The Plunge Toward PC (Politically Correct)

[Pheroze]

I am really enjoying ruminating on your article. Thanks!

The trouble we have from a PR prospective is that we kill things. We very deliberately practice and practice some more to be the best we can be at killing animals. Taken out of the larger context that goal runs against most people's basic inclination to avoid harming other creatures. We are a successful species because our basic nature is to help not hurt. Cats don't have big cities and large sporting events because they seem largely inclined the other way!

This article concludes with the hope there is another alternative to hunting in the conservation arena:

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/trophy-hunting-can-help-african-conservation-study-says.35726/

More humans live in cities today and that may be the problem. The context is missing from the act of hunting. They are removed from the basic cycle of life and death in a rural subsistence environment. I can't fault the sentiment of do no harm because I too don't "like" to kill animals. But I greatly enjoy hunting. I enjoy bring home the meat. I take pride in developing a knowledge of the wild animals. I am motivated to stay in shape to cope with the environment. All very cool things. Nothing controversial with this.

"Conservation hunter" captures that sentiment.

The challenge is putting the act of hunting in context. I think more education is required and constant education. More direct comparison studies between areas that are hunted and those that are not. The number one threat to wildlife is habitat loss. Everyone knows that but few can follow the concept to understand utilization of open spaces for conservation. The conservation debate must focus on the protection of the environment in which hunting can occur and not on any one particular species.

I am a conservation hunter. I work to ensure there are huge areas of untamed land. That is my goal.

I think so anyways....

 

[Shootist43]

I agree with Pheroze. Educating the masses of the role that hunting plays gets to the heart of the issue. If everyone that eats meat was obliged to go to a slaughter house and see how things are done, this would be a non-issue. As hunters we are not responsible for the ignorance of others. The LGBT community though very small in number flaunt their differences and being "Politically Correct" laws were passed to support them. Please pardon my ignorance but I'm not "jumping off a cliff" just to follow the crowd.

 

[thi9elsp]

Anonymity and privacy are very relevant issues in todays world. Certainly with the Bullying that can go on in relation to hunting pictures.

I have gone back and forth on this issue with my own photos, showing my mug. I finally walked around the bend when the last shipment of trophies arrived. I had to make a base and funny thing, the only place it would fit, was in my office waiting room. I wondered what reactions I was going to get. What scared me most was the fact that there were several clients that did not even notice the Kudu Bull in the corner.
It has now become a conversation starter on Conservation in Africa.
The number one question I always get is about eating the meat. When informed of the "nothing going to waste" concept and that I personally enjoyed a very delicious meat, EVERYONE has been satisfied.
These are all non-hunters by the way.

Those of us that can exercise our privilege to post and converse everywhere we can please do so.

@BRICKBURN I think the key here is that you are able to have that face to face / one on one conversation. Unfortunately, to @Hank2211 's point above about social media and the internet. There is no conversation and the antis take over without the non-hunter who is neutral getting a clear picture.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

We've been over this lots of times on this site in various threads. Many hunters are simply not in a position to risk their livelihoods or more by posting trophy pictures. It's easy for those of us (and I include myself here) who have little to lose to poke fun at those who have much to lose, and even easier to suggest they are lacking in courage. But a picture takes on a life of its own on the internet, and the hunter won't be there to explain anything to everyone who sees it. I'm advised that many organizations today do internet searches of social media sites before hiring a candidate for a job. Would or should a young person risk losing a job for the sake of making a point about trophy pictures and trophy hunting? Many can't afford to do that.

@Hank2211, I could not agree with you more, thanks for the reminder.

 

[BRICKBURN]

...........As hunters we are not responsible for the ignorance of others. ............

I think of the issue in another way.
As a minority, and we are a minority, who wishes to continue what we are doing, we can not allow ourselves to be bullied and marginalized, scapegoated, demonized by a vociferous minority that swings the uneducated. If we don't take responsibility for our future, who will?
You live in a Democracy and that means they all get to vote. I know that is scary, but it is true.

