Politically correct bowhunters

[Hardcorehunter]

We as bowhunters and hunters in general, are told to not show blood in our dead animal pics, to say that we harvested an animal instead of killing it, and if we have a realty TV show, to not show a lamb killed on it, if we are associated with bowhunting as this makes bowhunters and hunters look bad.
Does it really matter what the antis and peta think on this subject? The states rely on hunting and fishing license and tag revenue to operate and to fund public land and waters for which animals live on. Sales of hunting and fishing merchandise is federally taxed and these proceeds go back into wildlife care and land. How about the income hunters give to motels and restaurants, not to mention manufacturing companies that employ the people that make our hunting products. Do the anti groups have the funds to compensate the states for loss revenue of licenses and tags? Do they have a product that they are willing to federally tax, like all of our hunting and fishing merchandise, to fund wildlife? Where will these anti groups get the money to buy back states lands that were bought with hunting and fishing license fees if they wish for these lands to not allow hunting? The answer to me is simple. NO!! Money talks and the states depend on hunters' money and they also depend on us for population control. These anti groups are blown way out of proportion through propaganda and peoples' ridiculous fears. Think about it, we are talking MILLIONS and MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. They don't have the money that hunters and fisherman generate and never will.

 

[dbltree]

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Does it really matter what the antis and peta think on this subject?

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No...but we have to be concerned about the non-hunting public.

When push comes to shove and PETA and the Humane Society pushes for a ballot intiative...THEY count more then hunters and anti-hunters combined.

Their view of us matters tremendously and they have been succussful in banning certain bear hunting methods and some types of trapping in several states.

We ARE being watched and those pictures etc., will be used against us on TV and magazine ads.

or maybe some of you are to young to remember...

 

[Iowa1]

Bull's eye dbltree. It is about the non-hunting public which is easily influenced and primarily lives in the concrete jungle. They are the voters who will decide our future, like it or not.

I personally don't care for euphemisms like harvest, and I use different words. What's wrong with "bagging" a deer? That's something that you rarely hear. Harvest is something you do to a crop, not an individual. You can have a deer harvest in terms of numbers of animals taken, but in my opinion it is not a good idea to talk about harvesting a buck. Sounds like you are hiding something.

Just my $.02

 

[gersdorf]

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Harvest is something you do to a crop

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That is so true, I always wondered how you pick a deer or bird? When a couple of buddies started deer hunting a few year back I sat through the hunters saftey course with them (just for fun, I took the class when I was 12) and the guy teaching it really made a strong point about making sure that you knew you were harvesting and not killing

 

[dbltree]

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What's wrong with "bagging" a deer?

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Works for me

I think it's more important what we say and do in public then to each other.

I never say I harvested a deer or a buck when talking to my hunting friends...I killed a deer...no biggie, but fewer and fewer people hunt...(look at our new DNR Director for cryin out loud

)and what I say to those that don't hunt, does matter.

Hunting involves killing, blood and such...

but smearing it all in the non-hunting publics eye...will come back to haunt us.

One should never be so naive as to think that what we say and share on this forum...goes un-noticed nor some day un-used by our enemies....

 

[streitl]

I agree with most of you on this subject. I don't talk to non-hunters in the same manner as I talk with fellow hunters. It all kind of depends on the crowd. I don't think I would ever tell a non hunter I killed something. It just sounds bad. I might tell them I shot a deer, but not killed. Killed is too closely associated with murder, and that's not what ethical hunters do. We "harvest," "shoot," or "bag" an animal with the intention of consuming its meat and enjoying the memories we make with nature and those we hunt with.

Besides, it never hurts to show respect to anyone's wishes, even to those who don't respect what we do. You never know what a few properly spoken words could some day do for you, or improperly spoken words for that matter.

 

[Hardcorehunter]

A point that I forgot to make is that insurance companies, farmers, and suburban property owners having their precious bushes and flowers chewed on do not care what the antis and peta have to say. Deer car accidents and crop loss has way more pull than the antis and peta do. Money talks and my opinion is that hunters worry way too much about the low population of anti hunters. Money is always going to rule and they don't have any money compared to hunters dollars and insurance companies. I am not saying to stick or rub hunting in anybodies face, but there is no reason that I have been shown to fear a peta group. Money talks, always has and if you start talking raising taxes, the nonhunters that are not anti hunters are going with their wallet.

 

[muddy]

A very wise man once said...

 

[timekiller]

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These anti groups are blown way out of proportion through propaganda and peoples' ridiculous fears. Think about it, we are talking MILLIONS and MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. They don't have the money that hunters and fisherman generate and never will.

