Matt Rinella gives a talk at Pope and Young

[lastlight]

The fact of the matter is there is really nothing to be done about "influencers" if you believe in the Constitution and free market. I would love to see a reduction in pressure across the country but that's not likely to happen until over saturation leads to ever poorer experiences that lead to quitting. I'd like to see an expansion in opportunity to cover all the pressure but that's not likely to happen.

I believe in a free market except when it comes to monitizing and profiting off of dead animals/public resource.

Hasn't there been a similar increase in most outdoor recreation though? For my entire life we've been camping at this little lake that my great grandfather engineered the dams on. First come first serve USFS campground. Up until 2020 it was no big deal to pull in Friday afternoon and get a site. That doesn't happen anymore. Some days I think I could walk all the way across the lake on paddle boards.

Yes true, thank you social media and the hashtag. Hotsprings, surf spots, fishing spots, camping spots, on and on and on. I take it that some person(s) blew up your campground onlince. In fact I would bet the house on it!

I think this is a very shortsighted statement. I believe the popularity of the influencers is driven by the increased user base as much as they are driving the increase. This world is a complicated place and if you truly believe there is a singular source responsible for the increase you are very wrong.

Ok I agree that maybe its not solely driven by SM influencers. However, they are the majority cause in the increase. Think Duck Dynasty as one example, you cant possibly argue they single handedly didnt blow up waterfowl hunting. Cam Hanes, you cant argue he didnt start the movement into backpack hunting and now every basin 5 miles in is full of people who consume that content. Many more examples, again marketing works.

But to your point yes, there are a few people who stumbled into hunting with a natural interest. Like me for example, my family didnt hunt. I picked up bird hunting at 18 years old via friends/other mentors. Then naturally gained interest in feeding myself organic meat and started deer hunting pre SM. Then got into out of state hunting because friends were always applying via paper/mail to other states going on epic hunting adventures. Everyone else thought I was crazy, then rogan/meateater happened and those same people started asking a lot of questions.

Not saying you think this but I've seen where people try and compare the old magazines and VHS tapes to todays SM marketing, thats inanse. The billions of people who can easily watch hunting content have an impact like never before. This also creates a problem with the antis/fence riders. We have already had numerous hunting bans because some jack ass posted a video online killing animals. Ok I am all over the place here but you get my point haha.

 

[more_cowbell]

Hasn't there been a similar increase in most outdoor recreation though?

With iphones, inReach, gopros, social media influencers, online forums and remote work, it seems to have increased quite a bit. And maybe a bit of it is that more people are filming themselves, so it seems like an even larger increase. I assume that in combination with both social media and the ability to apply online for out of state tags, apps like onx and gohunt probably help new hunters apply for more hunts, and feel more confident about taking the plunge.

 

[TheJason]

Hasn't there been a similar increase in most outdoor recreation though? For my entire life we've been camping at this little lake that my great grandfather engineered the dams on. First come first serve USFS campground. Up until 2020 it was no big deal to pull in Friday afternoon and get a site. That doesn't happen anymore. Some days I think I could walk all the way across the lake on paddle boards.

Yep. This also correlates with online reservations being widely available.

 

[BuckRut]

Ok I agree that maybe its not solely driven by SM influencers. However, they are the majority cause in the increase. Think Duck Dynasty as one example, you cant possibly argue they single handedly didnt blow up waterfowl hunting. Cam Hanes, you cant argue he didnt start the movement into backpack hunting and now every basin 5 miles in is full of people who consume that content. Many more examples, again marketing works.

I will preface this with saying that I am not here to fight anyone on this but rather just to put my 2 cents out there that I think we have to be cautious about going full tilt like a Peterbilt against SM and the entertainers who make productions for people like us just to miss the opportunities to address problems with real solutions that could help us some day.

That said I would vehemently argue those points with you. I is much more likely that Cam and the Roberson's are only as popular as they are because of the presence of a large population who relates to them and wants to be entertained and/or learn from them.

Be careful to treat the problem and not the symptom.

 

[MTLabrador]

Yep. This also correlates with online reservations being widely available.

Online reservations have absolutely ruined everything they touch, in my humble opinion.

 

[FI460]

Yep. This also correlates with online reservations being widely available.

No reservations there other than for the group site. I tried to get that the day they opened this year though and every weekend was booked up already. It has become a serious problem everywhere it's available though it seems.

I think geotagging is another of social media's worst aspects. Just do your topless Insta pic facing away from the camera and post it. We don't need to tag the lake.

 

[TheJason]

Just do your topless Insta pic facing away from toward the camera and post it.

 

[shrapnel]

The points he makes are not at all what you are saying. D- watch again and listen to improve score.

Analytical abilities F

 

[Deleted member 28227]

For awhile I kept seeing giant decals on truck windows that had an Elk antler and said Hush. I thought maybe it was a movement encouraging people to not talk about elk hunting spots or something. Then I learned it was another dumb influencer social media bro hunting show and I died little inside.

The fact that he gut shot the bull twice and then made it his brand just adds a little ironic je ne sais quoi to the situation.

 

[lastlight]

I will preface this with saying that I am not here to fight anyone on this but rather just to put my 2 cents out there that I think we have to be cautious about going full tilt like a Peterbilt against SM and the entertainers who make productions for people like us just to miss the opportunities to address problems with real solutions that could help us some day.

