Encounter with an Anti Hunter

[mark-hunter]

My screen saver on the IPad as you folks might imagine has a picture of my elephant hunt. Then the background to the home screen is also one of that hunt that has myself and my son next to the bull.
.

Sorry for a bit O/T.
But it is interesting how are we hunters very alike.
Attached is my desktop screen!

 

[CAustin]

Well done Charlie! I’ve had so many of these confrontations lately with the film Trophy. Many people can be reasonable and we have to keep that in mind. It’s just about 10% that are totally nuts!
Philip

Keep up your good work Philip.

 

[Kowas Adventure Safaris]

Thank you!
Your second valediction says correctly
"Education is key"

Charlie

The challenge is to "get" the other party to LISTEN and pay attention to the facts... That is challenging...
Kudos to you, CAustin.

 

[PatrickMa Ward]

I’d be willing to bet that crusader has never even been to Africa. Just a guess.

 

[TTundra]

Charlie, those 10 minutes you spent will go a long way and though we'll never know how many people that gentleman will relay that information too, it certainly is a perpetual help to the cause. Thanks for spending that time with him and passing on some education.

 

[CAustin]

Charlie, those 10 minutes you spent will go a long way and though we'll never know how many people that gentleman will relay that information too, it certainly is a perpetual help to the cause. Thanks for spending that time with him and passing on some education.

Statistics show that folks who have a bad experience will likely tell 25 people. On the flip side those who have a positive experience will only tell three. Let's hope the young man tells some of his friends the facts.

 

[Nyati]

Well done Charlie, great to have someone like you on our side

 

[Woody631]

Great job Charlie.
I had my first encounter at the age of 22. Funniest thing I ever seen. It was during the first day of the 1985 deer season. I was home on leave it was Thanksgiving time, hunting on public land in Indiana. Sun was just rising when I could hear a group of 20 or more men, women and children all in blaze orange. Singing BINGO clapping hands. Hell one guy even had a guitar. I was dumbfounded.
When I brought this to the attention of the local Game Warden he laughed. And said poor fools are helping with the best deer drive in year's around here. Those days are gone now. Most protest at the entrance of check stations if you find one open. Now you can check in game from your phone. Oh for the old days

 

[CAustin]

Great job Charlie.
I had my first encounter at the age of 22. Funniest thing I ever seen. It was during the first day of the 1985 deer season. I was home on leave it was Thanksgiving time, hunting on public land in Indiana. Sun was just rising when I could hear a group of 20 or more men, women and children all in blaze orange. Singing BINGO clapping hands. Hell one guy even had a guitar. I was dumbfounded.
When I brought this to the attention of the local Game Warden he laughed. And said poor fools are helping with the best deer drive in year's around here. Those days are gone now. Most protest at the entrance of check stations if you find one open. Now you can check in game from your phone. Oh for the old days

So very true about people. We check deer online or over the phone in Arkansas and it sure make things easy.

 

[50lawman]

Thank God most of the Clay Birds I shot at got away

Consider yourself lucky. You ever try to clean one of them?

 

[Rob404]

Consider yourself lucky. You ever try to clean one of them?

Yea there kind of tough eating too

 

[Upton O. Good]

I applaud your taking time to firmly and politely discuss the true aspects of hunting on local economies and the health/management of game AND non-game species. I find most hunters are reluctant to engage in these discussions and when they do, the talks quickly become confrontational. Reputable research data is usually very effective in these situations and it is clear you are prepared with both.

Well done.

 

[Timbo]

