Matt Rinella gives a talk at Pope and Young

[RunNGunSC]

Thank you for posting the speech and kudos to them for bringing in someone with new ideas and a different perspective. The value of a good debate and discussion has been lost through censorship and labeling. I’m from the east where several of his points don’t resonate. I actively try to mentor new hunters despite limited opportunity. Privatization and commercialization are huge risks to hunting as we know it. I realize competition for tags and demand for OTC tags has risen dramatically, but I think efforts to lower NR pressure likely also lead to privatization and making hunting a rich man’s hobby. I also think his point about 1 elk, 1 deer, and 1 pronghorn tag for resident and nonresident hunters is a very good one. We dropped turkey tags from 5 to 3 a few years ago. I think it significantly improved populations and the quality of the hunt. The best and most dedicated hunters can fill tag after tag, but most struggle to get 1. So the top 10% take a huge amount of the harvest.

I wish for fair and transparent chances where I apply, nothing more. I also don’t like using price as a differentiator. Like I said, I agree with some of his points but disagree that we should stop recruiting passionate hunters. I strongly support access and habitat improvement as a partial mitigant to limited availability and high demand. I also think OTC tags should be limited and more tags should be purely random. I fear resident greed will lead to outfitter carve outs, landowner/pay to play tags, and special access for the rich pools.

 

[woods89]

I am generally a pretty solution-forward type of person, but I don't think the toothpaste is going back in the tube on most of his concerns (some of which I share). I like hearing different perspectives on the topic, Matt's included. If I had to summarize one of the biggest problems, I would call it experience vs. expectations. For both long term and newer hunters.

Solutions? One of the only long term wins I could actually see happening, though not easily or cheaply, is regaining some lost ground in access.

I agree, much as I would like to see big changes, the damage is mostly done.

I don't know how many new hunters shows like Meateater have created, certainly some, but I think perhaps the larger issue is that hunting TV and social media has pushed a lot of people into hunting out of state. And further, it seems like it keeps going, and then you have people hunting 2 or 3 states every fall. We are not a culture that prioritizes moderation, so if some is good, more is better, right?

I'm a little bit guilty here, I didn't start hunting out of state until about 7 years ago. Now I'm buying elk and deer points in one state and elk and antelope points in another.

I think we will be a little aghast at some point in the future at the negative effect social media has had on many aspects of our lives.

 

[fowladdict]

If HT, rokslide and the likes all shut down tomorrow, would that improve anything?

 

[375H&H]

If HT, rokslide and the likes all shut down tomorrow, would that improve anything?

Let’s start with shutting down monster muleys first.

 

[TOGIE]

If HT, rokslide and the likes all shut down tomorrow, would that improve anything?

nah, the forums have basically been around since Y2K.

steve's explosion into the maintream with instagram, Rogan interviews, and his show on netflix between like 2014-2017 coincides quite nicely with a lot of the more severe "pops" you see on graphs of application numbers in the west.

not saying it's all steve, but boy, he sure has invigorated a passion for this pastime probably more than anyone. lifting a lot of social media players higher with him. rising tide lifts all boats and all that

i still maintain, nobody is bringing more thoughtful hunters to the game tho than steve i think. the average hunter of today seems to be a very different breed than the average hunter of, say, the 80's IMO, and for the better.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

If HT, rokslide and the likes all shut down tomorrow, would that improve anything?

Productivity at US Think Tanks would improve 10X.

 

[BuckRut]

steve's explosion into the maintream with instagram, Rogan interviews, and his show on netflix between like 2014-2017 coincides quite nicely with a lot of the pops you see on graphs of application numbers in the west.

Did the increase in media drive more hunters or did more hunters drive the demand for more hunting related media. Playing devil's advocate here.

