Saw this on a FB page today

BRICKBURN said:

Little Orange men are exempt. They don't like hunting anyway.

Click to expand...

I thought those were Oompaloompas.

Randy F said:

I thought those were Oompaloompas.

Click to expand...

More likely Teletubbies

Quest#1 said:

Not Racism! Again why didn’t the op use his 5 principles before starting this thread and possibly ruin someone’s life and business with a picture they most likely didn’t post. Entire thread is bullshit

Click to expand...

Matt, I certainly did.

What makes you defensive?
Being subject to bigotry and derisive comments: Foreigner, Canadian. Insinuation of malicious motives and Ill tempered profanity.
I recognize these comments as the posters own defensiveness.

Get genuine support, helps you gain a broader perspective.
I have now seen a broad range of reactions and replies from: bad taste, racism, frustration, minimization, indifference and blame.
What some guy or company puts up in their trophy room is a personal choice. I agree, right up until it ends up on the internet.
Experienced people understand the genuine concern for the negative imagery associated with hunting.
Even those with your apparently dissenting opinions you demonstrate genuine empathy for the possible consequences for the trophy room owner in question for something they may not have knowledge of being promulgated. This empathy demonstrates an understanding of the central tenet of the thread: Images that can be perceived negatively can have an negative impact on the hunter/hunters.

Pause and reflect.
I did not name the company in question. Nor do I care to. That is not the point.
I was peacefully enjoying a publicly available image. I like trophy room photos and enjoy seeing the successes of other hunters.
I unexpectedly ran across the effigy of a human head in a Hippos mouth.
It happened to be black.
It did not look like a mask. It appeared 3D to me.
The effigy happened to be in a trophy room of African taxidermy.
I was shocked.
From past experience I believe this image would be seen negatively by many and would be negatively associated with hunters in general.
It is an issue worth discussing and addressing with members.
People do like to shoot the messenger.

Connect with others
I sought other opinions and information on the image from other hunters.
As I suspected many people did not immediately see the detail in the image. The same as me.
A member identified the effigy as a mask of Barack Obama.
I found out that in some parts of the USA effigies and masks of Presidents are common place and subject to all sorts of treatment.
I learned that some knew the location and the business.
As expected, there are a range of reactions to the content and my concern. Fair enough.


“What can I change?”
I am not contacting this business and telling them to behave differently. They have made a choice and allowed people to take images of their trophy room in its current state. In this day and age of electronic images it is rather naive to think someone won't post images or "share". It's their responsibility to manage.

Having a discussion to inform and possibly influence my fellow hunters to be more aware and hopefully mindful that images on the net can have unintended consequences beyond their intended "share" and possibly consider that before posting. Hope springs eternal.

BRICKBURN said:

An article I found helpful:

• Pause to short-circuit the emotion and reflect.
• Connect with others in ways that affirm the importance of relationships.
• Question yourself to help identify your blind spots and discover what makes you defensive.
• Get genuine support that doesn’t necessarily validate your point of view but, rather, helps you gain a broader perspective.
• Shift your mind-set from “You need to change” to “What can I change?”

These five principles require that all parties adopt a learning orientation.
Harvard Business Review
https://hbr.org/2006/09/rethinking-political-correctness

Click to expand...

Absolutely spot on. When you get an anti-hunter to agree to those same principles I will begin to listen. This whole thread is why my trophy room has multiple signs that say "take all the pictures you want, just don't share them publicly." I refuse to let ANY non-hunter tell me what to do. especially in my own house. Threads like this also show how easy it is to split and divide hunters. CBL, Fenced, etc and on and on. If we can educate hunters to have just a bit of taste and how to handle social media that is a victory. But don't pretend to tell me how I must act or behave in my own house. Only when I become public. Thanks, rant over.

K-man said:

Absolutely spot on. When you get an anti-hunter to agree to those same principles I will begin to listen. This whole thread is why my trophy room has multiple signs that say "take all the pictures you want, just don't share them publicly." I refuse to let ANY non-hunter tell me what to do. especially in my own house. Threads like this also show how easy it is to split and divide hunters. CBL, Fenced, etc and on and on. If we can educate hunters to have just a bit of taste and how to handle social media that is a victory. But don't pretend to tell me how I must act or behave in my own house. Only when I become public. Thanks, rant over.

Click to expand...

You get it!

Yes but unfortunately Africa hunting.com is also social media and available to the general public except for posting privileges. There is a reason my last several hunts have no hunt reports or pictures. I can learn.

K-man said:

Yes but unfortunately Africa hunting.com is also social media and available to the general public except for posting privileges. There is a reason my last several hunts have no hunt reports or pictures. I can learn.

Click to expand...

Balancing act.

K-man said:

Yes but unfortunately Africa hunting.com is also social media and available to the general public except for posting privileges. There is a reason my last several hunts have no hunt reports or pictures. I can learn.

Click to expand...

@K-man By the way, if you don't mind sharing. What was the driver for your change of mind regarding sharing your hunt reports?

I'll give credit and applaud the OP for wanting to be proactive rather than reactive and defensive. However.....

I seen this OP earlier today. When I first seen the photo I just seen a very massive amount of trophies with various other items of room decor stuffed, IMO a cluttered mess, inside a large room. Spent maybe a minute looking over the photo.

Having read the OP's thread. Magnifying the photo 2x and searching the photo I still couldn't see the problem. It wasn't until I knew what to look for that I magnified the photo to 5x then very slowly proceeded again from edge to edge, top to bottom that I saw the head starting on the 3rd pass.