So a couple of weeks ago I was on a Delta flight to Atlanta. I scored the upgrade to first class and settled in for the two hours. Minding my own business I did a little work from my IPad in preparation for the afternoon visits I had planned. My screen saver on the IPad as you folks might imagine has a picture of my elephant hunt. Then the background to the home screen is also one of that hunt that has myself and my son next to the bull.
I did not know it but a young man seated behind me in the Delta Comfort section was paying attention to what he saw on the screen. Fast forward to the landing and the plane pulls up to the gate. On the 757 the first class section is forward of the entry exit door so one has to wait just a bit for the folks in Delta Comfort to make their way to the door. I stood up and got my carry on bag out of the overhead and put my brief case on top of it ready for my exit as I always do.
Now the young man takes this opportunity to speak his mind. He says " I see you are a trophy hunter. I want you to stop that....it's wrong" other folks are looking our way and I very firmly said to him "NO I WILL NOT STOP HUNTING AND ITS NOT WRONG FOR ANY NUMBER OF REASONS. I take it you are an animal lover of some sort that has no idea what conservation is all about. Young man I am as passionate about hunting and the contribution it makes towards overall conservation as you may be about loving animals. If you really want to make a difference in the world with respect to wild animals and the long term preservation of various species you might want to research how hunting contributes to that end".
I could see that he was dumbfounded so I kept at him for a moment and then invited him to stop outside the jet bridge to continue our discussion. Well he did wait and we had about a ten minute polite discussion and frankly the young man was as you might expect very ill informed as to how hunting contributes to conservation. I threw out some of the facts that have been shared here on AH that astounded him. He brought up photo safaris but had not considered that they have a much smaller impact on rural African communities vs hunting safaris. Furthermore, he had no earthly idea that the greatest success stories in wildlife conservation here in the US are directly attributable to hunting. Of course I am speaking about deer, turkey and elk.
So as we parted to go to our respective gates he thanked me for giving him food for thought. He said he still didn't like the idea of hunting but wanted to make himself better informed about how hunting and conservation could coexist!
The way this discussion began had me thinking I might end up having a fight on my hands but by remaining calm with the man and using facts he saw a little different side to things in the end. Still not in agreement but at least better informed. He asked questions and I answered him politely which kept the conversation flowing in a way that ideas were expressed in a positive light.
Anyway not sure what others here have experienced out in the non hunting world but this encounter ended on a reasonable note.
Perhaps others could share their experiences by responding to this thread.
Charlie

By the way thanks to all the AH contributors who provide this community with ammunition to have difficult conversations with uninformed people.
It makes a difference when you can approach a conversation with good solid facts.

Great stuff Charlie! I've had similar encounters - in person and on the net - and have had a lot of success. Maybe an interesting topic to discuss on our forthcoming hunt.

 

[Timbo]

Paul your right the brainwashing is happening from all directions. The young man I spoke to was say 30 something. So my take is he is from the Disney "Lion King" Generation that thinks animals are all sweetness and that we humans should leave them alone yet provide for their care. Great if your talking about your pet......but no so much when you speak to wildlife as a whole.

I recall as a young-un I watched "The Lion King" in the cinema, but could only stand so much before saying: "I've shot one of those!", or "That's a great shoulder shot right there!!", or "The horns I have at home are bigger than his!" etc etc - all I ever got was strange sideways looks from the nearby punters!!

 

[Scott Slough]

Good work Charlie,

Brainwashed people are near impossible to jump start into thinking for themselves, examining facts before embracing someone else's spin on things and etc.
Hollywood and the pubic school system (not a typo) are brain washing millions of "average" people.
Once the poison of their lies sets in, getting the victims to pause for intellectual thought is like bashing your head on the pavement.
The pavement might crack before your head does, but not likely.
Sounds like you may have cracked the pavement this time, I say good show.

Cheers,
Paul.

Not public school education's fault...you have accused the antagonists in general (nonhunters) of not using facts when arguing with the protagonists (hunters)...and you do NOT have the facts to support your hypothesis that this is public education's fault!

 

[Velo Dog]

Not public school education's fault...you have accused the antagonists in general (nonhunters) of not using facts when arguing with the protagonists (hunters)...and you do NOT have the facts to support your hypothesis that this is public education's fault!

Hi Scott Slough,

I totally agree with you that, there are others (Hollywood for one example) in concert with the Public Education System on this topic.
However, my parents were both career School Teachers.
In disgust, they told me that nation wide, the trend is as I described in my previous post.
As offensive as that information is for you, it is what it is.
While we're at it, they also told me that, the Public Education System had begun efforts to convince children that, the Vegan Diet is healthier than the Traditional Omnivorous Diet is.
Sorry but, please don't shoot the messenger here.

Kind regards,
Velo Dog.

 

[Scott Slough]

Paul,

First you brought up facts and brainwashing in sentence one and then presented beliefs about education as facts...I take exception with that logic process and would not have allowed it in my public school junior high science class.

Second for your continued belief to be true, hunters would have to have come from somewhere other than a public school education. That us just not the case. I went to public school...and got a hell of an education...and I am a hunter. Every hunter that I personally know went to public school. Where did the hunters that you know go to school?

 

[Velo Dog]

Paul,

First you brought up facts and brainwashing in sentence one and then presented beliefs about education as facts...I take exception with that logic process and would not have allowed it in my public school junior high science class.

Second for your continued belief to be true, hunters would have to have come from somewhere other than a public school education. That us just not the case. I went to public school...and got a hell of an education...and I am a hunter. Every hunter that I personally know went to public school. Where did the hunters that you know go to school?

