Great article. Hits close to home in my case. Thanks for sharing. Be well.

Alex

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Liberals and Hunting in the same sentence is a bit odd…

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Nice to see! I guess these liberals aren’t for gun control for obvious reasons too.:D

I don’t watch any hunting shows that much anymore. Teaching and woodsmanship are things of the past on T.V… It’s all about making $$.

But… being self employed I understand how it works, and in a way understand the way the gears are turning so to speak..

And…….I also have a deep love for nature, the woods, and hunting and feel ya Joe on the industrialization of hunting…………

It leaves a sour taste in my mouth.. only for the fact that it’s all about shooting, score of the buck, and “pimping” a product…

If some of these guys and gals would take some time to show some honest woodsmanship and teaching segments, I wouldn’t knock them as bad. Problem is, I don’t think more than half of them could hunt if they didn’t have an outfitter doing all the work for them.

My .02

I really can’t stand the “thugs”, “combat”, or any other violent terms used in conjunction with “Hunting”…

Really gets me PO’d………………….

The face paint designs and stupid side burns trimmed into lightning bolts or whatever is pretty retarted as well….

There is nothing violent about hunting…. It’s nothing like that…

It’ romantic, passionate, adrenaline, respectful, peaceful, deep, problem solving, quiet, and down right fantastic!!

I’ve been pondering the idea of a garden myself. If you saw my backyard Joe, you’d punch me in the face for not having one…:D It’s ideal!

And again, glad the hunting population is growing and becoming more diverse!

buckyT,

Liberals and hunting are a natural. Liberals are generally very associated with love of land and wildlife and usually welcome safe, ethical hunters on their land. They can often be more wary of trophy hunter than meat hunter. Liberalism is usually associated with politics and the liberals I know tend to vote for people who are interested in care for the Earth and its inhabitants…all equally. Was a time when I didn’t mention hunting around my social circle but not any more. I do think the lefties are more open to ethical hunting for nutricious food than ever. Remember the real definition of a liberal has a lot to do with having an open mind. Of course these are generalizations as we all know examples of extremes on all sides of any fence.

Dwcphoto

This is a wonderful thing. I’d much rather hunt with a bunch of liberals (in fact I agree with their politics more than the average hunter I meet now anyway), than all the idiots you see on a typical hunting forum. It’s terrifying where this lifestyle is heading. At least this is a glimmer of hope.

DWC: Agreed. I also think that misguided organizations like PETA are helping quite a bit. When they let their “idiocracy” show (naked protests and things of that nature) many people who may not have had a strong support for hunting now at least listen to when hunters offer rational arguments to wildlife management, and they pay even more attention when they see hunters acting ethically. They finally start to really pay attention when they see how areas that have well managed wildlife are much less prone to [animal] hunger, disease, accidents like collisions with automobiles, etc. But it all hinges on us not turning those people against us. Like you, I very rarely mention anything about hunting. It has gotten to the point that I simply don’t want to put up an argument. I try to present facts, but there are always the fanatics who will yell and scream and not listen to a work you say. So all I can say is, we must be doing something right. Hope we can keep it up and keep the slobs at bay. Next, as tailfeather, BuckyT and others have mentioned is the “Big Pimpin” of our craft. Only way I can think to combat it is to not tune in to the shows, not to buy the products [I know I am a bit guilty there] and to keep leading by example. Just IMHO, of course. Be well.

Alex

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Well, I can’t very well delete all the references to “liberals”, and I appreciate that all of you are being mature about this, but let’s avoid broad general statements of any political nature. Some do take offense, even if they don’t jump into the discussion and make it an argument. No more reference to liberals, leftists, etc. please.

Yep, me, too. Not to offend. I have friends on both sides and straddling. Sometimes it’s hard not to talk about “sides” as we tend to get lumped in here and there. Speaking of sides.. how bout them taters!

Seriously, great to have this forum. thanks, guys and girls. dwcphoto

Ditto here. Never mean to offend. If something can be taken 2 ways, I ALWAYS mean the one that doesn’t offend. Actually, I had to put my foot in my mouth on the same subject (not archery related) today because I assumed that just because something is on PBS, it must be “L&%*@#al”. I really do enjoy these forums. I hope I have not offended anyone. People do not always agree, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get along. On the flip side, I do not take offence. If someone has a suggestion or a criticism, I am only grateful for the advice. Anyway, hope to hear from you all soon. Happy holidays to you all. I’ll start a new thread as it gets closer to my Florida Hog Trip. Be well/.

Alex

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Great article. I’m a liberal, organic vegetable farmer who’s been hunting for 40 years (I’m 50 now). There are lots of us out there in the woods, being respectful to the animals. The animals play the game by the rules, they don’t cheat. We owe it to them to do the same.

I have been shooting and holding arrow/bow building tutorials and general archery fun with a group of “Downtown Hippies” lately. They started off just shooting bows and having fun but now several of them are really wanting to start hunting. They like the idea of self-collected high quality meat, as well as the ethical considerations of taking personal responsibility for your food, etc. It’s really neat to see. I stay upwind when they start lighting up some of their herbs, but they are good folks who are legitimately interested in hunting, conservation, the outdoors, etc.

tailfeather wrote: wonder if it’d be off topic to have a thread with some gardening/homestead photos

tailfeather,

I cannot answer, but I can simply add that we cannot live by meat alone. A backstrap on a plate, even perfectly cooked, still looks pretty lonely without some starches and greens. Besides, I’d love some tips on veggies and being organic, but, again, I cannot answer. Be well.

Alex

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Might be kind of nice to have a forum set up for off-topic discussions like organic vegetable production, or anything else for that matter.

Goraidh wrote: Might be kind of nice to have a forum set up for off-topic discussions like organic vegetable production, or anything else for that matter.

We have looked at this issue of off-topic threads and decided we’d like to keep our forums to traditional bowhunting/archery topics. Those other discussions–gardening, dogs, muzzle loaders–are great things to talk about, just not appropriate here.

We do have a few places on this site where you can have a bit more freedom. TradSpace is a little-used social area where you can post pictures and talk about other areas of your life. A couple of our photo galleries are open to scenic photos, family activities, etc. and I’m not opposed to gardening photos there (no “herbs” please, keep it G-rated) :shock:. I hope these ideas offer a compromise that will work for everyone.

Thanks for your reply, Robin. I do understand keeping a trad bowhunting forum all trad bowhunting. There are many other forums on the net to discuss these other topics.