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The New Cam Hanes Flick

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Just wait till he partners with Ricky Bobby and Bear Grylls and releases a new brand of sports drink.
Wolf Water - The Apex Beverage for Hammering

When he basically bragged that he has never taken his family on a vacation save for one hunting trip to Africa that said a lot to me. Guy finds tons of time every year for going to trade shows and glamping/hunting trips with his industry buddies but can’t go relax somewhere with his wife and kids?!?
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This guy has a family, wife and kids.

He doesn’t value being a good spouse, or a father… inculcating a love of the outdoors… conservation… raising children who respect others and work hard…giving back to his community, the less fortunate.

He’s willing to die, not to protect others, his family, or the ideals of his country…

but rather his own goal to blast an animal with a bow.

Cam is everything I loath.

If you think he’s a hero I don’t respect you.


Back a long time ago, I became interested in videoing my hunts and produced an epically forgettable DVD that sold about 500 copies. My kids were young but I enjoyed having them with me and tried to include them on whatever hunts they could handle.

Out of all that, the absolute most gratifying compliment that anyone ever gave me about that DVD was when a young guy thanked me for showing him that it was possible to include his kids and wife when he was hunting. He had been heavily influenced by other media that hunting was about his status and experience only and was torn between a desire to achieve the “success” promoted by celebrity hunters and what he knew his responsibility to his family should be.


I don’t know how Cam’s family feels about his hunting or messaging. Perhaps there’s a different side of him that isn’t part of his marketing message that we don’t see and he does a great job with family involvement. The only thing I know for certain is that I could never maintain the “Keep Hammering” exercise regime, my full time work, family time, and the hunting and traveling schedule without something seriously suffering. In my experience, the tendency for the family to get the crumbs of time, energy, and emotional investment is a common occurrence when Dad is spread too thin.

I don’t have a problem with guys being inspired to work harder and be disciplined with exercise and focus. I just hope that folks actually figure out their own priorities and concentrate on what really matters instead of chasing an illusion of purpose.
 
This guy has a family, wife and kids.

He doesn’t value being a good spouse, or a father… inculcating a love of the outdoors… conservation… raising children who respect others and work hard…giving back to his community, the less fortunate.

He’s willing to die, not to protect others, his family, or the ideals of his country…

but rather his own goal to blast an animal with a bow.

Cam is everything I loath.

If you think he’s a hero I don’t respect you.
I couldn't agree more. You can tell all you need to know about a man by how he treats his family. That being said I don't pay enough attention to Cam to know how that aspect of his life truly works. Although I can't imagine that the endless self promoting leaves much time for anything else.
 
Out of all that, the absolute most gratifying compliment that anyone ever gave me about that DVD was when a young guy thanked me for showing him that it was possible to include his kids and wife when he was hunting. He had been heavily influenced by other media that hunting was about his status and experience only and was torn between a desire to achieve the “success” promoted by celebrity hunters and what he knew his responsibility to his family should be.
When my daughter was born I got an inbox full of PMs from folks on here with their kiddos in the field, everyone saying how it changes things but how much they love being a dad and how much they enjoy being with their family in the woods that said a lot to me about the character of the folks on this site.

@Big Fin has done a pretty amazing job of demonstrating how you can achieve some lofty hunting goals and yet still be accountable to your family. You can’t make it through more than a few episodes without him commenting on how important his relationship with Matthew is to him.

Rinella has gone a slightly different route and not featured his kids in his content, though they are on his insta, yet still on his podcast he talks about them, one conversation that stuck with me was about coming home from trips “if you don’t want it to be a big deal when you leave, don’t make it a big deal when you get home”, with his point being that you need to come home with your gear and meat buttoned up so that when you walk in the door you’re back and a partner in the family, you don’t get a day to unwind and deal with stuff, you’re back your on.

So sure, Cam is absolutely allowed to keep his personal life out of the lime light, but I think he is grossly irresponsible in the way he portrays that aspect of his life.

Maybe he is an amazing father and partner, but he does have a massive following, he does get millions of views and he does, if even by omission, act like you can blow off everyone around you in pursuit of merc’ing critters.

Honestly his content reminds me a lot of the ski/bike/river porn in the greater outdoor space.
 
re. @wllm s point about how these guys talk about their families

here's how i'd summarize based on what they publicly put out there

steve: man, balancing this stuff is super super hard, it's a lot of time away. you can't miss a beat and be real intentional with your family time. i'm happiest when i'm doing outdoors things with my family, because then no one is missing out on anything.

janis: it's a lot of travel, it's a lot of time away, you have to be extremely intentional with your time when you are at home.

randy: if my wife said shut this operation down i'd do it tomorrow.

cam: bro, i sleep like 3 hours a night, because running and lifting is the most important thing in my life, right after *bow* hunting. bro i still work a full time job, no breaks bro. i took pto to be here bro. i'm so relatable... bro


for real though, when cam was on the meateater podcast pushing his new alpha wolf book and he went on this diatribe about how pointless turkey hunting is because no matter how far you hike, how hard it is, how deep you go, in the end all you have to show for it is a turkey i shred my last 0.01% of respect for him. i imagine steve in his head was even like "gahh, this $*)Q!#@$ guy, why did we bring him on again?"
 
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@Greenhorn it’s not looking good for the sale of your LEGENDARY book…

Bowhunting Trophy Blacktails, when I have the time, will soon be edited/illustrated by me- I may not sell it, with my valuable new volume II additions.

His expensive Alaskan hunting vacation is now fearless “war” movie about having respect of your long lost hunting buddy and being extra brave? 100% Cam Hanes. A 3 minute scan through some of the Cam guzzling you tube comments show how sadly gullible the world is now.

I texted the link to my hunting buddy - who replied perfectly!

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Honestly his content reminds me a lot of the ski/bike/river porn in the greater outdoor space.

I see analogous logic in the mountaineering heros of a lot of folks. Leaving family for months at a time, for what essentially is recreation, over and over again.

I don't know. I believe CH kids are all grown and from what I can tell turned out alright. I know lots of obsessed people who spend a lot of time away from their families in their obsession. I also know folks who work so damn much they rarely see their families. If anything, I think that those who look up to CH as examples of how to have a relationship with hunting and fitness, are gonna be in for rough marriages if their wives have a modicum of spine.

I don't think CH is a bad person necessarily, just that there's something that is both performative and at the same time genuine going on. When I try and put to words the way it makes me feel, I kind of fall short, and almost think the mockery does it best.
 
I don’t care who you are. If you aren’t spending time with your wife and kids doing what they enjoy, then you aren’t doing your job as a husband and father.
I always assumed one of them was filming him lifting in his home gym and shooting in his driveway; quality family time helping dad feed his ego
 
serious question that goes through my mind periodically: has he not run western states again because he hasn't won the race entry lottery after qualifying again?

or is it because they started drug testing at western states in 2017?
 
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