This hunt is mobilizing a great number of protestors. It seems like marketing hunting events on Facebook is a sure way to get the antis out in force.

Article about wolf hunt

Very true it brings them out in force.
I hope the FBI and Montana State Troopers take death threats against the original "hosts" as seriously as they take threats against politicians.
These fights will be won with accurate reporting in public, not by hiding our sport.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this gnuhunter?

On the organized wolf hunt or the issue of Facebook being a hostile place for hunters?

Possibly/probably both.

Yes both please.
Will be a conversation starter.

Go get them boys
Enjoy, kill some and don't worry about some morons on FB

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Go get them boys
Enjoy, kill some and don't worry about some morons on FB

Snellstrom,

The Hunt: I fully support all legal and ethical hunting. I hope the hunters do well. Knowing a bit about wolves in Montana I think the increased human presence will make it more difficult to harvest.

Facebook: Facebook as a corporation is anti-gun and anti-hunting. All one needs to do is try boosting a post on a hunting page and they will make this clear. Their response to threats against hunters reinforces this.

Facebook appeals to a younger, urban demographic. History suggest reasoning with anti-hunters is not possible. But, for the good of the sport and conservation we have responsibility to educate the non-hunter in a friendly and reasonable way. I think that using Facebook as a tool for education is useful. I certainly don't believe in hiding our sport. I make my living in the hunting media and have for years.

2011 was the first year in history that more humans lived in an urban setting than a rural one. The urbanization of humanity is creating a massive disconnect between people and the natural world. This is leading to growing misunderstandings between we whom spend our time afield and those who don't. This makes the educational responsibility greater.

I believe there is a place for Facebook in the conversation between hunters and non-hunters (I distinguish between non and anti). It is a place for informed and reasonable education.

There needs to be a social media platform exclusive to hunters and anglers. There is much about hunting and our culture that one needs to be deep in to understand. Predator hunting can be one of those things.

Social media is like a bunch of conference rooms. There are places we meet to teach and places we meet to discuss the esoteric aspects of our sport.

Thank you,
well said, I agree with you.
From your original post I could not tell where this was going.

I'm using this one more and more: Campfire

Let me know what you think.

Just an observation and an opinion, nothing more.

It really does not matter which internet site you choose to participate on, if it is a hunting/firearm site, you will find, Web wide, and especially on the regional sites you will basically be preaching to the choir and running in to the same individuals over and over again.

Face Book should be a place where hunters could present actual facts, but as you stated, too much of America/too many Americans have lost all real contact with the Natural World.

For the past 3 decades the only access to the Natural World has been thru Disney/Marty Stouffer and others that really have no concept of Man's role in the overall scheme of things.

The flip side of that is that as a group, hunters are their own biggest enemies. In our modern world, even in places like Montana, publicizing an event as a "Contest" where animals will be possibly killed for prizes, is an Open Invitation for those wanting to see all hunting outlawed.

But, and here is something to consider, not only will the anti-hunting forces find fault, but hunters themselves will find fault with the concept.

Look at discussions concerning individuals hunting game behind a High Fence. It is perfectly legal, but there are hunters including members of this site that have openly stated that ANYONE hunting wildlife inside a High Fenced enclosure, has NO RIGHT referring to themselves as a hunter.

I respect what you wish to accomplish, but I think you need to really look around and see just exactly who may oppose you. You might be surprised.

Great comment CHC
I couldn't say it better

quote:

Originally posted by gnuhunter:
This hunt is mobilizing a great number of protestors.

Well, I don't know where that came from ("great numbers"), but here is what little happened according to The Missoulian:


• By Vince Devlin

TROUT CREEK – Planned protests of an organized wolf and coyote hunt over the weekend in Sanders County never materialized, and it appears that a single wolf was harvested by a trapper during the event.

The first Great Montana Coyote and Wolf Hunt drew plenty of attention in the weeks leading up to it, and the Facebook advocacy page that sponsored it, Montana Wolf Hunting and Trapping, reported more than 100 hunters and trappers registered to participate.

The page on Monday referred Facebook users to a "Montana Outdoor Radio Show" website that said turnout was greater than expected, and called the results “fantastic.”

“Overall, the mission of the hunt, which was to help manage the area’s coyote and wolf population, was accomplished,” the website said.

Both sites displayed a photograph of the trapper, identified as “Dan H.,” holding a dead male gray wolf estimated at 2 years old.

“When Dan approached the wolf in his trap, he said the drag was just lying on top of the ground, but the wolf had managed to wrap the chain around a tree and didn’t realize that if he just backtracked, he would be free,” according to the radio show’s website.

It also said a pair of trappers who had been tracking a pack of wolves in Sanders County for two years harvested two more wolves two days before the organized hunt began Saturday.

“Although those two wolves didn’t count toward the hunt, it is still a victory for wolf management supporters in Montana,” the website said.

There was no mention of how many, if any, coyotes were killed during the event.

***

Anja Heister of Missoula, director of the Wild and Free campaign for the animal rights organization In Defense of Animals, said it was noteworthy that the only wolf killed during the organized event, and the three killed over four days, were all taken in traps.

“No hunter killed a wolf,” Heister said. “There was no fair chase involved. Trappers killed the wolves.”

Organizers said it showed that trapping remains “the most effective wildlife management tool we have.”

Heister, who said last week she and others hoped to learn where hunters and trappers were headed and planned to show up to protest, said Monday that no protests took place. Heister, who said last week she and others hoped to learn where hunters and trappers were headed and planned to show up to protest, said Monday that no protests took place.

“They’re saying over 100 people registered, but I don’t know how many actually attended,” Heister said. “Some of us drove around and observed, but it didn’t look like there was much activity.”

Registration Friday was held at a private ranch a few miles outside Trout Creek; the location and directions were not made public until Friday afternoon. When the hunt was first announced, registration had been scheduled at a Trout Creek motel, but the owner backed out after saying he and his family had received threats because of the motel’s involvement.

Heister said a Friday night screening of “Living with Wolves” at the Heron Community Center, about 30 miles northwest of Trout Creek, drew approximately 35 Sanders County residents.

She said that following the film – which discusses the ecological importance of carnivores such as wolves and coyotes, and the need for “an ethically sound relationship” between humans and the animals – locals discussed more ways to engage in educational outreach in Sanders County.

Organizers, meantime, indicated they plan a second organized predator hunt next year.

Wolf trapping season in Montana ends Feb. 28, while wolf hunting season comes to a close March 15.