So I'm curious, as this Cecil crap is going on. . . How has your interaction with the general public gone regarding Cecil?

I ask because I have been dropping it into conversations with random non-hunters that I see in my day to day living, as well as pointedly bringing it up to family and friends.

Now, admittedly, I live in a very rural area in the Midwest. And, admittedly, my family and close friends are overwhelmingly conservative (whether they vote Democratic or Republican, they're still conservative)

And, admittedly, my sample size is small, probably about 100 people, of which maybe 30-40 are family and friends. But I have dropped it into conversations with liberal people, and people whose bent I didn't know

Overwhelmingly, the response has been amazement at the media response a lion has generated. And pointed references to the hypocrisy of those protesting the lion's death.

I have not had a single negative response about the lion actually being killed. There have been 2 or 3 negative responses regarding the hunter and his perceived culpability, but no one has had a problem with hunting or killing a lion.

On the occasions where any negativity was perceived by me, made some general comments, and in all instances, my comments were well received.


I'm curious as to everyone else's interactions, and whether your response was well received?

Bake

I haven't gone out of my way to talk about it, but several people at work have asked what I think of the whole business. That has given me a "teachable moment" to explain how hunting is, in fact, conservation. The response hasn't always been complete and total agreement, though it sometimes is, but when it hasn't people have admitted that it's a lot more complicated than what the American news media have made it seem.

So far only one negative comment. Sadie's chiropractor's receptionist had drunk the anti-hunter Cool-Aid on Cecil. Sadie set here straight. Last weekend I talked to some folks who have some connection to hunting but not Africa. As soon as I compared the hunt to elk migrating out of Yellowstone to hunting areas they got it that the licensure question was really the only issue. I told some other people if they want to know the real story from my view point that I would be glad to discuss it with them when they have some time. Nobody has taken me up on it.

Mark

I have been very pro active and talking with everyone that will listen. It's time we all get pro active and give our side of the story. Had a person approach me the other day spouting the typical Cecil BS. After I got through dressing her down she did a complete turn around and wondered why nobody was was giving our side of the story. She said I need to go on CNN and tell the rest of the world what I just told her. My response was, CNN doesn't want the truth, none of the liberal media wants the truth, they just want to promote their agenda at any cost.
Folks, we have all got to go on the offensive before the 4th quarter gets here!!!! SCI and DSC isn't doing it!!

Tons of negatives.

Lost a lot of my life educating the ignorant with varying degrees of success.

Jeff

I went on an anti hunter stalk on facebook. Posted heaps of articles pro hunting I got from here and other sites. Changed my profile picture to my two buff, had one "friend" post something negative about it. I gave him a couple of serves and he unfriended me

What makes me sad is the you tube clip of those young English people and their comments on the Spielberg/dino picture. Some of them thought it was a rhino , some knew it was a triceratops and how bad it was that it was hunted. This is who we're up against. This is the future of the world. God bless them....the dumb assess.

Like most of you guys I am sure, I have been sought out by almost anybody who knows me to hear my thoughts on the subject. Most all were actually trying form their opinion but wanted to hear from a hunter's point of view. To a one, none has bashed hunting, but rather the evil's of social media as well as main stream media. Has given me an opportunity to bring it up and talk facts with a lot of folks. Again, no problems with the hunting issue.

My only interaction of significance was with a guy I work with from some African country who says Cecil was shot illegally and maybe he was.

All that aside, if someone had put Cecil in a cage or put a fence around him, there would have been complaints about making pets of wildlife. So the ONLY reason there is all this hulabaloo is because Cecil had a name. It's not the first lion poached and other animals such as elephant and rhino are poached galore and it's taken for granted.

When I was in South Africa, it was related to me that some blacks were caught poaching with a rifle they had no permit for and when SAPS was called they did NOTHING. The Cecil nonsense would seem to be racism at it's finest. If some poor native had killed him this wouldn't have been given any air time.

Well quiet honestly this is my first reaction when someone starts whining about out it to me

I just returned from Africa and everywhere I went (going, while there, and coming), I was asked about Cecil. Most wanted to know the facts and what I thought. I gave them all an education about hunting and its positive aspects. Never had any issues with anyone about it.