I have watched as various unelected government bodies in the USA , chief among them is the USFWS, have managed to erode your ability to hunt and import trophies. This process was all based on lobbying by anti-hunting groups that know how to use the system. Elephant, Lion, and now Leopard on the hit list for "review".
I enjoy none of this harassment, and it makes me thankful everyday that I have a government department that follows science and its international agreements and does not bow to lobbyists.

 

[Shootist43]

Is AH considered a "Social Media" site?

 

[BRICKBURN]

........... There is no conversation and the antis take over without the non-hunter who is neutral getting a clear picture.

We had better start talking, because the other folks are not going to stop yapping.
Sadly, their minority of bullies grabs attention through lies and manipulation and we hunters have to be ready with real hard facts.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Is AH considered a "Social Media" site?

You bet. We are all having a "conversation"!

1. websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
   
   

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Is AH considered a "Social Media" site?

Yes but also a resource.

 

[Shootist43]

I think of the issue in another way.
As a minority, and we are a minority, who wishes to continue what we are doing, we can not allow ourselves to be bullied and marginalized, scapegoated, demonized by a vociferous minority that swings the uneducated. If we don't take responsibility for our future, who will?
You live in a Democracy and that means they all get to vote. I know that is scary, but it is true.

I have watched as various unelected government bodies in the USA , chief among them is the USFWS, have managed to erode your ability to hunt and import trophies. This process was all based on lobbying by anti-hunting groups that know how to use the system. Elephant, Lion, and now Leopard on the hit list for "review".
I enjoy none of this harassment, and it makes me thankful everyday that I have a government department that follows science and its international agreements and does not bow to lobbyists.

As a Hunter Education Instructor I've taught or helped teach thousands of youngsters about our beloved sport. The ethics involved, the good it has done, the necessity for doing so etc. But in the end I guess that I was just "preaching to the choir" since it was probably their dads that wanted them to take the class in the first place. Hopefully they, as well as I will continue to speak out against all anti-hunters. Hopefully with a new "Herd Bull" in charge the USFWC won't be so easily swayed.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I have been right along with you teaching Hunter Ed and take every last chance I can to introduce people to hunting and the outdoors.
Keep preaching, it is the only way to share the story that needs to be told.

 

[Pheroze]

I think the argument we respond to needs to be reframed. Isn't that what you are saying with the term "conservation hunter". The anti's have framed it as "look who is killing" and we are immediately defensive. Your point about PH focusing on conservation is a really good one.

The discussion needs to be framed by us to give "conservation hunter" meaning. We should not engage in a debate without setting the table properly: themes such as who has actually been to Africa/Northern Canada/west podunk etc etc? who has put money into preservation of that environment? who studied the environment and the animals? Who trained all year to go there with disturbing the pristine environment? Now look at my cool piece of art that was what I have brought back to remind me of the experience I had in that place, doing that good work. Check out the awesome work the taxidermist did to make this mount look as real as possible.

Being a conservation hunter is about who is helping to manage the environment not who is shooting what.

Could a trophy hunter be a different person than a conservation hunter? I am not trying to be decisive but to make the point: anyone who shoots an animal and pays for a mount can be a trophy hunter. For example, if I hunt a put and take ranch that's very small I am a trophy hunter. The moniker does not differentiate the approach to the issue. However, if I invest in all of the other aspects of conservation and hunt in any ethical environment I am a conservation hunter.

Maybe if we give the name meaning it will be useful in the larger debate?

 

[Nyati]

Great post Wayne

 

[Forrest]

Well written and informative.

 

[billc]

I see it as a mistake to not use social media to help us as hunters. It is the new way of the world and how you reach new people that may want to hunt.

To let people bully us as a group and to bash us on social media with no hunters giving it back looks bad in my eyes. Hiding what your proud of and enjoy because someone else does not like it is how they keep beating us. I wish people realize how small a group they are compared to us hunters.

The one think they may do better is makes signs and yell louder. We need to start yelling louder and give it right back to them.