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Make no mistake about it PETA and the HSUS do have budgets in the millions of dollars. Hundreds of millions is probably not an exageration. I understand that the example given was that they couldn't replace the money generated by hunters, and I agree with that. My issue with the above statement is that our fears of these types of animal rights organizations are blown out of proportion and unrealistic. We should not underestimate these people for a second. They are everywhere. This example is not hunting related, but just last year I had to go to a training seminar on dogfighting through work. This was attended by at least 4 law enforcement agencies as well as dispatchers and our county attorney's office. The dogfighting "expert" was employed by none other than the Humane Society of the U.S. The class was so full of BS propaganda that it was ridiculous. Fortunately he was not well received by the audience, and they kind of turned on him.
That day I realized that if animal rights groups were able to make their way into places such as this, then they could get into anywhere. IMO we aren't scared enough of them.
I agree with HC in that I don't care if I offend an animals rights activist. Hell, by being a hunter I already offend them. I agree with everyone else in that it is the non hunting public that we should not offend. We know that in order to tag, harvest, or bag an animal that we have to kill it, but if someone who dosen't hunt feels better if I don't use the word kill I will happily use another term.

 

[Kansasdeerslayer]

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Harvest is something you do to a crop


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That is so true, I always wondered how you pick a deer or bird? When a couple of buddies started deer hunting a few year back I sat through the hunters saftey course with them (just for fun, I took the class when I was 12) and the guy teaching it really made a strong point about making sure that you knew you were harvesting and not killing

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I don't like the word harvest either, but deer are a renewable resource so technically I think harvest works for those who choose to use it.

Also, I have "picked" every deer I have ever killed...I mean harvested.

There were 3 does in front of me and I "picked" the one in the middle and let my arrow fly.

 

[gundog870]

As far as the Blood part. I believe its more of a respect thing for the deer. Sounds tacky, but dont you want your pics to show how majestic it was alive. I dont mind the blood or tongue hanging out but i still dont think they are as attraactive aas cclean. OTHER THAN THAAT> "KILL" EM.

 

[loneranger]

I don't care for the pictures of dead animals, Grizzlies,MOose,Elk,Deer, What ever, being held up with blood, and tongues hanging out myself. I take photos of each deer I "Kill", myself. Just to keep a record and memory, but I personally try to keep a good picture, not one with blood, or too much death in it. I want to remember the beauty. I guess that is kind of crazy, but is how I feel. If I didn't like the meat so much, I could easily shoot bucks with a camera. But the hunting drive runs deep,,from our ancestors. Why we hunt is a complicated topic. I can see how lack of respect for the animal, and treating death superficially, could offend non-hunters.

 

[JNRBRONC]

Monday, I received an email from Steve, a former employee. He is now a tax lawyer in Chicago. Since it had been a long time since we had been in contact, he asked many questions of how I'd been. Since I knew he hunted on his family farm in NW Iowa, I thought I would share some pics of last season. He shared the pic around his office and the feed back he submitted was: Was why does that cute guy want to harm innocent animals?

He said he works with a bunch of vegans and told them that the deer eat off the farmers all summer and we eat off them all winter. I like it!

 

[Ghost]

IMO...strictly...in my opinion...

Don't say or do anything that will have an adverse effect on the opportunity for you, your children, your grand children, or anyone else to enjoy what we all love to do in the outdoors.

Two nights ago, I watched Ted Nugent walk up to a 2 X 4 wire fence in front of national T.V. and shoot a sheep in the head at point blank for supper for the girls in the "Queen of the Forest" competition.

Is that cool or what.....

I live on a farm, I know what it takes to put meat in the freezer whether I am shooting a hog at point blank by the barn, shooting a cow in the middle of the eyes in the lot, or shooting a deer in the vitals with a bow after sitting in a stand for hundreds of hours each Fall.

The question that must be asked by all of us, regardless of money, power trips, political and corporate influence....how should I act, and what should I say, to make sure my grandchildren and theirs, can enjoy what we now enjoy.

This is not about Ted, and I'm sure glad he is on our side instead of theirs...but, I'm not sure it is really beneficial to the future of our outdoor activities to shoot a damn sheep in the head on national T.V.

We should never feel ashamed about what we love to do, nor should we hide the pride that we feel when we have accomplished a goal, but always remember, there are many, many, many, people which have not been exposed to, or enjoyed the lifestyle we choose.

 

[Iowa1]

I kill animals. I am not ashamed of that. It is not wrong to kill animals.

When we try to hide the fact that we kill animals we are starting down the slippery slope that the antis want us to go down. We can win the battle by helping the non hunting public understand that it is good to kill some animals for the good of the animal populations as a whole. If we try to hide the fact that we kill animals we are playing right into their hands.