Hi Again Scott,

I posted my opinion.
Part of it is based on my own personal experiences in public schools and part is based on my aforementioned School Teacher parents' disgust with the increasing trend of said system to encourage "going green" and to tout anti-hunting / anti-2nd Amendment rhetoric.

If it makes more sense for you to believe I was instead posting irrefutable facts, somehow, somewhere supported by flow charts, color coded graphs and mathematical conclusions, then go for it my friend.

However, it is but my opinion (and I am entitled to it.)
Either way, I suspect that you and I are probably not far apart in our belief systems.
For instance the folks who raised me, exactly like yourself, quietly refused to serve the government coolaid in their individual classrooms.
You and they are to be applauded for same.

I went to public school in Los Angeles, K through Jr High.
Then, High School in Sacramento.
Even back in those horse & buggy days, more than one of my teachers spewed anti-hunting / anti-2nd Amendment rants regular enough that I remember it.
My sophomore year / 10th Grade High School English Teacher went into an angry rant about a paper I wrote entitled something about self sufficient life styles, because I mentioned the right to keep and bear arms.
My Junior Year / 11th Grade High School Teacher of Civics And Social Economics, was a Communist and all enthusiastic for gun control as well, by her own words.
As for my other High School Teachers, I recall them being non-commital on such things.

On this Anti-Hunting topic, our fellow AH member, Cal Pappas once told me that, when he began teaching school in Alaska, his School Falculty held a regular "Wild Game Pot Luck" after hunting season.
By the time he retired, this event was long gone, due to lack of interest among the new generation of Teachers replacing the old outdoorsy types.
That, and / or the general move toward "Political Correctness" in the Public Schools, (yes, even here in Alaska) slowly starved out the Wild Game Potluck at that specific school (Dimond High School, Anchorage).

Opinion or fact, however you like.
It still remains that I can see you are riled by my posts.
For that, I do truly apologize.
Such was never my intent.
My opinion however remains unshaken by your semantics.

Cheers,
Velo Dog
(Paul Ard, Anchorage)

 

[Scott Slough]

Hi Again Scott,

I posted my opinion.
Part of it is based on my own personal experiences in public schools and part is based on my aforementioned School Teacher parents' disgust with the increasing trend of said system to encourage "going green" and to tout anti-hunting / anti-2nd Amendment rhetoric.

If it makes more sense for you to believe I was instead posting irrefutable facts, somehow, somewhere supported by flow charts, color coded graphs and mathematical conclusions, then go for it my friend.

However, it is but my opinion (and I am entitled to it.)
Either way, I suspect that you and I are probably not far apart in our belief systems.
For instance the folks who raised me, exactly like yourself, quietly refused to serve the government coolaid in their individual classrooms.
You and they are to be applauded for same.

I went to public school in Los Angeles, K through Jr High.
Then, High School in Sacramento.
Even back in those horse & buggy days, more than one of my teachers spewed anti-hunting / anti-2nd Amendment rants regular enough that I remember it.
My sophomore year / 10th Grade High School English Teacher went into an angry rant about a paper I wrote entitled something about self sufficient life styles, because I mentioned the right to keep and bear arms.
My Junior Year / 11th Grade High School Teacher of Civics And Social Economics, was a Communist and all enthusiastic for gun control as well, by her on words.
As for my other High School Teachers, I recall them being non-commital on such things.

On this Anti-Hunting topic, our fellow AH member, Cal Pappas once told me that, when he began teaching school in Alaska, his School Falculty held a regular "Wild Game Pot Luck" after hunting season.
By the time he retired, this event was long gone, due to lack of interest among the new generation of Teachers replacing the old outdoorsy types.
That, and / or the general move toward "Political Correctness" in the Public Schools, (yes, even here in Alaska) slowly starved out the Wild Game Potluck at that specific school (Dimond High School, Anchorage).

Opinion or fact, however you like.
It still remains that I can see you are riled by my posts.
For that, I do truly apologize.
Such was never my intent.
My opinion however remains unshaken by your semantics.

Cheers,
Velo Dog
(Paul Ard, Anchorage)

Paul,

Public education, arguing semantics, and tilting at windmills are but a few of my faults!

Cheers!

 

[Velo Dog]

Paul,

Public education, arguing semantics, and tilting at windmills are but a few of my faults!

Cheers!

Much to my parents' horror back then, I did not go for a college degree.
Therefore I did not / could not become an Educator.

Again I applaud those of you who are, while simultaneously refusing to bow to the anti-hunting / anti-2nd Amendment movement.
(We need more like you).

Any way, this leaves me with arguing semantics and tilting at windmills, among my numerous and diversified other character flaws as well.