 

[Buckdog]

BillC you are right on target brother! We are fools to hide in the shadows and let them manipulate the internet and social media and lobby, etc. We hide and say oooh my they own the internet I am scared they will attack my web site, etc. Hey it is time we use the internet, social media and lobbying too! If we don't organize and learn to use and manipulate the digital media then the only voice heard is theirs. anyone under 30 lives in a wholely digital realm, they don't talk they text, twitter, tweet, snap chat etc, etc we have to use their digital world to deliver any message to them. tell them anything and they instantly check it on their digital device and whatever that device tells them is god book and bible and you are full of shit and if siri says it it is gods truth.

 

[Ridge Top Ranch]

This is comparable to what is going on in the US currently against Trump and his supporters. If some do not share your opinion they will shout you down at every chance. Ultimately I feel we will lose the argument with the antis not because we are wrong but because we are few and most people are removed from the real struggle for life and death in the wild.

Preserving wildlife and removing excess animals is acceptable to most people. Growing them to hunt is not. I strive to hunt only wild animals. If that offends those who accept no justifiable reason for hunting I will not stop posting pics and stories to appease them. I will not be bullied. If they post my address I will find and post theirs. If we have integrity and seek to maintain a sustainable equilibrium of animals and habitat because the apex predators are not tolerated by a civilized society we should not retire from this honorable position.

 

[mrpoindexter]

I have felt that if every hunter in Africa posted photos of all the poor being given food from their hunt and that was the lead off "trophy photo" in their gallery, they would have very little opposition and get a big thumbs up from the general population that are neither hunters not animal rights activists. Sadly, it is hard to get that photo because it takes time out of the hunting that we are paying for. That is where the PH/Outfitter needs to step in and fill in that last part showing the distribution of the food to the poor.

The general idea people have is that the hunter kills a beautiful animal, cuts off its head to stick on a plaque and leaves the carcass to rot in the field. I have had numerous conversations with people who do not know that the animals are just skin over a plastic mold with fake eyes. They think it is just a preserved head and are grossed out by it. We need to understand that there is a massive lack of information that allows the neutral observer so much room to make a decision from misunderstanding that makes us a villain instead of a necessary part of the conservation model.

Even if we don't have all the food distribution photos, we can get a tally of how many pounds of high quality organic free range meat the was given to the needy. Remember the success from all those UNICEF adds showing the starving children in Africa to ask for you to send money. People cannot eat money. You didn't give the starving people a $5 bill - you have them actual real high protein food to eat and travelled across the globe to do it. You were there firsthand to make sure it didn't just go to pay for more advertising to get more people to give money.

On my first hunt to Africa, I gave just over 5,000 pounds of meat to the poor. That is the equivalent of 50,000 McDonald's hamburgers. I expect to give even more on my next trip. I am hoping I can get my bow permit for my next hunt, because I would like to pay for a film company to accompany me and make sure that we film the entire community coming out to eat the animal. One elephant can feed many villages. If the story the observer comes away with is this is how these people get food they cannot otherwise afford, that is a good thing, not a bad thing. We get to be cast in the role of hero of the village, not villain to the animal. I will probably spend as much on the video as I will on the taxidermy, but the messaging must be there. My plan is to put the elephant on display at a local sporting goods store and underneath it, the "score" that will be mounted on the plaque will not be how many pounds the ivory weighed - it will be how many pounds of meat this animal provided to the poor in the local communities.

To put it in more digestible numbers, if 6,000 pounds of meat isnt enough to drive the point home, figure each person eating half a pound of meat per day, that one animal alone can feed a village of 400 people all the proteins they will need for an entire month. Those are the numbers we should make sure the undecided observers walk away with, not that we killed an elephant with 45lb tusks.

 

[mark-hunter]

You bet. We are all having a "conversation"!

1. websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
   

Yes but also a resource.

In, fact, the way I see: It has a bit of everything.

How ever it is specific in one thing:

We are all here united by the passion for hunting, but in order to have real public debate, as real public social media, we miss one ingredient and that is the anti hunters.

Not that I miss them.

 

[siml]

@BRICKBURN , like I said, a lot of food for thought, I will slowly work at them.

First, SCI, I feel they really need to be smacked on the knuckles for the way they reacted. They just threw Palmer under the bus, they reacted to social media and didn't take time to get to the truth. SCI should have been there fighting for Palmer, and the rest of the hunting world.