I have recently more out of need than desire become a lot more familiar and active with facebook and youtube – in the process of learning what to do and what effect each of the somewhat complicated sites has I have seen first hand , uncensored just how bad some of the footage , photos and information is out there on the internet – we as hunters are seen as cold blooded killers who have no conservation integrity – this as we all know couldn’t be father from the truth – and while yes there are those that do our commuity and reputations a disservice , we need to show that that is not all of us -

I urge you to all start putting stuff out there on the internet , be it on this great site , your own youtube and facebook pages , things that are in keeping with the ethics and integrity that we stand for –

Zimguide posts his lamentations on how we are not doing anything about the bad stuff – well are we each doing our part to educate the world ? – if every photo , every youtube clip and every facebook post shows ourselves in the best light and we hammer the conservation drum loud and clear it has to resonate with some.

Lets educate the world about what we do as hunters –believe it or not MOST people don’t know !

Lets show not just our trophy photos but all the other photos of the experience – even just on this site we have some incredible photographers (yes you anton )

Either way if we can self police what we put out there on the internet I think we can, as a body have a profound effect and probably way deeper than any of us realize –

Don’t you know that when there is a negative comment on one of our posts of youtube clips and we come back kicking and biting that the antis love it saying “look , I told you , ignorant hunters”. We need to do just as bwana moja said in an earlier thread – turn the other cheek – or simply be quiet.

I for one don’t hide the fact that I am an active hunter but my daily facebook posts are carefully thought out to appeal to not just the hard core killers but hopefully some people on the fence aswel.. its shocking to me how offended even distant members of my family are with hard core hunting photos and its made me a lot more sensitive to that ...

Excellent post Ivan and great advice! jorge

Some people don't want to see animals dying anymore than they want to see people having sex.

But I disagree about being quiet. I have had several letters to the editor published that are pro-hunting, including two to US Today, Smithsonian, and local papers. A fundamental argument I often make when told that we kill for pleasure is that we humans don't have to eat meat; we do so for our own pleasure. Whether we kill the animal or not, it dies. Justifying killing because we eat an animal is no more morally superior than killing it to make a fur coat or a piece of artwork.

What confuses me everytime is the anti-hunter who cusses us and calls us barbaric and killers because we show a trophy photo but then they go home and watch with gusto the entire series of Spartacus!

I posted on a couple of forums, and on facebook lots of photos titled "Nyama", photos of what happens AFTER an elephant is down. The skinning, the butchering, the locals having fun with tugs of war etc. And finished it with great portraits of a number of HUGE SMILES.

Now while such photos may cause insane animal rights and liberationists to throw death threats, the story is the animal is used, the elephant shot was a cull, it had half its trunk cut off from a poachers snare, and the fact these poor underfed bush people love the meat as they so rarely get it (other than occasional poaching of course). Unlike the fat arsed overfed welfare recipients that form the core of animal liberation.

I took several hundred photos and an hour of video footage to cull for a magazine article in the main stream press, but have not risked the death threats yet to see if it could be published.

Such photos are confronting for "animal lovers" but most hunters are more animal lovers than the average urbanite watching African documentaries on their TVs.

I certainly am. And support wildlife through my hunting dollar and otherwise as well.

quote:

Such photos are confronting for "animal lovers" but most hunters are more animal lovers than the average urbanite watching African documentaries on their TVs.

That statement is the hardest one to get acrosss to people, not the anti's because they have closed minds. I have never met a hunter that did not a have a very strong emotional attitude toward animals. It is a form of love and of respect. Yes, it is strange for someonme that is not a hunter to comprtehend how someone can have such feelings for another life form, yet go out and kill it, but that i just the way it is.

I have posted some pictures on forums that were not really that respectful toward the game, such as the dead duck I am holding by the neck in my mouth. I have not to the best of my knowledge posted a picture on FaceBook of any of my kills that I felt was disrespectful to the game or the viewers.

I agree with Ivan, the sophomoric behaviors that oft times gets on FaceBook / YouTube, is definitely not helping our cause. I also agree with AAZW, we do need to be vocal and while I don't really like the "In Their Face" approach, I don't believe in an apologetic demeanor either.

If I have my quote correct, Jim Carmichael srared it as best as I have ever read or heard of when aked by someone why he hunted. I believe, if memory serves me, his answer was simply but eloquently "Because I like to" or something close to that.

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:
I took several hundred photos and an hour of video footage to cull for a magazine article in the main stream press, but have not risked the death threats yet to see if it could be published. .

CHICKEN!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Scriptus:

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:
I took several hundred photos and an hour of video footage to cull for a magazine article in the main stream press, but have not risked the death threats yet to see if it could be published. .

CHICKEN!!!

I'll do it one day.