Originally Posted by
Taylor329
This thread seems to have run it's course, but I feel like it's important that I give an update on what posting my little write up has done.
Instagram would not let me post it, as it was too long, so I focused on Facebook alone. Both comments I received were from people around the same age as me, (26-28 yo).
First comment I received was from someone I once went to school with. She is a highly educated person, (still in school some 10 years after graduating high school), she also happened to be vegan, and was not anti-hunting but not in support of it fully. She said that she my post was thought-provoking, and understood how the article was pandering subconsciously to an anti-hunting agenda. The first time she read the article she found nothing of the sort. She asked me if there was somewhere she could do some reading on how "hunting is conservation", so I gave her a few links and organizations to check out. She sent me a private message later saying thanks for sending her all the info, and that she has a different outlook on hunting, and hunters themselves. "I always had a thought that of all the people that choose to consume animal products, hunters might be the ones doing it the most humanely, but I just couldn't understand how the taking of a life could benefit anyone and always thought of it as a very selfish act." She remains vegan, but said that she fully supports local hunting practices now.
Second comment I received was from a sort of friend-of-a-friend, just a regular non-hunter citizen if you will. Also a smart guy, well traveled/cultured person. He actually ran as a candidate for the Green Party in his local riding last election, (downtown Vancouver area). Didn't win, first time he ran, always been interested in the political world. I feel I should copy-paste our conversation, tough to sum it up.
HIM - I don't think things are going to get better for you on this front as times go on, in terms of the public perception and support for hunting...
I think more and more people are just profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of killing things as a recreational activity, and they have trouble empathizing with someone who's hobby is to go out with the express purpose of killing something for enjoyment.
People are generally comfortable with killing for the purpose of food, and with killing for the purpose of conservation. But in both those cases I think the people who are consuming the animal products assume that the people doing the killing of the animals aren't particularly enjoying it. If I found out that someone working in a slaughterhouse was there because they really love slaughtering I think that'd make me really uncomfortable too.
So the idea that Conservation Officers are going into the job because they love the killing part of it bothers people, yeah. The assumption of the non-hunting general public is that the killing part is a necessity of the job sometimes, but that the COs hate having to do it, and do so reluctantly because it's necessary. So the fact that so many COs have hunting licenses implies that they really enjoy that part of the job. As you said, it doesn't mean that's WHY they took the job, but it's likely a part that they like.
The implication that that means they're not actually concerned with conservation is silly, I agree. But I think people are expected COs to be people who's primary reason for wanting to do conservation work was because they want to see animals thrive and succeed because of a recognition of the value of non-human life, and not because they want there to be ample stock of those animals for hunting.
And I think that's going to continue being the direction that the public perception goes.
ME - I agree that things will likely not get better in public support or perception, and there are inevitably some hunters who find a thrill in killing, or who hunt for sport. I feel that this is an unfortunate case of seeing a few bad apples on a tree, and proclaiming that it's the tree that is bad, and not the few apples themselves. The majority of us hunt for various different reasons, and with different motives, but those hunting stories will never make headlines.
I know that many people have a problem with the killing aspect of hunting, or any sort of killing in general, and I don't fault them for it. We have created cities and societies where killing is no longer a direct necessity for survival, and we are sort of shielded in a way from the natural world that we came from, and are still are a part of.
There's a quote from someone named M.R. James that has come to my attention recently, and while I can't speak for all the hunters out there, I can say that it speaks to me greatly on this very topic.
“Despite our ever-changing, ever-indignant world with its growing ignorance of and indifference to the ways of the wild, I remain a predator, pitying those who revel in artificiality and synthetic success while regarding me and my kind as relics of a time and place no longer valued or understood. I stalk a real world of dark wood and tall grass stirred by a restless wind blowing across sunlit water and beneath star-strewn sky. And on those occasions when I choose to kill, to claim some small part of nature’s bounty for my own, I do so by choice, quickly with the learned efficiency of a skilled hunter. Further, in my heart and mind, I know the truth and make no apologies for my actions or my place in time. Others around me may opt to eat only plants, nuts and fruits. Still others may employ faceless strangers to procure their meats, their leather, their feathers, and all those niceties and necessities of life. Such is their right, of course, and I wish them well. All I ask in return is no one begrudge me – and all of us who may answer the primordial stirrings within our hunter’s souls – my right to do some of these things myself.” – M.R. James
HIM -That's a really good quote, I especially like the part about faceless stranger, because it's absolutely right. Folks who don't have any connection to how their animal products are procured have a really sheltered view of how it is actually done.
You're absolutely right that hunting is still in our blood as well. A huge amount of our entertainment is still around simulated expressions of violence. We enjoy violent video games and TV shows because our instincts tell us that violence is fun, which makes sense because those humans who excelled at it were better at survival. The same goes for hunting, it makes total sense from an evolutionary standpoint that people would enjoy it.
But there's a big public perception difference between subsistence and trophy hunting, and people are always going to focus on the worst example of something. So when people hear "Hunter" they automatically assume that means someone who's flying to Africa to shoot endangered lions for the joy of it, not someone who hunts deer and then packs away all the meat for delicious jerky and steaks. The worst example of something always gets the most attention.
I appreciate your viewpoints, keeps me from getting stuck in an echo chamber on things like this!
I left it at that with him. A bit of a tougher nut to crack, but I feel the conversation went in a good direction. With someone like this I thought it better to show that I understood that we're not all perfect, and I'm not here to shout "look at me I'm a hero of conservation!".
If we could all have conversations like this with the non-hunting public, I feel we could really get somewhere with there being less vitriol towards our community. We can't ask people to understand us, all we really need is for them to understand what hunting means to us, what it does for us, and what it does for the natural world. If we can break down these barriers through education, and simply having a civil conversation, I really think we can make some ground here.
My post got shared around FB a couple of times, so a few hundred people have seen it, (can't guarantee they've all read it). And even Steve Rinella of the show MeatEater commented on my original post, told me to send this to the paper as an op-ed. Not going to lie I got a bit giddy when I realized he read what I wrote!
Another long-winded post, so thanks for reading. Understanding through education, strive for it ladies and gentleman, it works.
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