 

[TOGIE]

Did the increase in media drive more hunters or did more hunters drive the demand for more hunting related media. Playing devil's advocate here.

well i certainly think both of those things are/were happening. steve was/is a very invigorating force with his content for the hunting-curious, the non hunters, and longer time die hards alike.

i think the good content was demanded because it was good. and the good content quickly got noticed by more than just the original long time hunters who liked it. friends of hunters started seeing it, outdoor nuts started seeing it, etc. those people got real interested in a lens through which hunting was presented that's never been done before; a very high quality presentation IMO. i'm one of those, though granted, really my friends got me into hunting, steve's show sure invigorated more interest and passion in me though.



however, I think the increase in media maybe has not created as many new hunters as we might like to think, it has likely just created far more "western hunters".

at the same time though, i suspect, that if you could poll all hunters in america, today, and determine what percentage of them went on their first big game hunt as an 18+ year old adult in the last 10 years, not western hunts, just first big game hunt in the last decade it would be the highest it's ever been.

 

[DFS]

I agree the tooth paste isn’t going back into the tube. I’ve seen first hand what a hunting personality can do to an area. It sucks and not much can be done about it. It’s even worse when the game agency refuses to admit there is a problem and won’t make adjustments to give the wildlife a break. Matt might be the hero we needed it’s just 20 years to late.

 

[TheTone]

How many utter and complete trash bags has social media allowed to become full time hunters and paid advertisers? To me that is one of the issues; a bunch of them seem generally talentless but someone has to stock Walmart shelves at night. Instead they’re probably making at least six figure salaries killing for content and pushing a product of the month

 

[TOGIE]

Instead they’re probably making at least six figure salaries killing for content and pushing a product of the month

i don't think so.

i suspect very very few of them actually make any decent amount of money at all from their social media alone

for most of them, they get paid in ego

 

[NR_Hunter]

If HT, rokslide and the likes all shut down tomorrow, would that improve anything?

If FB, Reddit, Tik tok and IG all went away, it would be a start.

Hell just the other day I went to my favorite trout hole and some jabroni with a spinning rod was talking to his GoPro.

I’m just so sick of these unexceptional people thinking they’re worth witnessing at everyone else’s expense.

 

[fowladdict]

nah, the forums have basically been around since Y2K.

The forums are where I got the novel idea of hunting multiple states.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

I do believe the larger media niches were going to be filled by someone. Imagine a world where Hushin was the only horseshit available. When I think of it that way it does make me appreciate Randy, and to a far lesser extent MeatEater.

 

[TOGIE]

The forums are where I got the novel idea of hunting multiple states.

yeah and the guys before you got the novel idea from a magazine. compared to modern social media, youtube, and netflix shows though, the early hunting forums might as well have been the most niche way possible to learn about hunting. it was where the die-hards went to hang out and they were more inward facing clubs than a projection of outward facing content designed to go viral for the masses.

 

[woods89]

yeah and the guys before you got the novel idea from a magazine. compared to modern social media, youtube, and netflix shows though, the early hunting forums might as well have been the most niche way possible to learn about hunting. it was where the die-hards went to hang out and they were more inward facing clubs than a projection of outward facing content designed to go viral for the masses.

I'm still going to maintain that print magazines and Instagram are an apples to hand grenades comparison. You got magazines once a month, but you get to watch the highlights of a hunt unfold in real time on current platforms if the producer wishes. It's not the same.

 

[TheTone]

Imagine a world where Hushin was the only horseshit available.

 

[TOGIE]

I'm still going to maintain that print magazines and Instagram are an apples to hand grenades comparison. You got magazines once a month, but you get to watch the highlights of a hunt unfold in real time on current platforms if the producer wishes. It's not the same.

you misread.

i'm comparing print magazines and the early forums as two similarly old school ways of learning about hunting that are like flying a wright brothers plane compared to modern social media and you tube which is the F-35.

 

[woods89]

you misread.

i'm comparing print magazines and the early forums as two similarly old school ways of learning about hunting that are like flying a wright brothers plane compared to modern social media and you tube which is the F-35.

Ok, yeah, I misunderstood a bit.

 

[fowladdict]

yeah and the guys before you got the novel idea from a magazine. compared to modern social media, youtube, and netflix shows though, the early hunting forums might as well have been the most niche way possible to learn about hunting. it was where the die-hards went to hang out and they were more inward facing clubs than a projection of outward facing content designed to go viral for the masses.

You kind of prove my point. Media advancement has been a generational thing. From print to film to forums to youtube and social media to podcasts to whatever is next. Take away hunting from any one of those things forever and you would have different results. We can agree to disagree though.