That said I would vehemently argue those points with you. I is much more likely that Cam and the Roberson's are only as popular as they are because of the presence of a large population who relates to them and wants to be entertained and/or learn from them.

Be careful to treat the problem and not the symptom.

Understood. I both agree and disagree with your second paragraph here if that makes any sense. Both are true IMO

Can I ask though what you think the downside is of going against hunting influencers? Can’t we at the same time find solutions? I feel if we don’t hold our
own community responsible then there’s no incentive to change, and money/greed/fame is winning. Some influencers are killing 20+ big game a year for content purposes ONLY.

 

[BuckRut]

Understood. I both agree and disagree with your second paragraph here if that makes any sense. Both are true IMO

Can I ask though what you think the downside is of going against hunting influencers? Can’t we at the same time find solutions? I feel if we don’t hold our
own community responsible then there’s no incentive to change, and money/greed/fame is winning. Some influencers are killing 20+ big game a year for content purposes ONLY.

I would agree with you that they are not necessarily doing hunting a ton of good and should definitely be scrutinized.

 

[Nick_CO]

The fact that he gut shot the bull twice and then made it his brand just adds a little ironic je ne sais quoi to the situation.

So the antlers in the decal/logo is from a bull that was gut shot in one of their videos?

 

[DouglasR]

So the antlers in the decal/logo is from a bull that was gut shot in one of their videos?

was it the fire bull?

 

[Deleted member 28227]

So the antlers in the decal/logo is from a bull that was gut shot in one of their videos?

Google firebull there is a whole video and he told “the story” on meateater and I think on Randy’s podcast and like everywhere he possibly could for like 5 years… but yeah shot the bull from a ground blind wounds it, bull comes back like 10 days later or something and he gut shoots( maybe liver) and finally recovers it a long ass time later.


And the time they hunted out of a heli in NZ and got lambasted and then pulled all the footage down lol

Ethical or Not?

Accessing areas to hunt by helicopter and chasing animals from a helicopter until they're exhausted and then landing next to them and shooting are very very different things. That's a fair point. I'm still not ready to call it unethical (in this instance). "Unethical" is not a word that should...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[Nick_CO]

Ugghh. I'm not sure I want to watch any of their stuff. I trust you in that they are not good representatives of the hunting world. I made the mistake of watching mukey freak a few years ago and still regret it.

 

[GigiBobert]

Those Hush boys really know how to put the tard in Tardville. Watched the bearded one screw up a long shot (it appeared that someone who actually knew how to stalk could have closed the distance considerably) on a buck late season in Colorado and wounded and lost him. I believe he may have shot another buck later the same season? The next season, shot and wounded another buck in Colorado, followed blood trail and lost him but justified it by saying the buck didn't really look wounded and said "he will be fine". Don't know if the videos are still posted. I'm surprised they didn't get their asses kicked the next time they showed up in Kremmling.

 

[mtnkid85]

I don't think the world is going to be influencer free anytime soon. Advertiser dollars tied to R3 is here to stay too, I just don't think its productive to call for the all out abandonment and ban of recruiting new hunters.
What we need to be working on is ensuring these new people coming in are ethical, safe and activating them as advocates. In my opinion just being good at killing shit doesn't make you a good hunter in this day and age. We need advocates for what we do, for our wildlife and their habitat. We need less gear dump videos and more how to interact with you fish and wildlife commission videos.

 

[beginnerhunter]

Only hunt one state per year, R or NR.

But really how is overcrowding in the hunting space any different than the overcrowding in the backpacking space, the rafting space, the climbing space, the skiing space? It's not. We have too much money and too much free time. And stop having more kids.

US fertility rate is below replacement:

America, it’s time to pay the demographic piper

In addition to lower fertility and life expectancy, America’s aging population threatens to overwhelm its budget for older citizens and cause slower economic growth.

thehill.com

Population growth is driven by immigration. Also immigrants have more children than non-immigrants (although the effect wanes over time). That means US TFR is likely being boosted by immigration as well. Would likely be closer to Europe without immigration.

New census estimates show a tepid rise in U.S. population growth, buoyed by immigration

Newly released Census Bureau estimates show that in the last year, the nation’s population grew modestly, but hardly returned to pre-pandemic growth levels. Specifically, the estimates reveal: The…

www.brookings.edu

"Thus, the bulk of last year’s increase in population growth (about 86%) was due to a rise in immigration."

So your beef is with immigration. Until the US is willing to slow immigration or create conditions in foreign countries that decrease their fertility, we'll continue to have population growth in the US.

US population is predicted to start declining around 2050. This might be good for western hunting. Although I wonder if the economic decline will reduce $$ resources necessary to protect game numbers. Idk. Also if you are now in your 30s be thinking about what will happen to your retirement income if/when the ponzi scheme of social security runs out of new investors.

 

[DouglasR]

@Matt Rinella
Wtf was up with that snide remark @46:15 “he might even have to go back to his day job as a ski lift operator” about?
Let’s not belittle the people who are literally the life blood of these mountain communities in an attempt to glorify ourselves.

 

[woods89]

The fact that he gut shot the bull twice and then made it his brand just adds a little ironic je ne sais quoi to the situation.

Someone posted a screenshot from one of their elk hunting videos awhile back. 2 shots on the video, but if you zoom in there's 7 shell casings on the ground.

Anymore I just assume that I'm not getting the full story with hunting videos.