Can we unite as Hunters?

[TimberHunter]

All too often, I am very guilty of this, we as hunters focus on what new piece of glass, or bullet or broadhead we want when we have free time/money.

However, right in front of our face, the Western model of conservation and our hunting rights are being chipped away. Right now the focus is on CO and the issues (like wolves and trophy hunting) they are facing but don’t worry all, this is coming for you and the states that you love to hunt. Hell I’m not even a CO resident but what is going on there is so axxbackwards that it fires me up and worries me of what is to come.

If you guys don’t follow @mikeduplan on instagram, you should. He is helping educate the hunting population on how to donate to CRWM and why it is important.

There are groups like CRWM, Foundation for Wildlife Management, Howl for Wildlife, etc that are fighting for us and my hat is off to them. But I wanted to get a discussion going on here to see if anyone has ideas or needs help enacting plans to unite the hunters? Or how we can increase hunters donating to organizations that will fight for us?


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[deertrout]

To unite people, you gotta find a common cause they can all get behind even when they have different worldviews. Think post 9/11, for a few short months there were almost no republicans or democrats, there were only Americans. That's the easy part. After that you gotta have a plan for what's next to keep the momentum turning, and keeping everyone on the bus is the hard part. You really need great leaders to do that, and our country has a leadership vacuum right now.

 

[philos]

This is a GREAT post. We need to be more cohesive and aware of how we can have an impact on the outdoors issues coming to the forefront.

I'll freely admit I don't really know the next best steps but we do need to start paying attention and making an effort to be heard in a positive manner. Pretty much every state/species/weapon of choice is being discussed for changes-many not in our favor. I believe there is more to be done than a simple donation to hunter friendly organizations.

Thanks for this timely post!

 

[saskhunter]

I think all hunters should unite and publicly speak out against the Butt-out tool.

 

[WannaBeRambo]

To be successful, needs to have one overacrching goal, as in OP’s post, “chipping away at ability to hunt.”

• Just identify 2-3 major contributing issues and stick to that.
• Next, don’t allow others to hijack the audience to go off on a tangent or down some wormhole.
• Find common cause with uncommon stakeholders. Hikers, campers, fishermen could be allies. For example. If you don’t like reintroduction of wolves, perhaps shift your goal to ensuring there’s enough sustainable habitat for the elk, wolf predation is not a major issue. The treehuggers have a large base back east, and if you are going to get things done at the national level, you need a Vermont Senator to care about Colorado elk, for example. That only happens when the Vermont treehuggers who think hunters are odious barbarians change their view to hunters are conservationists too.
• Be an adult, don’t be one who threatens to take your marbles home if you don’t get everything we want. … need level of maturity.
• This takes years and is also fought on multiple levels, local, state, regional, national involving numerous groups, not all government.
• Finally, and most importantly, if you can’t demonstrate to potential contributors, supporters and other possible allies what is in it for then, don’t even start.

 

[roadrunner]

Be nice to. But hardly achievable. It's evident that when you post something on a hunting forum and someone disagrees with you, it's instant roasting rather than asking for clarification.

I can cite a recent example on the Optics forum on Rokslide...

 

[spike camp]

To unite people, you gotta find a common cause they can all get behind even when they have different worldviews. Think post 9/11, for a few short months there were almost no republicans or democrats, there were only Americans. That's the easy part. After that you gotta have a plan for what's next to keep the momentum turning, and keeping everyone on the bus is the hard part. You really need great leaders to do that, and our country has a leadership vacuum right now.

At this point, even terrorist attacks wont unite the two sides.

 

[Rich M]

I started a duck hunting org in FL about 25 yrs ago. It is still active but has some issues. Is supposed to be an organization that provides weight to whatever folks want to do. Thing is the more aggressive guys piss off the other guys by doing stuff that only helps the aggresive guys, etc.

That’s why hunting orgs have issues. The advice about picking 3 things to target and not deviating is good. As soon as folks start saying the the leadership is serving itself, goes downhill from there.

I remember driving 6 hrs one way to sleep on a guy’s couch and go duck hunting w him. He wrote an article about it and i got acused of going on a paid hunt using members fees. Never have used a penny of the club money but put plenty in. Folks are wired and quick to acuse.

Also - yer gonna have a tough time convincing eastern hunters that they matter and should donate while the res hunters are trying to reduce number of NR hunters.

Good luck. Ive contributed my bit to hunting and more.

 

[*zap*]

any type of large group unity in a country like we are in right now is very problematic.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Good and timely post. I live in Co, I’m sending money every month to CRWM and I donate to howl occasionally. I agree if it hasn’t come to your neck of the woods it is heading your way. We need to dig in and fight it at every turn

 

[Squincher]

Hard to find unity when you have one thread asking for it and two telling NR's to pound sand.