All my conversations have been positive with folks amazed at what transpired.

That's what's fascinating and terrifying at the same time about this - it goes far beyond hunting. It's social media's ability to obliterate the millennia old rule of "majority rules" and makes everything about the few, the deranged, the social media obsessed.

One of my son-in-laws, who makes his living in social media, told me that it's becoming a fact that if you don't have a social media presence, you essentially don't exist. It's not about knowledge, or experience, or facts. It's about "views" and "hits".

Granted I live in a rural very prohunting part of the world...but everyone I spoke to about it...thought the response was completely ludicrous!

Several of my non-hunting family members, friends, and co-workers have been interested in obtaining a better understanding regarding the Cecil debacle. Without exception, all of them were very interested in hearing the facts (as I understood them to be) and they just shrugged their shoulders and seemed to be content with the facts presented. Please note that I am employed in the oil and gas industry and currently reside in the Republic of Texas (a conservative state and industry).

I've had a number of my partners and employees ask me what my thoughts were. Some were pro-hunting/hunters (perhaps not international) who were concerned how this might affect them, some were neutral, but weren't buying all the tripe peddled by the media, and a couple were actually leaning anti and wanted to hear the other side. I gave them all the same exact response. I wish it was as well put together as DSC's response, but it basically was that without hunting there will be no lions outside of the parks, if there.

We should use this as an opportunity. People are interested in the topic now -- AND many people are neutral and can be persuaded. Many of those people are skeptical of the antis' claims.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I've had a number of my partners and employees ask me what my thoughts were. Some were pro-hunting/hunters (perhaps not international) who were concerned how this might affect them, some were neutral, but weren't buying all the tripe peddled by the media, and a couple were actually leaning anti and wanted to hear the other side. I gave them all the same exact response. I wish it was as well put together as DSC's response, but it basically was that without hunting there will be no lions outside of the parks, if there.

We should use this as an opportunity. People are interested in the topic now -- AND many people are neutral and can be persuaded. Many of those people are skeptical of the antis' claims.

I live in a corn field. 98% of folks around here get it. When my wife came out here from the city 15 years ago she didn't. Besides my rugged good looks and hunting prowess, I think why she gets it now, is her experiencing the real out of doors world. Between pet cats partially eaten by coyotes, to her very own beloved dog ripping open a ground hogs belly, road kill coons and possums every two miles, me draggin bloody carcasses triumphantly home, cattle dyin for no explicable reason other than shit happens, ITS A JUNGLE OUT THERE! And thats just Ohio. Sadly most folks don't know. It really is a Walt Disney movie to them and whatever else is on TV. So I guess what I'm saying is find a hot city girl, kill some food, have a cookout and talk about it.

quote:

Originally posted by tomahawker:
So I guess what I'm saying is find a hot city girl, kill some food, have a cookout and talk about it.

Solid plan! I think I'll do that this weekend.

No one here in Australia gets the quota issue at all.

What really riles them up is the hysteria over baiting and how a lion with a collar could be killed.

Most of them calm down when it is explained to them, though not converted.........

I just returned from Zim A few hours ago.

I had some interesting conversations with the people of Zim.

For the most of them, they can't understand why the Americans are so worked up over a lion when no body care what happened to the people.

Some terrible things have happened to good people by the government and no Americans cared about that???

Not Cecil specifically but visitors often ask me, seeing my elephant tusks, "Isn't it illegal to shoot elephants?" I tell them it is not, that elephants are overpopulating some areas, and that they must be controlled just like deer in our state by hunting. Except unlike deer which merely eat some of your crops, elephants trample all of them, reducing you to starvation, and attempting to scare them away often turns you into a blood spot on the ground.

These people also admire my lion rug and make no comments about it (so far).

I was once having breakfast with a man trying to sell me something when an associate told him I was going to go elephant hunting. "Oh," he said,"how could you shoot an elephant?"

My answer was, "Because they don't fall down unless you shoot them."