It sickens me that fellow hunters believe that "rolling-over" for the antis will actually appease them. They will not stop until trophy hunting is banned: PERIOD! Hunters and hunting organizations that conduct such "appeasement activities" are part of the problem, not the solution. Every inch we give shows weakness and results in even more demands for appeasement. Trust me; I am from California and this is how EVERYTHING works here.
Now they want us to "hide" our pictures as not to offend anyone, like hunters are some sort of fringe element that Namibia is embarrassed of. The hunting culture is disappearing because we have hidden it from the mainstream of society and allowed a few on the radical left to vilify it as unacceptable behavior. The very fact that hunters choose to keep their trophy pictures secret, refrain from talking about hunting, and generally behave like they are ashamed of what they do ADDS to the loss of hunting as a part of our culture.
I have other places to hunt besides Namibia, and will freely post my trophies and talk of my adventures with all of my family and friends. Those that are offended can ignore them, just as I ignore the PETA propaganda on social media. You see, they are tricking us into freely omitting our content so they can displace it with their own. PETA understands how powerful of a tool social media is, old hunters do not.
The old-timers on this forum may not think social media is a big deal, but it is a HUGE deal to the next generation; and NEEDS to be used to our advantage NOW if we want the next generation of hunters to take the reigns from us. Its not hard to get a kid interested in hunting and fishing, but social media is the most important tool for that in the 21st century, yet most older hunters disregard it or live in flat-out denial. I have nephews and young family members that see my adventures on social media and beg to come with me on my next one. Books, like those from Hemingway/Ruark/Steinbeck used to captivate the imagination of people and perk their sense of adventure. Now, young folks no longer read books, and social media fills that role.
Stories like these, especially government mandates against hunters on social media, is a very big deal and a huge loss for the future of hunting.
