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163 Posts
Guys/gals...
I don't know if you have ever been challenged/attacked (verbally) by someone or a group of activists on why you hunt...but I have. It's small wonder too as our sport is considered blood thirsty and barbaric...portrayed that way in the Disney movies, and in various forms of media as such by well-meaning but mis-informed people,well-organized and well financed in their efforts to enfluence the hearts and minds of the vast majority who are non-hunters and who remain neutral on the subject.They are focusing more and more on enfluencing children of all ages and as I have visited schools in New Brunswick, speaking to classes about my books and my sport of hunting, I am encountering more kids who have very biased views on our sport.I find though that after I've had a chance to talk with those kids, they are at least willing to take a more balanced look at the sport and question the propaganda they have heard. The anti-arguments and statistics the antis offer are designed to cast the hunting fraternity in a poor light and eventually put an end to hunting.They don't want us displaying our big game animals as we go to register them nor do they want outdoor maagazines to featuress photos of "dead" animals and continue to actively lobby for such practices to stop. One magazine I write for actually listened to the anti argumwents a couple of years ago and informed its' writers they would no longer be publishing photos of "dead game"... Of course this incensed all the staff writers and they quickly responded that this was an outddor hunting/fishing publication and none of us would continue writing for them if that was the case. The owner of the magazine quickly backed off and continued to publish our hunter/big game photos. However, had the magazine given in to the anti-lobby-ests, hunting and hunters would have lost a major battle in protecting our sport! We, as hunters, are the sport's ambassadors...and defenders and what we do and how we do it either helps us sustain the sport or will give fuel to the "antis" cause. My question today is...Do you feel the anti-hunting movement poses a threat to our sport and have you ever had to defend/explain hunting to those people?
I don't know if you have ever been challenged/attacked (verbally) by someone or a group of activists on why you hunt...but I have. It's small wonder too as our sport is considered blood thirsty and barbaric...portrayed that way in the Disney movies, and in various forms of media as such by well-meaning but mis-informed people,well-organized and well financed in their efforts to enfluence the hearts and minds of the vast majority who are non-hunters and who remain neutral on the subject.They are focusing more and more on enfluencing children of all ages and as I have visited schools in New Brunswick, speaking to classes about my books and my sport of hunting, I am encountering more kids who have very biased views on our sport.I find though that after I've had a chance to talk with those kids, they are at least willing to take a more balanced look at the sport and question the propaganda they have heard. The anti-arguments and statistics the antis offer are designed to cast the hunting fraternity in a poor light and eventually put an end to hunting.They don't want us displaying our big game animals as we go to register them nor do they want outdoor maagazines to featuress photos of "dead" animals and continue to actively lobby for such practices to stop. One magazine I write for actually listened to the anti argumwents a couple of years ago and informed its' writers they would no longer be publishing photos of "dead game"... Of course this incensed all the staff writers and they quickly responded that this was an outddor hunting/fishing publication and none of us would continue writing for them if that was the case. The owner of the magazine quickly backed off and continued to publish our hunter/big game photos. However, had the magazine given in to the anti-lobby-ests, hunting and hunters would have lost a major battle in protecting our sport! We, as hunters, are the sport's ambassadors...and defenders and what we do and how we do it either helps us sustain the sport or will give fuel to the "antis" cause. My question today is...Do you feel the anti-hunting movement poses a threat to our sport and have you ever had to defend/explain hunting to those people?