Negative Head Line this Morning - Hunter Photo

I was ask to shoot all I could on my last hunting trip in S.A. l;ast year, major pest if not controlled. I,m retired so I don,t have to kiss any ass,s.

Pure stupid. Why is that some just gotta be "in your face" about everything. Much is revealed in the "high speed low drag", s"&%# eating grin pose with the reversed cap (bowhunter or not)--- good grief!! Plus there seems to be a tasteless trend the last few years to show, in hunting photos, multiples stacked up in same place- the "whackem and stackem" mentality I suppose- the same tasteless poses as seen in some very old hunting photos. I am a lifelong hunter and want no part in being associated with these idiots- and hopefully vice versa!

I have some photos posted online on hunting and shooting sites but my trophy "room" has a strict rule, NO PHOTOS. Your friend or neighbor may not be a bozo but his neighbor or friend might be one.

As one who use social media frequently, you don't post what might bite you in the ass. Which is what this guy did. Hopefully, I will still have to worry about posting for the next 4 years.

wesheltonj said:

As one who use social media frequently, you don't post what might bite you in the ass. Which is what this guy did. Hopefully, I will still have to sorry about posting for the next 4 years.

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Best wishes on getting “re-elected”

It has come to the point that we as hunters are looked upon by anyone who doesn't hunt as savages and people who just what to kill. Even here in Colorado we are asked to cover up all of our wild game as we travel down the highways so that the general public isn't offended.

As for the Idaho G&F commissioner, he just didn't think before he posted any of these photos or make any comments on them. And while he should of known better as far as where it would take him he did it anyway. But then that is one problem with posting anything on social media or sending a photo to a friend who might unknowing forward it to someone else that leans a little bit too far in the wrong direction.

My local Idaho paper makes it clear that these pics were emailed, not posted directly on Facebook. One of his "friends" who he emailed it to posted it on social media and made a stink about it.

It does not look good for hunters either way, and it is beyond me why he would take a picture like that and even email it at all, but it is my understanding that he did not put it on social media.

They hammered a local lady in the Idaho State Journal, Sabrina Corgatelli, for pics of her with a dead giraffe a couple years ago. Obviously lions and leopards and elephants are scrutinized too, and apparently primates. The media and public opinion will pick what they are outraged with and run with it. A baby baboon with a hole in its abdomen sitting in it's dead mothers arms is pretty hard to beat for media fuel.

I think there is a problem with baboons. What he did was in poor taste. What we Hunters need to know is that a lot of our Hunter friends can get really jealous over our trips to Africa. I have experienced this myself. I've noticed not very many likes on Facebook with some of my friends that I know that do hunt. Basically quit posting hunting pictures.

wesheltonj said:

As one who use social media frequently, you don't post what might bite you in the ass. Which is what this guy did. Hopefully, I will still have to worry about posting for the next 4 years.

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Good luck on needing to self censor.

375 Ruger Fan said:

Saw this on the news tonight.

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how did they know the baboons were related..........

I have posted all my hunts on Facebook, everyone I know, knows I hunt. My settings on Facebook are set so only people I approve have access to my page. I’ve had a couple of non hunters ask me about African Hunting and I’ve turned their thoughts on hunting around to the point that they except that it is a tool for conservation.

I am reminded of another thread . . . where Namibia was attacked for proposing a license condition that no pictures be posted on social media (and as an aside, I was similarly attacked for suggesting that this was not an anti-hunting measure and within Namibia's rights!).

The reality is that none of us knows what will set off a sh*tstorm. I would have thought you were safe posting pictures of baboons . . . disgusting things that they are. Wrong again Hank! Again, I'd have thought that Idaho would be a pretty hunter friendly place. Wrong yet again! I believe it was the Governor of Idaho who said that the fact that it's legal doesn't make it right. Well, it sure doesn't make it wrong, but apparently, it is wrong in the eyes of far too many.

I want to be very clear. We all have the right to post whatever we want, wherever we want. We can take whatever pictures we want. We can share them with whoever we want. No argument from me on any of those things.

But if you want to argue that what you're doing isn't bad for hunting, or is even good for hunting, then I think the facts line up with those who suggest there might be better ways to improve the image of hunters.

My wife has never been a big fan of hunting, and hears my arguments, but never really bought them (but she was prepared to tolerate them, like she tolerates me). I was more than a little surprised after my most recent hunting trip, where she came along (her first). Hearing the arguments from Africans and seeing the facts on the ground seems to have made all of the difference. She now understands how hunting can be good for animals, and even save endangered species. She - and a whole group of Swedish tourists - listened to a guide in Matopos National Park in Zimbabwe argue the allowing the sale of rhino horn was the only way to save this iconic creatures. His obvious sincerity, his real pain at the loss of rhinos and the logic of his arguments made converts out of all of these people. They may not have become ardent apostles for the cause, but when they hear arguments to the contrary, they will say "that's not right' because "here's what I know first hand."

So here's an idea. Why don't SCI and DSC and other groups sponsor trips to Africa for influential people, opinion leaders, and media? Don't tell them. Show them. Let them hear from rural Africans who live with wildlife, and those who make a living from sustainable utilization. It's too easy to have the wrong ideas from the comfort of your life in the developed world.

This will be how we will save hunting.

