Spear hunting

[Gateholio]

Rather maybe we could try and set up a system where a bow hunter has to take a shooting test or something so that they can hunt...in the early nineties this idea was kicked around in Manitoba. It would at least give bowhunters something to lean back on when this video goes viral, not if.

No, I think your original idea is best. banning bow hunting will be a net positive for the majority of hunters.

If this is implemented before a bow hunting video goes viral, it will benefit the majority of hunters. Let's pull up our sleeves and ban bowhunting.

I don't bow hunt anymore, so let's ban it. For sure we should get rid of any traditional bow hunting, that's too close to a spear. And few hunters are going out with longbows so the majority of bowhunters shouldn't care, right?

For the good of the majority of hunters, I am looking forward to seeing your proposal to ban traditional bow hunting. Please proceed

[KodiakHntr]

I think “this” type of publicity referring to the spear video definitely hurts us. Imagine for a second that you don’t hunt , and you have been convinced that Hunting is good for all the right reasons and you were finally starting to think OK maybe this is not so bad. I have managed to convince my parents almost. Then all of a sudden you see this video on the news of a bear dragging it intestines along the ground after someone Spears it in what looks to be an idiotic fashion to some. What would your mind do? What would you think? Would you still want to support a Hunter after that? Like I was saying before I don’t think we should avoid posting our success but stick to your Facebook or whatever. Use your personal accounts where a bunch of antis won’t see it. If you need to post a video make sure it’s a clean one. And stress that all animals harvested will be eaten and used completely.

Eating an animal is not the only reason to hunt or kill it. If you want to eat something, fine, but don't try and make that a selling point to be the only reason to hunt something. We already see the division there were anti's use the argument that "you don't eat it anyway, there is no reason to hunt it"

A great example of this is a deer I shot up jordan river way years ago. Beautiful deer. I took a shot at dusk with my crossbow. The deer jumped and I hit it in the stomach and split the intestine. I tracked it for two hours in the dark through blackberry patches. By the time I found it my legs were so cut up my socks were red. It was still alive. I cut the deers throat with a filet knife and dragged it all the way back to the truck alone. I laid him on a tarp and made the initial incision to pull the guts. (I didn’t do this before because I didn’t want the deer filling up with bits of crap as I dragged him back). As soon as I opened him up crap and stomach contents came pouring out. The meat was spoiled it was disgusting. I still cut my tag. Point being that and other similar stories I keep to the hunting community. I would never share the video or story with non hunters or put it on Facebook. Sometimes what we do is brutal. Things don’t always go as planned. Animals get away. Blood trails dry up. Deer try to jump rivers and get swept out. But we have to keep that hidden. Because that’s all antis see. I takes ten good experiences to right a bad one. My Rottweiler is super friendly and loves everyone, doesn’t matter people meet one bad rotty it takes ten good interactions to right it. And unfortunately a lot of dog owners are irresponsible. Same goes for hunting. We’ve all seen the videos online that shouldn’t be there.

I would highly doubt that the meat was spoiled, even if it took you 10 hours to drag it to the truck. Lack of knowledge on how to properly handle a poorly shot animal isn't reason to declare it "spoiled".
And I would certainly hope you cut your damn tag, you killed it and retrieved it. Your tag should have been cut the moment you finished it with your knife. You insinuate that you felt the meat spoiled so you thought about not cutting it. You already violated a game law at that point if that is the case, so that paints you as being unethical. I would certainly hope you wouldn't put that up on social media, as you do the community more harm than good by trying to tell people here how ethical you are with this scenario....

[Walking Buffalo]

So walking buffalo,

Kodiac is of the opinion the publicity will help us if it is done well. That is what i took from our back and forth.

I assume you are of the same opinion?
Gatehouse as normal has input some great points as well.

This is the real issue. Will this type of publicity hurt us?
Again, thanks for your cintribution Gate.

Without publicity, hunting will surely die.

Publicity that is "done well" is a matter of opinion.

The real problem is that it doesn't matter to the Anti-hunting proponents if the publicity is done well or not.


Anti-hunting marketing events are highly motivated and supported by a network of "soldiers" and money.

Dissect recent anti-hunting outrage of the last decade. It is almost predictable. Every few months a new "outrage" is identified, media conglomerates are fed a narrative including "experts" in outrage. Within minutes the new tragedy is published all around the world. Those that identified and fed the media the new Outrage then fill in public opinion. See the circular reporting?

This is an organized attack! It doesn't matter if facts fit the narrative, this Anti-hunting advocacy will proceed regardless of the "Quality" of publicity we offer.

One of the goals is to ending hunting is to end the Publicity of hunting. They know that without an opposition in media, they will win.

[Walking Buffalo]

No, I think your original idea is best. banning bow hunting will be a net positive for the majority of hunters.

If this is implemented before a bow hunting video goes viral, it will benefit the majority of hunters. Let's pull up our sleeves and ban bowhunting.

I don't bow hunt anymore, so let's ban it. For sure we should get rid of any traditional bow hunting, that's too close to a spear. And few hunters are going out with longbows so the majority of bowhunters shouldn't care, right?

For the good of the majority of hunters, I am looking forward to seeing your proposal to ban traditional bow hunting. Please proceed

Thanks Gatehouse.

This is the exact logic expressed by the Alberta Bowhunter's Association when they began their push to ban spears.

They claimed it was for the greater good. Sacrifice others to save themselves.

Yet, they determinedly ignored that this action would push the line closer to their own heart.
You can only cut off parts of yourself before it is a fatal action.

[Treed]

Unfortunately, the maroons which make up a small percent of hunters - the guys who leave the camp garbage, shoot the sign, dump the doe that didn’t have 4 points, don’t know how to salvage meat of a gut shot deer, and shoot videos that would best be shot, are the ones who set the bar for the public’s perception of who we are. I have a bad feeling that this is a losing game with the public and my kids will be the ones who are going to lose out connecting to the world in the way that only a hunter can.

I’ve been in too many situations with where one or two angry, loud, self righteous members of the public can push their agenda despite overwhelming public support for something. We are in a fight that is not 50% plus 1 - it’s media savvy idealists who know how to use a keyboard, use our words, and use our photos to make us look like neanderthals.

Hunting represents a key part of 50,000 years or so of modern human culture and it’s being supplanted by morals developed in the last 40. I don’t think there is an easy answer to this. There is nothing wrong with being a vegan - power too you if it’s your path - but please fall off your moral high horse. I don’t try to instill a feeling of guilt in vegans or non-hunters for not following a traditional life of finding sustenance by going out and hunting. So please don’t try to instill one in me and stop trying to take my traditions away.