 

[drdrop]

A challenge I made for myself this year is to track my expenses on hunting purchases relative to donations to conservation orgs and state agencies via nonresident tag apps for undrawn tags.

My conservation donations exceeded my hunting expenses by 13%. I encourage others to try tracking too.

 

[TimberHunter]

Good and timely post. I live in Co, I’m sending money every month to CRWM and I donate to howl occasionally. I agree if it hasn’t come to your neck of the woods it is heading your way. We need to dig in and fight it at every turn

Thank you for your donations! I’m in a similar boat, I donate but want to do more.

Reading the other comments above, it does seem that uniting will be an enormous undertaking that may not go well.

I just sit here and scratch my head and wonder why if we struggle to unite, how come uniting the anti hunters seems to be so easy?


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[ianpadron]

I personally don't think so.

A quick read of the comments on Steve Rinellas IG post about wolves killing hunting dogs will convince ya my opinion has a lot of merit.

 

[dirtytough]

All too often, I am very guilty of this, we as hunters focus on what new piece of glass, or bullet or broadhead we want when we have free time/money.

However, right in front of our face, the Western model of conservation and our hunting rights are being chipped away. Right now the focus is on CO and the issues (like wolves and trophy hunting) they are facing but don’t worry all, this is coming for you and the states that you love to hunt. Hell I’m not even a CO resident but what is going on there is so axxbackwards that it fires me up and worries me of what is to come.

If you guys don’t follow @mikeduplan on instagram, you should. He is helping educate the hunting population on how to donate to CRWM and why it is important.

There are groups like CRWM, Foundation for Wildlife Management, Howl for Wildlife, etc that are fighting for us and my hat is off to them. But I wanted to get a discussion going on here to see if anyone has ideas or needs help enacting plans to unite the hunters? Or how we can increase hunters donating to organizations that will fight for us?


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It’s a waste of money/effort for non res.

Non res already fund the majority of the game and fish department’s.

Non res are told it’s not their state they should have zero say in how states manage wildlife. We are told we need to keep our nose out of it.

Non res are getting a smaller and smaller percentage every year.

I quit donating to con orgs. I’m tired of funding the playground equipment so the locals can use it everyday. While I should be on my knees thanking them that I get to play on it once every 10 days.

 

[[insertspecies]Slayer]

I just sit here and scratch my head and wonder why if we struggle to unite, how come uniting the anti hunters seems to be so easy?

Because in my experience most the anti-hunters are uniformed, and not knowing is easier than knowing. All conversations with them go something like this:

"I'm fine with hunting, I just don't like trophy hunting"

"I eat everything I kill, the meat is the best part"

"Oh I'm fine with that"

Every time. The funniest is when I had a conversation with someone and I explained that you can in fact hunt polar bears, because they aren't on the endangered species list (which is a good thing). His solution was that they should be put on the list.

 

[Glockster26]

I doubt it. To many difference’s R vs NR, archery vs rifle, archery vs muzzle loader, everyone vs crossbow, etc
To be honest, the more that western states decrease my chances of drawing or increase my tag cost the less I care about the struggles in their state. I used to donate to half a dozen out of state based groups, as things have changed and some things on the horizon I don’t anymore.

 

[squirrel]

Short answer is no. I vividly remember in 1970's deer camp it was 100% agreement that archery hunting should be made illegal. The real reason was... cause they didn't do it.

All this internet stuff just makes it easier cause you dont even have to pretend to defend your position with logic just start calling names.

 

[ladogg411]

I won't unite on these issues because I'm not a fan of hunting with hounds. Or even cat hunting at all. The "slippery slope" argument is non persuasive. We live on slippery slopes in all areas of life and law.

And I want wolves around. It is a waste of money to hasten it rather than continue letting it occur naturally, but it is their NR (largely) dollars to squander as they wish.
If a wolf kills a hound, good for him. Karma.

 

[ddd-shooter]

I won't unite on these issues because I'm not a fan of hunting with hounds. Or even cat hunting at all. The "slippery slope" argument is non persuasive. We live on slippery slopes in all areas of life and law.

And I want wolves around. It is a waste of money to hasten it rather than continue letting it occur naturally, but it is their NR (largely) dollars to squander as they wish.
If a wolf kills a hound, good for him. Karma.

This is a great example of why we won’t.
“I’m not a fan…”

WHO CARES

The whole reason people have “fluffy the lap dog” and the like is because people have cooperated with dogs for eternity-through hunting first and foremost.
All species in the landscape need managed, especially apex predators. Otherwise you won’t have any deer, birds, or whatever it is you “are a fan of hunting”


So no, we probably won’t unite.
I am for all things hunting-except the modern style of market hunting for media