Hank2211 said:

want to be very clear. We all have the right to post whatever we want, wherever we want. We can take whatever pictures we want. We can share them with whoever we want. No argument from me on any of those things.

But if you want to argue that what you're doing isn't bad for hunting, or is even good for hunting, then I think the facts line up with those who suggest there might be better ways to improve the image of hunters.

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Hank2211 said:

This will be how we will save hunting.

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Food for thought... how many people on this site have not posted their trophies for fear of reprisal? It stinks because I think most of us would really enjoy seeing that stuff and some that don't post would love to share it. Maybe a great lion or monster leopard or even a stud of a warthog.

And to think that despite a good effort, I could not get sights on one last June in SA!

John A Flaws said:

It is time that people stop cowering to those with opposing views points because the opposition will never be satisfied. This is an issue that goes well beyond just the anti hunting groups.

It does not matter if it is those opposed to hunting, conservative politics, a child's right to live, the definition of marriage, or a faith in Christ Jesus but the methods are all the same. Bully the opposition and portray them as crazy, incentive, or nuts to silence them while rallying the uninformed to their cause.

Even if a hunter's pictures were never seen in any form the forces I speak of will still be on the attack, and if we are critical of those that have violated no laws when posting hunting pictures aren't we falling prey to their tactics.

My worry is we are allowing political corrects to creep into our way of thought leading to us to be critical of our own.

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John,
Right on. No matter what we do, it will be wrong to those "people. " I don't call PC politically correct. To me it's pathetic cowardice. They don't have the spine, guts or other necessary accoutrements to speak plain language or accept it.

Newboomer said:

John,
Right on. No matter what we do, it will be wrong to those "people. " I don't call PC politically correct. To me it's pathetic cowardice. They don't have the spine, guts or other necessary accoutrements to speak plain language or accept it.

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@Newboomer, I'd love to live in a world where what we say or do as hunters didn't matter, and where we could afford to ignore those who don't agree with us, from snowflakes to crazies. But we don't.

As I hunter, I find it more important to be effective rather than right. If I assert all of my rights and we lose the right to hunt, what will I have accomplished? I'd much rather be effective, which I define as contributing to the growth or expansion of hunting. If you think that the attitude and actions of these people you seem to think so little of doesn't have an impact on your right to hunt, then you aren't paying attention to the world. A few examples:

1. President Trump rescinds an order allowing elephant imports into the US after anti-hunters express outrage;

2. A recent judgment by the US courts to return the grizzly bear to the Endangered Species List in states around Yellowstone, despite all the scientific evidence in the world that the species had recovered.

3. The subject of this thread losing his job, which I assume he uses to support his family.

4. The banning of lion and other trophy imports into France, Australia, and a whole bunch of other countries.

Of course, I could go on and on, but I won't. Hopefully you understand that each of these events was in response to actions by those without a "spine", and each one of those actions had a negative result on hunting or hunters.

Let's focus on the world as it is, not as we'd wish it to be in a fairy tale, and try to be effective. Being right may make you feel good, but it doesn't do anything for hunters or hunting.

I am very torn on this issue of social media. I agree some with both sides. I don't think we as hunters should be scared to express ourselves or exercise our rights. I also don't think we should be distasteful, or callous towards other people who don't share our lifestyle.

One the topic of Trump, look how effective he has been in exposing the lies of his enemies. I am not always a fan of his delivery, and he stretches the truth same as any politician or businessman trying to promote his vision. However, I believe that his willingness to speak the truth has invigorated his base, and woke some people up to reality, even when if it bothers some people or they attack him as something he isn't. It exposes the haters for what they are, and their logic as illogical. I still think the message needs to be truthful, and delivery tasteful. After all, isn't that our problem with the antis; their opinion that the ends justify the means? It doesn't matter if it's based in science or truth as long as it advances their goals. We cannot adopt that practice or we lose our credibility.

As far as tasteful, compare gun laws and views across the country. In much of rural America, we don't worry too much about a guy with a gun. Most everyone has one, people aren't getting shot up very often, and usually that is in the "big city". So of course a constitutional carry or open carry law doesn't bother us all that much. We might think the guy who wears his pistol openly at 4 o clock is a dumba$$, and we hope he doesn't get held up or killed with his own gun, but we acknowledge his right to do as he wishes.
On the other hand, if you grew up in Chicago, only leave the city on vacation or to visit distant relatives, and every night someone else is killed with a semiautomatic weapon near your home, you have different views and tolerances for guns. Of course you would freak out seeing someone walk down the street with a gun openly displayed. So it wouldn't be tasteful for a country hick to walk around in Chicago or New York openly carrying a gun, and then laughing at or badmouthing people for being uneasy.

The beauty of our system of government is that laws and regulations were meant to be mostly local or statewide, so we could do as we pleased to fit our lifestyles and areas. Clearly, we've strayed from that, and spend too much time judging others whose shoes we never walk in. And most, especially on the left, have no desire to stop.

whew, sorry for the long rant. Let's all stick together in this fight.

The foto at the beginning of this thread is entitled "Idaho office of the Governor". I have been to Governor Otter's office, and thought I recognized a couple of folks, but was obviously mistaken. Am happy to learn they are all ok.................FWB

wesheltonj said:

As one who use social media frequently, you don't post what might bite you in the ass. Which is what this guy did. Hopefully, I will still have to worry about posting for the next 4 years.

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How did things turn out for you last Tuesday?