My point is:

How many of us who viewed the photo, prior to reading the progressiveness of the thread, was instantly attracted to seeing the head inside the hippo's mouth?

How many of us commenting to the OP's thread would have written a different comment in reference to the photo had the head and other specifics had not been pointed out and made the primary topic?

All I'm suggesting is:

No details have been asked of or provided by the owner of the trophy room as to why this head is where it is?

Why is it as much as we condemn msm and social media for their asinine actions, that some of us are suddenly forced to look into the mirror, because we are acting in much the same manner by negatively posting without the facts but based on our own personal biased conclusions, suspicions, and opinions.

Perhaps in the trophy room owner's context to which we have not been privileged to, there is some shareable joke or humor, that doesn't contain racism, sexism, or any other antisemitism.

Ontario Hunter said:

Yep. Looks like something I might see in Texas. If I ever went to Texas again. And that's not happening.

Tacky in the extreme. I sometimes think my little house is filled to the brim with horns and skulls but no comparison to that. This guy's living room probably has purple velvet upholstery and green wallpaper.

Click to expand...

Your post consistently make me laugh. You have a lot to say for a Canadian.

Ontario Hunter said:

Which was/is my point. The lone star flag painting front and center makes a generalization much easier.

Click to expand...

I think you should visit Texas my friend….get a whiff of freedom, seems like you may need it.

Quest#1 said:

It’s unbelievable how hunters and conservationists continue to attack and bring negative attention to other hunters and conservationists. This is why it’s a dying breed and why my grandkids probably wont have a place to hunt. Keep up the finger pointing. Unreal.

Click to expand...

Seriously man, we’re a dying breed because know one will do a damn thing about the way our society is behaving. No confrontation, no telling all these whacko’s what they say and do is crazy. We are living in upside down world because know one will do a damn thing about it. The day will come my friends, the day will come.

Ridge Runner said:

I'll give credit and applaud the OP for wanting to be proactive rather than reactive and defensive. However.....

I seen this OP earlier today. When I first seen the photo I just seen a very massive amount of trophies with various other items of room decor stuffed, IMO a cluttered mess, inside a large room. Spent maybe a minute looking over the photo.

Having read the OP's thread. Magnifying the photo 2x and searching the photo I still couldn't see the problem. It wasn't until I knew what to look for that I magnified the photo to 5x then very slowly proceeded again from edge to edge, top to bottom that I saw the head starting on the 3rd pass.

My point is:

How many of us who viewed the photo, prior to reading the progressiveness of the thread, was instantly attracted to seeing the head inside the hippo's mouth?

How many of us commenting to the OP's thread would have written a different comment in reference to the photo had the head and other specifics had not been pointed out and made the primary topic?

All I'm suggesting is:

No details have been asked of or provided by the owner of the trophy room as to why this head is where it is?

Why is it as much as we condemn msm and social media for their asinine actions, that some of us are suddenly forced to look into the mirror, because we are acting in much the same manner by negatively posting without the facts but based on our own personal biased conclusions, suspicions, and opinions.

Perhaps in the trophy room owner's context to which we have not been privileged to, there is some shareable joke or humor, that doesn't contain racism, sexism, or any other antisemitism.

Click to expand...

so true, i looked at photo, saw a lot of very nice trophies, looked again and saw a few very rare wonderful trophies.....

It took a few returns and some help to identify what Brickburn was in about.

When I saw it, there was no doubt.

I realise it is almost certainly a rubber mask, however as hunters, we need to consider carefully how we project ourselves, for recruitment as well as to minimise attack points.

I don't even take photos of myself with animals any more, never mind posting them. That is a choice I have made and I am aware that others may not agree and I have no problem with that. It is simply that I do not wish to be subject to an internet campaign of persecution wrought by anti-hunters.

I will happily represent, advocate and educate on hunting, so we all have our way of being hunters and sharing how much we are moved and motivated for hunting.

I would recommend to the location that they remove the mask, otherwise the room is fine.

BRICKBURN said:

Something new. Always learning here on AH.
What is a Corn Hole Game?

Click to expand...

It has the little wooden platform set at a slight angle with the one hole in it.
(Osama's hole in the head)
You throw bean bags at it. 1x1 or 2x2. It has become a competitive sport and even on TV.

62flint said:

I got a question to everyone that’s worried about this picture.
If it was a white mans mask would you even blink a eye, What if it was trump , bush, Clinton, jimmy carter ? I have seen masks of presidents stuck just about every where over the years. No one ever blinks a eye about it.
But since we are told we should be offended by this we are????
I got more important crap to worry about

Click to expand...

I agree. This is nonsense. Obama was a terrible President. Little to nothing to do with race.

Philip Glass said:

I agree. This is nonsense. Obama was a terrible President. Little to nothing to do with race.

Click to expand...

It has nothing even to do with being a president, or how good of a president they where.
It’s simply if it was a Caucasian mask of the Similar status nothing would be said.
Why is that?

uplander01 said:

Your post consistently make me laugh. You have a lot to say for a Canadian.

Click to expand...

He’s no Canadian….

When I saw the initial post, I went to zoom the picture. I saw this on the left, but I couldn't believe what I saw and what it it looked like, I thought for the moment the photo is distorted.
O, man!
Very untasty. Very, very untasty. To say at least.

The cat is also out of the bag, and the venue is identified. I could find later other photos on the internet, on other sites, same trophy room under different angles

The Barbara Streisand effect at work.