/agree with, I’d say that it’s a necessary evil.

 

[Flatbrimmer]

Or worse yet is the females who have seemingly taken up hunting and fishing only to self promote themselves because they’ve learned if they hold a bass or a redfish in a string bikini 10,000 fat old men in their basement will smash the like button.

 

[NR_Hunter]

Explain this to me, fellow HT'ers. My wife hates the porn industry and pornography in general. That's cool. I don't object. But I say I don't like "huntress" influencers who are clearly doing more than just selling their hunting skills and she says "you're being a misogynist!"

 

[rogerthat]

Explain this to me, fellow HT'ers. My wife hates the porn industry and pornography in general. That's cool. I don't object. But I say I don't like "huntress" influencers who are clearly doing more than just selling their hunting skills and she says "you're being a misogynist!"

Are you really an archer if your not shooting bow in a bikini?

 

[Flatbrimmer]

Like Button...I never heard of it referred to as that, is that what they are calling it not nowadays?

You’re thinking of the “love button”

 

[geetar]

Explain this to me, fellow HT'ers. My wife hates the porn industry and pornography in general. That's cool. I don't object. But I say I don't like "huntress" influencers who are clearly doing more than just selling their hunting skills and she says "you're being a misogynist!"

You’re not being misogynistic.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Freaking YouTubers. Can’t stand those guys.

 

[Sdbeaupr]

Influencers are now a permanent fixture of society. The issue is that hunting influencers overwhelmingly convert a public trust resource into dollars for themselves and their corporate partners via photos and videos of dead wildlife. Let that sink in for a minute.

Meateater unabashedly states in their company’s mission statement that their entire objective IS this extraction…it’s literally the whole point of its existence. Some non-hunter is going watch the show and vote differently at the polls…ok…I concede their might be some fringe benefits. But on the whole ME is simply the largest, most successful siphon of the value of wildlife to shareholder pockets. 20 years from now I seriously doubt there will be much positive sentiment about S. Rinella from hunters except for the wealthiest among us.

FT is a different model with a different mission. Convert the value of wildlife into dollars, then turn around and invest 100% of would-be profit into conservation, advocacy, access, and education. The formula is completely nonfunctional without images and videos of dead wildlife that gives us that dopamine hit when we view it. Does the benefit of the ends somehow outweigh the great cost of the means? Time will tell.

It’s kind of like a porn shop raising funds for the local domestic violence shelter. Does porn exploit some women…yeah…it does…but look at this great local resource we’ve established for exploited women. The shelter might legitimately have a much greater positive impact than the societal cost of the source of the funds.

Perhaps a “good” influencer is one who produces tasteful, educational content. Or perhaps a “good” influencer is one who does not extract value from a public resource to fuel their operation, period. No sponsors, no free gear, no payments from F&G depts, nothing.

So yeah, influencers are here to stay. But we each get to decide if we are part of the 21st century version of market hunting, or not.

Do you think we would actually be able to get rid of them? And do you think meateater is siphoning dead wildlife into money for them? I’d argue differently, but I do think that analogy is very accurate for 99 percent of influencers. But I digress, if I had a magic wand, I’d get rid of all of them. But I don’t think we will ever get rid of all of them, so I think supporting good ones are the best solution we have.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Not sure if there are enough hunting influencers because I'd like to see more hunting-related fitness programs.

Remember "jazzercise"? Someone could create "Antlercise", which is also Antlersize.

 

[Watts307]

It's been a long wet winter. I am bored... a bit grumpy and hungry... But my goodness there is a ton of hunting influencers and content creators, right?

Definitely too many lol. I think its WAY to easy to become "influencers" nowadays and seems all about pushing products and sponsorships. If I am gonna take advice from someone in this area its definitely gonna be someone who did it before it was cool. Someone like Randy or Rinella.

I definitely dont like seeing bow hunting growing so much. Lot of people just jumping into it with absolute no thought or shooting experience. Especially working at a hunting store and having to deal with people 3 days before opening day getting there bows setup.

It also bugs me seeing this trend of only massive bulls will do. I watch these videos and besides talking about the experience or comradery, its all about what the bull scored. Something that really doesn't interest me too much IMO.

 

[mtmiller]

My wife hates the porn industry and pornography in general.

I hate hearing this. If you don't like your job, quit and find a different one.

 

[corndog1]

IMO, There is a big difference between influencers like Randy is and some of his crew are becoming that seem to do the social media to help for a better cause and truly spread knowledge versus someone like Zach Griffith or elk shape that are doing it purely and 100% self gratification.

Or worse yet is the females who have seemingly taken up hunting and fishing only to self promote themselves because they’ve learned if they hold a bass or a redfish in a string bikini 10,000 fat old men in their basement will smash the like button.

Where could one find such pictures? Asking for a friend

 

[fwagner]

You say Randy and Steve Rinella are good for the sport? From who's perspective....Randy blew up the grand mesa ruining it and contributed to overcrowding, so from that perspective he is bad for hunting. Steve R has blown up sika deer hunting on the east coast and down right ruined it, so from that perspective he is bad for hunting. From a state revenue perspective they are both good for hunting, from the outdoor industry they are both great for hunting, for the land leasing business they are great for hunting (which in turn is bad for public land hunters), for the sale/value of hunting land they are great for hunting. For the public land hunter, especially if you have been in the game for over 10 years, they are horrible for hunting. Both Randy and Steve have spawned MORE social media hunters out of their own companies, as if we needed more. All depends on how you look at it....

 

[geewhiz]

For the public land hunter, especially if you have been in the game for over 10 years, they are horrible for hunting. Both Randy and Steve have spawned MORE social media hunters out of their own companies, as if we needed more.

They have done alot to improve the "hunting industry" but they have completely ruined actual hunting more than anyone ever has.