Why do we have to explain?
This post was inspired by a post that Kristine wrote over at the Hunt Smart, Think Safety blog. Please feel free to check it out before reading on.
I realize that we bloggers definitely have an image to uphold when it comes to hunting, fishing, and conservation. By putting ourselves out there on the World Wide Web we have opened the door to criticism, as well as making ourselves the poster child, if you will, for the kind of people that people see associated with hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.
The only thing that truly bugs me about being looked upon as a outdoor ambassador is that it seems that every time I talk about hunting, or my passion for the outdoors, I constantly have to label myself as an ethical hunter. I just don’t seem to understand why that is. Not only do I not understand it, I don’t think that it is necessary for me to constantly defend my ethical nature when it comes to the the outdoors and hunting.
In doing a little research for this post I found an article by Ted Nugent, over at nrahuntersrights.org, that seemed to truly state the exact same thing that I was feeling. He touches on the point, that in many professions, people naturally assume that the person they are dealing with is on the up and up and doesn’t automatically assume the latter. They assume that people have morals and abide by a certain set of code for whatever profession they are part of. There is no need to explain or defend themselves from the on-set because it is a given that they are of a certain nature and abide by that standard. Ted put it this way and I couldn’t agree more:
I’m tired of hunters starting from the defensive. I’ve yet to see a customer enter a bank with a sign hanging around his neck that states, “Have No Fear, I’m Not A Bank Robber.”
Why is it then that we have to constantly defend ourselves and point to how ethical we are as hunters? Of course we are ethical. The majority of us care more about our prey and have more passion and compassion for our quarry then any of the popular animal rights groups out there. We do more for conservation, species control, and species health then most people who are questioning our ethical nature and yet all of us seem to constantly have to explain and defend ourselves.
I realize that a good portion of this problem stems from the media coverage that any negative hunting story gets, but bank robberies and a ton of other events get this same coverage, yet you don’t see every person entering a bank having to defend their ethics before they walk in.
I just hope that we, as a voice for the outdoors, help to instill in people’s minds that the majority of hunters are ethical and proper outdoorspeople and that we care very much for the animals and planet in which we live. My dream is that, with time, this will be a reality. Not only will people not be asking if we are ethical hunters, they will be proud that we are hunters.
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This is one of the reasons I do not watch the news. I will check online for headlines of my choice to read otherwise I avoid it. I found watching the news is full of depressing somewhat untrue facts.
This is a very good post and you ask some very good questions. I think that was part of what was bugging me about the article I mentioned in my post. They guy who wrote it seemed to be saying that hunters were naturally inclined to midbehave and needed positive reinforcement so they would act as they should. I’ve always seen it as completely the opposite.
This also feeds directly into why I’m so concerned about the image of hunting. Hunters weren’t always perceived as people who were irresponsible and who misbehaved. It took time to build that image. The good news is, if hunters were respected by the community as a whole once, they can be again. It is simply a matter of education and exposure.
I don’t think anyone should ever have to apologize for being a hunter or supporting hunting. Nor should they feel compelled to say they are ethical. I also think, however, that you have to be realistic and realize that there are people out there who will think that. The only way to combat that opinion is to address it, and sometimes that means saying you’re an ethical hunter and explaining what that means.
Thanks Arthur. You helped pinpoint part of what I was trying to say in my post.
I am proud to be a hunter. And yes the majority of hunters do care more about the animals they are hunting than alot of the people that are against it. Our money does conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat. And we want to see the species thrive and be healthy and abundant for years and years to come.We don’t want to ever see an animal suffer or starve in any way.
I have found that people who get to know me, then find out that I’m a hunter don’t need to be told that I’m ethical they already know that we would be ethical – however I live in the midwest and it seems like half the people we meet do some kind of hunting and hunting doesn’t seem to have quite the stigma attached to it here as it does in other areas of the country I’ve lived in
Most people go to banks, so it’s familiar territory. People don’t look at you and ponder your motives for being there. People figure you’re just like they are. Bank robbers are anomalous.
In the US, there are between 12 and 15 million licensed hunters… which seems like a lot, until you see it in perspective… there are about 302 million people in this country. That makes us about 4-6% of the whole (some hunting and shooting organizations suggest that license sales is not the most accurate count… but it’s the most reliable data available… surveys are dangerously inaccurate). That’s a pretty weak showing, but it should illustrate what’s going on here. Even if we made up a full 10% of the population, hunters have become anomalous too.
I’ve read a lot of Nugent’s rants and tirades, and while I appreciate his zeal and what he’s trying to do, he spends way too much time shooting from the hip without thinking things through. This is fine, for him, because he’s keeping things hot and in the spotlight. A little controversy can add vitality to a cause. Refusing to be an apologist works for him in the same way it works for Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh.
But it won’t work for all of us. We are not all celebrities, and we can’t all operate on that same plane as Mr. Nugent. Alienating our opposition only galvanizes them against us, so for every Ted Nugent we need a whole bunch of quiet, level-headed folks to manage the spin and work for positive public relations.
So with that in mind, back to your point, Arthur.
It’s a simple fact that we have to be on the defensive today. Why? Because we’ve historically done a pretty sorry job of promotion over the years. Our sport, and many of the people in it, have not changed much over the decades… especially when it comes to public relations.
There was a time when it wasn’t necessary, of course… when meat for the family table was often provided through hunting, most people recognized it as a necessary thing.
But even back as far as the late 1700s and definitely in the 19th century, folks were already speaking out about this practice called “sport hunting.” Of course you saw this mostly among a certain social strata, and the debate was pretty well contained therein… but the argument has changed very little since then. Hunting for sport, to them, was (and is)unnecessary slaughter. It was killing for fun, with no other cause than to shed the lifeblood of wildlife to satisfy some incomprehensible appetite.
The message hasn’t changed much since those days, but the vehicles by which it is carried have blossomed and exploded into this “Information Age”.
So, why do we have to explain? Because 96% of the population of this country doesn’t understand. Even worse, a wide number of those people harbor gross misperceptions of hunters, loaded with stereotypes, myth, and misinformation. Check out this 1995 report from the US Fish and Wildlife Service… it’s quite telling. http://www.fws.gov/news/historic/1995/19951128.pdf
People don’t know. People don’t understand. And if we don’t tell them, who will?
And what happens if we don’t?
[...] or maybe there’s just an odd alignment in the stars right now… but boy the talk about hunters’ image, anti-hunting assaults on our culture, positive reinforcement for good ethics, and defending our [...]
Phillip,
I definitely agree with the things you say and I by no means was suggesting that, if given the opportunity, I’m not going to sit and have a well thought out conversation about my hunting practices and what hunting means to me. In fact I have done this on several occasions this week!!
My basic point was that I hate that we have to start on the defensive all the time, but I didn’t mean it to come across as some sort of a tirade because that is simply not the case.
I am more than willing to sit with any person, regardless of what views they have for or against hunting, and explain to them in a civil manner exactly what hunting is and what it does for us and the animals we love!
Arthur, I definitely didn’t see your post as a tirade. What you’re saying is being repeated by a lot of people, and has been for a long time.
It sucks to have to be on the defensive about your passion. But that’s just how it is these days.
I think people feel like defending and explaining ourselves is somehow like apologizing for what we do… and nothing could be further from the truth. We’re educating the ignorant, and working to eradicate myth. That’s all it is.
The one-on-one approach is great and good, but those of us in the Outdoors Press just need to bear in mind (as I’ve said too often before) that we’re no longer working on a one-to-one basis. Gotta keep that big picture in mind.