Storm Warning!

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT threat hunting has ever faced is upon us right now.

Living in Texas has isolated us a bit from the furor growing against hunting globally, but it is here.

And what happens in the next five years, in my opinion, will decide the very future of the sport.

Just as the Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination was the catalyst for World War 1, the Cecil the Lion media-created controversy has begun a massive, united assault against hunting.

It didn’t help that photos of a young lady hunter posing with a ram and a sex toy along with various other hunter caused embarrassments followed suit. These incidents added fuel to a fire that has been smoldering for decades.

At the time of this writing, the Cecil The Lion Act, designed to ban certain trophy imports into the United States, moved out of the committee, and the U.K. is planning to ban trophy imports. 

“Trophy Hunting” is the word animal rights groups, and their puppets in the media have fixated on with precision.

They have vilified it to the level of genocide amongst their followers, including influential politicians and wealthy anti-hunting crusaders.

They hate us.

I rarely write about political outdoors issues.

We run those stories in our State of the Nation news section, and some of our columnists address them, so my approach is different.

I believe the solution to problems is from within, and real change will come from the outward expression of inward positivity of the hunting community like conservation and community-based outreach.

With that said, we must be engaged politically, so I advise hunters to join several pro-hunting organizations.

Recommendations include Safari Club International, Houston Safari Club, Dallas Safari Club, The Sportsman’s Alliance, Exotic Wildlife Association, and Texas Wildlife Association, among others.

All of these groups are engaged in Austin and Washington and making a difference at levels you probably don’t realize.

They are our first line of defense.

We should also support conservation centered groups (who also defend hunting in their own way) like The Wild Sheep Foundation, Texas Bighorn Society, National Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, and others.

These groups represent my heart for wildlife and are crucial.

But what I am talking about in light of recent attacks is sheer political action committee type warfare in the hall of legislature that the former groups focus on.

At the personal level we are going to have to make some bold and possibly difficult choices.

In this issue is a story I wrote called “Trophy Cooking.” It is about how I believe we should be promoting eating what we kill more than selfies with what we kill on social media.

We have got to realize we live in a radically different world than we grew up in, and as much as we don’t like it, our culture looks at hunting differently.

A study entitled Perceptions of Hunting and Hunters by U.S. Respondents showed some exciting results concerning eating wild game.

An online survey of 825 U.S. residents was conducted to determine their views on hunting, hunters, and hunting practices within the United States.

“Overall, 87 percent of respondents agreed that it was acceptable to hunt for food. However, only 37 percent agreed that it was acceptable to hunt for a trophy.”

If there is a 50 percent disparity between the perception of trophy hunting versus meat hunting, then that means those people who support meat hunting are not animal rights activists.

They support hunting, just not what the media has fed them and not the ridiculous acts of a few hunters.

When is the last you shared a photo of the meal you cooked from the hog you killed? Maybe you can do like I did and share a picture of the turkey you shot alongside with a meal and a statement of how grateful you are for the opportunity to eat it.

I know as I type this, some hunters are fuming because they don’t give a damn about what the anti-hunters think.

Neither do I.

This is about reaching nonhunters who have proven through statistical analysis they approve of meat hunting and building inroads to these people who will eventually vote and could be a deciding factor in the future of hunting.

This isn’t about apologizing but reforming how we not only are perceived but how we act.

I am sitting in a room with numerous trophies taken in the field. There are five whitetail shoulder mounts, a sheep skull displayed on a Skull Hooker, boar tusks, along with bass, rainbow trout, flounder, and two colossal crappie.

But looking back at each story written about taking these animals, it was evident the experience of the trip was the focus and then the healthy meal they provided, and then the souvenir of the hunt-which is the antlers, horns, and tusks.

I’m not saying that’s the perfect presentation, but which do you think will engage voting nonhunters better?

A social media post expressing thankfulness for an incredible experience and sustainably harvested, clean wild meat or a video of someone blowing hundreds of prairie dog’s heads of at 400 yards?

I love seeing excited hunters, using fun verbiage to describe their hunting experiences. We need enthusiasm. We need passion, but we also need common sense.

Let’s get real because if we don’t make some real reform in how we pursue hunting, the forces are at work to put us on the endangered list and years down the line push hunting toward extinction.

 

Email Chester Moore at cmoore@fishgame.com

 

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