Yes, I remember you citing some of their work in Heartsblood. Good stuff back then, good stuff now. The motivation of hunters fascinates me and I agree that most folks don’t really know themselves, or really why they hunt. Heck, I’m convinced that most people rarely think of anything deeper than how they’ll pay the cable bill. Nevertheless, surveys like this are still informative. They’re also necessarily limiting. Why we hunt is as individual as, well, the individual. But, you can’t draw statistical conclusions based on everything under the sun, so you have to narrow the variables. I hate being lumped based on standardized answers, especially when asked about something like why I hunt. But I understand why it’s necessary.
As to the hunting media, maybe their failure to take notice of the shifting cultural values is why their ratings are headed south (or so I hear). Also, notice the uptick in media featuring hunters and food. Georgia Pellegrini, Steven Renella (great writer and show btw, even if he does hunt with a rifle), etc. The culture is shifting; outdoor media will follow…Eventually.