Remember, everyone kills animals every day, directly and indirectly. Brush your teeth... you kill animals. Walk across your lawn, you kill animals. Drive down the road, you kill animals. THink about it! Just because they are not cute and fuzzy doesn't mean they are not animals. Even vegans indirectly kill animals because insecticides are used in the growing of their food.

That's the key to winning this war: reason over emotion.

 

[bowmaker]

I have never been real high on political correctness, but I am against being offensive in almost any way. While some of these pictures may not be offensive to us they can be to nonhunting individuals. What ever we do and how ever we conduct ourselves, make no mistake, it will impact our children, grand children, and great grand childred, we just don't know how!

When nonhunters see blood and death they associate it with things they see on tv and in movies. If you think about it in movies any GOOD guys are shown killed in very graphic, violent, bloody gory ways and often in slow motion for greater emphisis. The BAD guys are taken out, ie killed, at the end of the movie and are not shown nearly as graphicly. People are then conditioned to associate blood and death with some thing or some one good being killed or murdered by some one bad. If people see blood or death on tv or the news it is because of some kind of tragety like a auto accident or a murder so the association is with pain and loss. These are not causes for celebrations such as we some times see on hunting shows where they show blood and death. These pictures then make us hunters the bad guys in the publics eye. Why should we or would we want to project that impression just so we can say we don't care what PETA or others think.
We all understand that there are things that offend others and most of us abide by the rules of common courtsey. We may talk amoung ourselves in some what colorfull ways but we don't walk down the mall yelling obsenties at people we see. We all must urinate but we don't do it on the sidewalk in front of church or in the planters in the mall. These are all inapproiate actions that offend people and I hope that we would not act inapproiately with respects toward hunting and the animals we hunt. Bottom line IMO Mr. Ted was inapproiate in his actions. If we care as much as we profess to about our future generations of hunters and their rights, then we need to act approiately ALL THE TIME, and forget about political correctness.

 

[loneranger]

Amen,,Bowmaker.

 

[Skully]

One morning I was in the "Fur shed" skinning my daily catch of coon. The doors were open and a friend of the family stopped by with her grandaughter to visit with my wife. Seeing me in the shed she walked over to say hi. When she saw me pulling the hide off of a cold dead coon she covered her mouth and turned her head. She is not a PETA extremist but a part of the non-hunting public. After some coaxing I had her feel the soft fur and and her exact words were, " I don't mind people hunting, I know it's important, but I don't want to see it." I think this is the norm in the non-hunting community, so how we act and what we do does make a difference when we are in "public". Do I care if some person is gay? Not really, that's their choice, but I don't want to see them marching down the street in their underwear wih a banner exclaiming so!

 

[Hardcorehunter]

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One morning I was in the "Fur shed" skinning my daily catch of coon. The doors were open and a friend of the family stopped by with her grandaughter to visit with my wife. Seeing me in the shed she walked over to say hi. When she saw me pulling the hide off of a cold dead coon she covered her mouth and turned her head. She is not a PETA extremist but a part of the non-hunting public. After some coaxing I had her feel the soft fur and and her exact words were, " I don't mind people hunting, I know it's important, but I don't want to see it." I think this is the norm in the non-hunting community, so how we act and what we do does make a difference when we are in "public". Do I care if some person is gay? Not really, that's their choice, but I don't want to see them marching down the street in their underwear wih a banner exclaiming so!

[/ QUOTE ]Exactly!!!

 

[Hardcorehunter]

I agree with being considerate and respectful to all people in the world, regardless of whether it is hunting related or not. It is called being a good citizen and being a person that people want to be around and respect. I have owned my own business for over 20 years. My business is 10% service, 90% public relations. I conduct myself as a professional with my hunting the same. Hunters $$, insurance companies, farmers, and property owners have more say than any anti hunter group in the world. I understand that peta is big business. It is a big business to get donations and the executives in the organization rich. Do you think that the peta executives, making 6 figures a year, want to ban hunting and lose their title and job? What will they do then? You still can't convince me that I am going to lose my right to bowhunt because Ted shot a lamb on his show or whether I use the term "kill" in a thread with a deer pic with blood. There are many guys that FEEL that this is going to happen. I am just saying that these fears are WAY overrated.WHITETAIL HUNTING is BIG BUSINESS for states, the legislators like the revenue it generates for the states. Insurance companies lobby for more deer to be killed. Farmers lobby for more deer and other crop eating animals to be killed. Homeowners want deer and rabbits killed to keep their bushes alive. Peta does nothing financial for the states. They are thought of as freaks that spray paint people in fur coats and throw pies in pork queens faces. Not really taken serious by the legislatures and the 80% of the regular non hunting public.